45. the joy of working with others
thinking about junior high la & iranian diaspora studies
Hi there! 👋 I’m Ida, and this is tiny driver, a newsletter about research, pedagogy, culture and their intersections. Thank you for being here. Reach out anytime by just hitting reply, I love hearing from you.
Hi all, and happy Monday.
I'm currently writing to you on a gloomy Sunday afternoon. One thing that has been keeping me going is vicariously living through all people hanging out at Junior High LA. For those who don't know, Junior High is an LA-based community space "serving artists marginalized by cis-hetero patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy." Outside of their exhibit work, the folks at Junior High also host events and community-oriented gatherings in an effort to make Los Angeles a warmer, more equitable place. Back in July, I wrote about the unfortunate impact that COVID had on the organization, which caused their Hollywood space to close. But, they fundraised in a BIG way, and they've recently re-opened in Glendale. I couldn't be more thrilled to see all the amazing pictures of their renovated space and their grand re-opening!
One of the most humbling experiences I've had this year was getting the chance to work with Junior High as a consultant for their community agreements and org training. The organization has been such a lovely thing for me to take part in just as a person in the space, so it felt extremely wonderful to give back in a way that was meaningful. Over the past couple of months, I've been working with Faye & Eden on plans for making the space inclusive, warm, and police independent. AKA the space folks really need rn.
While there have been many great moments with Faye & Eden throughout this project, one of the best experiences for me personally was facilitating the creation of Junior High's Community Agreements. We went from answering questions like, "What is your vision of the space in its new iteration?" to a living document of best practices that will make the Junior High community a space where everyone feels safe and at home.
On June 8, I'll be leading an Anti-Racism Training seminar for venues that's hosted by Junior High. In this 3-hour workshop, we'll cover some basics on the following topics:
Police independent responses
Racial bias in booking + curation
De-escalation + conflict mediation
If your venue is interested, reach out to Junior High & come on through. I'd love to see you!
What I write.
Last Thursday, I moderated an event on the field of Iranian Diaspora Studies, featuring some of the leading scholars in the field: Farzaneh Hemmasi, Persis Karim, Neda Maghbouleh and Amy Malek.
This panel came out of a roundtable for the Association of Asian American Studies conference that was cancelled because of the pandemic. We wanted to address this emerging field and how it connected with the foundational frameworks of Asian American Studies, and where we saw ourselves and the field going. In this new iteration of that original roundtable, I wanted to bring together scholars that had disparate departmental homes: ethnomusicology, comparative literature, sociology, and anthropology. Despite these methodological differences, I have read all of their work, as I see each of them work to theorize and lay ground for the field in a way that moves beyond discipline.
As I said at the beginning of the panel:
This panel is centered on how the humanities more broadly has opened new pathways for thinking about Iranian diasporas in research and teaching. How do we change curricula, redefine concepts, add new layers of meaning and otherwise change the stories of migration and displacement? What scholarship has been particularly generative for us and where have we had to innovate and adapt to find concepts and frameworks that work for the populations we study? How do Iranians fit into our picture of the histories of empire, racialization, assimilation, the global division of labor, extractive capitalism, neoliberalism, wars and revolutions, as well as the gender and sexual politics of racialized identity?
While we obviously couldn't get to all these questions and issues, I think they were good primers for understanding the intellectual project that we were trying to think through. What emerged was a conversation across disciplines that called for a a critique of the term "diaspora" & the work it does (& does not) do, a sustained engagement with transnational analysis, as well as a commitment to the professionalization of future scholars in the field to do this work and do it legibly.
To my great surprise, we also had a fantastic turnout:
There were even some folks there who learned about the event through tiny driver! 🥰 🚗 Hello & thank you so much for coming!
What I consume.
In the Bookshop:
Currently Reading: Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
On Deck: The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The tiny driver book club is tonight!!!!!
For our May book club, we will be reading Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong. Feel free to purchase a copy of the book here! You can find details on the book club below.
Date & Time: Monday, May 24 at 5PM PST/8PM EST
Registration Link!!!
Suggested donation (for those able to donate): $3-20 through Paypal or Venmo (@idyalz)
Item(s) of note.
"But instead, this system culminates in the muddled median of everyone on earth’s most average tastes." On the mediocrity of "straight TikTok."
Another essay from Alexander Chee that cuts so deep.
Learning about productive conflict from astronauts.
Public Books' first episode in their newest podcast season, "Becoming Data"
Emily VanDerWerff on her best tip for overcoming writers block.
"...preventing children from reading my book, or any book, won’t protect them. On the contrary, it may rob them of ways to understand the world they’ll encounter, or even the lives they’re already living. You can’t recognize what you’ve never been taught to see. You can’t put language to something for which you’ve been given no language." Carmen Maria Machado on the consequences of censorship.
A pup-date.
THIS. This picture right here. I can't with this glamor shot. She just looks...SO. CUTE!
As always, thanks so much for reading through, and I'll see you in the next one!
Warmly,
Ida
Love what you did at Junior High LA and so glad the disapora had a great turnout!
Thanks for the heads up on Junior High LA! Looks really cool.