Acculturation strategies and exile in Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

Abstract

ABSTRACTMy paper uses theories of acculturation in order to analyze the attempts of transnational individuals to synthesize original and host cultures, Eastern and Western identities. I demonstrate that in Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir Persepolis and the relating film adaptation the narrating self assumes the role of a mediating person who maintains the integration strategy of acculturation. Nevertheless, Satrapi only partly explains how the experiencing self acquires the necessary in-between position which makes the integration or synthesis between the two cultures possible. The memoir details only how the protagonist experiences the superficial aspects of Western culture, the initial honeymoon and culture shock phases of acculturation, and maintains a sharp distinction between the narrating and experiencing selves of the narrator. Thus, Persepolis leaves the question unanswered in which way she synthesizes her Iranian and Western identities. To explain this conundrum, I apply contemporary theories of exile and place the memoir in the context of Iranian exilic cultural production. Such theories and memoirs stress that the oscillation between various cultures does not only drive exiles into depression, but it also contributes to their intellectual and artistic activities by positioning the narrator as a privileged individual with a unique, in-between point-of-view and liminal position.