Arab American Studies Reflection Paper

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Arab American Studies Reflection Paper

Arab Americans face several problems in American society. Various scholars have

attempted to expound on the issue with different interpretations being given on the same. Arab

Americans residing in different neighborhoods feel threatened especially after the 9/11 attacks

that caused various hate crimes. Arab Americans also face the problem of being integrated into

the American society. History omits the contributions of Arab Americans. Arab Americans have

become the center of mystery as they battle Americanization. To analyze the issues surrounding

Arab Americans the essay focusses on Family Resemblances Kinship and Community in Arab

Detroit by Andrew Shylock, In Double Remoteness of Arab Detroit by Andrew Shylock,

Becoming the Center of Mystery by Hayan Charara, and Telling Our Story by Ismael Ahmed.

The authors rely on first-person experiences as well as an analysis of various historical events to

form reliable conclusions.

The essay discussed various issues that face Arab Americans as minorities in American

society. Arab Americans have to battle stereotypes especially after the events of the the 9/11.

There are certain assumptions that are attached to the Islam religion that make it difficult for

Arab Americans to be integrated into the American community. The identity of Arab Americans

in the society is characterized by breaches in the rights and freedoms of Arab Americans.

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In Double Remoteness of Arab Detroit by Andrew Shylock focuses on Detroit an area

that is inhabited by diverse Arab communities. However, Andrew Shylock explains that the Arab

Detroit has become a zone of threat. The inhabitants of Arab Detroit receive various

contradictory messages from government officials as well as from the society at large. Shylock

wrote the article after the 9/11 attack with the audience being American and Arabs, in general,

residing in Detroit. The purpose of the writing is to raise several issues that face Arabs in Detroit

and have society and government officials address them sufficiently. After the 9/11 attacks, hate

crimes increased. There was a general fear of Arabs and Muslims in America. While the U.S.

Constitution protects individuals against any form of discrimination, the Patriot Act coupled with

several policies instituted by various governmental agencies in America have resulted in the

infringement of the rights of Arabs and Muslims “the USA Patriot Act and subsequent policy

decisions made by the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and the Department of the

Treasury have created an atmosphere in which Arabs and Muslim are treated as a special

population to whom certain legal protections and civil rights no longer apply”. There are many

Arabs and Muslims who are still detainees in various American prisons. Additionally, Arabs and

Muslims have become subject to certain mass interrogations. The Arab community also struggles

with integration into the American community. For Arabs and other minority cultures to have

their interests served in America, they must seek to secure a controlling interest in leadership.

Arabs must also seek to be integrated into the American culture as opposed to keeping their

culture that is separate from that of mainstream America.

Telling Our Story by Ismael Ahmed explains the story that revolves around the building

of the Arab National Museum in the year 2005. The museum is located in Dearborn where many

Arab Americans live. The museum plays an important role in showing the stories of Arab

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Americans residing in America “We hope to make our visitors realize that the Arab American

story is actually the American story” (Ismael 4). Ismael’s article is addressed to Arab American

community and Americans in general. The article is written with a view of elaborating the

various challenges that have marked the development of the Arab National Museum. In doing so,

Ismael also addresses the challenges that face Arab Americans in general. The contributions of

Arab Americans have been omitted in American history books. The establishment of the

museum is an attempt to ensure that the stories of Arab Americans become an important part of

American history. The development of the Arab American Museum follows the development of

similar museums that serve the interests of the minorities. The creation of culturally specific

institutions is a result of discrimination of the minorities in America. However, the museum is an

important institution in clarifying certain misconceptions. The Arab American community was

significantly affected by the events of September 11, 2001. The result was that many Arabs

began fearing to expose their stories. While the fear has faded, many Arab Americans still live in

fear. Despite the challenges, the Arab American museum has been successful in airing the stories

of Arab Americans.

Becoming the Center of Mystery is written by Hayan Charara to Arab immigrants in

Detroit and other regions in America. His aim was to depict to them the kind of life that Arab

immigrants who settle in America live. Hayan wrote a memoir Becoming the Center of Mystery

in which he evocatively refers to Arab Detroit as the ‘center of mystery’. He shows how

Americanization is the dominant cultural force that shapes the lives of Arab immigrants in Arab

Detroit. It shapes institutions, lives, and eventually determines what it is “being Arab” in the

realm of the American culture. Hayan says, “She had sent to a parochial preschool and

eventually, despite being born into Islam, I attended the schools of the Saints Barbara and

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Alphonsus” (Charara 401). He explains how the Arab immigrants were not being compelled into

the being assimilated into the American culture. On the contrary, they were all being nestled into

it. However, they were expected to behave appropriately for them to fit in. they were expected to

mute, normalize, naturalize their language, attitude, and religion. They were expected to mute

their ‘Arabness”, at least temporarily. Hayan describes the life that Arabs live in Detroit, which

he refers to as the ‘Center of Mystery’.

Family Resemblances; Kinship and Community in Arab Detroit by Andrew Shryock

positions Arab immigrants not in light with mainstream America, but in comparison to other

Arabs in the immediate environment. Shryock explores the meaning of the term

‘Americanization’ for Arabs. The importance of family life is explained as a feature of the

experiences of the Arab immigrants in Detroit. Shryock states “Indeed, the entire political

economy of the Arab world is shot through with family ties”, he also states that “The same

family networks facilitate the global spread of Arabic-speaking peoples” (Shryock 3). Thus

asserting the importance of family. The essay refers to Arabs becoming another ethnic group

(Arab Americans) in multi-cultural America, where certain races and groups are stigmatized

more than others. Shryock describes the distinctiveness in the Muslim religion in Detroit and that

in the Arab region. He shows how the mosque in Detroit contrasts with the model in the Middle

East. The Islamic interpretations are diverse, and the practices keep evolving. The essay focuses

on the power of kinship in Arab Detroit and the transcultural space within which Arab

immigrants in the identity maze of ethnic Detroit negotiate their own passage.

Both Shryock and Hayan use the term ‘Americanization’ in an almost similar manner.

They give details of life in Detroit for Arab immigrants. While Hayan contrasts life for Arab

immigrants with that of the abstract American mainstream, Shyrock contrasts it with that of an

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idealized version of Arab culture in the Middle East. The essays are uniformed and compare in

the manner in which they depict multiculturalism and migration into America as well as their

impact on transnationalism, contested borders, and the realities of an ethnic Detroit. While

Andrew Shryock and Hayan base their narratives on the experiences of Ara immigrants in

Detroit, Telling our Story is based on the Arab Americans that live in Dearborn. All in all, the

four essays compare in that they are all centered on the experiences of the Arab Americans.

Overall, memoirs give the experiences of Arb immigrants in Detroit from a personal

perspective. On the other hand, the short stores use the third voice in explaining life for Arab

immigrants in Detroit. The two different essays complement each other by giving their narratives

from different perspectives. The areas and experiences that short stories overlook or fail to

address are covered in the memoirs. Consequently, the topics not covered in the memoirs such as

family life and the truths by different people authenticate the narrative and eliminate any bias

that a memoir, which is only one-sided may have included. Overall, the two approaches are valid

in narrating the experiences of Arab immigrants in Detroit. They give the reader both sides of the

experiences and the truths given in each complement each other.

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Works Cited

Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, and Mich.). Telling Our Story: The Arab American

National Museum. Wayne State University Press, 2007.

Charara, Hayan. "Becoming the Center of Mystery.”." Abraham and Shryock (2000): 401-23.

Shryock, Andrew. "Family resemblances: Kinship and community in Arab Detroit." Abraham

and Shryock (2000): 573-610.

Shryock, Andrew. "In the Double Remoteness of Arab Detroit." Off Stage/On Display: Intimacy

and Ethnography in the Age of Public Culture (2004): 279-314.

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