How Do Iranians Remember? Post-memory and Diasporic Inheritance in the Iranian Context

This paper explores the concept of post-memory within the Iranian diaspora through the lens of Marianne Hirsch's theoretical framework. Focusing on the intergenerational transmission of traumatic memory, the study examines how second-generation Iranians inherit and reconstruct memories of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and its aftermath—events they did not directly experience. Drawing on visual and narrative sources—including the photographic works of Rana Javadi and the diasporic themes in Asghar Farhadi's film A Separation—the paper illustrates how post-memory operates through images, oral histories, and material culture to shape diasporic identity. By comparing the Iranian case with more widely studied diasporas such as the Jewish and Armenian, the study highlights the underrepresented but richly complex nature of Iranian diasporic memory work. Ultimately, the paper argues that visual archives and nostalgic representations of pre-revolutionary Iran play a crucial role in sustaining a cultural and emotional connection to a "lost homeland" among diasporic generations.