I Mission I Staff I FAQ I

 

Mission Statement
 

The mission of Iranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB) is to address issues of the Iranian diaspora through conferences, newsletters, seminars, and various forms of cultural exchanges

Iranian Alliances Across Borders strives to:

  • Raise awareness of the Iranian community and culture

  • Promote leadership in the Iranian diaspora community, with a specific focus on the younger generation

  • Connect Iranians across various borders

 

Who We Are:

Iranian Alliances Across Borders is a volunteer organization with a young dedicated staff spread across the United States, Europe and Iran.

Established in 2003 by students at Wellesley College and Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, Iranian Alliances Across Borders is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization that addresses issues of the Iranian diaspora by facilitating community building, developing ways to better understand what it means to be part of a diaspora community, and helping members of the Iranian diaspora community enhance connections with their new communities as well as maintain connections with their root community. 

 

Why We Exist:

As Iranians in the diaspora continue to build roots in their new countries and a new generation of hyphenated Iranians (Iranian-Americans, British-Iranians, French-Iranians, etc.) enters their mid-twenties, the social and psychological implications of this new community need to be addressed.  It is often cited that Iranian-Americans are the most successful minorities in the United States.  If this is true, several questions need to be addressed:
 

  • What are the implications of this "success"?  

  • How integrated and involved are Iranians in their new countries?

  • Where is this community now, how is it growing, and in what direction should the various communities continue to grow? 

  • How important is knowledge of the Persian language for the second-generation, and what ties, if any, does this generation have with Iran?

  • What types of alliances can be forged between Iranians in the various communities they now call home?

As hyphenated Iranians become further rooted in their new societies, it is important to analyze questions of identity and community formation. IAAB hopes to provide the environment and opportunities for our communities to engage in these questions while we encourage the building of alliances across our various borders.

 

How We Achieve These Goals:

To date, Iranian Alliances Across Borders has held two successful international conferences on the Iranian diaspora, the first in Boston, Massachusetts in 2004, and the second in College Park, Maryland in 2005. ( (Also, please make the years in this sentence link to their respective pages, ie con2004.htm and con2005.htm)). These conferences have brought together over 300 scholars, journalists, politicians, artists, activists, lawyers, NGO leaders, and students from across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Iran to address the issues facing our communities in diaspora.  In response to the issues raised at these conferences, we are currently involved in five new projects and we encourage you to read about them under the Projects section of this website.

 

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