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This class explores Arab America, and Arab American narratives in a post-9/11 context - one dominated by surveillance, racial profiling, Islamophobia, and cultural anxiety. Yet, the post-9/11 moment also centers Arab American voices that resist erasure and demand visibility. These voices challenge dominant Western logic, push against the orientalist framework, and resist reductive discourses. This seminar focuses on contextualizing the history and racialization of Arab Americans to effectively discuss Arab American Studies and its place within American Studies as an academic field of study. Key theoretical frameworks, including race as a social construct, orientalism, and decolonial theory, will provide essential tools for analyzing literature, film, and other Arab American texts. Students will read a range of texts alongside theoretical works, including but not limited to Randa Jarrar's novel A Map of Home (2008), Malaka Gharib's graphic memoir I Was Their American Dream (2019), and selected episodes from the TV show Mo (2022).
The following questions will shape our discussions: How is Orientalism intertwined with racist thought, particularly in relation to Arab American experiences? How are these histories, stories, and narratives told, read, and recorded in ways that challenge and resist social hierarchies and inequalities? How does Arab American studies intervene in or expand our understanding of American identity and power? By engaging with these questions through secondary sources and theoretical frameworks, students will develop a deeper understanding of the historical roots of racism targeting Arab Americans and the role of orientalist thought in the U.S. context. Finally, this seminar invites students to consider why and how Arab American narratives are essential contributions that challenge and expand the boundaries of American Studies. |
