Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Comparative Studies

My project, Modernity, Multiculturalism, and Racialization in Transnational America: Autobiography and Fiction by Immigrant Muslim Women Before and After 9/11, interrogates the enduring notion of America as the promised land of freedom and social mobility in the narratives of Muslim immigrant women. Informed by the critical theories of minority discourse, U.S. borders studies, and postcolonial scholarship, I argue that autobiography and fiction by Muslim American women writers indicate an ideological flexibility, demonstrating a spectrum of discursive negotiations and stances that strategically claim secular, religious, modern, feminist, capitalist, transnational, and multiracial identities that altogether challenge the hegemonic and binary configurations of the figure of “the Muslim” and reformulate the terms of citizenship and belonging in the U.S. I read these strategies in three different writings: Selma Ekrem's autobiography Unveiled: The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl (1930), Mohja Kahf's novel The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (2006), and Leila Halaby's novel Once in A Promised Land (2007). Collectively, these texts articulate and address anxieties about the presumed “incommensurability” of Muslim/Middle Eastern identity with the imaginary ideal of normative Anglo-American modern society, and they offer a unique ethnic, religious, and cross-racial perspective that challenges dominant U.S. conceptions of the minority difference and exclusion. My project contributes to the theorizing of transnational minority literature in a context that goes beyond the simplistic framework of minor to major anti-hegemonic discourse. While I discuss these texts as counternarratives to hegemonic articulations of citizenship and exclusionary discourses of American identity, I also focus on minor-to-minor sensibilities, paying attention to the ways in which literature offers a space for articulations of cross-ethnic alliances, solidarities, and tensions amongst immigrants and other (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nina Berman (Committee Co-Chair); Pranav Jani (Committee Co-Chair); Theresa Delgadillo (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; American Studies; Comparative Literature; Ethnic Studies; Gender; Islamic Studies; Literature; Middle Eastern Literature; Middle Eastern Studies; Near Eastern Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, English

The Narrative Space of Childhood traces the representations of childhood in 21st century Anglophone Arab literature in the diaspora. Concerned with the contemporary moment, this study focuses exclusively on Anglophone Arab coming-of-age narratives published post 2000 including Rabih Alameddine's The Hakawati, Alia Yunis's The Night Counter, Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men, Nathalie Abi-Ezzi's A Girl Made of Dust, Alicia Erian's Towelhead, and Randa Jarrar's A Map of Home. Anglophone Arab writers frequently place children at the center of their literary production, most notably in the midst of conflict-ridden zones besieged by threats of violence, daily terror, and political unrest. Child narrators in Anglophone Arab literature function as reluctant witnesses, innocent bystanders, and unwitting collaborators. In many cases, they become active participants, exercising agency, sometimes finding themselves culpable in the violence. Children frequently offer testimonials, inscribe the battlefield as a playground enacting multiple states of play, become collateral damage dispossessed of home and family, and serve as a repository for collective memory in terms of families, communities, cultures, and generations. Children's perspectives are limited in understanding the confluence of events unfolding within a conflict zone. Their naivety, however, is relatively short-lived. The child's vision provides a piercing, unflinching depiction of history from a vantage point that explodes conventional sentiment in favor of a more penetrating, debilitating, and raw vision of crisis. The figure of the child in 21st century Anglophone Arab diasporic literature interrogates, challenges, and resists facile tropes of sentimentality, nostalgia, and authenticity. Most evident in these works is the child's capacity to instruct, rehabilitate, and complicate adults' beliefs about gender, sexuality, masculinity, femininity, memory, trauma, and play. The post 9/11 Era as it relates to yo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Martin Ponce (Advisor); Lynn Itagaki (Committee Member); Dorothy Noyes (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; British and Irish Literature; Gender Studies; Literature

PHD, Kent State University, 2017, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

The historiography surrounding the role of the United States in relation to the creation of Israel is wide-ranging and covers a variety of perspectives. The voices of Arab Americans, however, are largely absent, due in part to a belief that the Arab American population was too small, fragmented, and disinterested in politics to have tried to influence American politics. This dissertation challenges that idea by examining the rhetoric, imagery, and messages of Arab American groups and their supporters in comparison with those of Zionist organizations and their proponents, with a specific focus on the efforts of the Institute of Arab American Affairs. By doing so, this work shows that members of the Institute viewed the United States as a reference culture and sought to convince Americans that the Arabs of Palestine were the best reflection of American identity and ideals. This work is thematically organized, examining how the Institute engaged with issues such as race and religion, democracy and justice, national security, and modernization to challenge previously held stereotypes regarding both Arabs and Jews and their respective claims to the Holy Land. Thus, this work shows that not only were Arab Americans politically active prior to the June War of 1967 between Israel and its Arab neighbors, they had a sophisticated understanding of what issues and ideas were important to a (white, Christian) American audience and sought to win that audience's support in order to influence policy makers, while combating Zionists' use of similar arguments to gain American support for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. The failure of the Institute and other Arab organizations during this time period to secure U.S. recognition of an Arab state in Palestine was not, therefore, due to inaction or indifference by the Arab American community, but rather to its inability to break through the dominant frames promoted by Zionists and their supporters that a Jewish state i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mary Ann Heiss (Committee Chair); Timothy Scarnecchia (Committee Member); Janet Klein (Committee Member); Julie Mazzei (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Anthropology

Sports spectating is a site where supporters build their identities and navigate experiences of belonging within their communities. In this dissertation, I explore spectator experiences of Arab American Muslim women in Southeast Detroit and examine how women create social identities through their experiences of watching and following American football. Arab and Muslim women's experiences, particularly with sport, have often been represented in Orientalist and Islamophobic ways that inaccurately portray them as meek and oppressed rather than as agents. This research project uses a feminist framework to highlight Arab and Muslim women's diverse voices, histories, and experiences. I critically examine the different ways women engage in spectator culture to understand how it can be a joyful site of identity building as well as a site where women negotiate their inclusion and belonging. The data for this project was collected through participant observation at high school football games and other sport spaces and events in a large Arab American community in Southeast Detroit. I also conducted semi-structured interviews with Arab American Muslim women and members of their family and peer groups. All participants were local sports fans and supporters who were asked about their experiences within their spectator communities. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed that women consider sports to be a key aspect of the relationships they build within families, as well as a place to create community and identity among friends, neighbors, and other spectators in stadiums and online spaces. In the context of watching and following sports, Arab American Muslim women navigate gender expectations from their social groups and take different approaches to challenging and maintaining gender norms while establishing their belonging in sport spaces, from the high school football bleachers to Ford Field. Findings demonstrate that watching and supporting local sports is important to women (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jeffrey Cohen (Advisor) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology

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, The Ohio State University, 2022, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the Mediterranean ambiance and climate in Columbus, Ohio and in some sense the United States at large, through the ways Arab Americans market their cuisines and present themselves to the community. Little scholarship is available on Arab American cuisine in the States. The aim is to find out if Arab American owned restaurants and grocery stores are selling an experience for their clientele, if the Mediterranean label has become a reinvention of their homeland and/or a reconstructed experience of the Arab American, and if their various ways of self-portrayal has undergone a transformation within the larger context of Arab American identity. I use an ethnographic approach to interview Arab American food franchise owners to learn more about concepts such as identity, agency, homebuilding, and orientalism. Arab Americans are reframing the meaning of the Mediterranean through their franchise spaces in the context of their identity and agency as they engage their clientele.

Committee: Johanna Sellman (Advisor); Morgan Liu (Committee Member); Jeffrey Cohen (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Near Eastern Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2021, Sociology

This dissertation contributes to the growing academic interest in the second-generation transmigrants and their parental homelands connections and transnational identities. It focuses on the children of Arab immigrants from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. This dissertation aims to uncover what transnationalism looks like in this population and what factors facilitate or discourage transnationalism. Moreover, this study is particularly interested in exploring the influence discrimination has on this population's transnational connections and identities. Based on 64 semi-structured interviews with second-generation Arab Americans, this research finds that second-generation Arab Americans are transnationally active in social and cultural domains but not in political and economic domains. This study also coins the term “Transnational Projects,” which are composed of transnational ways of being, ways of belonging, and the tools of transnational engagement. This study find that the strength of second-generations' transnational projects is shaped by three transnational social fields: parental homes, marital homes, and religious organizations. Finally, this study also finds that experiences of discrimination affect Christian and Muslim Arab Americans' transnational projects differently. For Christians, experiences of discrimination are dismissed and do not affect transnational projects. While, for Muslims experiences of discrimination provoke reactive transnationalism within their mosques.

Committee: Mary Erdmans (Committee Chair) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2021, Counseling Psychology

Despite the considerable research on trauma for migrant communities, much remains to be known about the phenomenology of resilience and intergenerational resilience for these communities. Furthermore, Arab, Middle Eastern North African (AMENA) Americans are underserved and under researched with little attention given to their well-being, strengths, and resilience. Literature suggests that resiliency is comprised of three components including 1) an aversive experience, 2) using resources to address adversity, and 3) negotiating resources to be culturally meaningful. However, much of the resiliency research has focused on exploring the phenomenon at the individual or micro level. Limited research that addresses other levels of the environment such as the mesosystem (e.g., interactions between microsystems) and exosystem (e.g., factors that impact relationships between mesosystems) have indicated that the environment can have a greater impact on resiliency than the person's own capacity to be resilient. Thus, research has called for a socioecological perspective on resiliency and the subjective experience of intergenerational resilience for diverse cultural groups. The current study explored the lived experiences of AMENA migrant families (N = 19) related to individual and intergenerational resiliency as well as their understanding of the environment's influence on these experiences. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to explore and analyze these topics. Results included two meta themes, six super-ordinate themes, and 19 emergent themes which inform a deeper understanding of AMENA migrants experiences of resilience. Implications for future research, practice, and advocacy are provided.

Committee: Suzette Speight PhD (Committee Chair); Kristin Koskey PhD (Committee Member); Dawn Johnson PhD (Committee Member); John Queener PhD (Committee Member); Ingrid Weigold PhD (Committee Member); Carolyn Behrman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This dissertation examines the relationship that the Palestinian diaspora maintains with the motherland of Palestine. Specifically, it studies the factors contributing to the fostering of such a sense of affiliation among Palestinian diasporic communities despite the absence of a Palestinian political entity that could undertake such a process. This dissertation proposes that the Palestinian master-narrative plays a significant role in maintaining and enhancing the attachment and affiliation of Palestinian diasporic communities with their original homeland. The Palestinian master-narrative, it is contended, is one of the main vehicles through which Palestinian national identity is built within and beyond the geographical realm of historic Palestine. This research claims that Palestinian diasporic writing (including Palestinian-American writing) has been circulating the Palestinian national narrative, which plays a significant role in enhancing the connection between Palestinian diasporic communities and their original homeland and helping them build a national identity. In addition, the circulation of these national narratives establishes the Nakba as a traumatic event in the collective imagination of post-Nakba Palestinian generations, making them equally traumatized as those Palestinians who experienced these events firsthand. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on representations of two main Palestinian national narratives in Palestinian-American writing and their role in building Palestinian national identity. The first narrative is that of the right of return and it is traced in Susan Abulhawa's Mornings in Jenin (2006). The second one is the narrative of sumud and it is examined in Randa Jarrar's A Map of Home (2008). In addition, the relationship between memory and Palestinian identity-building via national narrative is explored in Shaw Dallal's Scattered Like Seeds (1998).

Committee: Babacar M’Baye (Committee Co-Chair); Yoshinobu Hakutani (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: American Literature; Ethnic Studies; Literature; Middle Eastern Literature

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2018, College of Sciences and Health Professions

While depression is a cross-cultural phenomenon, much of the literature that examines risk factors and mechanisms for its occurrence is examined from a Western perspective. As cultural background and level of acculturation to the host culture is known to shape the expression of depressive disorders, as well as their risk factors, this study examined whether cultural factors influence the relationship between two cognitive emotion regulation processes and depression symptoms. Specifically, this study examined whether the relationship between internal, stable, and global causal attributions for negative events (negative attributional style) and depression is mediated by one's tendency to reframe the meaning of event to alter one's emotional experience (reappraisal), and whether the effects of negative attributional styles vary as a function of cultural background and level of acculturation. Therefore, the relationships between negative attributional style, reappraisal, and depression may differ between individualistic US culture, and individuals hailing from a collectivistic Arab heritage. Participants (N = 86) completed measures of Arab cultural identity, negative attributional style, reappraisal, and depression symptoms. Mediation and mediated-moderated analyses were used to examine these relationships. While results showed that the effects of negative attributional style on depression was mediated by reappraisal, the direction of the effect was in the opposite direction than hypothesized: negative attributional styles predicted less reappraisal. Cultural background and acculturation levels were unrelated to variables of interest and did not moderate model effects. Findings provide clarification on how emotion regulation efforts may unfold after an initial attribution is made.

Committee: Ilya Yaroslavsky Ph.D. (Advisor); Shereen Naser Ph.D. (Committee Member); Elizabeth Goncy Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2017, International and Comparative Politics

Every year, the United States uses foreign aid as a foreign policy tool. The Arab Spring gave the United States an opportunity to achieve a historically difficult task in the Middle East: promoting and establishing democracy across the Middle East. This study examines United States foreign aid, primarily military and economic aid, and the success it has on the ruling governing bodies in Libya and Egypt. Does American foreign aid lead to stability of the recipient government? The majority of published works regarding foreign aid effectiveness utilize a large-n case study over several decades without thoroughly examining each case. The following study focuses on research from 2011-2016 with only two cases allowing for more in depth research.

Committee: Vaughn Shannon Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Liam Anderson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Awad Halabi Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Theatre

The events of September 11, 2001 compelled playwrights of Arab or Arab American background to adjust their narratives and to include discourses which interpreted as well as challenged misconceptions surrounding their own culture. Political incidents such as 9/11 produced a shared response from Arab American playwrights wherein women playwrights recognized a need and a responsibility to adequately represent their own personal stories, bodies, and histories through performance. I address the visibility, responsibilities, and historical contributions of Arab American women playwrights and performers post-2001. I explore how the theatrical works of playwright and performer Betty Shamieh, playwright and solo performer Heather Raffo, and stand-up comedian Maysoon Zayid reclaim and reconstruct the cultural and historical interpretations of Arab American women. Shamieh writes plays that contain historical and political themes in order to expose assumptions about Palestinian women. Raffo uses solo performance to relay social, political, and cultural issues representative of Iraqi women. Zayid explores stand-up comedy to address her Palestinian identity as well as her experiences living with cerebral palsy. All of these forms of performance essentially create and serve as pivotal foundations of the Arab American theatre movement. I argue that Shamieh, Raffo, and Zayid dramatize, renegotiate, and challenge reductive historical narratives of the Arab American woman and the representation of her body in post-9/11 politics.

Committee: Joy Reilly Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2005, Psychology

Persons of Arab (North African/ Middle Eastern) descent have faced unique psychosocial stressors due to the socio-political backlash following the World Trade Center attacks. These are compounded by traditional acculturation challenges, leading to increased psychological distress. This study satisfies an urgent need to better understand the acculturation and mental health experiences of Arab Americans by comprehensively and rigorously investigating hypotheses introduced in the previous literature. Participants were 611 Arab Americans from 35 U.S. states who completed a secure Internet form. Variables assessed were: acculturation (Vancouver Index of Acculturation- Modified Arab Version), acculturative stress (SAFE Acculturation Stress Scale- Revised; included issues of discrimination and American foreign policy), family functioning (Family Assessment Device- General Functioning Subscale), social support (Personal Resource Questionnaire85- Revised), religious coping (Brief Arab Religious Coping Scale), anxiety (Beck Anxiety Inventory), depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies- Depression Scale), and a socio-demographics survey. Seven research foci were examined. First, 13 socio-demographic indexes hypothesized to relate to acculturation (including SES, generation status, length of residence in the U.S., English vs. Arabic language use, and Arabic TV viewing) were found to relate to American identity in the expected directions, while most indexes did not relate to Arab identity. Second, participants reported significantly higher anxiety and depression compared to normative samples and studies with other ethnic minority groups. Third, as hypothesized, integrated and assimilated individuals reported less stress, anxiety, and depression compared to those who were separated or marginalized. Fourth, as hypothesized, acculturation stress correlated with anxiety and depression, and both family functioning and social support related to less stress and less psychological di (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Joseph Hovey (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009, Comparative Studies

This is an ethnographic project on foodway practices among Arab American women and men, who live in the greater Columbus, Ohio, region. These women and men primarily are students at The Ohio State University or are affiliated with the University, but some have no direct connection at all. Foodways are an important area of study with multiple facets to be attended to and I have chosen to focus my attention on four central suppositions regarding foodways. These suppositions are: foodways can oftentimes be seen as a point of and for social contact; one may use foodways as a vector for spreading cultural knowledges; one may use foodways as a possible way of expressing her or his identity; and a person may view foodways as providing a tangible (and tasty) way to remember the past and one's ‘home.' I suspected that these four outlooks regarding foodways would possibly be more prevalent and more crucial when looked at within an immigrant community compared to other types of communities residing in the United States. I collected this data by conducting semistructured interviews over an eight month period. I accumulated interviewees by utilizing the snowball technique and found a core group of about five women. The interviews regarded food choice, food preparation, social aspects of foodways, traditions, acculturation, but mostly the four abovementioned conjectures. The data collected from this project's interviewees illustrates that the men and women interviewed do uphold the four hypotheses of foodways put forth by myself but only to a certain extent. The data from my interviews with select members of the Arab American community in Columbus, Ohio suggests that foodways, for this group, can, at times, act as a space for and of sociality; the people involved with this project do use foodways, at times, as a means of spreading cultural knowledges and communicating values; foodways can provide the respondents of this project with a means of identity expression; and foodways ca (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Maurice Stevens PhD (Advisor); Amy Shuman PhD (Committee Member); Joseph Zeidan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Folklore

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2007, Communication Studies

This research focused on individuals of Arab ancestry residing in the U.S. and examined various factors that might influence their cultural identity. The research examined the effects of religion, nationality, and gender on participants' maintenance of Arab cultural identity, attitude toward the original and host cultures, in- and out-group socialization, and perceived discrimination. It also examined the effects of religion, nationality (Arab country of origin), gender, immigration generation, perceived discrimination, and sojourner status on acculturation mode. It also looked at the effect of religion and national origin on ethnogamy and self-identification. Finally, the research examined the relationship of self-identification, gender, in- and out-group socializing, and perceptions of the importance of events happening in Arab countries in the Middle East. Using snowball sampling, I recruited 304 participants. Data were collected from participants living in 13 states with origins from 10 Arab countries. The participants were provided with self-administered questionnaires with closed-ended questions. This study found that the participants' Arab country of origin affected single participants' ethnogamy; it also affected on in-group socializing and attitude toward the host culture. In addition, nationality and religion had significant effects on participants' attitude toward Arab country of origin and perceived discrimination by the host culture. Religion and American city of residence had an impact on self-identification. The results also showed that participants' American city of residence had significant effects on self-identifications and the perceived importance of events happening in Arab countries in the Middle East. In addition, immigration generation and sojourner status affected acculturation modes. Gender did not have any significant effects. The results of this study showed among other things that the major acculturation modes of Arab Americans in this s (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Julie Burke (Advisor) Subjects:

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2010, Leadership and Change

This study explored eighteen women's views and experiences in the arena of Arab/American relations, post-9/11. The study engaged three groups of women: Arab women in Qatar, Arab American women in the U.S., and non-Arab women in the U.S. Qualitative narrative inquiry methodology was used complemented by an innovative use of freewriting to help prepare participants for interviews. Clarke's (2005a) situational analysis was used to open up and analyze the data. Findings surfaced around the interconnected themes of identity, racism, discrimination and Othering, the role of the media, and how these ultimately influence a collective sense of and experience of human security. The study adds to the knowledge on East/West understanding and the literature concerning the role of political narratives in meaning-making during times of turmoil. This work explored women's sense of belonging in the political world and women's (political) voices during the post-9/11 period and helps to determine the readiness for dialogue that exists on Arab/American relations. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre PhD (Committee Member); Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Member); Nadine Naber PhD (Other) Subjects: Gender; International Relations; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Psychology; Social Research; Womens Studies

PHD, Kent State University, 2013, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences

Within the field of school psychology there exists literature for school psychologists working with specific ethnic and linguistic groups (Frisby & Reynolds, 2005; Tomes, 2011). The Arab American population is estimated to be 3.6 million (Arab American Institute, 2012). However, there is a paucity of school psychology research on Arab American students and families (Goforth, 2011; Haboush, 2007). As active members of the special education process, school psychologists will benefit from information regarding Arab American cultural and religious beliefs about special education and disabilities. Such information will assist them in providing culturally sensitive and appropriate services to students and families. This study utilized a phenomenological qualitative approach to illuminate Arab Americans parents’ experiences with their children’s encounters with the special education process and perceptions of their children’s disabilities. Phenomenological data analysis revealed four core themes. First, parents attached significance to specific steps within the special education process and to cultural stigmas around special education and disabilities. Next, parents reflected on special education services and key relationships. Additionally, parents discussed their children’s abilities, their understandings of special education, and their advocacy work. Finally, parents reported that their goals for their children had not changed as a result of the special education process, although the goals were tailored to their children’s identified disabilities. These findings have significant implications for professionals working with Arab American students and their parents. Recommendations are made for culturally sensitive school psychology practice with Arab Americans. Suggestions are provided for further research on this important yet under-researched topic.

Committee: Karla Anhalt Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Tricia Niesz Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Richard Cowan Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Educational Psychology; Psychology