Arab American History Project
Project Coordinators - Musa Al-Hindi and Nader Abuljebain
Under the supervision of an experienced committee of academics and community activist, 100 students across the country will engage in documenting the experience of 100 personalities representing the cumulative experience of our people in the US.
About the Arab American History Project
History teaches us that culture is a political project: social and political movements cannot be sustained without being anchored in well-thought out cultural programs. Arab American movements are no exception. There is no doubt that Arab cultural forms are supported and encouraged by various Arab American associations and clubs, both at the national and local levels. What is absent, however, is a systematic, collective, grassroots effort to record and preserve the rich Arab American cultural heritage and historical experience in its totality. It is our hope that the NCA, through its Arab American History Project, will help ameliorate this problem.
Resource: Cultural Activism for the Right to Return by Nader Abuljebain
Project Description Methodology Goals Join
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The NCA is seeking interested Arab American students across the country to research and document the experiences of 100 knowledgeable and experienced Arab American community leaders, scholars and activists, representing the cumulative experiences of our people in the US. The students and researchers will operate under the supervision of an experienced committee of academics, workers, professionals and community activists. This will be the first in a series of projects designed to safeguard Arab American narrative, identity, culture, heritage, successes and tribulations . |
2. The recovery, collection and recording of information on Arab cultural forms which exist in the US today. These are vast and numerous and include music, legends, proverbs, written poetry, oral poetry, crafts, folk tales, legends, certain idioms, and food recipes. Description The Arab American History Project is part of the NCA’s efforts to preserve and nourish Arab culture in the United States. Like other NCA projects, it was conceived out of necessity. One is hard pressed to find published materials intended for the purpose of socially and politically empowering Arab American activists. This project seeks to help fill this lacuna. It aims to do so by collecting and making available and accessible information that would contribute to the further development of Arab American social and political consciousness, without which empowerment could never take place.
Equally lacking in the Arab American activist community are research and educational projects that include ordinary people as makers and repositories of history. One of the goals of this Arab American History Project is to include the voices of non-elite classes. It is our belief that a comprehensive, Arab American “history from below” is long overdue. Only by including such voices would we be able to succeed in maintaining and transmitting the cumulative experiences which unite us as a community in the US.
During the next 12-18 months we will concentrate on the interviewing of 100 Arab American individuals. With the active participation of students and other interested individuals, we hope to document the experiences and narratives of 100 veteran Arab Americans, including community leaders and activists, scholars, mothers and grandmothers, antiwar movement members, factory workers, grape farmers, store and shop owners, and union leaders. The students and researchers will operate under the supervision of an experienced committee of academics, professionals and community activists.
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Tasks undertaken by students and researchers will include interviewing the selected individuals, and compiling and reproducing available records (print, audio and visual) from the interviewees pertaining to the work and social and political activism of Arab Americans (i.e. official documents, photos, videos, tapes, articles, manuscripts, fliers, etc.). It is our hope that the interviews and records will then be published in a series of documents to be archived as a comprehensive chronicle of our experience, collective memory and culture. The materials will them be made available to Arab American community activists.
The Arab American History Project will rely to a significant degree on orally-transmitted testimonies and history(ies). Aside from their historical value, personal narratives and testimonies, especially those conveyed orally, communicate the experiences of marginalized social segments of the Arab American community. Oral history is a method whose use is not limited to scholars, but rather, one which can be utilized by students and activists as well. Moreover, the interviewing phase of the project will prove to be of immense significance to the interviewers. One of the secondary goals of the project is to prompt the young students and activists conducting the interview to relive first-hand the historical experiences of their interviewees. In other words, the interviews will serve as a vehicle for transmitting knowledge and cultural forms from one generation to another. It is our belief that such intergenerational exchange between the interviewer and the interviewee will help further empower the former. To achieve this goal, however, the research team and project coordinators must undertake a number of initial and essential steps, including:- Establishing a Board of Advisors for the Arab American History Project;
- Recruiting interested students, researchers and activists to participate in implementing the project;
- Conducting preliminary research into the subject of the project in order to find out which institutions have already done work in this area (In that regard, we will explore the possibility of coordinating with the Center of Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan, authors of the Arab American Almanac, and the recently -established Arab-American National Museum and Cultural Center in Detroit);
- Drawing up a detailed plan of action, identifying the various phases of the project;
- Planning oral history training workshops for interviewers who need it;
- Identifying individuals to approach for interviews;
- Drawing up an initial interview plan and questionnaire and selecting interviewers;
- Finalizing the questionnaire and interview plan all interested parties, including the interviewees, under the supervision of a specialist advisor (Depending on the
number of interviews to be conducted, the same basic questionnaire might be followed for all interviews or different interviewers and interviewees may chose to highlight different aspects/themes).
Article from June 1978 (NY Times, page A15) by the late Hisham Sharabi during his
tenure as president of
the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA).
The Arab American History Project is not an academic undertaking. Rather, it is an activist project whose ultimate goal is the political empowerment and political education of the Arab American community. This requires the NCA to develop additional cultural and educational projects aimed at enhancing Arab Americans’ knowledge of modern Arab history.
The following is a sketch of some of the current project ideas:
- Collecting personal testimonies and memories of Palestinian Arabs who lived in Palestine before and during the Nakba and who are able to record their recollections (It is vital to begin oral history of pre-Nakba Palestine now considering that the number of Palestinian survivors of the Nakba who are alive today and who are capable of recording their memories is in rapid decline). Furthermore, history teaches us that colonial powers maintain their authority by systematically repressing the culture of the colonized.
- Organizing Arabic-language lessons for adults and children that utilize educational material derived from Arab history and culture.
- Creating a center for the study of Arab history and culture.
- Ensuring that all Arab American community centers contain libraries that include books and other material dealing with Arab history.
- Organizing children written and artistic contests around historical themes, such as the fall of Palestine.
- Encouraging Arab American students at the elementary, high school and college levels to integrate Arab historical and cultural themes into their academic work, e.g. research papers, book reports, etc…..
- Commemorating Arab holidays and anniversaries by organizing seminars, art exhibitions, and public gatherings.
- Designing a campaign to reclaim, redefine and, in some cases, reconstruct the meanings of certain terms and phrases intimately connected our collective memory and identity:
“First and Second Intifadas”-- To designate the 1987 and 2000 uprisings as “the First and Second Intifadas” is historically inaccurate. Since the 18th century onward, the Arab people of
Palestine waged numerous revolts and uprisings against the Turks, British, and Zionists. Therefore, it is important to replace the phrase “the first and second intifadas” with the 1987 Intifada and
Al-Aqsa Intifada.
“Diaspora”-- This is a term used by Zionists and their supporters to refer to the voluntary dispersal of Jews throughout the world.
The case of Palestinian refugees and exiles is entirely different given that their present dispersal was forced upon them through various means, including deliberate ethnic cleansing campaigns.
Therefore, the phrase forced exile should replace “Diaspora” in our political lexicon.
“Right of Return” vs. “Right to Return”— Typically, both terms are
often used interchangeably. While, legally speaking, the latter phrase is implied by the former, it is important to make use of “Right to Return” since it conveys a sense of immediacy and
implementation. This is important in light of the devious attempts to relegate “return” to the status of an absolute right which does not necessarily requires implementation.
“Israeli Arabs”-- This is an oxymoron. Israel is personifies the
negation of Arabness in the land of Palestine. The phrase also lends legitimacy to, and acceptance of the ongoing Zionist project in Palestine. Arab political discourse, both in the US and back in
the Arab Homeland, must replace “Israeli Arabs” with terms such as Palestinians residing in 1948 areas.
“Israel and Palestine”-- This construction implies that Palestine is
restricted to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, while the areas occupied in 1947-48 constitute Israel. Like the previous phrase, “Israel and Palestine” one implies that “Israel” minus the areas it
occupied in 1967 is a legitimate state.
“Settlements”-- In general parlance, settling refers to the act of moving to empty and uninhabited area. This is not the case in
Palestine, since the entire country belongs to the Arab Palestinian people. What we have in Palestine today are colonies.
“Mahsom”-- This is a phrase that is being used by Palestinians
who live in or visit the areas occupied in 1967. It is a Hebrew word used by the occupation authorities to refer to military roadblocks.
“The Middle East”-- This is a colonial term which reflects British and
French view of the world. It treats Europe as the Center, and the rest of the world as peripheries whose location is defined in accordance with their distance from Europe. Moreover, “The Middle
East” and its various derivatives refer to non-Arab Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and “Israel”, and exclude the Arabs of Africa. Therefore, it would be more accurate to use the Arab World
, or phrases that emphasize geographical location, such as Western Asia and Northern and Eastern Africa.
“Arab Nations”—There is only one Arab nation which is spread across various Arab countries or Arab states.