In November 1999, on her first visit to Iran,
Nancy Matthews arrived at Tehran airport at 3 o’clock in the morning.
Susan Koscis followed directly behind her. As far as they knew, they
were only the second group of Americans to visit since the hostage
crisis.
Koscis had been part of the first group to visit Iran just a few years earlier, and had prepared Nancy as best she could. Both women were working to restart a conversation between Iran and America that had gone cold decades before.
They didn’t have the long Islamic dresses necessary to legally walk out of the airport doors onto the streets of Tehran. Instead, they would wear raincoats until they could buy the proper attire in the morning. The women wrapped scarves around their hair. Physically, they were ready.
Koscis had made the trip a few years earlier through an NGO called Search for Common Ground, when she organised a visit of American wrestlers. Nancy was now planning to find and bring Iranian artists back to the United States for an exhibition. Koscis and Nancy were cultural diplomats.
A group of Iranians sent by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to greet them approached with gifts: scarves, in case the women forgot their own. Nancy went up to one of the men and stuck out her hand, but he declined. “Men don’t shake hands with women in Iran,” he said.
Standing in the airport in the middle of the night, missing the first social cue in what would become a long adventure, Nancy seemed unprepared for her mission. But she was practising a sophisticated American cultural diplomacy that is not pursued in the current administration of Barack Obama and has not been pursued for several decades. The intellectuals Nancy descends from believed cultural exchange could lay the groundwork for beneficial international agreements, such as the Iran nuclear deal.
Koscis had been part of the first group to visit Iran just a few years earlier, and had prepared Nancy as best she could. Both women were working to restart a conversation between Iran and America that had gone cold decades before.
They didn’t have the long Islamic dresses necessary to legally walk out of the airport doors onto the streets of Tehran. Instead, they would wear raincoats until they could buy the proper attire in the morning. The women wrapped scarves around their hair. Physically, they were ready.
Koscis had made the trip a few years earlier through an NGO called Search for Common Ground, when she organised a visit of American wrestlers. Nancy was now planning to find and bring Iranian artists back to the United States for an exhibition. Koscis and Nancy were cultural diplomats.
A group of Iranians sent by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to greet them approached with gifts: scarves, in case the women forgot their own. Nancy went up to one of the men and stuck out her hand, but he declined. “Men don’t shake hands with women in Iran,” he said.
Standing in the airport in the middle of the night, missing the first social cue in what would become a long adventure, Nancy seemed unprepared for her mission. But she was practising a sophisticated American cultural diplomacy that is not pursued in the current administration of Barack Obama and has not been pursued for several decades. The intellectuals Nancy descends from believed cultural exchange could lay the groundwork for beneficial international agreements, such as the Iran nuclear deal.
No comments:
Post a Comment