COUC 504 week 6 Questions and Answers |
2025/2026 Update | 100% Correct.
ArAb-AmericAn Heterogeneity
- region centered around the Persian Gulf became known to English speakers as "the
middle east" or the "Near Orient"
- religious groups coexisting in the Middle East are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Bah'ai, and
Druze.
- Arabs are people who have ancestral ties to the Saudi Arabian peninsula and historically have
practiced Islam, can also tell through Arabic language
- Arab is ethnic or cultural category
- Arab American is used to mean any individual who defines himself or herself as part of that
ethnic group and has a heritage linked to the League of Arab States as described next
- not all countries in Middle East are arabic
- many contemporary scholars define those originating from the Arab middle east (self-defined
as a country of origin belonging to the League of Arab States)
-League of Arab States was founded in 1945. The 22 member states are Algeria, Bahrain, the
Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and
Yemen (Nassar-McMillan, Ajrouch, et al., 2014). These are sometimes grouped into the Gulf
states (i.e., Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman), Greater Syria (including Iraq and Lebanon), and the
area of North Africa referred to as the Maghreb (i.e., Egypt, Libya, Morocco). some Arab
speaking countries not part of Arab league
- Arab Muslims make up about one fifth of the world's muslim population
,- muslim and Arab are not synonymous
- majority christian arabs
Arab immigration
4 waves
1) The first group of immigrants came primarily from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan at
the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Most of them were Christians who
wanted to escape the Islamic Ottoman Empire. mostly uneducated laborers
2) second group of Arab immigrants arrived after World War II. These individuals were fleeing
their homelands that were wracked with political tensions. Among them were Palestinians who
were escaping civil war in 1948 as the British mandate in the area expired and territories were
seized by Israel, but the wave also included Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Iraqis, and, to a
lesser extent, Yemenis and Lebanese. Some have called this exodus the brain drain, because
those who left were formally educated Muslims with the means to escape undesirable situations.
3) hird wave of immigrants was also composed predominantly of formally educated Muslims,
but this group's motivation was a search for better lives as part of the American Dream.
Restrictions on immigration had been eased in the 1960s, making it easier to take advantage of
the opportunity. Many of the people arriving at this time were Palestinians who wanted to escape
the Israeli occupation
4) the Gulf War created a situation in which refugees had very few options left and were
compelled to flee. This group included, for example, Iraqis who worked with the United States in
its war efforts in the region and who faced harsh consequences for that choice. Renewed conflict
in the region has led more Iraqi refugees to the United States, both directly and indirectly after
stopovers in refugee camps
, Collectivism
- Arab Americans should be understood as holding a collective worldview
- Arab Americans are likely to continue seeing themselves as part of an extended family and
community structure. Decisions are made within this context, help is sought from other members
of the collective group, appropriate behavior is defined by the shared beliefs of the community,
and interdependence is valued as a sign of dedication and loyalty to the group
- Arab Americans tend to be highly aware of both major and minor circumstances that could
bring either honor or shame to their family and the larger community
- idea of honor and shame tends to play a large role in the decisions, goals, and behaviors made
by many Arab Americans
- "We rise together, we fall together"
- "It is my brother and I against our cousin; but it is my cousin and I against a stranger".
Collective societies value trust, so outsiders must work to gain favor through sustained
demonstrations of knowledge, awareness, and skillful assistance. before trust is earned,
individualistic U.S. influences may be viewed with some suspicion.
- Arab social structure is patrilineal, with males being at the top of the hierarchy
- There is wide variation within the Arab and Arab-American communities as to how gender
roles and power are expressed, including how patriarchal beliefs and behaviors are supported
- parenting styles may be even more authoritarian than
those of Arabs in their home countries, because U.S. cultural values may be viewed as a threat to
the structure of the Arab-American family and its value system, particularly in the case of
Muslims
- Extended family systems, through blood and marriage, are common within Arab households
2025/2026 Update | 100% Correct.
ArAb-AmericAn Heterogeneity
- region centered around the Persian Gulf became known to English speakers as "the
middle east" or the "Near Orient"
- religious groups coexisting in the Middle East are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Bah'ai, and
Druze.
- Arabs are people who have ancestral ties to the Saudi Arabian peninsula and historically have
practiced Islam, can also tell through Arabic language
- Arab is ethnic or cultural category
- Arab American is used to mean any individual who defines himself or herself as part of that
ethnic group and has a heritage linked to the League of Arab States as described next
- not all countries in Middle East are arabic
- many contemporary scholars define those originating from the Arab middle east (self-defined
as a country of origin belonging to the League of Arab States)
-League of Arab States was founded in 1945. The 22 member states are Algeria, Bahrain, the
Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and
Yemen (Nassar-McMillan, Ajrouch, et al., 2014). These are sometimes grouped into the Gulf
states (i.e., Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman), Greater Syria (including Iraq and Lebanon), and the
area of North Africa referred to as the Maghreb (i.e., Egypt, Libya, Morocco). some Arab
speaking countries not part of Arab league
- Arab Muslims make up about one fifth of the world's muslim population
,- muslim and Arab are not synonymous
- majority christian arabs
Arab immigration
4 waves
1) The first group of immigrants came primarily from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan at
the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Most of them were Christians who
wanted to escape the Islamic Ottoman Empire. mostly uneducated laborers
2) second group of Arab immigrants arrived after World War II. These individuals were fleeing
their homelands that were wracked with political tensions. Among them were Palestinians who
were escaping civil war in 1948 as the British mandate in the area expired and territories were
seized by Israel, but the wave also included Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Iraqis, and, to a
lesser extent, Yemenis and Lebanese. Some have called this exodus the brain drain, because
those who left were formally educated Muslims with the means to escape undesirable situations.
3) hird wave of immigrants was also composed predominantly of formally educated Muslims,
but this group's motivation was a search for better lives as part of the American Dream.
Restrictions on immigration had been eased in the 1960s, making it easier to take advantage of
the opportunity. Many of the people arriving at this time were Palestinians who wanted to escape
the Israeli occupation
4) the Gulf War created a situation in which refugees had very few options left and were
compelled to flee. This group included, for example, Iraqis who worked with the United States in
its war efforts in the region and who faced harsh consequences for that choice. Renewed conflict
in the region has led more Iraqi refugees to the United States, both directly and indirectly after
stopovers in refugee camps
, Collectivism
- Arab Americans should be understood as holding a collective worldview
- Arab Americans are likely to continue seeing themselves as part of an extended family and
community structure. Decisions are made within this context, help is sought from other members
of the collective group, appropriate behavior is defined by the shared beliefs of the community,
and interdependence is valued as a sign of dedication and loyalty to the group
- Arab Americans tend to be highly aware of both major and minor circumstances that could
bring either honor or shame to their family and the larger community
- idea of honor and shame tends to play a large role in the decisions, goals, and behaviors made
by many Arab Americans
- "We rise together, we fall together"
- "It is my brother and I against our cousin; but it is my cousin and I against a stranger".
Collective societies value trust, so outsiders must work to gain favor through sustained
demonstrations of knowledge, awareness, and skillful assistance. before trust is earned,
individualistic U.S. influences may be viewed with some suspicion.
- Arab social structure is patrilineal, with males being at the top of the hierarchy
- There is wide variation within the Arab and Arab-American communities as to how gender
roles and power are expressed, including how patriarchal beliefs and behaviors are supported
- parenting styles may be even more authoritarian than
those of Arabs in their home countries, because U.S. cultural values may be viewed as a threat to
the structure of the Arab-American family and its value system, particularly in the case of
Muslims
- Extended family systems, through blood and marriage, are common within Arab households
