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ETD Abstract Container

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Immigrants, Citizens, and Diasporas: Enacting Identities in an Arab-American Cultural Organization

Hay, Kellie D.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391700209

Abstract Details

2000, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Journalism and Communication.
Many of our global economies are driven by migrant, transitory labor. Travel, displacement, and relocation have put tremendous pressure on identities, particularly national identities. As such, theories that assume that identity is bounded, discrete, and autochthonous are problematic. Diasporas are emerging as deterritorialized sites for identity production. While diaspora is a popular concept in literary studies, it has not been studied sufficiently empirically. In my dissertation, I study an Arab-American cultural organization and the ways in which its members negotiate having multiple national attachments. Some members identify themselves as immigrants, while others see their location as more diasporic. Members come from all corners of the Arab world, yet they endeavor to create collective Arab-American identities. Given their multiple attachments, identity is ambiguous and liminal. My study is ethnographic, proceeding through participant observation, textual analysis, and extended interviews, interviews that are informed by Sense-Making. My method involves: observing monthly board meetings; participation in many of the organization's retreats, subcommittee meetings, and social activities; and completing many interviews with the organization's founding and outlying members. I found that while many people meet the theoretical criteria that exist in the literature on diaspora they do not necessarily identify with the concept, and the concept itself turned out to be much more complex and nuanced. Those who do identify with the concept stretch it so as to include immigrants and citizens in its purview. My study also makes visible the ways in which the identities of second, third, and fourth generation Arab-Americans have been affected by assimilation such that they now are busy reclaiming multiple forms of Arab identity: speaking Arabic, making indigenous food, music, dance, and political advocacy. Among all the Arab-Americans I studied, however, dance emerged as a crucially important practice for performing and affirming a group ethnic identity. Finally, while the members of this community certainly negotiate identities that are fluid, syncretic, and mediated through the vicissitudes of culture, power, and history, it also became clear that there are historically contingent forces that encourage their speaking as if in one voice.
Brenda Dervin (Advisor)
Joseph Pilotta (Committee Member)
David Horn (Committee Member)
150 p.
Communication; Journalism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hay, K. D. (2000). Immigrants, Citizens, and Diasporas: Enacting Identities in an Arab-American Cultural Organization [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391700209

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hay, Kellie. Immigrants, Citizens, and Diasporas: Enacting Identities in an Arab-American Cultural Organization. 2000. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391700209.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hay, Kellie. "Immigrants, Citizens, and Diasporas: Enacting Identities in an Arab-American Cultural Organization." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1391700209

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1391700209
277
© 2000, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.