PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Arts and Sciences: English and Comparative Literature

This dissertation explores the works of contemporary Arab American women writers with a focus on language, identity, and community. I am especially interested in the ways in which the Arab American immigrant experience mirrors that of other ethnic American groups, as demonstrated in their literatures. First, I argue that Randa Jarrar's debut novel, A Map of Home (2008), which uses language—both Arabic and English—as a source of empowerment, reflects Chicana writer Gloria Anzaldua's concept of the “new mestiza consciousness.” Comparing the Chinatown community in Fae Myenne Ng's Bone (1993), to the Muslim community in Mohja Kahf's The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006), reveals the complicated relationships the novels' characters have with their communities. In both novels, the personal development of their young women protagonists is greatly influenced by their respective communities, which simultaneously serve as positive sites of support and complex sites of difficult negotiations. While the characters in A Map of Home and The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf ultimately learn to effectively navigate their hybrid subject positions as both Arabs and Americans, the failure to do so leads to a tragic end for the couple at the center of Laila Halaby's Once in a Promised Land. Halaby's characters fail to recognize that the racial profiling they experience post-9/11 is symptomatic of the U.S.'s long history of violence against people of color. Once in a Promised Land serves as a cautionary tale, demonstrating that the idea of America as a “promised land,” especially for people of color, is false. I posit that placing the literature of Arab Americans in conversation with that of other ethnic American groups reveals the similarities of their experiences, ultimately promoting solidarity and creating the potential for coalition building.

Committee: Jennifer Glaser Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Lisa Hogeland Ph.D. (Committee Member); Laura Micciche Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2017, Political Science

This paper examines the strategies by which the American Muslim community seeks to normalize its presence within mainstream American culture, and assesses how the social and moral customs of liberal society are internalized and operationalized by American Muslims as orthopraxy, or correct practice and conduct. Recent trends by American Muslims toward “inclusivity,” particularly as it requires the prioritization of non-religious, social and/or political understandings of the function and purpose of the hijab, will form the primary focus of this examination. What has become increasingly prevalent is the use of non-religious language pertaining to the hijab, particularly as a religious symbol functioning in and engaging with the public sphere. The central argument will demonstrate exactly how and why the hijab, a key religious symbol, and being a “hijabi,” (an identifier of women who wear the hijab) is being liberalized (and consequently secularized). This liberalization and secularization of the hijab result from the increasing appeal by American Muslim public figures to individualism, autonomy, and other liberal sensibilities over established theological edicts when making sense of why they cover and what it means to cover.

Committee: Renee Heberle Ph.D. (Advisor); Ovamir Anjum Ph.D. (Committee Member); Samuel Nelson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Islamic Studies; Political Science; Religion; Womens Studies