By Pouya Alimagham

I came to the United States when I was two years old.  I grew up speaking Persian at home.  I had been so accustomed to using English words for those Persian words I did not know, that I never realized how broken my Persian was.  Once I joined the Persian Club at Irvine Valley College and starting going to their meetings I realized how out-of-touch I was with my mother language.  Most of the students who ran the Persian Club had recently come to the U.S. and they spoke excellent Persian.  So when it was my turn to contribute, I would go to speak Persian and just embarrass myself.

When I came to UC Berkeley as a transfer student, I had an opportunity, which most Iranians in America do not.  UC Berkeley offers a wide variety of Persian language courses, from elementary, to courses for those who can speak, but can’t read and write well and want to improve their spoken Persian, to advanced Persian literature courses.  I took the one for those students who could speak Persian but need to improve their spoken Persian and learn how to read and write with Dr. Jaleh Pirnazar.  The beauty of the course with Dr. Pirnazar is that she did not just teach Persian, but she taught a better understanding of the Iranian culture and Iran’s history.  Dr. Pirnazar and her course were instrumental in my endeavor to discover myself and redefine my soul.  I wanted to take this time to briefly write about Dr. Pirnazar, the evolution of the Persian language program at UC Berkeley, and to link the necessity of such a program at Berkeley to the greater Iranian community.

In the 1970s, Dr. Pirnazar was an undergraduate at UC Berkeley and she was a teacher’s assistant for Dr. Ardavan Davaran, who headed the Persian language program.  After graduating, she became in charge of teaching the Persian language courses for elementary and intermediate levels in 1976.  At that time, there wasn’t much demand for Persian language courses.  Most of her students were friends, roommates, or fiancés of Iranian students studying in the U.S.  Years after the Iranian Revolution everything changed.  As the Iranian Diaspora was born from the Revolution and Iran-Iraq War, many flocked to the U.S.

Many of those Iranian students who were born in the early 1970s and had immigrated to the U.S. began enrolling in the intermediate level courses.  They had experienced their childhood in Iran, but were now in the U.S. because of the political upheavals in Iran.  They, however, were too well versed in Persian to take elementary Persian courses, but weren’t ready for the intermediate level.  As the number of these types of students grew, so did the demand for an alternative to the two options.  Eventually, the Near Eastern Studies Department instituted a Persian 106 course, which has just recently been changed to Persian 1 section 2.  This course is for those who can speak conversational Persian, but could improve their ability to speak Persian and can’t read and write well.

After more than twenty years of teaching the historic Persian language to hundreds of students, I thank you Dr. Pirnazar.  I thank you for making the classroom a home away from home.  I thank you for coming to class happy to be there.  You should be happy, you don’t just live to work and work to live, but your work serves a powerful purpose.  It helps us remember who we are and where we come from.  My hat goes off to you and your colleagues who also teach the Persian language in your department: Dr. Koroush Angali and Dr. Wali Ahmadi.  As a matter of fact, I would like to thank all those who teach Persian at universities/colleges, who are private tutors, and those moms and dads that tried their best to teach Persian to their sons and daughters, as my mother tried to do. 

My only point of sorrow is now that I have experienced this wonderful program, which helped me discover myself, I am sorry and disheartened to know that many Iranians do not have this same opportunity to learn about their language, history, and culture.  Of the one million or so Iranians in California who are quickly losing their identity, I wish they could have the same opportunity I had at UC Berkeley.  UC Berkeley is among a few universities that teach the Persian language on a consistent basis. Stanford and UCLA have such programs and Cal State Fullerton has just instituted a small program.  UCI and UC Davis, which have huge Iranian student populations, are in dire need of the program.  Who will take the initiative to organize a campaign to get wealthy Iranians to fund and institute a program at a university like UCI that has a sizable Iranian student population? 

To get Cal State Fullerton to expand their one course Persian Studies program, (Iranian students flooded the course on the first day of registration and the program wanted to set up another course to meet the demand but lacked funds!), Iranian non-student cultural organizations in Orange County brilliantly began planning.  They invited the Black Cats to play at a fund raising event where all the ticket sales went to the program.  The event was sold out.  Why should the buck stop at Cal State Fullerton?

We need to build an infrastructure so that the next generation of Iranian/Iranian-Americans can continue our traditions and preserve our historic culture.  We need to create an environment where the coming generations will maintain their connection to Iran and be proud of their Iranian identity; that’s why I’m involved in the Iranian Student Alliance in America (ISAA).  ISAA is about establishing our community, promoting a proud identity, spreading a better awareness and appreciation of our culture, and spreading awareness on Iran and Iranian issues.

About the author:

Pouya Alimagham is a student at UC Berkeley (Double major: Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science). He is also the president of Iranian Student Alliance in America (http://isaa.berkeley.edu).