Group 3 Percepolis

Michael Brambila

Claudia Revelo-Lee

Ricardo Acevedo

Cody Scarborough

David Wolff

Ian Mclens

Hispanic Stories: From the Hearts of Harper Students

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcSgMbdJMnA

This interview was conducted by Antonio Iacopino, a Spanish and Linguistics professor at William Rainey Harper College. The primary objective of this interview is to spread knowledge of the experiences that many young, Hispanic immigrants have in the United States. Funding for these interviews were made possible by grants from the William Rainey Harper College’s Center for Multicultural Learning.  

Our group has chosen to discuss the theme of ‘cultural assimilation' in Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return. The overarching theme in these chapters and this video, is the way in which refugees assimilate or shift their identity to assume/embody the identity of the dominant culture. We can sense Marjane Satrapi loss of Iranian identity and the conflicts within herself, as she tries to find a place in a new society. “The harder I tried to assimilate, the more I had the feeling that I was distancing myself from my culture, betraying my parents and my origins, that I was playing a game by somebody else’s rules.“ (pg.39, Satrapi). Leaving Iran at such a young age, has also left her extremely susceptible to western (or in this case European) cultural conditioning. After being completely abandoned by her only source of Iranian heritage, she naturally felt the need to find her own niche in society.  This feeling of abandonment and isolation -along with the occasional identity crisis- is further amplified by the fact that she will also go through puberty at this time.  There is also, a prejudicial theme that is explored through these chapters that many immigrants can relate to. This video, along with the first seven chapters of Persepolis, both show the difficulties associated with cultural assimilation, cultural reconciliation, and discrimination.