American Studies in the Middle East: the Case of Iranian American Studies

The United States strategic, political and economic interests in the Middle East necessitate an academic presence in the region; beside academic significance such centers, often have worked as public diplomacy centers to enhance the contact and collaborations between the American academicians and foreign public in order to introduce and promote American values, culture, policies and interests. Whatever may have been the reasons for supporting establishment of these programs by the US government, it seems that the American imaginary of the United State is challenged and depolarized in the local context of the Middle East. Examination of American Studies program in Iran can provide a unique insight as too see how Iranian students make sense of the US in one of the rare programs in the Middle East that is totally independent from United States' financial and political support. By using a questionnaire and analyzing the data, the present paper would argue that while American Studies program in Iran is inseparable from its historical reality, context and contact with the US, many Iranian students of American Studies have been able to develop a complex understanding of the United States that transcends the political hostility between the two countries.