The sociopolitical history of Arabs in the United States: Assimilation, ethnicity, and global citizenship

Abstract

In an attempt to depict the sociopolitical worldview of Arab Americans, this chapter traces the development of an ethnic political community among the different waves of immigrants by illustrating the global, transnational and national social and political conditions shaping the context for the development of the community. The first part of the chapter summarizes the migratory patterns of the members of the community and highlights the dynamics that shaped their emigration, reception and formation of identity and community. The second part explores the theoretical constructs that shape our understanding of the Arab American experience. Traditionally, analyses of Arab American communities in the US have either stressed the various processes through which the group has assimilated into the American mainstream or traced the development of an ethnic identity and awareness of difference within the structure of American racial ethnic hierarchies. This chapter extends such analyses by highlighting the growing global awareness that shapes contradictory forms of identification and are best understood through notions of hybridity and diaspora. The chapter concludes by underlining the contested nature of Arab American identity and the challenges faced by members of the community at present.