Arabic beyond Arabic

Arabic is the best and the most complicated language of all time!” Even though this statement seems like an exaggeration, it is what I grew up hearing; from my Arab parents as a child, my Arab teachers as a student, and my Arab customers as a salesperson. The Arabic language has a significant role in Arabs’ identity, yet most Arabs only scratch the surface and do not fully grasp the embedded meaning of the language. I have long been fascinated by the relationship between language and community as well as how it translates to design - specifically, the relationship between Arabs and Arabic. When it comes to designing with Arabic, most of the spotlight is directed towards Calligraphy; in a lot of cases the Arabic language is not considered a priority but is applied to a design as a secondary element. The inherited pride that Arabs have towards their language is immense, yet the design language does not match it in complexity. The strong connection that most Arabs have towards Arabic results in disagreements amongst each other regarding the linguistics of the language. This thesis aims to uncover these behaviors and connections with the language by taking a critical design approach using interaction design to reveal hidden and apparent features of Arabic. This research encourages questioning current design methods and proposes alternative approaches by taking Arabic beyond its stereotypical aesthetical value and over onto its linguistic and behavioral significance

Racial Profiling and the War on Terror: Changing Trends and Perspectives

Minorities in the United States have often been treated unfairly by law enforcement agencies. Prior to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the United States, Blacks were the main victims of racial profiling. Since the terrorist attack, however, Arabs and Muslims are becoming the primary targets for profiling by law enforcement agencies. There are some remarkable similarities between the profiling of Blacks and the profiling of Arabs and Muslims. In both cases, the fundamental problems with racial profiling are that it violates the civil liberties of innocent people and denies minorities the equal protection of the law. The War on Terror has redefined racial profiling. It has not only led to a shift in the target population, but it has also changed the ways in which racial profiling is conducted

Unveiling French Xenophobia: A Study of Prejudice Against Arabs in France

This paper reports on the socioeconomic status of Arabs and how attitudes toward them vary between France and the United States. It is intended to illuminate the French perspective toward Arabs to an American audience while comparing it to the American perspective. Arabs hold a lower socioeconomic status in France than in America. They are frequently target ed by French policy, which has formerly aimed to repatriate them but now focuses on assimilating them. In America, Arabs face less cultural oppression, but more political exclusion. Because Americans prize independence as opposed to community, Arabs have more freedom to retain their home cultures; however Americans are hostile to perceived opposition to government and fear an Arab link to terrorism. Thus, while the French and Americans both fear Arabs, the French perceive Arabs as symbolic threats to French culture, while Americans pe rceive Arabs as militant opponents

Civil Wrongs

The Bush administration promised not to single out Arabs and Muslims with measures, but in practice it did exactly that. These measures signaled to and non-citizens alike, that American legal protections did not really apply little in the way of fightin

Islam, the Arabs and Umayyad Rulers according to Theophanes the Confessor’s Chronography

Translated by Konrad FigatAs the Chronography of Theophanes the Confessor includes a lot of information about the foreign states and tribes which were connected with the Byzantine Empire. It is legitimate, in the Author’s view, to analyse the account concerning Islam and the Arabs by this Byzantine author. Theophanes possessed detailed knowledge of the Arabs, Islam and Umayyad caliphs. He used, although presumably indirectly, some Muslim sources in his work. The argument which strongly proves this hypothesis is his precise description of inner clashes between the members of the ruling house, as well as of Arab civil wars. The article discusses how Theophanes (and presumably his sources) depicted not only the Arabs as an entity, but also the prophet Muhammad and some of the Umayyad caliphs (Muawiya, Walid I, Umar II, Hisham, Marwan II)

Are you Charlie or Ahmed? Cultural pluralism in Charlie Hebdo response on Twitter

We study the response to the Charlie Hebdo shootings of January 7, 2015 on Twitter across the globe. We ask whether the stances on the issue of freedom of speech can be modeled using established sociological theories, including Huntington's culturalist Clash of Civilizations, and those taking into consideration social context, including Density and Interdependence theories. We find support for Huntington's culturalist explanation, in that the established traditions and norms of one's "civilization" predetermine some of one's opinion. However, at an individual level, we also find social context to play a significant role, with non-Arabs living in Arab countries using #JeSuisAhmed ("I am Ahmed") five times more often when they are embedded in a mixed Arab/non-Arab (mention) network. Among Arabs living in the West, we find a great variety of responses, not altogether associated with the size of their expatriate community, suggesting other variables to be at play.Comment: International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM), 201

Operation Boulder and its Effects on Arab-American Communities of the 1970\u27s

Operation Boulder, a United States government surveillance program deployed in 1972 under the direction of then-President Richard M. Nixon, launched a large-scale federal investigation of both Arab immigrants to the U.S. and Arab-Americans.1 In this context, the term “Arab” is used to mean a person originating from an Arabic-speaking country in the Middle East or North Africa, while “Arab-American” refers to a person of Arab lineage who was born in the United States. For the purposes of this paper, the Arabs and Arab-Americans referred to are only those residing in the United States. Before the project was canceled due to its overuse of resources, Operation Boulder led to the investigation of 150,000 Arabs.2 During the operation, government agents employed invasive and discriminatory tactics in their investigations of Arab immigrants and Arab-Americans. Further, a combination of historical evidence and contemporary analysis indicates that these federal investigations intended to suppress and divide Arab communities. However, though the U.S. government was able to dampen community activity initially, their surveillance tactics ultimately resulted in mobilization and cooperation within the Arab community in the U.S., resulting in a strengthened ethnic and cultural identity

Secrecy, Guilt by Association, and the Terrorist Profile

In this essay, I will argue that the use of secret procedures and guilt by association in immigration trials is not only unconstitutional but counterproductive. I will begin with a case study, then discuss in turn the practices of secret evidence and guilt by association, and finally conclude with a consideration of how these two tactics perpetuate invidious stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims