“We are not terrorists!” UK‐based Iranians, consumption practices and the “torn self”

Abstract

This paper presents an exploratory study of the consumption practices of UK‐based young Iranians. Based on a series of in‐depth interviews and participatory observation we provide an insight into the identity‐constituting meanings associated with consumption practices. We illustrate how individuals use consumption discourses to tackle a series of ideological tensions in their sociocultural settings, both in Iran and in the UK. We describe how in a theocratic state individuals use commodified cultural symbolic mediators to construct and reaffirm a sense of self and identity and also to covertly resist the dominant order. We discuss consumer's paradoxes and dilemmas when confronted with a complex set of clashes between restricting political/institutional dynamics and the emancipatory forces of Western consumption. We conclude by discussing how these contradictions and strategies lead to a form of “torn” self.