Coming of Age in Iran: Poverty and the Struggle for Dignity [Hardcover]

An inside look at young Iranians navigating poverty and stigma in a time of crisis

Crippling sanctions, inflation, and unemployment have increasingly burdened young people in the Islamic Republic of Iran. InComing of Age in Iran, Manata Hashemi takes us inside the lives of poor Iranian youth, showing how these young men and women face their future prospects.

Drawing on first-hand accounts, Hashemi follows their stories, one by one, as they struggle to climb up the proverbial ladder of success. Based on years of ethnographic research among these youth in their homes, workspaces, and places of leisure, Hashemi shows how public judgments can give rise to meaningful changes for some while making it harder for others to escape poverty. Ultimately, Hashemi sheds light on the pressures these young men and women face, showing how many choose to comply withrather than resistsocial norms in their pursuit of status and belonging.

Coming of Age in Irantells the unprecedented story of how Irans young and struggling attempt to extend dignity and alleviate misery, illuminating the promisesand limitsof finding ones place during a time of profound uncertainty.

Manata Hashemiis the Farzaneh Family Assistant Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Oklahoma and the co-editor ofChildren in Crisis: Ethnographic Studies in International Contexts. The major contribution of Hashemis book lies in a vast spectrum of examples unfolding the mechanisms through which the low-income youth, on the one hand, internalize the conformity versus performance game; and, on the other hand, redefine the meaning of dignity beyond its immediate connection with capital accumulation. By putting the moral self at the core of its analysis,Coming of Age in Iranadds further nuances to the literature on bottom-up responses to economic deprivation ... the stories presented in the book are a thought-provoking invitation to reassess tlÑ