Arab Americans: Stereotypes, Conflict, History, Cultural Identity and Post 9/11

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Intercultural Communication Studies XXIII: 2 (2014) Semaan

Arab Americans: Stereotypes, Conflict, History,


Cultural Identity and Post 9/11

Gaby Semaan
University of Toledo, USA

Abstract: This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of published


scholarly and academic research on Arab Americans. It groups the research into four
main categories based on the focus and provides background information about the
methodology. It also looks into the circumstances and history that made this diaspora
group visible in the United States. Supplying the groundwork for future research on
this ethnic group, this paper attempts to provide scholars and researchers who are
interested in Arab Americans an overview of previous research and to accent the need
for more work about this understudied minority group. The paper also suggests certain
directions and areas of interest for future research of Arab American identity and
factors that influence them.

Keywords: Arab, Arab American, Arab Diaspora, minorities in the US, stereotyping
Arab Americans

1. Introduction

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the scholarly research about the Arab diaspora
in the United States. While research about Arab Americans can be traced back to 1923,
scholars increased their attention to this minority during the last half of the past century with
a steady flow to the present. The research can be grouped into four main categories: the first
widely studied topic is their stereotyped image in the Western media. The second topic area
concerns the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The third category is the history and cultural identity
of Arab Americans, and the fourth section examines some major surveys and other studies that
focus on the implications of the 9/11/01 attacks against the United States. While these four
categories are not mutually exclusive, they do correspond to the major trends in the research. A
final concluding section will identify some of the most recent developments and project some
prospects for future study.

2. The Stereotyped Image

Much of the research about Arab Americans has examined the stereotyped image of Arabs in
the American and Western media. Shaheen (1983) presented how the American media’s ugly
and negative stereotypes of Arabs accompany a child from his early years to graduating from
college. Through “editorial cartoons, television shows, comic strips, comic books, college and
school textbooks, novels, magazines, newspapers and in novelty merchandise” (p. 328), Arabs
were dehumanized and presented as the “bad guys.”

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Focusing on this stereotyped image of Arabs in American media, Suleiman (1988)


addressed different aspects of this stereotyping and presented a longitudinal study of American
press coverage of the 1956, 1967, and 1973 Arab Israeli conflicts and showed how the
negatively stereotyped Arab was used as a weapon in the American media in favor of Israel.
Zaharana (1995) examined the portrayal of the Palestinians in Time newsmagazine from 1948
to 1993; this research showed that the Palestinian image went through total transformation
from invisibility to high visibility after the signing of the Israeli-PLO Accord in 1993. Hashem
(1995) did a content analysis of news articles published in Newsweek and Time magazines
between January 1990 and December 1993. Hashem’s analysis showed that most of the time
Arabs were portrayed as lacking democracy, unity, and modernity in addition to having a
heritage of defeat and fundamentalism. However, he found some coverage to reflect certain
realities and fewer stereotypes when portraying Arabs.
Mousa (2000) recapitulated a few studies that dealt with the Arab image in the West and
outlined a “spill over” of the stereotyped image of Arabs and Muslims from the pre-1948
European press to the American press and media. Kamalipour (2000) mentioned the speed with
which American authorities and media accused Arabs and Middle Easterners of responsibility
for attacks against American targets. For example, he mentioned the accusation of Arabs in
the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the crash of a TWA Boeing 747 in 1996, and the 1996
bombing at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Arabs had no connection to any of these events, but
the media did not bother to report the lack of connection nor tried to undo the harm they had
already done to the image of Arabs in the American citizens’ minds.
In addition to the above research of the verbal aspect o print media, Wilkins (1995) did a
qualitative and quantitative analysis of photographs published in the New York Times between
July 1991 and June 1993. The author concluded that the images of Middle Eastern women
during the period under study, constructed these women as passive, distant and impersonal.
Scholars have also studied this stereotyped image in editorial cartoons and comic
strips. Lendenman (1983) presented how the political cartoons in The Washington Post, The
Washington Star, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Baltimore Sun, The Miami News, The
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and The Syracuse Herald-Journal have depicted Arabs in a negative
way, even portraying the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) as “rodents, cockroaches
and other detestable animals” (p. 353). Palmer (1995) produced a comprehensive review of the
political cartoons published in the Washington Post during and following the 1956, 1967, and
1973 wars and following the 1988 Palestinian ‘Intifada’ in addition to the period prior to the
first Gulf War. All the political cartoons he studied depicted Arabs negatively.
On the same topic, Stockton (1994) studied Arab images presented in hundreds of
cartoons from editorial pages and comic strips. All the cartoons Stockton studied presented a
dehumanizing image of Arabs. Before introducing a sample of such cartoons and the different
ways in which Western media and writers participated in creating this false image of Arabs,
Stockton drew on the similar traits of archetype stereotyping that was previously employed to
create a false image of African American, Jews, and Japanese. Furthermore, he discussed how
these images were used to justify maltreatment of these groups. He also mentioned that the
negative image of Arabs in the U.S. intensified after the Arab Israeli war in 1967. Similarly,
Artz and Pollock (1995) did a rhetorical analysis of editorial cartoons published in the Chicago

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Sun-Times, the New York Times, Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times
during the last five months of 1990. They stated that the media successfully employed culturally
accepted anti-Arab images to promote the American offensive in the first Persian Gulf War.
The image of Arabs in American entertainment media such as radio, television, and movies
was also studied. Nasir (1979) studied the portrayal of Arabs in American movies in the first
half of the 20th century. In her study of movies exhibited in the U.S. between 1894 and 1960,
Nasir found that an Arab male’s most frequent occupation, as portrayed in the sample she
studied, was a criminal. Terry (1983) addressed how contemporary American fiction presented
Arabs and Muslims as “backward, greedy, lustful, evil, or inhumane” (p. 316). Terry added that
this group makes “convenient scapegoats in almost all contemporary fiction that deals with
Middle East themes” (p. 316).
Jack Shaheen is probably the best known scholar addressing the Arab stereotyped image in
the entertainment industry and movies. In his book, The TV Arabs, Shaheen (1984) summarized
his findings after examining about 300 programs and documentary episodes aired during the
1975-1976 and 1983-1984 TV seasons. From cartoons such as Woody Woodpecker, Bugs
Bunny and other comedy shows such as Laurel and Hardy, Mork and Mindy, and Happy
Days, to detective and police programs, Shaheen found the image of TV Arabs to be that of
“baddies, billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers” (p. 4). He stated that all the different shows
and episodes he examined perpetuated “four basic myths about Arabs: they are all fabulously
wealthy; they are barbaric and uncultured; they are sex maniacs with a penchant for white
slavery; they revel in acts of terrorism” (p. 4).
Shaheen (2001) reported his study of more than 900 Hollywood movies released between
1896 and 2001. In Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, Shaheen exposed how
the entertainment industry manufactured a prejudiced image of Arabs, condensing more than
300 million persons spread across 22 countries into a few dehumanizing portrayals. Out of the
900 films Shaheen analyzed which contain Arab characters or images of Arabs, only 63 did not
present Arabs with a negative stereotyped image.
In harmony with Shaheen, Kamalipour (2000) mentioned the negative portrayal of Arabs
in radio, television, and movies. Additionally, he named 50 movies that were released between
1974 and 1998 that showed Arabs or Arabic speaking individuals committing attacks against
Americans. Quoting from Semati, Kamalipour (2000) said that it is a mistaken belief that,
“terrorism is essentially a Middle East problem, and most victims of terrorism are American”
(Kamalipour, 2000, p. 67).
The stereotyped image of Arabs in scholarly work and academic textbooks was also
studied. Said (1975) in Orientalism and the October war: The shattered myths, presented, in
a critical approach, the myths about Arabs in the discourse of Orientalism. He showed how
this discourse has compressed, reduced, and stereotyped the image of Arabs. In addition, Said
showed how the institutions sustained Orientalism by presenting myths as facts protected by
a so-called “scientific” analysis. Ayish (1994) conducted a comprehensive content analysis of
published relevant scholarly works from 1954 to 1994. Ayish concluded that all the published
and unpublished academic works agree that Western media portrayed the Arab world in a
negative way (Ayish, 1994, cited in Hamada, 2002. Al-Qazzaz (1975) also discussed how social
science textbooks in elementary school, junior high, or high school, contributed to, carried on,

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repeated, and perpetuated negative stereotyped images and myths about Arabs. Additionally,
Al-Qazzaz (1983) presented an update to his 1975 analysis of how social science textbooks
negatively stereotyped Arabs.
Parallel to the images perpetuated in academic schoolbooks is one presented in the
Protestant Sunday school textbooks that Abu-Laban (1975) studied. The books she analyzed
were “creating, as an educational by-product, black sheep [Arabs] in the family of God.” In
these books, “Arabs are the most excluded of the deity’s descendants” (p. 166).
This negative image was presented even in games. Shaheen (1983) mentioned one example
of a teens’ game called “Oil Sheik” in which, like in Monopoly, players attempt to acquire real
estate and the players are encouraged to gain control over the oil producing nations. Moreover,
the game instructs the players to create a more “life like” game by wrapping pillowcases around
their heads or if the player is ugly to cover his/her head with the pillowcase. Shaheen quoted
from one of the game card instructions that said, “impress Arabs with your patriotism by dating
a camel” (p. 330).
Ignorance is often a building block of negative stereotypes. Suleiman (1994) presented
the results of a survey of high school teachers of world history in California, Colorado,
Indiana, Kansas, New York, and Pennsylvania. The author’s survey indicated the teachers’
ignorance about and prejudice against Arabs and Muslims. In a survey of students’ perceptions,
Kamalipour (2000) described American high school students’ perceptions of Arabs and the
Middle East as “overwhelmingly negative” (Kamalipour, 2000, p. 58).
Stockton (1994) recognized that the inferiority of the “other” the stereotyped image
presents, not only promotes the superiority of the stereotyper and his/her group, but also
provides immunity for transgressing against the stereotyped group. In addition, he said that
such stereotyping can justify key policy decisions taken by the political power in addition to
justifying injustices committed by individuals or nations against the stereotyped “other.” In
summarizing, Suleiman (1999) addressed the impact of the negative stereotyping of Arabs on
Arab Americans, asserting that the Arab American community “has suffered and continues to
suffer in many ways” (p. 1) as the negative stereotyped image of Arabs was internalized in the
mind of America.

3. The Arab Israeli Conflict and the Palestinian Issue

The Arab Israeli conflict provided a fertile field for research. Many researchers were interested
in the U.S. media coverage of the wars that erupted between Israel and different Arab nations.
Terry (1975) conducted a content analysis of three U.S and two European newspapers
before, during, and after the 1973 Israeli Arab war. Among her findings, Terry noted that there
was a slight increase in neutral coverage of the war in comparison to that of 1967, however, the
“editorial coverage of the war and its aftermath tended to favor the Israeli position” (p. 8) but
“there were some pro-Arab editorials” (p. 8). In addition, one of her notable findings was the
tripling of the number of editorials on oil following the war and the oil embargo.
In harmony with Terry’s finding, Suleiman (1975) compared media reports about the
Middle East in the 1973 war to those of 1967 and concluded that there was a shift toward a
more neutral reporting in 1973. However, he mentioned that criticizing Israel remained a taboo

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and that “the media themselves …have been a principal agent for propagating myths about
the Middle East” (p. 37). Similarly, McClaure (1975) addressed the slight shift towards an
American awakening regarding Arabs and their images. Touching on the Arab-Israeli conflict,
the oil issue, and the U.S. economic situation in 1974, he asserted the need for the American
people to better understand the nature of the Arab Israeli conflict, and he stated his belief that
the “American awakening” is a reality despite the “misrepresentations [of Arabs], particularly,
within the news media” (p. 239).
Along the same line, Samo (1975) presented a case study of the coverage of the Arab-
Israeli conflict by the Kalb brothers. He exposed the reporters’ pro-Israeli and anti-Arab bias.
Similarly, Farsoun, Farsoun, and Jay (1975) conducted a content analysis of the publications
of “self-defined leftist” (p. 54) organizations in the U.S. and concluded that these organizations
view the conflict in the Middle East as an outcome of the imperialist penetration to the area and
Zionism as a product of capitalism and imperialism.
In 1983, McDavid published a study about the American press coverage of the Israeli
invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and stated that it did not accurately show the Israeli aggression.
McDavid saw the images the U.S. press presented of the Israelis as humanitarians while
covering up the Palestinian and Lebanese civilian casualties. He stated that the Canadian and
French media coverage offered more realistic pictures of the invasion and Israeli practices
against civilians.
Additionally, Shain (1996) echoed what others said regarding the invisibility of Arab
Americans before the 1967 Arab Israeli war, which provided an ideological core and a national
political agenda for Arab Americans. Moreover, the author asserts that the Palestinian cause
provided a unifying terrain for the differently oriented Arab Americans and so did the other
events that took place in the Middle East such as the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
However, Shain considered that the Palestinian Israeli agreements of the 1990s in addition to
other political events that took place within the Arab countries, or between Israel and some
Arab countries, have pulled the common rug from under these differently oriented groups and
created a new challenge for Arab Americans in redefining their identity and agenda.
Banks (2003) mentioned how the political events that took place by the end of the
Twentieth Century in the Middle East and the years of unjust American foreign policy toward
Arab countries have led to a rising activism by Arab Americans and to more expressions of
pride in their cultural heritage. Finally, Ibrahim (2009) did a chronological trace of the research
focusing on the American Media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As this collected literature suggests, the Arab Israeli conflict which started in 1948
with what became known as the Palestinian Cause, provided a terrain to unite Arabs on one
cause and to revive the national identity of Arab Americans, thus affecting their experience
(Friedhelm, 1986; Naff, 1985; Shain, 1996; Suleiman, 1975). Taking into account the recent
and current developments in the Arab world including the ongoing “Arab Spring” in addition to
the stand-still Palestinian Israeli negotiation, future research may question the extent to which
Arab Americans are still concerned about the ‘Palestinian Cause’ and the other events taking
place in the Arab countries.

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4. Historical Overview and Cultural Identity

The historical perspective and cultural identity of Arab Americans were interwoven topics for
researchers. As early as 1923, about 50 years after the first documented Arab immigrant came
to the United States, Hitti (1923) provided the estimated number of Syrian immigrants and their
offspring to be about 200,000, most of whom were Christians. Hitti also provided a historical
overview of the social, economic, and geographical characteristics of Syria and Syrians, as
Arab Americans were referred to at that time. He stated that individuals are more inclined
toward a “local mind” than “social one” and lean toward a patriotism that takes the form of
love for family, sect, and geography of homeland. He also talked about leadership, education,
culture, religion, and language. Then, he addressed the background and causes of the early
Syrian immigration to the United States, which, as Hitti reasoned, seem to be a mixture of
economic, political, and social factors.
As for their organizations, the author noted that Syrians were almost absent from the political
scene, except for one attempt of a Syrian who ran for a senatorial position as a Republican in
New York but was defeated. However, Hitti brings out the ignorance of the American public
about this group of immigrants and the public’s undue bigotry toward them. He asserted, “even
at present [in 1923] the colossal ignorance and prejudice, on the part of some, is amazing and
constitutes the chief obstacle in the way of better understanding”.
Hitti (1923) mentioned that the American mainstream, refusing to accept the contributions
of the ‘Syrian’ into this weaving process, was not ready to accept their assimilation. He added
that the host culture disregarded the services these immigrants provided to the country and
public especially during the years of World War I. During that war, about 7% of the Syrian
community served in the U.S. army. Hitti also focused on the religious status of the immigrant
community saying that the majority of the immigrants were Christians who, just as the Muslims
and Druze among them, retained their faith.
Elkholy (1966) researched, in 1959, the Muslim communities in Toledo, Ohio and Detroit,
Michigan. Although Elkholy’s focus was on Arab American Muslims, his participants included
Muslims from non-Arab countries such as India and Pakistan among others. The author focused
his research on whether Islam was hindering the assimilation of Muslim Arab immigrants
into the host culture where the dominant religion is different from that of his participants’
religion. Elkholy found that although both the Toledo and Detroit communities shared the same
characteristics regarding their origin of immigration and time spent in the host culture, the
Toledo community showed more assimilation and was more religious as well. Elkholy also said
that the main factor influencing the assimilation of his participants was their occupation more
than anything else. He also mentioned that the third generation of Muslims in Toledo were
more religious than those of Detroit who were more nationalistic.
Among the trends that Elkholy (1966) considered as trends of Americanization, was the
role of women in the family. The roles women played were not only equal to those of men,
but sometimes dominated the family. Moreover, women took a greater role in helping their
husbands in the family’s business ventures. However, Elkholy’s remark about the role of
women was not necessarily an indication of Americanization. Within the families in the areas
where these immigrants came from, it was customary for women to take charge of the family

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matters when the husband was away from home, and it was, and still is, customary for them to
play a role in economic and public life
Naff’s (1985) book became a landmark in the history of Arab Americans. In it, through a
collection of different primary sources, she traced back the history and early experiences of the
pioneer Arab immigrants, particularly from the Levant, or what she calls greater Syria. Naff
presented a historical overview of the Arabs’ immigration to the U.S., which started in the 19th
century. She mentioned that the early immigrants came with the goal to better their economic
status and return within two or three years to their country with wealth and prestige, whereas
the later immigrants came with the idea of making America their home without cutting off
their cultural roots. Naff mentioned how between 1909 and 1920 many Arabs were refused
citizenship because they were classified as “yellow” race. Such discrimination forced those
immigrants to prove their “Whiteness” to become eligible for naturalization.
Naff (1985) said that settling in the “new world” has altered some of the native habits of
the Syrian-Arab American immigrants. Factors that affected this alteration process were the
“family’s economic status, the number of Syrians in its community, and the strength of its
attachment to the cultural heritage” (p. 280). Although families, as Naff said, remained the
cornerstone for this group of immigrants, the conservatism of these families was altered and
the traditional patriarchal extended family notion disintegrated and gave way to a similar notion
but within a smaller unit.
Friedhelm (1985) also addressed the history of the Arab immigrants to the United States,
which he traced back to the 1880s. He pointed out that the social and religious organizations
in addition to the ethnic press have played a major role in their social integration in the host
country. Pursuing the organizational angle, Haddad and Lummis (1987) researched five Islamic
centers in the United States. Four of these mosques had an Arab American Muslim majority
and had been founded by the 1930s: Toledo, Ohio; Dearborn, Michigan; Cedar Rapids, Iowa;
Quincy, Massachusetts; and Rochester, New York.
Haddad and Lummis’s (1987) study was conducted in what they considered liberal and
moderate Muslim communities because they could not have access to the conservative sites.
In addition to interviews, they collected a total of 338 surveys in three of the five sites. They
concluded that there is at least a nucleus of an American Islam which, although it adheres to
the fundamentals of Islamic beliefs, allows individuals to decide what it means to be a Muslim
and American. However, the researchers pointed out that the data they collected indicated
“some Muslims are feeling at home and welcome assimilation into American life, while others
are genuinely concerned that it [assimilation] will jeopardize the maintenance of Islamic
values” (p. 171). Consistent with this trend, Haddad and Lummis reported a transformation
in the traditional roles of Imams (the Muslim religious leader or clergy) from that of a leader
in prayer to that of a minister who provides counseling, tutoring in the faith, and represents
the community to the general public. In addition, their study reported different attitudes and
degrees of strictness in adhering to traditional Muslim beliefs. These attitudes varied from one
mosque to another and so did the acceptance of the liberty of dress and grooming of women
attending religious prayers at these mosques. Among other findings, this study revealed the
major role women in the Dearborn area played in establishing mosques as places for worship
and for community social activities.

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Naff (1994) asserted that it was not until after World War II that Arab Americans began to
develop an Arab identity to counter the ignorance about the history of Arabs. Suleiman (1994)
asserted that being sick of “the outsiders” image, Arab Americans started to assimilate more
into the American way of life during and after World War I when they started joining the army
and fighting on behalf of the United States. In addition, following the war and realizing that
America was their permanent home, those immigrants started to develop an Arab-American
community through being more united and less factionalized. In addition, they started to engage
in campaigns to better inform the American citizens and others about their Arab heritage.
According to Suleiman (1994), after World War II, the Arab American communities nearly
assimilated fully and almost lost their Arab identity, but this identity loss was reversed because
of the Palestinian cause and the post World War II Arab immigration wave of highly educated
and politicized individuals and professionals. Those immigrants were looking for a better life
for themselves and for their home countries as well. Thus, they started working in the political
arena in their newfound home. In addition to this, the identity awakening of the third generation
of the early Arab immigrants and the 1967 Arab Israeli war, Suleiman asserted, contributed to
the emergence of an Arab identity rather than just a national one and led to the formation of
some Arab American activist organizations.
Haddad (1994) sketched the religious composition and affiliation of the Arab American
immigrants. She did not ignore the role of the 1967 war in reawakening the Arab identity
among the various religious groups and gaining more power over the national identity (e.g.,
Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian …). In addition, Haddad provided a view of the different religious
sects making up the Arab American community: Christians, Muslims, and Druze. Then, she
examined the history of establishing their roots in the United States. She also focused on Islam
in the US and the different nature it is taking as Arab American Muslims are assimilating
and integrating into the American society. However, Haddad acknowledged that “the Arab
American community is changing and will continue to change “in constituency and in its forms
of self-identification in the years to come” (p. 84). In addition, she pointed out that the new
immigrants with their ideologies and commitments is an additional factor to the U.S. tolerance
or intolerance of the aspirations of this community and will have a great impact on how this
identity will be shaped.
Shain (1996) presented his opinion about the challenges facing different Arab American
groups in the United States. He focused on the rhetoric and actions of some Arab American
leftist activists in the United States as well as on that of some Islamic groups. He echoed
what others said regarding the invisibility of Arab Americans before the 1967 Arab Israeli
war, which provided an ideological core and a national political agenda for Arab Americans.
Shain categorized Arab Americans into two groups, the isolationists and the integrationists.
The isolationists tend to resist what he calls a “powerful assimilation vision found in America”
(p. 22), whereas the integrationists resist total assimilation into the dominant White culture of
the U.S. and call for cultural and political recognition. The integrationists identify themselves
as Americans and supporters of American values and of a vision of pluralist democracy. The
author concluded that a determining factor of how Arab Americans will face these diasporic
challenges will depend on the different political events within the U.S. and in the countries of
origin.

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Using interviews in the Detroit area, Seikaly (1999) focused on themes that relate to
Palestinian community identity. The author found that, on the social dimension, the attachment
to cultural ethnicity is a “defining feature of the Palestinian group” (p. 30). On the political
dimension, the Palestinian community was divided between those who feel desperation and
no hope based on the history they have had with the political promises and the Palestinian
Cause, and others who try through their life to create bridges that connect them to the past.
Whatever the case is, Seikaly stated that the Palestinians’ community identity is in crisis due to
the political events and conditions in the Middle East.
Similarly, Ajrouch (1999) used Muslim-Arab focus groups from the Dearborn area over
a period exceeding a year during which she focused on the participants’ perceptions of the
meaning of being Arab or American and which identity the participants took for themselves.
In her findings, Ajrouch states that religion, Islam in this case, played a major role in the
formation of the Arab identity. In addition, she said that although “there is no blatant assertion
that ethnicity tends to be a gendered process among Arab Americans” (p. 138), gender still
plays a major role in the degree of assimilation to the dominant culture where women bear the
weight of maintaining the Arab identity of the family and community.
Additionally, Joseph (1999) argued that the representations of the “non-free” hyphenated
Arab (Arab-) through a variety of popular and scholarly discourse served as basis for creating
the designation of difference of the Arab from the American. Joseph argued that the conflation
of all Arabs as one set and the conflation of those representations with the hyphenated Arab in
America served to erase the difference between Arabs themselves in order to create a difference
“between the free, white, male American citizen and this constructed Arab” (p. 260). The
author added that the tool for creating this difference was through the representations of the
religious, political, and social orders in the Arab, Middle Eastern, and Islamic world. Joseph
argued that discrimination and hate against Arabs in the U.S. during and after the 1967 Arab-
Israeli war created the need for organized hyphenated Arab politicized organizations to defend
them. However, the author feared that the representations of this non-free hyphenated Arab
through the media, academic scholarship, and political discourse, in contrast with the “free
American” have created what might be the emerging “other” after the collapse of the hated
communist “other.”
Caniker (1999) summarized the social and economic conditions of the Arab community
in southeast Chicago. That community was facing significant discrimination and stereotyping.
Caniker mentioned that because of the economic changes the city witnessed, there was
deterioration in the safety net within the Arab community in that area. The author found
that some of the problems facing the Arab community in southeast Chicago were due to the
interweave of political, economic and social factors including stereotyping and discrimination
against this community.

5. Post 9/11 Implications

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, a few studies addressed Arab
American’s life and experiences following the attacks. In October 2001, Zogby presented
the results of a poll of Arab Americans conducted between October 8 and 10, 2001. The poll

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commissioned by the Arab American Institute Foundation (AAIF) had a margin of error of
+4.5% and showed that 60% of the 508 surveyed were worried about the “longterm effects of
discrimination” (p.2) against them because of the September 11 attacks. In addition, it showed
that only 20% of those surveyed said that they had personally experienced discrimination
because of their Arab American background, but 45% said that they personally knew someone
who suffered discrimination since the attacks because of his/her Arab American cultural
background. However, almost half of the young Arab Americans reported that they had
experienced discrimination since September 11.
The poll’s result also showed that 69% believe that profiling of Arab Americans had
increased since the attacks. However, 54% of those polled, although they disagreed with
politicized profiling, reported that they think it is justified. Finally, the poll’s result indicated
that 84% of those polled said that their ethnic background is important in defining their identity
and 88% were proud of their ethnic heritage and 83% considered securing the rights of the
Palestinians personally important to them.
In May 2002, Zogby International conducted a second poll for the AAIF. Seventy-five
percent of those surveyed were born in the United States; this poll (Arab American Institute,
2002) yielded similar findings to that of 2001 and had a margin of error of + 4.5%. However,
the results of this 2002 poll indicated an increase of 10% in those reporting personal experience
of discrimination because of their ethnic background after September 11 (30% compared to
20% in the 2001 poll). On the other hand, the percentage of those surveyed who said that
they personally knew someone who suffered discrimination since the attacks because of his/
her Arab American ethnic background was 45% in the 2001 survey and 40% in May 2002.
In addition, this survey results showed that perceived discrimination toward Arab American
students decreased at schools to 21% from a reported 49% in 2001. However, perceived
discrimination remained the same among neighbors and friends (25%).
The percentage of those surveyed who believe that profiling of Arab Americans had
increased since the attacks increased by 9% in the 2002 poll from the 69% reported in 2001. In
addition, the poll’s results indicated that 59% of Arab Americans surveyed reported that their
public display of their heritage was not affected by the consequences of September 11, 70% of
those who reported an effect were 18-24 years old and 79% of students reported an effect on
their public display of their ethnicity.
The percentage of those surveyed who said that their ethnic pride has not changed after
the September 11 attacks remained 73%, 15% reported an increased pride and 8% reported less
pride in their ethnic background. However, the percentage of those surveyed who are proud of
their ethnic heritage was almost 90% in both 2001 and 2002. In addition, 73% reported having
strong emotional ties with their family’s countries of origin (42% reported very strong ties and
31% reported somewhat strong emotional ties).
Muneer (2002) addressed the change within the American citizenship display of African
Americans and Latinas/os as those belonging to these ethnic groups felt the need to express
their Americanism by approving the profiling and sharing in the hate violence. Quoting from
an article published in the New York Times in September 23, 2001, Muneer said that African
Americans and Latinos/as Americans have given in to racial profiling after having been its
victims for years. Muneer (2002) also mentioned how the discrimination, attacks, and hate-

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crimes forced Arab Americans, Muslims, and South Asian communities to accommodate and
strategically adapt to embrace their American identity by displaying and waving flags in order
to prove their belonging. He also said that the post September attacks against Arab American
and South Asian communities created awareness among individuals belonging to these groups
that they cannot debase race by way of class belonging because they all came to realize that no
matter what class they belonged to, they were still not White.
Like Muneer, Shryock (2002) noted how the attacks forced Detroit’s Arab Americans to
exaggerate their American identity. Shryock (2002) said that this was a strategy to avoid the
consequences of not belonging. Howell and Shryock (2003) concluded that what once was
believed to be true about Arabs of metropolitan Detroit entering the cultural mainstream is
“likely to be dismissed today as wishful thinking” adding “the image of Arab Detroit changed
within hours of the 9/11 attacks.” As evidence, they pointed out that Dearborn, due to its high
Arab concentration, was the first U.S. city to have its own office of Homeland Security and that
the number of FBI staff in Detroit’s office doubled during 2002. They also asserted that “the
mass mediated structures of public opinion…have performed well as a conduit for anti-Arab”
(p. 451) sentiments.
This change in the attitudes toward and fears from Arab Americans would raise many
questions about its effect on their cultural identity formation or expression. Realizing this,
Banks (2003) mentioned how the political events that took place by the end of the Twentieth
Century in the Middle East and the years of unjust American foreign policy toward Arab
countries have led to a rising activism by Arab Americans and to more expressions of pride in
their cultural heritage.
In addition, Witteborn (2004) examined the effect of 9/11 on the “communal identity
enactment of 5 Arab women” (p. 83). Witteborn was lucky to have conducted part of her
research before the attacks and thus was able to follow up after the attacks with the same
participants, five Arab women, and find a change in the labels they used to express their identity
after the attacks. In her research, Witteborn found that national identity (such as Egyptian,
Lebanese, or Palestinian) was emphasized after 9/11 as a means to raise the public awareness of
the diversity within the Arab world and to counteract ascribed monoethnic identities. However,
the participants less frequently used the identity labels “Arab” and “Arab American” after 9/11.
In addition, she found that her participants’ usage of the label “Arab” after 9/11 was extended
to meanings of “social relationships within a community organization” (p. 94). She found that
instead of using the label “Arab American” more often after the attacks, her participants did not
use this “panethnic” identity.
Distinctly from Witteborn’s (2004) findings, Haddad (2004) asserted that “Tempered
by prevalent hatred and ‘othering’ many are re-identifying themselves as Arab-American or
Muslim – American” (p. 51). Haddad said that there are many questions that Arab immigrants
in the United States need to answer regarding what identity they want, an American identity
or a hyphenated one, and what impact their religious affiliation plays in forming this identity.
Salaita (2005) emphasized how notions of patriotism after the September 11 attacks have
distorted the life of American and Arab American citizens. In addition, Salaita highlighted the
intricate interaction between Americans of Arab ancestry and other ethnic groups and the role
xenophobia, racism, and stereotyping plays in this regard. Salatia argued that rather than altering

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American attitudes toward Arab Americans, the September 11 attacks reinforced the positive
and negative pre-existing attitudes. The attacks offered racists with a rhetorical justification for
their attitudes and offered multiculturalists a rationale to fight exclusionary ideals and promote
inclusionary ones.

6. Conclusions and Projections

This paper provides guidance for researchers and scholars with insight into what has been
published and studied about the Arab American diaspora. It reflects the whole variety of scholars
and disciplines that studied this minority group. This could facilitate future interdisciplinary
approaches to studying Arab Americans. In addition, the bibliographical information and review
can be used in future research, as it provides some insight into the evolution of researching Arab
Americans and the circumstances surrounding the scholarly interest in this particular group.
Three of the most recent studies indicate the current interest and directions of research:
Abu-Absi (2010) edited a book about Arab Americans in Toledo. The book’s three sections,
heritage, profiles and interviews document the area specific experiences of Arab Americans. In
one chapter of the book, Semaan (2010) states that, based on data from his empirical research
of the Toledo community, Arab Americans there identify themselves with either their national
ethnic labels or their ethnic-American label more than those in Allentown, PA or Dearborn,
MI. Awad (2010) studied the impact of acculturation and religious affiliation of Arabs and
Middle Eastern Americans on perceived discrimination. She reported that Muslims in her study
reported more perceived discrimination than Christians. Semaan (2013) presented a detailed
historical perspective on the immigration waves of Arab Americans stating the particulars
of the previous three waves and identifying a fourth immigration wave that started after the
beginning of the so called “Arab Spring” in 2010.
Moreover, the historical review of literature in this paper showed that many studies
presented empirical evidence documenting the stereotyped image of Arabs in the U.S. media.
However, the assumptions made in the available published works about the acculturation of
Arab Americans were either based on studying the Muslim communities, many times including
non-Arab Muslims (e.g. Ajrouch, 1999; Elkholy, 1966; Haddad & Lummis, 1987; Haddad,
2004) or were based on adopting the four types of Berry’s (1980) model of acculturation
without supporting research (e.g. Haddad, 2004; Shain, 1996; Suleiman, 1994, 1999). Future
research addressing the acculturation of Arab Americans should attempt to establish valid and
reliable measurements and should draw upon the wealth of research available on other minority
groups, particularly African Americans and Latino/Latina studies, benefiting from both the
methodology and theory that could inform future research of Arab Americans. In addition,
future research should focus on the newest, fourth wave of immigration that started in 2011
following the beginning of the “Arab Spring”.

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Author Note

Dr. Gaby Semaan is the director of Middle East Studies and the Arabic program coordinator
at the University of Toledo, Toledo Ohio. He is also the co-director of the Arabic Summer
Intensive Program at California State University San Bernardino. Dr. Semaan is a media and
intercultural communication specialist whose research areas include cultural identities of
minority groups. Parts of this article were used in the author’s dissertation.

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