Term of Award

Spring 2019

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading

Committee Chair

Dr. Ming Fang He

Committee Member 1

Daniel Chapman

Committee Member 2

John Weaver

Committee Member 3

Mohammed A. Mohammed

Abstract

This dissertation is a collection of speculative essays (Schubert, 1991) that explore the multiplicity and intersectionality of Arab-American Muslims’ identity and its implications for their children’s experience of mainstream schooling in the United States. While most of the existing research literature has been on the multiplicity and intersectionality of Arab-American or Muslim-American’s identities, there is little on the particularity of this group’s identities. Building upon a wide array of theories related to the multiplicity and intersectionality of the Arab-American Muslim identities such as social identity theory (e.g., Tajfel, 1978a,b & 1986) and intersectionality (e.g., Crenshaw, 1991), my dissertation focuses on how the educational experience of students of the Arab-American Muslim minority group is influenced by the multiplicity of their identities (e.g., Cainkar, 2006 & 2008) including their ethnic identity (e.g., Naff, 1985; Haddad, 1994; Cainkar, 2008), cultural identity (e.g., Said, 1978; Malouf, 2000, 2012; Shaheen, 2002), religious identity (e.g., Haddad, 1997; Cainkar,1994; Said, 1997) and linguistic identity (e.g., Suleiman, 2003; 2004 & 2011). These aspects are better understood through the explanation of identity formation processes and the representations of this group. It is thus claimed that Arab-American Muslim students journey through American public schools with the understanding that their ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identities differ from hegemonic cultures that define and subtract their schooling experience. I attempt to offer an interpretation and personal explanation of the impact of this multiplicity of identities on the education of these minority group students. I sincerely hope that knowledge of the experience of Arab-American Muslim students will inspire educational policy makers, teachers, administrators, parents, and students to work together to create equal opportunities for all in hard times.

OCLC Number

1111578179

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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