Who Decides Whether Arabs Are White or Not?
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When the Ottoman Empire began losing its power, there were certain Syrians migrating out of their homeland. Early sources claimed that these migrations were due to the civil war which made Christian Syrians feel unsafe. Violence did in fact lead to migration. However, economic and political changes in the wake of the conflict are what truly led to long periods of migration (Gualtieri, 26). In America, Syrians would sell crosses and holy water from the ‘‘Holy Land’’. This was a way for them to make money, since Americans were intrigued by these immigrants who seemed foreign and exotic to them (Gualtieri, 33). This reminds of when we talked about South Asians who would sell their goods to Westerners. Due to Orientalism, Americans wanted to purchase goods from people that seemed exotic to them. Although many Syrians migrated to America willingly, they still suffered from melancholia and had a hard time adapting to their new environment. They had to learn a new language and get used to new foods, smells and people. Furthermore, they didn’t know where to situate themselves in relation to racial dynamics, which were important in America to determine social class. Nonetheless, they were pleased to meet other people who spoke Arabic, and who could provide them with information about where to sleep, eat, and work (Gualtieri, 51).
Syrians in America were initially perceived as outsiders who were a danger to White Christians (Curtis IV, 90). They attempted to be accepted by White people, by insisting that they were different to Muslim Syrians. They claimed that they were White, and that Muslims were not (Curtis IV, 91). They even considered that Muslims were barbaric (Curtis IV, 92). Nonetheless, Syrian Muslims defended what they believed to be their whiteness, which led to disagreements between Christian and Muslim Syrians. In fact, there were disputes between these two groups surrounding racial, religious and political matters which could cause violence and even lead to people dying (Curtis IV, 91). Although both Christian and Muslim Syrians were initially perceived as foreigners by the American people, their status was upgraded through time. In fact, their participation in the First World War advanced their social status, and they came to be perceived as White Americans (Curtis IV, 102). This illustrates the fact that race is an extremely complicated concept, and that people can be racialized differently through time. A person who is perceived as non-white during a specific period can ‘‘become’’ white through time. I was wondering if the opposite could happen. Can a person who is considered white become foreign or non-white due to a change in social, cultural or political dynamics?