Speaking Out of Place

An in-depth interview with scholar, activist, and poet Dr. Persis Karim, director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University. Karim provides indispensable background information reaching back to 1979, explains the long history of gender apartheid in Iran and why today there has been an explosion of mass protests led by young women joined by tens of thousands of others, including rappers, educators, human rights workers, ethnic minorities, artists, children, and others. She also explains the tremendous gaps in Western media coverage and fills in missing information.  She ends with a reading from her own poetry, and a plea to link these protests to all protests against authoritarian regimes. Karim’s pioneering work in the emerging field of Iranian Diaspora Studies, primarily in literature, has helped to galvanize a wider engagement with transnational and interdisciplinary approaches, as well as to foster the work of younger scholars. She is the editor/co-editor of three anthologies of Iranian diaspora literature: A World Between: Poems, Short Stories and Essays by Iranian-Americans (1999); Let Me Tell You Where I've Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora (2006); and, Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian-American Writers (2013). She is currently completing a documentary film project: "The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life," which will be released in spring 2023. Her poetry has appeared in a number of national publications including Calalloo, Reed Magazine,The New York Times, the Raven's Perch, and Green Linden Press. 

David Kyuman Kim, an expert in race studies at Stanford University, discusses the challenges of fostering racial justice within academic institutions. The dialogue explores the possibilities of radical work on race, the importance of keeping hope alive, and whether it is best to work within or outside the institution. Future episodes will cover topics such as Iran, Palestine, domestic violence, and surviving institutional betrayal.