Conceptualizing Displacement Through Poetry: An Analysis of Persian and Chicana Poetry Through Embodied Women of Color Feminisms

In this thesis, I view poetry as a site of revelatory self-(re)envisioning through which one’s lived and learned experiences of displacement can be distilled, processed, and shared. From my lived experience as a Persian American woman who cannot step foot in Iran, I feel how poetry gives me a voice to name my complex experiences of (be)longing. From my work with Chicana feminisms and poetry, I see how poetry is utilized to conceptualize Chicana identities that experience ambivalent belongings due to the (re)designation of the US-Mexico border. As I analyze poetry written in the late 20th and 21st centuries by Persian and Chicana writers, I ask: How does poetry hold space for the lived realities of (be)longing experienced by poets who have undergone displacement, whether firsthand or otherwise? My choice to center Persian and Chicana poetry allows me to honor my lived knowledge as a Persian American poet and academic engagement with Chicana and women of color feminisms, as well as comparative literature analytical frameworks. In this thesis, it is crucial to draw upon Persian and Chicana theorization as well as women of color feminist theory. Writers whose work I engage include Gloria Anzaldúa, Audre Lorde, Cherríe Moraga, Mariana Ortega, María Lugones, Shireen Roshanravan, and Sara Ahmed. With the support of their theorization, I illustrate how Persian and Chicana writers express their experiences of displacement through poetry to conceptualize identity and (be)longing through displacement. Major themes identified in this self-conceptualization include lived contradictions, identity multiplicity, “world”-traveling, an imaginary homeland, and the shared corporeality between poet and poem. As I write, I bring historical context, feminist theorization, and close readings together to support my argument that poetry is a tangible site through which to conceptualize the personal and the political of displacement. This thesis also involves a personal creative element, as I analyze three of my own poems and include my poetry collection, The Sad Songs Are Not Sad, Just Distant, as an appendix.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Oregon

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Minu-Sepehr, Lily

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Millán, Isabel

• Comparative Literature
• Embodied women of color feminisms
• Displacement
• Poetry and poetics
• Identity multiplicity and (be)longing

Statement dc:rights

• CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1794/31349

OAI record oai:identifier

https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Ascholarsbank.uoregon.edu%3A1794%2F31349