Contemporary debates in social sciences are replete with metaphors of displacement such as diaspora, exile, hybridity, and nomadism.
Halleh Ghorashi explores the cultural and political implications of such terms and demonstrates how the social and political contexts of the host countries play a crucial role in influencing the experiences of diasporic communities. Focusing on the life stories of Iranian women whose leftist political activism has led them to exile in the West, she offers at once powerful narratives of cultural dislocation and a compelling critique of social theories that privilege ethnicity over social location.