Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 355-381). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis advisor: Jonathan Laurence / Thesis advisor: / This thesis examines how the political participation of Arab-Americans has evolved from 9/11 to the Trump Era. In light of the events in American history in the past two decades that have had significant ramifications on this group, it is important to analyze whether, to what extent, and how the political participation of Arab-Americans was affected. During both the attacks of perpetuated by al-Qaeda on American soil in 2001 and the election of President Trump in 2016, Arab-Americans, particularly those of Muslim faith, saw their realities change as they found themselves in a very hostile socio-political reality: they were thrusted in the spotlight for the worse and were subject to an increasing amount of violent and non-violent animosity from both the American people and from American institutional structures. The events since 9/11 have therefore had an undeniable effect on this group as a whole. However, they have also elicited different reactions according to the national and international political context at the time which have even varied within the Arab-American community. The author analyses how this immigrant group reacted to the political shock of 9/11, as well as its efforts to further mobilize and/or assimilate politically and racially to cope with its heightened visibility. She also looks at the role Arab-American activists have played to advocate for their community and whether they are representative of Arab- Americans as a whole. Finally, she outlines how Arab-Americans are currently reacting to the Trump Administration, and how they are politically fairing at a time of heightened American partisanship. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2019-04-29. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: . / Discipline: .

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-180). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-134).

Parents are among the important socialization agents that influence the persons we become. Previous research (Baumrind, 1967; 1972; 1991; 1987) has identified three primary parenting styles: permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian, and a large amount of research has investigated the long term implications of these styles. The current study aimed to investigate the universality of these parenting styles, in particular, among Arab American Adults (N =22). The study examined the relationships between overall mental health and parenting styles, acculturation, and individuation in this population. Unfortunately, a small sample size limited the analyses performed, and the findings did not show any significant correlations between parenting styles, individuation, or acculturation and overall mental health. Implications of findings are discussed as well as suggestions for implementing more culturally sensitive methods and measures.

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In this thesis, I explore the cultural traumas and memories that shape Arab American identity in the US, and how such events influence their interactions and relationships with other Arab and non-Arab Americans. Drawing on memory and trauma literature, this study highlights the impact of collective memory and cultural trauma on individual and collective Arab American identity formation. Through 11 in-depth interviews, I found that trauma affected the respondents in two particular ways, through enduring traumas from their countries of immigration and the continuing impact of 9/11. Specifically, I found that the traumas of immigrating from a country where respondents had experienced direct violence through war or oppression, or where they lacked socio-economic stability, deeply impacted how they understand and utilize their Arab American identity as a tool to uplift the voices of other Arabs. Additionally, I found although the participants did not explicitly consider 9/11 as a personal trauma, they saw it as a significant cultural event that influenced their self-perception as Muslims and their sense of belonging in U.S. society. Specifically, the profiling of Arabs post-9/11 caused the respondents to constantly self-surveil as well as had negative effects on the community. 9/11 also resulted in the respondents becoming more supportive of Arab American organizations through intra-country donations, as well as becoming more accepting of alternative ways to practice and understand Islam. This study contributes to the social science literature by examining how collective trauma affects the daily lives and identities of Arab Americans. It underscores the importance of inclusivity in research, recognizing the significance of Arab American voices and the need for a comprehensive understanding of the Arab American community. / M.S. / This study explores how cultural trauma and collective memory have shaped the identity of Arab Americans in the U.S. I found that Arab Americans were affected in two ways. First, the enduring trauma of war, violence, and oppression from their countries of origin impacted how they understood their Arab American identity and used it to advocate for fellow Arabs. Second, the continuing impact of 9/11 resulted in racial/ethno-religious profiling and constant self-surveillance, which affected the community’s acceptance of alternative ways to practice and understand Islam. These experiences strengthened their sense of collective identity.

I am from Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest populations of Arab immigrants in the United States. This mixing of cultures, of peoples, of identities has informed my writing in many ways. Narrative themes of immigration, exile and isolation inspire my writing and my thesis represents chapters from my first novel, tracing the Arab American immigration experience from 1914 until 1967; and, my second novel, set in Detroit, continues this narrative through the perspectives of two characters, drawing on the post 9-11 Arab American community and experience. The poet Hayan Charara has spoken of “the absence of a ‘personal history’ of the Middle East. . . for those whose families were among the first waves of Arabs to immigrate to the United States.” As an Arab American writer, my fiction attempts to create threads of memory, of family, of stories, that connect us back to a similar space.

After 9/11, American stand-up comedy includes an increasing presence of Arab and Muslim comedians whose humor engages some of the recurring Islamophobic stereotypes circulating in the United States. These comedians combine self-deprecating humor and critique of American society. In doing so, they continue a rich tradition of American ethnic comedy, first used by other minorities to negotiate positive recognition of their ethnicities in American society. Although Arab and Muslim American stand-up comedy continues to grow, there is little academic analysis of it. My research attempts to fill this gap. I examine two video-recorded comedy tours, Allah Made Me Funny and The Axis of Evil, and draw on my experiences as participant observer at the 8th annual edition of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival. In my examination, I explore Arab and Muslim American stand-up comedy after 9/11 as a set of performances that challenge Islamophobic political discourses and contest stereotypical representations of Arabs and Muslims circulating in the media and popular culture. I begin this thesis with a discussion that defines Islamophobia after 9/11 as a pervasive ideological formation and explores the relationship between Islamophobia and stereotypical representations of Arabs and Muslims in the media and popular culture. Second, I identify political activism, personal narrative, as well as both artistic and historical opportunism as complex and interrelated dimensions of this stand-up comedy. Third, I examine how Arab and Muslim American comedians use humor to navigate the poles of their hyphenated identities and negotiate their belonging in American society. Finally, I examine the ways in which stand-up comedy reverses the discourses and representations of Islamophobia by drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the carnivalesque.

This report examines the use of grandmother figures in the construction of imagined communities in Arab American literature. Through the lens of diaspora studies, it argues that grandmother figures become integral in the creation of an Arab American imagined community based on two main tropes: a theoretical collapse between notions of patriotism and the maternal figure (in which the homeland becomes the Motherland) and the tendency of second-generation Arab American authors to connect their immigrant grandmothers to ethnic homelands. In exploring this connection, the report argues that the creation of an Arab American imagined community is necessitated by anti-Arab racism in the United States and the need for the community’s authors to be seen in tandem with the literary traditions of other ethnic minorities in America. The report problematizes the imagined homeland by arguing that it is constructed on the basis of simplistic juxtapositions between different generations within the Arab American community, and ends by examining the anxiety that is generated when this juxtaposition and the imagined community are threatened. / text