| Abstract: | Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and audio recordings at a US summer camp by and for Iranian-heritaged youth, this paper analyses the construction of ethno-national identity during the ‘Ta'arof Tournament’, a popular camp activity that literally makes sport of the Iranian custom of self-effacement, politeness and hospitality. A repertoire of six ta'arof strategies is identified: (a) reliance on pre-existing, commonly used ta'arof phrases, (b) ‘code-switching’ between English and Persian, (c) body gestures, (d) novel, hyperbolic ‘ta'arof-style’ phrases, (e) exaggerated ‘Iranian’ accents and (f) subversive and humorous re-enactments of life in immigrant households. Camp participants embrace, renew and transform the quintessentially ‘Iranian’ custom of ta'arof while self-consciously performing for one another. Despite scholarship that relies on ‘cultural trauma’ and ‘stigma’ to explain identity ‘loss’ among immigrant groups, these findings reveal that the ironic, tender cultural performance of ‘rituals’ like ta'arof serve as powerful source material for group affinity and belonging in diaspora. |
