Narratives of homemaking in diaspora presented in social media; the case of Iranian women

Shima Rezaei Rashnoodi

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

The Iranian domestic sphere has always been a culturally and architecturally introverted space. The emphasis on the privacy of home has been maintained not only by the spatial arrangements but also through cultural, religious, political and gender norms. The advent of social media, however, has resulted in blurring the boundaries of public and private for Iranian homes with the growing numbers of
profiles run by women who share their homemaking approaches by presenting images of their home and their daily homemaking stories.
Similarly, Iranian women in the diaspora are also among the most popular Instagram profiles in the Iranian realm, sharing their homemaking strategies in a different country. Benefiting from the less restrictive context of diaspora, the narratives of homemaking is a combination of the Iranian culture and
the host country. These social platforms have provided a place of identity re-construction for the owners of these profile while creating a learning and sharing environment for their audience. Subsequently, this paper addresses the ways in which Iranian women in diaspora share their homemaking strategies with
other Iranian women in Iran and in the diaspora. What is chosen to be shared, how it is linked to the experience of Iranian home and the ways these narratives are situated within becoming processes as migrant women from Iran is the main focus of the paper. Consequently, the ways in which the Iranian diasporic home are chosen to be presented in social media and how these processes contribute to the conventional notion of the home being a female domain is scrutinised. The concluding discussions are grounded on examining whether these platforms of
homemaking narratives help towards the empowerment of Iranian women or results in affirming the conventional domestic gender roles.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 31 Jul 2019
EventDomesticity and Displacement since 1945: Refugees, Migrants & Expats making home - Palace of the Academies, KU LEUVEN University, Brussels, Belgium
Duration: 28 Mar 201929 May 2019
https://www.displacementdomesticity.com/102175

Conference

ConferenceDomesticity and Displacement since 1945: Refugees, Migrants & Expats making home
Country/TerritoryBelgium
CityBrussels
Period28/3/1929/5/19
Internet address

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