Iranian Identity, American Experience: Philosophical Reflections on Race, Rights, Capabilities, and Oppression

Iranian Identity, American Experience: Philosophical Reflections on Race, Rights, Capabilities and Oppression is a multidisciplinary study, exploring the meaning of oppression both politically and individually and how to address it. In current studies of oppression, there is a dichotomy of Black and white that leaves out other communities of color. Also, there is little philosophical analysis of theoretical framework to think about race from the perspective of an immigrant community in the United States that appears to be educated and affluent. This book fills this gap with a philosophical case study looking at the Iranian-American population. Roksana Alavi argues that the census classification of Iranian Americans in the United States is a double-edged sword. The United States census classifies people of Middle East identity as “white,” asking them to check that race box, but the experiences of individuals say otherwise. Alavi discusses a theory of oppression that not only addresses the external oppression inflicted on people but also the everyday actions that leave them in oppressive situations.