The Social Construction of Difference and the Arab American Experience

Review of Race Scholarship and the War on Terror

“…Decades before 9/11, Arabs and Muslims had been characterized in American culture by ideological narratives casting them as monolithically barbaric and violent groups of misogynist men and abused women (Suleiman 1999), narratives informed by colonial Orientalism (Kumar 2012; McAlister 2001; Said 1978) and more long-standing white European Christian animosity toward Islam (Grosfoguel 2012; Shohat 2012). Race scholars would benefit from familiarizing themselves with the body of scholarship on this largely unknown history because it provides insights into how groups considered marginally white can change race (Cainkar 2006, forthcoming; Jamal and Naber 2008), the racialized feeling of being invisible (Saliba 1999; Samhan 1999; Naber 2000), hegemonies in the academy (Cainkar forthcoming), the formation of an Arab American panethnicity as a product of racialization (Suleiman 1999), and the fluidity of racial ideologies and representations that cast ever widening nets of subjects. Most important, recognizing the real starting date of the “war on terror” permits us to stop blaming 19 brown-skinned bodies for the racialization of brown and Muslim-looking people, a blame-the-victim scenario; instead it affirms that this is but another project of global white supremacy.…”

4 Arab american adolescents’ bullying experiences and effects on their perceived stress and health

“…Movies, television, radio, and advertisements continue to depict Arab Americans in extremely negative light, such as being terroristic, anti-Western, aggressive, and misogynistic. The media presents almost nothing of a positive nature about Arab Americans (Alsultany, 2013;Cainkar, 2002Cainkar, , 2006Suleiman, 1999). Arab Americans are all perceived as Muslims stemming from one culture, which is a big misconception.…”

“…It is crucial to take social disadvantages into consideration when examining the context in which Arab American adolescents' bullying incidents occur. The earliest waves of Arab Americans were predominantly uneducated; however, later waves of Arab American immigrants in the 1990s and 2000s included more educated individuals (Cainkar, 2006). Notwithstanding, Arab Americans experience higher poverty rates than the total U.S. population (17% versus 12%), and approximately 20% of families lived below the federal poverty line in the last decade (Cainkar, 2006;Hammad, Kysia, Rabah, Hassoun & Connelly, 1999).…”

“…The earliest waves of Arab Americans were predominantly uneducated; however, later waves of Arab American immigrants in the 1990s and 2000s included more educated individuals (Cainkar, 2006). Notwithstanding, Arab Americans experience higher poverty rates than the total U.S. population (17% versus 12%), and approximately 20% of families lived below the federal poverty line in the last decade (Cainkar, 2006;Hammad, Kysia, Rabah, Hassoun & Connelly, 1999). Low income and high poverty rates in the Arab American community influenced the number of uninsured, making health services unaffordable for many in this population (Hammad et al, 1999).…”

National security, Islamophobia, and religious freedom in the U.S.

“…The effect of Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims is a denial of social citizenship to Muslim Americans (Selod 2015, 78). Prejudice and discrimination cannot remove the legal rights and protections guaranteed by the constitution and the state, but they can effectively exile a citizen from the wider society (Cainkar 2006) class Muslims are more likely to take public transport, or walk, and were thus more frequently in public spaces and more vulnerable to violence than middle and upper-class Muslims. The visibility of Muslim women who veil also exacerbates the likelihood of their being the target of Islamophobia, and women may be encouraged by their families to stay off the streets or at home to avoid harassment and attack (Naber 2006).…”