Intro
Salaam. My name is Donya Alinejad and I am an Iranian and Australian national, as well as researcher at the Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam in the Netherlands. A short time ago I started working on a project that focuses on trying to understand the multitude of ways in which Iranians in LA use the internet. This project is tentatively called "Mapping a Transnational Nation on the World Wide Web: an Online/Offline approach to studying Iranian Diaspora Internet Use in Los Angeles."
The title phrase "On Location" refers to the fact that I have started this blog as part of preparing to travel to my fieldwork location in Los Angeles, where I will continue to post updates based on what I find out. At the same time, however, the title also refers to one of my important hypotheses about what I will find once I'm there. Namely, I think how people communicate through the Internet is shaped more by their locality than it is by a free-floating, cyberworld that exists only on the screen. So my investigation of the Internet's role takes place offline too! And one thing I would really like to know more about is the role of location, territory, borders, places, (e.g. Iran and US locations/borders) and how they are shaped by, or constructed within, the disembodied, dislocated spaces of the Internet...
But this is just one of the many MANY questions I have about what it means to be Iranian (or Persian American or American of Persian descent, etc.) in LA and use the Internet. For instance, is there such as thing as a (virtual) Persian Communtiy? What are the limits of political organization with the help of the Internet? How do people "(be)come" Iranian online? etc, etc. That is why, while the location question is a means for me to introduce to you my research, my thoughts, and indeed my blog, it does not mean that my focus, hypotheses, and questions won't shift, multiply or change along the line as I talk to new people and observe new things. In fact, I do expect such shifts to happen during the period of fieldwork that I will be doing in LA and Iran over the next year. I will be doing qualitative research, which to me means collecting ethnographic data through in depth-interviews and spending time with Iranians/Persians who live in and around Greater Los Angeles.
Hopes
My hope for this blog is not only to offer a way for me to represent myself to those from whom I ask co-operation as respondents, but also to allow them to take part in "re-representing" themselves to me through their comments on the fieldwork observations and the analytical reflections that I post here. That means telling me what you really think!
I start here with humble expectations, knowing that I am leaving the Netherlands for the US in a few weeks to arrive in a city I barely know with the aim of finding, meeting, and making connections with people who are willing to give their time and energy for a stranger's research project. To help along this introduction process I will do everything I can to answer questions, give clarifications, etc. about myself and my research goals, so please just ask and I will do my best to answer. Although I don't expect much at this stage, I do nevertheless hope that this blog and this project respectively will grow into something that is shaped by the voices, experiences, and stories of the people that this research is based around. I hope you can help me with that.
1 year ago
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