LSP 200 Section 210

WINTER 2014

Arabs in the U.S. - Sophomore Seminar on Multiculturalism

Professor: Class Meeting Time: Office Hours: Office Location: Office Phone: Email: I. Introduction Migrating to the U.S. from the late nineteenth century to today, Arab Americans trace their origins to twenty-two countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Although Lebanese make up almost half of Arab Americans today, Syrians, Palestinians, Iraqis, Egyptians, and others constitute significant numbers as well. Observant of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths, Arab immigrants and descendents maintain an array of religious congregations. They run corner stores and Fortune 500 companies as well as vote on the Left and the Right. With these and other differences in mind, this course explores the construction of Arab American identities and experiences from the late nineteenth century to today. Based in cultural studies and the social sciences, this interdisciplinary course will examine key multicultural concepts through Arab American history, including ethnicity, migration, racialization, religious difference, gender relations, cultural politics, as well as exile and diaspora. Our main aim is to explore how Arab American identity and experience are not uniform or monolithic phenomena, but rather variably develop through a diverse and often conflicting array of social and historical processes. In so doing, this course will enable you to fulfill the Sophomore Seminar requirement for the Liberal Studies Program in DePaul University. II. Required Readings The following three books are required. The books are on sale at the bookstore. They are on reserve in the library as well. THE ASSIGNED READING MUST BE BROUGHT TO CLASS. Abu-Jaber, Diana. 2004. Crescent: A Novel. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. Gualtieri, Sarah. 2009. Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora. Berkeley: University of California Press. Naber, Nadine. 2012. Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism. New York: New York University Press. IN ADDITION, you must download other readings from the D2L website, https://d2l.depaul.edu/ The readings are listed under Course Schedule and Reading Assignments in part IV of this syllabus. YOU MUST read, and print/take notes on these readings and bring them to class. III. Course Requirements and Grading 1 John Tofik Karam, Ph.D. Monday and Wednesday, 11:20 12:50 Monday and Wednesday, 2:30 4:00 Schmitt Academic Center (SAC), 5E 773-325-4135 jkaram2@depaul.edu

1. Class Participation (10 percent of final grade). I require students to come to class, ON TIME, with the readings completed. Participation is defined as listening, consulting your notes or underlined parts of the assigned readings in class, and real engagement in discussion. Tardiness, text-messaging, leaving class, note-passing, talking, and inattentive behavior will lower your grade. Two unexcused absences are permitted for the common cold, the flu, doctors appointments, work schedules, and other routine responsibilities. Any further unexcused absences will decrease your Class Participation and Attendance grade in the following manner: 3 unexcused absences.........maximum grade C 4 unexcused absencesmaximum grade D 5 unexcused absences... maximum grade 1/2 6 unexcused absences... maximum grade 0 In order to receive an excused absence, you must talk with me BEFORE CLASS and the reason for your absence MUST INVOLVE A TRULY SIGNIFICANT EMERGENCY and BE PROVEN. If you miss class, you are responsible for obtaining the notes and assignments from D2L or me. 2. Critical Commentaries (40 percent of final grade). You shall hand in TWO TYPED comments on the reading assignment at the beginning of EVERY class meeting. Each comment must be no shorter than five lines and no longer than seven lines. You MUST DIRECTLY ENGAGE with major themes in at least two readings. I will provide questions for each reading assignment on the last slide of the powerpoint from the prior class, which will be posted on D2L. Generally, please ask yourselves: - What is a key point and/or main argument of the author(s)? - What evidence or descriptions do the authors use to support their points? I will evaluate your response papers with a minus sign for below average work ( ), a check for good work ( ), or a plus for excellent work ( + ). The handout on writing guidelines (especially number 4 6) will be used to grade your critical commentaries. 3. Two essay assignments (50 percent of final grade). You shall write two 5-6 page essays for this course. Each essay may be no shorter than 1700 words and no longer than 1800 words. I will hand out each essay question two weeks before their respective due dates. Each assignment will be worth 25 percent, totaling 50 percent of the final grade. Here are the due dates: Midterm Essay Assignment.......................................................Due Wednesday, February 5th Final Essay Assignment ............................................................... Due Monday, March 17th * Later Work Policy * For every day that any assignment is late, it shall be graded down one full grade (one day, + to , or A to B, and for two days, to -, or B to C, and so on). After the fourth day of tardiness, the work shall be worth 0 percent of the grade.

If you put a late assignment into my mailbox, you must ask the administrative assistant in the LALS office (SAC 5A-H) to write his or her name as well as the date and time on it. Otherwise, I will consider the assignment completed on the date I pick it up from my mailbox. * Plagiarism Policy * According to the DePaul Student Handbook, Plagiarism is a serious form of academic dishonesty involving the presentation of the work of another as ones own. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to the following: The direct copying of any source, such as written and verbal material, computer files, audio disks, video programs or musical scores, whether published or unpublished, in whole or in part, without proper acknowledgement that it is someone elses. Copying of any source in whole or in part with only minor changes in wording or syntax even with acknowledgement. Submitting as ones own work a report, examination paper, computer file, lab report or other assignment, which has been prepared by someone else. This includes research papers purchased from any other person or agency. The paraphrasing of anothers work or ideas without proper acknowledgement. If you commit plagiarism, you could receive an automatic F in this course and suffer expulsion from DePaul University. If you have any questions about plagiarism, please come speak with me. REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING SUMMARIZED Class participation Critical commentaries (10-14 lines handed in every class) Two essay assignments (5 to 6 pages each) Total: 10% 40% 50% 100%

IV. Course Schedule and Reading Assignments Week One:

1. Monday, January 6th Curricular Overview 2. Wednesday, January 8th Conceptualizing Ethnicity and its Boundaries in the U.S. - Eriksen, Thomas. What is Ethnicity? D2L - Samhan, Helen. Who are Arab Americans? D2L

Introduction

Week Two:

Narrating Migration and Identity

3. Monday, January 13th Two Approaches to Syrian or Arab Migration History - Gualtieri, Sarah. Between Arab and White. Pp. 1 - 51 - Suleiman, Michael. Introduction: The Arab Immigrant Experience. D2L 4. Wednesday, January 15th Building Arab American Identity in a Multicultural U.S. - Abu-Jaber, Diana. Crescent. Pp. 15 120. - Abu-Jaber, Diana. Crescent. A Brief Biography and An Interview at end of novel. - Majaj, Lisa Suhair. Of Stories and Storytellers. Saudi Aramco World. D2L

Week Three:

Racialization before Civil Rights

5. Monday, January 20th The Idea of Race and the History of Racial Classification - Smedley, Audrey. Race and the Construction of Human Identity. D2L - Gualtieri, Sarah. Between Arab and White. Pp. 52 80 6. Wednesday, January 22nd Syrian Inbetweenness in the Jim Crow South - Gualtieri, Sarah. Between Arab and White. Pp. 113 134

Week Four:

Ethnic and Race Relations after Civil Rights

7. Monday, January 27th - Mobilizing as Arab American - Gualtieri, Sarah. Between Arab and White. Pp. 155 190 - Before class, please watch parts of Edward Saids speech at the 1999 conference of ADC, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/125036-1 8. Wednesday, January 29th - White, Brown, and Black in Racial Hierarchy - Morrison, Toni. On the Backs of Blacks. D2L - Halaby, Laila. Browner Shades of White. D2L - Kaldas, Pauline. Exotic. D2L - Joseph, Lawrence. Sand Nigger. D2L - Hammad, Suheir. Born Palestinian, Born Black. D2L

Week Five:

Continuity, Change, and the Arab American Experience

9. Monday, February 3rd Peer Review of Essay Assignment

Due in class: Draft of Midterm Essay Assignment

- Abu-Jaber, Diana. Crescent. Pp. 121-192

10. Wednesday, February 5th Memorializing Arab American History

Due in class: Midterm Essay Assignment

- Rothstein, Edward. New York Times Review of the Arab American National Museum: A Mosaic of Arab Culture at Home in America. - In class 10-minute documentary on the Arab American National Museum. Check out the museum online: http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org

Week Six

Arabs, U.S. Militarism, and Cultural Politics

11. Monday, February 10th Growing Up Arab Through the First Gulf War - Naber, Nadine. Arab America. Introduction and Chapter One, Pp. 1- 61 12. Wednesday, February 12th Struggles to Define and Redefine Culture - Naber, Nadine. Arab America. Chapter Two, Pp. 63-110

Week Seven:

Religious Plurality

13. Monday, February 17th The Politics of Muslim and Christian Arabness - Naber, Nadine. Arab America. Chapter Three. Pp. 111 155
- Stiffler, Matthew. Orthodox, Arab, American: The Flexibility of Christian Arabness in Detroit. D2L

14. Wednesday, February 19th The Politics of Jewish Arabness - Alsultany, Evelyn. Arab Jews and Multicultural Feminism, An Interview with Ella Shohat. D2L - Shohat, Ella. Reflections by an Arab Jew. D2L

Week Eight
15. Monday, February 24th Gender relations in Crescent - Abu-Jaber, Diana. Crescent. Pp. 193 319

Gender and Sexual Politics

16. Wednesday, February 26th Silences on Sexism and Homophobia? - Naber, Nadine. Arab America. Chapter Four, Pp. 157-202

Week Nine

Imagining Exile

17. Monday, March 3rd Palestinian Experiences - Said, Edward. The Mind of Winter: Reflections on Life in Exile. D2L - Orfalea, Gregory. The Palestinian Debacle: The Second Wave of Arab Immigration, 19481966. D2L 18. Wednesday, March 5th Iraqi Experiences - Abu-Jaber, Diana. Crescent. Pp. 320 395

Week Ten

Articulating Critique from the Diaspora

19. Monday, March 10th Diasporic Critique - Naber, Nadine. Arab America. Chapter Five and Conclusion, Pp. 203-254 20. Wednesday, March 12th Amreeka - Sundance Interview with Cherien Dabis. D2L - In class film: Amreeka. A film by Cherien Dabis.

FINAL ESSAY MUST BE PLACED IN MY MAILBOX IN THE LATIN AMERICAN & LATINO STUDIES OFFICE (SAC 5A-H) BY 12:00 PM, MONDAY, MARCH 17th