Ethnic Minority Owned And Serving Grocers In Morgantown And Solidarity Economies, Bane B. Clements-Smart, Rissell L. Velarde Vila, Cameron G. Rishworth

Undergraduate Scholarship

This project sought to build off previous research within the Center for Resilient Communities on grocers and solidarity economies, by learning about grocers owned by minority ethnic groups and that serve minority ethnic groups through offering products for cuisines and cooking unavailable through large, mainstream grocery chains such as Walmart, Kroger, or Giant Eagle. These stores also offer a cultural space where people from minority ethnic groups can connect and build community through a sense of home and familiarity provided by these spaces, not easily found elsewhere in Morgantown.

Racism Without Race: The Racialization Of Middle Eastern And North African Students At U.S. Colleges, Hannah Mesouani

Dissertations

Although a growing body of literature covers the experiences of international students at U.S. colleges, the stories of those who do not fit into the U.S. racial schema remain untold. This study examined how Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) students understood their racial identities given the United States’ tense history with Islam and the MENA world. Using foundational texts on critical race theory, current scholarship on Arab Americans and foreign-born students, and facets of the Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS), this study examined the experiences of MENA students who study amid a national backdrop of xenophobia and racialized Islamophobia. This …

In The U.S., Mena People Are Legally White. But Their Lived Experiences Say Otherwise, Youcef O. Bounab

Capstones

The U.S. Government classifies people whose origins are from the Middle East and North Africa as racially “white.” This is reflected in the decennial census, as well as in other questionnaires and forms, even as many among those groups prefer to have their own categorization. In this feature article, we explore the history of the issue, how individuals from those backgrounds would prefer to identify, and whether their lived experiences in a post-9/11 United States reflect their current categorization.

Perspectives Of Middle Eastern Immigrant Parents Regarding Accessing Healthcare Services For Children During The Covid-19 Pandemic In London, Ontario, Sarvenaz Mehrabi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrants have been disproportionally affected and faced difficulties in accessing healthcare services. While it has been reported that the rate of pediatric healthcare utilization decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reasons behind this decline are unclear. It has been suggested that immigrant children might be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions regarding accessing healthcare services. This study aims to understand the Middle Eastern immigrant parents’ perspectives regarding their access to healthcare services for their children in the London, Ontario, area during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This qualitative study was conducted with an interpretive description methodology …

The Lived Experiences Of Middle Eastern Immigrant Women During Their Cancer Survivorship Journey: A Phenomenological Study, Enam Alsrayheen, Khaldoun Aldiabat, Catherine Aquino-Russell

The Qualitative Report

The number of Middle Eastern immigrant women (MEIW) living in Canada has significantly increased. However, this group of women is underrepresented in health research and there is a gap in knowledge of their cancer survivorship experiences in Canada. This phenomenological qualitative approach was employed to uncover the meaning of the lived experiences of MEIW during their cancer survivorship journey (CSJ). Data were collected through unstructured interviews and one written description from three MEIW. The participants' perspectives of cancer risk factors were believed to be the cause of their cancer, and their CSJ was fear-inducing and anxiety-provoking. There appears to be …

Shifting Perspectives: A Travelling, Interactive Installation Educating Youth, Mary Branon

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

If I were to ask a group of people to explain what countries make up the Middle East, they likely wouldn’t be able to list more than a few. Despite the internet, technology, and social media being within reach, it is still common to see generalizations about groups of people, their origins, and the boundaries of those origins. This leads me to wonder why. Is this an issue within our educational system? Is this due to lack of accessible information? Or maybe information isn’t presented in a way that is easily understood and digested? An abundance of information remains just …

Implications Of Social Networks On Medication Information- Seeking Among Middle Eastern International Students: An Exploratory Study, Esra Abdoh

Theses and Dissertations

The study examined how international students use their social networks to seek medication information, how their social networks provide social support, and how perceived social support is related to seeking medication information online. While there has been a paucity of research on the way international students seek information in their day-to-day lives (Sin and Kim, 2013), there is still a gap in the literature regarding how social networks employed by international students have a positive impact on building bridges toward home. In particular, no studies on the use of social support in social networks to retrieve medication information exist.

This …

Colorism And Employment Opportunities For Middle Eastern Women, Ahzin Bahraini

Open Access Theses

Colorism is the intra- and interracial discrimination an individual experiences based on one’s phenotype (Hunter 2005, Hunter 2007, Hill 2002). Current research focused on colorism among black Americans has found that “dark-skinned blacks have lower levels of education, income, and job status” in the United States (Hochschild and Weaver 2007). As bias against Middle Easterners rises in the United States, current research regarding this population is scarce. In the context of today’s political climate, the term Muslim has become a misnomer to refer to the Middle Eastern population, with the term Islamophobia specifically referring to Middle Easterners regardless of their …

Soheila Azadi Interview, Jillian Bridgeman

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: Soheila Azadi is an interdisciplinary visual artist and lecturer based in Chicago and Iran. Born in the capital of Islamic cities, Esfahan, Azadi absorbed story-telling skills through Persian miniature drawings since she was nine. Azadi’s inspirations come from her experiences of being a woman while living under Theocracy. Now residing in the U.S. Azadi is dedicated to transnational feminism with a passionate devotion to the ways in which race, religion, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity intersect. Azadi uses performance art and performative installations as methods to both materialize and narrate stories about women’s everyday struggle in the world. Her …

The Importance Of Developing Cultural Competence In Working With Families Of Students With Disabilities From The Middle East, North Africa, And Southwest Asia, Soraya Fallah, Wendy Murawski, Zaniar Moradian

The Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship

This article describes the importance of developing cultural competencies when working with families who come from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. Using a mixed methods study, the experiences of 125 families from Middle Eastern, North African, and Southwest Asian (MENASWA) descent who have children in the U.S. Special Education system were analyzed. The intent of the research was to determine if specific demographics impacted the experiences and perceptions of these families, most specifically their perception of a school’s cultural competency. Survey responses and interviews resulted in numerous suggestions and recommendations that can help educators and administrators to better serve …

A Therapeutic Storybook For Adjustment And Acculturation In Middle Eastern Refugee Children, Christina E. Zawalski

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The current global sociopolitical climate has resulted in the influx of refugees to the United States from all over the world. Those coming from the Middle East represent a large portion of refugees in the U.S., and children within this group make up a large percentage. The refugee process is characterized by stressful experiences in the premigration, migration, and resettlement stages. These experiences put refugee children at risk for distress and other mental health difficulties. Refugees must learn how to adjust and acculturate once in the host country, which can be a difficult task. Teachers are in a unique position …

Preliminary Findings Of A Phenomenological Study Of Middle Eastern Women’S Experiences Studying Engineering In Ireland, Shannon Chance, Bill Williams

Conference papers

This paper reports analysis of phenomenological interviews conducted with eight women studying engineering, all Arabic speakers and practicing Muslims, and all from the countries of Oman and Kuwait. Data were collected as part of a larger study of women’s experiences learning engineering in institutions of higher education in Poland, Portugal, and Ireland. The eight women contributing data for the analysis for this paper were all enrolled on engineering degree programs in Dublin, Ireland, where they studied together. The larger study involves conducting longitudinal data via interviews with 47 women around Europe to understand what their undergraduate experiences in STEM have …

Conflict And Crisis: U.S. Interventionism And Aid In The Middle East, Timothy Effrem

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis proposes that United States’ intervention in the Middle East since World War II has led to counterproductive military policy decisions and proposes a greater focus on private humanitarian aid which engages the Middle Eastern culture more effectively than public funding entities.

Conflict within the Middle East has escalated. To understand the nature of Middle Eastern political affairs, one must understand power politics, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Shi’a-Sunni split, U.S. relations, and Just War Theory. The U.S. has played a prominent role in the region, and this thesis concludes that the amount of aid currently allocated between military and …

Jamil Khoury Interview, Dasha Lubitov

Asian American Art Oral History Project

This interview focusses on Silk Road Rising's video play Not Quite White: Arabs, Slavs, and the Contours of Contested Whiteness.

Bio: Jamil Khoury is the Founding Artistic Director of Silk Road Rising. Promoting playwrights of Silk Road backgrounds (Asian and Middle Eastern) is a passion that dovetails well with his experiences living in the Middle East and his eleven years as a cross-cultural trainer and international relocations consultant. A theatre producer, essayist, playwright, and film maker, Khoury’s work focuses on Middle Eastern themes and questions of Diaspora. He is particularly interested in the intersections of culture, national identity, and citizenship, …

Ethnic Discrimination And Psychological Distress Among Middle Eastern/Arab Americans: The Roles Of Religiosity, Coping, Ethnic Identity, And Family Connectedness, Ayse Selin Ikizler

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite increased public attention in the past decade towards the Middle East and Arab world, only a small but growing body of research literature investigating the mental health of individuals with ethnic background originating in these countries exists. Given the major stigma associated with being Middle Eastern/Arab (MEA) in the United States, the mental health-related implications for MEA Americans is of particular interest in the present study. Specifically, we investigated (1) the moderating role of religiosity in the link between religious affiliation and ethnic discrimination and (2) potential mediators (coping via internalization, detachment, and drugs/alcohol) and moderators (ethnic identity and …

Sabba Syal Elahi Interview (2 Of 2), Derek Hamilton

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Sabba Syal Elahi is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and cultural worker and focuses her art practice in fibers and drawing/painting. She grew up in a traditional Pakistani household in the Midwest. Her art explores political violence, historical representation, memory, and it’s impact on the South Asian Diaspora and Muslim American communities. Recently, Sabba was a 2013-2014 Resident Artist in Chicago Artist Coalition’s Bolt Program and exhibited her work at Woman Made Gallery. For the past 6 years Sabba has provided college and career counseling and portfolio development with an emphasis on the visual arts for high school students at …

To Catch A Terrorist: The Improper Use Of Profiling In U.S. Post-9/11 Counterterrorism, Kamillia Crawford

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) caused thousands of deaths, national and global panic, and immediate action by the federal government to protect the borders of the United States of America (USA) from terrorism. In response to these attacks, the United States (U.S.) government enacted laws for law enforcement agencies to protect against terrorist activities. Law enforcement agencies are effective in combating terrorism, but their measures contain a major flaw - the improper use of race in profiling to address national security and public safety concerns. Racial profiling is an ineffective measure for preventing terrorism. There are solutions to …

Egyptian Film And Feminism: Egypt’S View Of Women Through Cinema, Wesley D. Buskirk

Cinesthesia

This essay analyzes the history of Egyptian film in relationship to the common perception of women in Egypt. From the early stages of Egyptian cinema, women assumed leadership positions, helping build the undeveloped industry to its height in the mid-1900's. An increasingly state-led and male-dominated film industry, however, adopted women as a symbol of nationalism, while neglecting them as equals through traditionalist film content. Furthermore, in the last quarter of the 20th century, governmental influences resulted in a shortage of production resources. Although commercial motion pictures suffered, social-issue, realist movies have reignited feminist initiatives and provided hope for a recovering …

Raising Teachers’ Cultural Knowledge Of Middle Eastern Students In The Classroom, Hassan J. Alnawar

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

A large number of researchers have investigated the impact culturally aware and conscious teachers have in creating a better learning environment for students, especially those who are from different academic and ethnic backgrounds. However, limited studies have been conducted to inspect how teachers’ attitudes toward the cultural background of their students from the Middle East, and how they perceive and interact with them. Using qualitative research methods this study will examine elementary teachers’ conceptions and attitudes toward their Middle-Eastern students. In comparison to other immigrant groups, Middle Eastern students, the focus of this study, face additional challenges as a result …

Brief Report: Evidence Of Ingroup Bias On The Shooter Task In A Saudi Sample, Timothy P. Schofield, Timothy Deckman, Christopher P. Garris, C. Nathan Dewall, Thomas F. Denson

Psychology Faculty Publications

When predominantly White participants in Western countries are asked to shoot individuals in a computer game who may carry weapons, they show a greater bias to shoot at outgroup members and people stereotyped as dangerous. The goal was to determine the extent to which shooter biases in the Middle East would vary as a function of target ethnicity and culturally appropriate or inappropriate headgear. Within a sample of 37 male Saudi Arabian residents, we examined shooter biases outside of Western nations for the first time. Targets in this task were either White or Middle Eastern in appearance, and wore either …

Literacy Instruction In High School: Examining The Perception Of Bilingual And Monolingual Students Of Middle Eastern Origin, Youssef Mosallam

Wayne State University Dissertations

With the growing need to close the gap in instruction for all students there needs to be more of an emphasis on instructional strategies that assist students to achieve in literacy and a focus on their perceptions of the instruction. There is a specific need to support English language learners as they are the fastest growing subgroup in U.S. schools. Moreover, there needs to be a focus on professional development for teachers to support English language learners, multicultural students and all other students that struggle with literacy.

The purpose of the research study was to examine the instructional practices used …

An Examination Of The Relationship Among Iraqi High School Students' Science Achievement And Perceptions Of The Value Of Education, Parent Support, And Peer Support In The United States, Samir F. Al-Mandwee

Wayne State University Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation was to quantitatively study Iraqi students (N=90) who arrived in the U.S.A. in the last 20 years. A non-experimental, descriptive research design was used for this study, which took place in one of three high schools in a large Midwestern suburban school district, during the 2013-2014 academic year. Three factors, including the students' perception of the value of education, the parental support, and the peer support, were examined using the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire. The three subscales were part of a larger self-administered questionnaire used by McInerney (1997). In addition to the FCQ survey, a student …

Muslims Denied: How The Uscis Uses A Formerly Secret Program To Delay And Reject Naturalization Applications From Muslims And Other Minorities., Deepak Amrik Singh Ahluwalia

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

The Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP) unduly burdens applicants of the United States naturalization process and creates the nearly impossible task of erasing any national security concern. Minorities, especially minorities of the Muslim faith, are subjected to unfair investigation and adjudication of their naturalization applications. Congress allegedly eradicated discrimination from the naturalization process with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA). The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency in charge of overseeing lawful immigration to the United States, implemented CARRP in 2008 to establish a policy for handling naturalization cases which might be perceived …

A Qualitative Study Of Middle Eastern/Arab American Sexual Identity Development, Ayse Selin Ikizler

Masters Theses

The development of one’s sexual minority identity is a major part of sexual minority persons’ lives, but unfortunately one that is often stunted by a heterosexist society. For individuals with multiple minority oppressions, the formation of a sexual minority identity becomes even more complicated. As such, there has been a call among researchers for more empirical research on the experiences of LGB individuals from racial/ethnic minority groups. The present study uses qualitative methods to fill some of the gaps in the literature related to identity development among same-gender attracted Middle Eastern/Arab individuals living in the United States (US). From 12 …

Ethnicity, Culture, And Mental Health Among College Students Of Middle Eastern Heritage, Hasti Ashtiani Raveau

Wayne State University Theses

Depression is a significant mental health issue in American college students. However, as is the case for other minority students, this topic has been little studied in students of Middle Eastern background. Stigma and negative attitudes toward seeking mental health services are a big part of Middle Eastern culture, which reduces the chances that this population will seek treatment when they need it. In addition, it is important to study the relationship between ethnic identity and psychological functioning, because ethnic identity could serve as a protective factor against depression in persons of Middle Eastern descent. A strong cultural identity is …

Islamic Perspectives On The Crusades: Past And Present, Robert Noel Duprez Jr.

Master's Theses and Capstones

It is important that scholars use a variety of researching methods when analyzing the effect of the Crusades, how they affected Islamic perspectives of the West during the period 1095--1291, and their imprint on today's world. Western scholars with a Euro-centric point of view have accomplished the overwhelming amount of research on the Crusades. It is not until the last decade that Islamic scholars have taken an interest in the Crusades, and their affect on the Muslim world.

This study came to the following conclusions: 1) Scholarship on the Crusades has mainly represented a Euro-centric viewpoint, 2) Contemporary Muslim scholarship …

Oil, Honor And Religion: United States Foreign Policy Towards Turkey, 1923--1927, Aykut Kilinc

Master's Theses and Capstones

The U.S. and Turkey signed the Lausanne Treaty in 1923 and established equal relations. In 1927, the U.S. Senate rejected this treaty. The Coolidge administration, however, ignored the Senate's rejection and activated the Treaty shortly thereafter. This study was conducted to determine why the Lausanne Treaty was rejected and how it survived. Under investigation were: the origins of the U.S. foreign policy in the Near East, the Lausanne Conference negotiations, and the American public's reaction to the Lausanne Treaty. The Lausanne Treaty was a result of a persistent U.S. Open Door foreign policy that was supported by the new Turkish …

I Studied Inscriptions From Before The Flood: Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, And Linguistic Approaches To Genesis 1-11 [Review] / Edited By Richard S. Hess And David Toshio Tsumura., Jon L. Dybdahl

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Revisionist Zionism In America: The Campaign To Win American Public Support, 1939-1948, Joanna Maura Saidel

Doctoral Dissertations

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, followers of the Zionist Revisionists went to the United States at the urging of their leader, Vladimir Jabotinsky. They established two groups which initially attempted to gain public support for the creation of a Jewish Army.

The New Zionist Organization of America, headed by Ben Zion Netanyahu, followed the Revisionist political party. Its campaign exposed the anti-Jewish position of the British in Palestine. It was effective in placing the Palestine problem on the world (rather than regional) agenda of the State Department.

The Irgun Delegation to the United States, headed by Hillel …

Treasures From Near Eastern Looms, Bowdoin College. Museum Of Art, Ernest H. Roberts

Museum of Art Exhibition Catalogues

The exhibition and catalogue held at Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Me., Sept. 11, 1981 to Nov. 22, 1981 and The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 1981 to Feb. 6, 1982

Photographs by Robert H. Stillwell.