Empowerment without emancipation: performativity and political activism among Iranian refugees in Italy and Turkey

Abstract

This article examines the centrality of political activism in Iranian refugees' identity and investigates how they perform and incorporate it by considering the interlocked pressure of international politics, personal networks and civil society organisations' assistance. The case of Iranian political refugees in Italy and Turkey is of particular interest, due to the international visibility the Green movement enjoys, the Iranian people's historical experience of emigration and to the fact that Iran is a subject of great interest for a number of human rights NGOs. The article shows how the process of incorporation of "being a refugee" comes about not only through classical forms of institutional pressure but also through "unexpected" forms, such as NGOs' efforts of empowering the refugees politically. Despite the positive value attached to it, in this context political activism can force refugees into pre-established role, such as the one of "human rights defenders" or "Green movement activists." The article brings further evidence to the fact that refugees are merged in a context that dominates them, even when it paradoxically tries to empower them.