Transcript MUSLIM AND ARAB AMERICANS: DIVERSE MINORITIES

MUSLIM AND ARAB
AMERICANS:
DIVERSE
MINORITIES
CHAPTER 11
Copyright © 2010 Pearson
Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River,
NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Muslim and Arab People
• Muslim and Arab Americans are different
groups in America
o Though they overlap with some Muslim Americans of
Arab ancestry, they are distinct from each other
• Two objectives for considering Arab and Muslim
Americans together
o 1st - clarify the distinction between two groups often
incorrectly referred to as the same population
o 2nd - overcome prism of Orientalism through which
many Americans view the Arab and Muslim world
• Simplistic view of people and history of the orient with not
recognition of change over time or the diversity in the many
cultures
Relationship between Muslim and Arab Americans
Many Arab Americans are not Muslims, and most Muslim Americans are not Arabs.
Muslim and Arab People
• Arabs are an ethnic group
• Muslims are a religious group
o Islam is the faith (like Christianity)
o Muslim is a believer of that religion (like a Christian)
• One cannot accurately identify the Muslim faithful
by nationality alone
• Clearly being Arab does not define one as being a
follower of Islam and being Muslim does not define
one as being an Arab
Arab and Muslim Countries
Arab Americans
• Arab Americans
o Refers to immigrants and their descendants from the
countries that now comprise the Arab world
• “Middle Eastern”
o Middle East is an ambiguous geographic designation the
includes many that are neither Muslim nor Arab but is
frequently used
• The Arabic language is the most single unifying force
among Arabs
• There are up to 3 million people with Arab ancestry in the
U.S.
o Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine account fro 2/3rd of Arab
Americans in 2000
• Diversity of Arabs
o Variation in time of arrival
o Variation in the point of origin
o Variation of religious tradition
Arab American Population, 2000
Deficit Model of Ethnic Identity
• One’s ethnicity is viewed by others as a factor of
subtracting away the characteristics corresponding to
some ideal ethnic type
• According to the deficit model of ethnic identity
o not speaking the native language makes one less ethnic
o intermarrying outside of the group makes one less ethnic
o never visiting the home country makes one less ethnic
Muslim Americans
• 1.3 billion followers worldwide and second to
Christianity
• Islam is guided by the teaching of the Qur’an
(Koran)
o Sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad
• Hadeeth – collected sayings
• Sunnah – collected deeds
• Use religious rituals
o
o
o
o
Masjids and imams – mosques and spiritual leaders
Eids – holidays
Halal – approved foods and drinks
Hijab – modest clothing
• Divided into a variety of faiths and sects
o Sunni and Shi’i
Muslim Americans
• Jihad
o A struggle against enemies of Allah, usually taken to mean
one’s own internal struggle
o recently reinterpreted by some more radical Muslims to
mean political enemies
• Terrorist attacks on the U.S. and other nations of infidels
• Number of Muslim Americans is difficult to estimate
o 20-42 percent African American
o 24-33 percent South Asian (Afghan, Bangladeshi, Indian
and Pakistani)
o 12-32 percent Arab
o 15-22 percent “other” (Bosnian, Iranian, Turk, and White
and Hispanic converts)
• Total agreement that the population is growing
rapidly
o Immigration and conversion
Muslim Americans
• Blended Identity
o Is the self-image and worldview that is a combination of
religious faith, cultural background based in nationality,
and the status of being a resident of the U.S.
• Muslims often find their daily activities defined by
their faith, their nationality, and their status as
American, however defined in terms of citizenship
• In the US, many Muslims experience both the
freedom to be Muslim and the pressure to be
Muslim
Blended Identity of Muslim Americans
Muslim Americans, as shown in this illustration representing the life/experience of a
Pakistani Muslim living in the United States, form their identity by bringing together
three different identities: their faith, their homeland, and the United States.
Black Muslims
• Estimated to account for 90 percent of all
converts to Islam in the U.S.
• Not tightly organized into a single religious
fellowship
• Against adultery and drinking alcohol
• The Nation of Islam became a well-known and
controversial organization
o Trace roots to W. Fard Muhammad in (1930)
o Became well-known and controversial under Elijah Muhammad
Malcolm X
• Originally a member of the Nation of Islam
• Was the most powerful and brilliant voice of Black selfdetermination in the 1960s
• Was highly critical of the civil rights movement in
general and of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Remembered for:
o
o
o
o
His sharp attacks on Black leaders
His break with the Nation of Islam
His apparent shift to support the formation of coalitions with progressive whites
Teaching that Black must resist violence “by any means necessary.”
• Created the Organization of Afro-American Unity
o Meant to internationalize the Civil Rights Movement
• Assassinated in 1964
Louis Farrakhan
• Has been the most visible
spokesperson among various
Muslim groups in the African American
community
• Anti-Israel foreign policy
• Pro: Self-help, bootstrap capitalism, and strict
punishment
• Against: Abortion, drugs and homosexuality
• Leader of the 1995 Million Man March
Immigration to the United States
• Some slaves were followers of Islam
• The National Origins System slowed immigration to the
United States
• In 1919, the first mosque was established and a variety
of service agencies to help the immigrant community
• Professional-Preference Clauses within 1965
Immigration and Naturalization Act
o Increased immigration among Muslims and Arabs
Contemporary Life in the U.S.
• Michigan
o The mosques in metropolitan Detroit serve an estimated 200,000
Muslims
o At least 40% of this area’s population has Arab ancestry today
• Arab Americans tend to immigrate to urban areas
• Fill skilled and professional roles in US and become selfemployed merchants or entrepreneurs
• Operate stores in low-income areas of central cities
major retailers ignore
o Opportunities for success are great, but face challenges of
serving low-income population with few consumer choices and
history of being exploited by outsiders
Family Life and Gender
• Traditionally, Islam has permitted men to have
multiple wives—a maximum of four.
• Role of women receive much attention because
outer clothing is a conspicuous symbol that to some
seem to represent repression of women in society
• Perception of gender practices in Muslim societies
receive special attention by Western media
o Particularly dress codes
Family Life and Gender
• Hijab
o Refers to a variety of garments that allow women
to follow the guidelines of modest dress
• Three perspectives among Muslim women in US and
settlements outside Islamic countries
• Younger, better educated, support hijab but draw upon
Western ideas of individual rights
• Older, less-educated support hijab and make arguments
without reference to Western ideology
• Third group of all ages and education, oppose the hijab
• There are differences in the role of women within the
faith and the mosque
• Segregations of the sexes in mosques
Education
• Recognize the importance of education and
value formal instruction in their faith
o Homeschooling is becoming popular
• Schools are specific to particular expressions of
Islam and specific nationalities
• Children attending public schools encounter the
type of adjustment experienced by those of a
religious faith different from the dominant one of
society
Politics
• Muslim and Arab Americans are politically aware
and often active
o Most visible Arab American in politics
• Ralph Nader tried to open presidential politics to a true
alternative to the two-party system
• Muslims in the U.S. often express the view that their
faith encourages political participation
• By 2007, a national survey showed 63 percent of
Muslim leaders favored the Democrats compared
to only 11 percent toward the Republicans
• There is a clear distancing observable between the
major parties and Muslims and Arab Americans
o Contrast to the catering of African Americans and Latinos
for votes
Politics
• In the last decade, escalation of charges that some
organizations and charities assist groups unfriendly to
Israel and support terrorism
o Some U.S. politicians have begun to take the safe position of
refusing campaign money from virtually any group linked to
the Muslim or Arab community
• News events have fueled anti-Arab and anti-Muslim
feeling
• 1972 terrorist raid at the Munich Olympics
• 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies, Kenya and
Tanzania
• September 11, 2001 engineered by Arab Muslim
extremists
Issues of Prejudice and Discrimination
• The USA PATRIOT ACT, passed in October 2001, has
specific provisions in it condemning discrimination
against Arab and Muslim Americans
• Racial Profiling
o Any arbitrary police-initiated action based on race,
ethnicity, or national origin rather than a person’s behavior
o Became intense after 9/11
• The U.S. Department of Justice required that all
foreign-born Muslim men be photographed,
fingerprinted, and interviewed
• The registration process deepened fear and
disillusionment among the many law-abiding
Muslims in the U.S.
Issues of Prejudice and Discrimination
• Motion pictures uniformly show Arabs and Muslims as
savages, untrustworthy, and barbaric.
• On television, there is an overemphasis on the
extreme representations
• Surveys conducted after 9/11 found a growing
willingness to view Arabs and Muslims generally as a
dangerous people and to require the carrying
of special identification cards
• Hate crimes and harassment rose sharply after 9/11
• One in four people believe a number of anti-Muslim
stereotypes
• Islamophobia
o A range of negative feelings toward Muslims and their
religion that ranges from generalized intolerance to hatred
Responding to Hate
• Arab and Muslim Americans have not been passive
to their treatment
• Organizations have been created:
o To counter negative stereotypes and to offer schools
material responding to the labeling that has occurred
o To represent their interests and to promote understanding
as well as to bring attention to discrimination and
expressions of prejudice in public life and the mass media