Margins and Meanings

A Conversation on Culture, Literature, and Migration

This conversation explores the role of culture, literature, language, and migration through the perspectives of theorists such as Žižek, Lacan, Adorno, Foucault, Said, Butler, Bakhtin, and others. The interview takes a critical approach, analyzing literature as a reflection of individual and social unconscious tensions, a tool of resistance against ideological dominance, and a dialogic space for marginalized voices.

It also examines the role of media, the lived experiences of migrants, transformations in contemporary poetry, expressive qualities of language, and the challenges of individuality versus collectivism in modern literature. The text establishes a dynamic connection between theoretical perspectives and the author’s personal experience, emphasizing the need for support structures in migration literature.

This conversation was first published in the cultural-literary monthly magazine Sokhan, Year 10 / Issue 100 / February 2025.

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How Can We Examine and Understand Culture and Its Socio-Perceptual Role in the Fragmented Mental Landscape of Modern Humanity?

lavoj Žižek, in the “Symptom” section of his book The Sublime Object of Ideology (translated by Ali Behrouzi), offers an intriguing framework for analyzing culture and its cognitive-social position. Žižek argues that culture, like a "symptom," is precisely where underlying contradictions and structural tensions become visible.

The symptom Žižek refers to is rooted in Karl Marx’s definition—an external manifestation of hidden contradictions within social structures, especially under capitalism. Marx explained this concept in relation to commodity fetishism, where the value of an object is falsely perceived as intrinsic, despite actually reflecting human labor and social relations. Lacan later expanded this idea into psychoanalysis, defining the symptom as a manifestation of unconscious tensions at both individual and collective levels. In Lacanian theory, the symptom is part of an individual's psychological structure, deeply tied to language, symbols, and social order.

Žižek connects this concept of the symptom to the social fragmentation of modern society. He argues that modern social order is increasingly fractured, with these divisions becoming particularly evident in culture and literature. Cultural symptoms serve a dual function: they attempt to conceal societal contradictions, yet inevitably reveal them as well. A novel, for example, might appear to be a simple entertaining story, but beneath the surface, it may expose tensions related to identity, class, or gender disintegration. This is especially relevant in modern societies where traditional values and norms have collapsed. Žižek suggests that these fractures do not remain solely at the social level—they penetrate the unconscious, shaping how individuals experience cultural enjoyment. This creates a paradoxical dynamic, where individuals both criticize societal breakdowns and unconsciously submit to them through engagement with culture.

Thus, culture becomes the ideal lens for analyzing modern society. In a world increasingly fragmented by digital media, global platforms like Instagram, rapid technological advancements, and globalization, culture provides a means to explore these fractures and investigate deep structural tensions within society.

What Is the Role of Literature in Reflecting Human Social Life?

As I mentioned, Lacan viewed culture and literature as spaces for the manifestation of unconscious tensions, revealing suppressed contradictions through symbolic language. From this perspective, literature acts as a mirror—reflecting human psychology, social structures, and underlying complexities.

However, human social life is multi-dimensional and can be analyzed through various viewpoints. Theodor Adorno, in his book Aesthetic Theory, examines literature’s role in representing these dimensions through the concept of "aesthetic autonomy." According to Adorno, this autonomy allows literature to exist independently of external forces such as political agendas or market pressures, enabling it to challenge social contradictions through themes, structure, and form.

Yet, achieving aesthetic autonomy is deeply affected by power dynamics, shaping access, visibility, and literary freedom. In Iran, where literary markets are under strict censorship and government control, independent thinking is severely limited. Even in non-government markets, social media often prioritizes popularity over depth, favoring likes and follower counts rather than intellectual merit. Consequently, writers in marginalized regions with limited internet access or diaspora writers disconnected from Iranian literary circles may paradoxically possess greater independence, yet remain less visible.

This dynamic reflects Michel Foucault’s theory of power, which explores how discourse and institutions determine which narratives are heard and which are silenced. Here, unofficial literature—letters, diaries, and manuscripts—becomes crucial. For instance, Alireza Roshan, an Iranian poet and researcher based in Germany, has analyzed archival footnotes and correspondences from the Constitutional Era, offering a radically different interpretation of society’s relationship with religion than official narratives suggest.

Edward Said, in Orientalism, argues that literature has historically reinforced power hierarchies by producing reductive stereotypes of "the Other." However, literature also has the capacity to challenge these representations, exposing biases and creating space for authentic voices.

One scholar applying Said’s ideas to Persian literature is Amir Kalan, an Iranian-Canadian writer, translator, and researcher. Kalan questions orientalist stereotypes and works to document and amplify the experiences of Iranian migrant and diaspora writers. His efforts not only provide a critique of dominant literary narratives in both Iran and the West but also actively expand the scope of Persian literary traditions. By recovering forgotten voices and marginalized perspectives, Kalan contributes to the revitalization of Persian literary heritage.

Similarly, Reza Baraheni, a prominent Iranian-Canadian poet, literary critic, and translator, applied Said’s postcolonial critique not only to Western orientalist narratives but also to domestic hegemonies within Iran. In The Seven-Headed Dragon, Baraheni analyzes the reductive representations of Iranian culture, advocating for the empowerment of marginalized voices and demonstrating how literature can combat stereotypes and strengthen identities.

Another crucial factor shaping human social life is identity. Judith Butler, in her theory of performativity, explains how social norms construct identities, while literature challenges or reinforces these structures by depicting characters who either conform or resist societal expectations. For example, Forough Farrokhzad’s poetry subverts traditional gender norms, rejecting conventional expectations of female chastity, sacrifice, submission, and passivity, instead portraying women as independent and multidimensional.

Similarly, Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism and heteroglossia explores how literature fosters ideological intersections through diverse voices. Mahmoud Khoshchehreh, an Iranian-Canadian literary scholar and mentor, has applied Bakhtin’s concepts to analyze Nima Yooshij’s poetry, showing how Persian literary traditions engage with modernist innovations. Using Bakhtin’s idea of literary architecture, Khoshchehreh demonstrates how Nima’s poetic structures reflect Iran’s 20th-century cultural and historical transformations.

In summary, literature serves as a reflection of society, capable of revealing hidden tensions, critiquing power structures, analyzing social relationships, and amplifying marginalized voices.

How Are the Expressive Qualities of Language Evaluated in Literary Functions, and What Is the Role of Language?

In my view, the expressive qualities of language in literature must be examined through a dynamic interplay between sound, cultural context, and personal interpretation—an interaction that allows language to go beyond mere communication, creating a deep, multi-layered experience for the reader. Language operates at multiple levels, combining rhythm, structure, and symbolism to form an intimate connection between the text and the audience. These qualities serve not only as a medium for conveying meaning but also as a means of evoking emotion, producing musicality, and reflecting cultural values, ultimately shaping a unique experience for the reader.

For me, phonemes, vowels, pauses, and rhythms play a central role in the reading experience of poetry. These elements define the emotional tone of a work and often evoke feelings before the meaning itself is fully comprehended. Roman Jakobson argued that phonetic patterns such as rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration are not merely decorative but rather essential components of the emotional and cognitive impact of literature. This was precisely the turning point in Ahmad Shamlou's poetry, where his deep understanding of Persian phonetics and skillful use of the inherent musicality of language in free verse poetry marked a major aesthetic shift.

Similarly, Reza Baraheni expanded this auditory experience through his linguistic theories, making language the very axis of his poetry. He viewed the sounds, rhythms, and pauses within words as even more emotionally and psychologically resonant than their direct meaning, believing that poetry begins with the musicality of language and that the arrangement of sounds and silences evokes emotions and imagery before full comprehension of meaning occurs. As reflected in my own poetry, I deeply align with this perspective. Baraheni believed that focusing on the auditory and rhythmic dimensions of language allows poets to break free from traditional structures, creating works that connect with readers on a deeper and more instinctive level. Just like the language poetry movement in the West, Baraheni perceived the relationship between sound and meaning as fluid and dynamic, viewing each poem as a complex dialogue between the auditory and the intellectual.

At the same time, I firmly believe in the importance of personal interpretation in literary works. For me, the true value of literature lies in its expansiveness—its ability to generate multiple readings and meanings. Jacques Derrida emphasized the inherent fluidity of language, arguing that meaning is never fixed but emerges through an ongoing interaction between text, writer, and reader. While the poet’s unconscious shapes the sounds and structures of language, the reader’s cultural background and personal experiences ultimately determine how these elements are interpreted.

In a shared culture, specific sounds and symbols carry pre-established meanings, creating a connection between poet and reader. For instance, certain rhythmic structures or repeated phonemes may evoke joy or sorrow, linking the text to the collective unconscious of a society. Ferdinand de Saussure’s semiotic theory precisely explains how language functions as a system of signs, where meaning arises from the relationship between the signifier (sound or symbol) and the signified (concept).

The poetry of Ahmadreza Ahmadi exemplifies this phenomenon. His use of surreal and abstract imagery encourages readers to engage their imagination, drawing them into a nostalgic and sentimental atmosphere while addressing existential themes. His fluid rhythm and sonic qualities amplify the emotional depth of his text, creating a coherent interplay between fragmented symbolic elements.

For this reason, I believe that poetry cannot truly be translated. Once language is detached from its cultural context, it loses its phonetic and symbolic references. While poetry may still carry conceptual and emotional appeal, without its linguistic and historical framework, much of its interpretive depth disappears.

Another crucial aspect of expressive qualities in literature is form and its deep connection to cultural context and personal interpretation. Camille Paglia, an American writer and cultural critic, presents an engaging Nietzschean analysis of how cultural forces influence literary form, drawing upon the Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy. Paglia argues that Eastern literary traditions often embody cyclical (Dionysian) structures, evoking renewal, interconnection, and unity with nature, whereas Western traditions follow a linear structure, building toward a climax before descending again. She sees this as a reflection of Western cultures, rooted in causality and individualism.

While a full analysis of her perspective on Eastern literature and its application to Persian poetry requires deeper discussion, I would highlight that the evolution of Persian classical poetry toward Nimaic verse—closer to Western structural forms—coincided with the rise of modernism in Iran. Over time, as Iranian society embraced modernist thought, Nimaic poetry grew in popularity.

As modernism entered Iran, Persian cultural works became increasingly aligned with Western intellectual and artistic movements. For instance, Forough Farrokhzad's poetry resonated with Western existentialist thought (1940s–1960s), confessional poetry (1950s–1970s), and modernist cinema (1950s–1960s), as well as the works of figures like Sylvia Plath and Albert Camus. She internalized these influences, adapting them to her lived experience as a woman struggling against the constraints of a deeply patriarchal and religious society.

Similarly, the "Volume Poetry" movement of Yadollah Royaee was shaped by Western experimental movements, such as Abstract Expressionism (1940s–1960s), Spatialism (1940s–1960s), and Visual Poetry (1950s–1960s). The works of T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound also played a significant role in shaping this poetic movement. Mehdi Ganjavi, an Iranian-Canadian literary scholar, sees Royaee’s multilayered linguistic structures, abstract imagery, and nonlinear forms as an attempt to depict a fragmented and scattered world, inviting the reader into interpretive engagement.

Thus, from my perspective, the expressive qualities of language in literature serve as a vital intermediary for reflecting and understanding cultural context, individual experience, and socio-political transformations.

What Is the Global Status of Poetry, and How Is Its Evolution Shaping Up?

I must admit that I still cannot say with certainty whether I am optimistic or pessimistic about the current state of poetry. The world in which poetry is "consumed" and "distributed" is rapidly evolving. Certain aspects concern me, particularly the influence of social media on poetry, especially Instagram poetry, which has often been simplified for quick consumption—reduced to bite-sized quotes that resemble truck bumper slogans more than literary works. The pleasure of reading poetry in solitude, of immersing in its language and discovering its depth, has largely been replaced by fleeting visual engagement, often fixated on the accompanying image or the poet’s celebrity status. This shift is not limited to poetry but has fundamentally altered all literary forms.

However, globalization and technological advances have also brought positive changes to poetry. As someone who reads poetry in both Persian and English, access to online resources and AI-assisted tools has made it easier for me to understand cultural and historical references, helping bridge interpretive gaps and deepening engagement with contemporary global poetry.

Technology also exposes the reality that many texts resembling poetry are not actually poetry. If an AI can generate a piece of writing, it cannot truly be considered poetry, because AI merely reproduces pre-existing patterns, lacking authentic artistic innovation. Many contemporary poems that merely recycle language, form, or sentiment—while paradoxically achieving commercial success—fall into this trap of imitation without true creativity.

The future trajectory of poetry will likely depend on how it negotiates tensions between market forces, technological advancements, and shifting cultural landscapes. I can only hope that literary depth and authenticity remain foundational to poetry’s evolution.

Where Can We Identify the Function of Criticism?

The answer to this question depends both on the perspective from which criticism is framed and the domain in which it is applied. Criticism, much like a mirror, reflects both the strengths and weaknesses of a system, idea, work, or any subject, creating a foundation for change and reconsideration.

However, the framework of criticism determines its direction and purpose. For example a cultural perspective examines social norms and values. Critical theories challenge power structures and systemic inequalities. A psychoanalytic approach analyzes unconscious motivations. Intersectional analysis deepens our understanding of overlapping forms of oppression in lived experiences.

Depending on how these theories and frameworks are applied, criticism provides a method for examining and analyzing the elements unique to each field. In art and literature, criticism allows us to uncover hidden meanings, explore aesthetic structures, investigate historical and social contexts, and assess cultural impact. However, each field has its own unique components, meaning that criticism is shaped and applied based on those specific factors.

Ultimately, criticism is a versatile tool—it can be applied to any domain and, through different perspectives, enables a deeper understanding of relevant elements within that area.

How Is Individuality Positioned in Contemporary Literature?

I can approach this question from two perspectives: one considering Iran and the other the world. Although Iran is not completely disconnected from global literary trends and is increasingly influenced by Western culture, Iranian art and literature, like many other Eastern cultures, remain deeply collectivist. That is, works are still primarily community-centered and differ from the individualism seen in the West.

This characteristic is evident even in works such as Asghar Farhadi’s films, including A Separation and The Salesman, which appear to focus on individual issues yet still revolve around family and social relationships, collective responsibilities, and moral complexities.

Although I have not lived in Iran for years, my observations through online channels and publications, as well as my experience as a judge in the Soye Roozan poetry competition, show that most works still carry deep collectivist themes. Even my own poetry, despite years of living in the West, is not exempt from this trend. This indicates that individualism is still not fully ingrained in Iranian literature.

However, the West, since the Enlightenment, has established individual independence as one of its foundational ideas. This approach has manifested even more deeply in contemporary movements such as postmodernism, which emphasizes multiplicity of perspectives and personal interpretations, and queer theory, which embraces diverse and fluid identities. Additionally, intersectional theory, which has become a dominant philosophy shaping life and thought today, is inherently individualistic because it is based on personal lived experiences.

Now, where have these intellectual traditions and ideological movements existed and evolved? In the digital age, which has given every individual a platform to share personal narratives on a global scale. Therefore, it is not surprising that individualism has been reinforced in an unprecedented way.

However, in recent years, we have witnessed a clear shift toward collectivism in the West, which appears to be a response to the prevailing extreme individualism.

One of the main drivers of this change has been climate crises, which rely on collective responsibility and cooperation. Social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights have also made systemic inequalities more visible, shifting the focus from individual accountability to structural and communal change.

The critiques of intellectuals such as Mark Fisher and Rutger Bregman have also contributed to undermining the neoliberal ideology of extreme individualism. Fisher, in Capitalist Realism, effectively demonstrates how neoliberalism isolates individuals, eroding their sense of belonging and collective responsibility. Bregman, in Humankind, highlights innate human traits such as empathy and cooperation, criticizing neoliberalism for marginalizing collectivist values by promoting relentless competition. These perspectives have paved the way for greater acceptance of collectivist approaches.

Another intellectual movement currently flourishing in the West is decolonization, which significantly challenges Western individualism. At the same time, the growing popularity of indigenous cultures has not only strengthened communal bonds and human connection to nature but has also created a platform for the expression and recognition of non-Western cultures, which often have more collectivist orientations.

Social media, as previously mentioned, has reinforced individualism on one hand, yet on the other, its viral nature often prioritizes collective narratives over personal ones, creating a "big data"-driven approach where trends and patterns overshadow unique voices. Similarly, artificial intelligence, which operates based on aggregated data and information synthesis, further amplifies this trend.

How do globalist perspectives in migrant literature position themselves for contemporary humanity?

In the current landscape, where intersectional and postcolonial theory shape a significant portion of Western intellectual and cultural discourse, migration poetry has become a widely explored space for navigating the complexities of identity, displacement, and the sense of belonging. Migration poetry often intertwines personal narratives with collective experiences, depicting the intersections of race, gender, class, and migration within a postcolonial framework.

For instance, Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong, a Vietnamese-American poet who won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2017, merges migration, family, and survival with a poetic exploration of gender and identity. Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire, a British-Somali poet whose poetry inspired Beyoncé’s 2016 album Lemonade, reflects the migrant experience through an intense poetic portrayal of exile, femininity, and resilience. Natalie Diaz, a Native American poet, addresses themes such as estrangement and cultural erasure in Postcolonial Love Poem, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2021.

However, different approaches emerge within migration poetry. For example, Mahmoud Darwish, the prominent Palestinian poet, in Unfortunately, It Was Paradise, instead of focusing solely on the personal experience of exile, utilizes universal poetic imagery to link Palestinian collective resistance with human and global concerns. Abbas Safavi, an Iranian-American poet, in Wet Matches, through subtle humor, illustrates the contradictions between the culture of origin and that of the destination, occasionally narrating with bitterness and sometimes with sweetness, demonstrating how these challenges influence migrant identity formation.

Li-Young Lee, a prominent Chinese-Indonesian-American poet, in Winged Seed: A Memoir, which won the prestigious American Book Award in 1995, poetically explores migration, memory, and identity. Through cultural reimagination via connection to the past, he creates new perspectives on survival and resistance, depicting the human migration experience in a deeply moving and impactful manner.

For me personally, depending on whether I write my poetry in Persian or English, I observe a noticeable difference in theme. In Persian, my poetry often refers to an imagined past, likely reflecting my inner nostalgia as someone distant from their homeland. However, in my English poems, I unconsciously always exist as "the Other," even when writing about a universal theme that I and a Canadian may experience in the same way. I believe the style of migration poetry is largely shaped by the lived experience of the migrant poet and their understanding of life in their new environment.

How do you evaluate the role of media in reflecting migration literature?

Literary media play a crucial role in reflecting migration literature, but unfortunately, they are currently scarce, especially among the diaspora. Due to the dispersed nature of Persian-speaking poetry readers worldwide, finding a globally accessible media outlet that can publish news about new poetry collections or provide specialized critique is highly challenging, let alone covering other Iranian languages.

I published my first book, Daughter of Khordad, through Afra Publishing on Amazon to leverage the platform's strong distribution network and make purchasing it easier for global audiences. However, the responsibility for promoting the book's release largely fell on me. I had to generate literary content daily on Instagram and Facebook to reach an audience that might be interested in my poetry. This was highly demanding and time-consuming for someone with a full-time job. Fortunately, I was supported by dedicated individuals passionate about literature, who managed cultural and literary media outside of Iran.

At that time, Voice of America aired a cultural program that interviewed me about the book. Additionally, media outlets such as Radio Hamrah in California, Avaye Tab’eid on Radio Zamaneh in the Netherlands, Shahrvand Weekly in Toronto, Shahrgan Magazine in Vancouver, and specialized poetry websites like Avangardha Website and Hafteh Magazine in Canada helped introduce and review my poetry collection.

However, this experience was entirely different from when I co-published Lead Letters with Reza Rouzbahani in Iran. The level of coverage by Iranian newspapers and websites at the time was significantly broader, leading me to publish my next two books in Iran. (Though I now think differently about this.)

On the other hand, due to my absence from Iran and my inability to participate in literary gatherings, I lacked access to people who follow literature critically and seriously. Nevertheless, I was fortunate that Reza Rouzbahani generously introduced my later books to key literary figures in poetry, feminism, and literature—individuals I had admired for years—to have my work evaluated and reviewed.

What is the current state of Iranian migration literature in Persian?

I can only speak from my own personal experience and that of poets I know. However, in the absence of an effective Persian-language poetry media platform within the diaspora, as well as the lack of literary competitions, events, specialized publications, and critical reviews, and the scattered nature of poetry audiences outside Iran, publishing Persian-language works in the diaspora has become increasingly futile. This has led individuals to take different paths.

Some have abandoned poetry altogether, some have submitted to censorship and continued publishing in Iran, others have found underground methods to distribute their work, and some have switched to writing in the language of their host country. The last option is the one that I, along with many others, have chosen—a path I find tragic, as our cultural and linguistic connections with the new language will never reach the depth of our mother tongue.

What are your recommendations for structuring migration literature?

Before proposing solutions, I must emphasize that suggesting ideas is easy, but without sufficient resources, implementing them is much harder. Most poets I know work full-time jobs unrelated to poetry, and as you likely know, cultural activities within our society do not generate significant income. Therefore, consider my suggestions as distant dreams that I wish would come true someday:

Creating global online literary journals and social media platforms, including YouTube channels and podcasts, that critically analyze literary works—not just for the diaspora, but also for poets and writers inside Iran who choose independent publishing.
Establishing an independent website and research center to publish academic articles on literary topics, making them referenceable for scholarly work.
Hosting regular global poetry competitions (annually or semi-annually) that can be covered by independent platforms like literary YouTube channels and podcasts.
Organizing global poetry festivals or events, such as Tirgan Poetry Nights, which once allowed me to perform alongside Yadollah Royaee and other esteemed poets.

Despite the challenges, I believe these ideas could lead to positive changes in the world of migration literature and Persian poetry, though achieving them will require significant time and resources.