Khoshneviss, H. (2019). The inferior white: Politics and practices of racialization of people from the Middle East in the US. Ethnicities, 19(1), 117-135. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796818798481
This article explores the racialization of Middle Eastern people in the U.S. as “white” and the contradictions that come with that racialization. The article discusses the forced assimilation into whiteness that erases a distinctive racial and cultural heritage while subjecting them to racial prejudice and Islamophobia. Khoshneviss deconstructs historical, legal, and sociopolitical practices that constitute this marginalization by framing the concept of the “inferior white”-a liminal category that classifies arabs as legally white but are systematically excluded. The work criticizes the ways in which Middle Easterners navigate such dynamics and questions the sufficiency of racial categorizations as dictated within the United States. This research augments the larger body of discussions on racial identity and equity.
Naber, N. (2008). Arab America: Gender, cultural politics, and activism. NYU Press.Racialization: Studies in Theory and Practice – Google Books
This article investigates the experiences of Arab-Americans, bringing into view how processes of white racialization underpin the constructions of their identities and positions in society. The book delves into the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender, exploring how Arab-Americans are marginalized by both mainstream U.S. society and racial frameworks that fail to capture their complexities.The article explains the role activism plays in resisting certain stereotypes and pushes the need for community empowerment. The work is a complex and multi-layered analysis that brings to the fore significant areas of cultural politics, struggles, and agencies of being an Arab-American within the larger debates of race, identity, and social justice.
Tehranian, John. “Selective Racialization: Middle-Eastern American Identity and the Faustian Pact with Whiteness.” Connecticut Law Review, vol. 40, no. 4, May 2008, pp. 1201-1236. HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/conlr40&i=1211.
This article explores “selective racialization” placed onto Middle Eastern Americans. It looks at their precarious legal and social identity formations amongst U.S. racial classifications that subject them to whiteness. The article develops a critique of the classification of Middle Easterners as “white” that offers limited benefits and only works to continue marginalization through xenophobia, Islamophobia, and systemic racism which ultimately forms a new form of racialized violence. Tehranian puts this as a “Faustian pact,” where the superficial privileges of whiteness come at a cost in terms of cultural erasure and discrimination; which is shown through historical and legal precedents-the paradox of racial classification and how it has affected Middle Eastern Americans-and offers a critique of race and identity politics.
Ozcelik, Burcu, ed. The Politics of Race and Racialisation in the Middle East. Routledge, 2022.
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Ozcelik highlights the dynamics of race and racialization in the Middle East, which challenges dominant narratives that overlook these processes within the region. The book investigates how race intersects with colonialism, nationalism, and global politics to shape identities and power structures. The book includes case studies from ethnic/racial minorities to migratory flows that shed light on the socio-political mechanisms of exclusion and belonging. This book also highlights the global relevance of racialization, connecting typical Middle Eastern experiences with broader conversations on race and identity. The book pushes to work out race beyond Western contexts and fostering critical global perspectives.
Gualtieri, Sarah. “Becoming ‘White’: Race, Religion and the Foundations of Syrian/Lebanese Ethnicity in the United States.” Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 20, no. 4, 2001, pp. 29–58. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27502745. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.
Gualtieri examines how levant arabs, specifically Syrian and Lebanese immigrants, in the United States navigated racial categorization in the early 20th century, focusing on their legal and social construction as “white.” The article explores the intersections of race, religion, and ethnicity, revealing how these groups negotiated whiteness to secure citizenship and socio-economic mobility. Gualtieri critically analyzes the consequences of this racialization, including cultural assimilation and exclusion from minority advocacy. This research brings into focus the permeable nature of racial categories and how they affect immigrant identities as part of broader discussions about race, ethnicity, and immigration in American history.