Lydia Allen Rudd, Diary of Westward Travel (1852)May 6 1852 Left.docx

Lydia Allen Rudd, Diary of Westward Travel (1852)
May 6 1852 Left the Missouri river for our long journey across
the
wild uncultivated plains and unhabitated except by the red
man. As we left the
river bottom and ascended the bluffs the view from them was
handsome! In front
of us as far as vision could reach extended the green hills
covered with fine
grass. . . . Behind us lay the Missouri with its muddy water
hurrying past as
if in great haste to reach some destined point ahead all
unheeding the
impatient emigrants on the opposite shore at the ferrying
which arrived faster
than they could be conveyed over. About half a miles down the
river lay a
steamboat stuck fast on a sandbar. Still farther down lay the
busy village of
St. Joseph looking us a good bye and reminding us that we
were leaving all
signs of civilised life for the present. But with good courage
and not one
sigh of regret I mounted my pony (whose name by the way is
Samy) and rode
slowly on. In going some two miles, the scene changed from
bright sunshine to
drenching showers of rain this was not quite agreeable for in
spite of our
good blankets and intentions otherwise we got some wet. The
rain detained us
so that we have not made but ten miles today. . . .
May 7 I found myself this morning with a severe headache from
the

effects of yesterday's rain. . . .
There is a toll bridge across this stream kept by the Indians. The
toll for
our team in total was six bits. We have had some calls this
evening from the
Indians. We gave them something to eat and they left. Some of
them [had] on no
shirt only a blanket, whiles others were ornamented in Indian
style with their
faces painted in spots and stripes feathers and fur on their
heads beeds on
their neck brass rings on their wrists and arms and in their ears
armed with
rifles and spears.
May 8 . . . We have come about 12 miles and were obliged to
camp in
the open prairie without any wood. Mary and myself collected
some dry weeds
and grass and made a little fire and cooked some meat and the
last of our
supply of eggs with these and some hard bread with water we
made our
supper.
May 9 . . . We passed a new made grave today . . . a man from
Ohio
We also met a man that was going back: he had buried his
Wife this morning She
died from the effects of measels we have come ten miles today
encamped on a
small stream called Vermillion creek Wood and water plenty
Their are as many
as fifty waggons on this stream and some thousand head of
stock It looks like
a village the tents and waggons extend as much as a mile. . . .
Some are singing some talking and some laughing and the cattle
are adding

their mite by shaking their bells and grunt[ing]. Mosquitoes
are intruding
their unwelcome presence. Harry says that I must not sit here
any longer
writing but go to bed for I will not want to get up early in the
morning to
get breakfast.
May 10 I got up this morning and got breakfast and before
sunrise we
had eat in spite of Harry's prophecies to the contrary. . . .
May 11 We had a very heavy fog this morning which cleared up
about
noon. Our men are not any of them very well this morning. We
passed another
grave to day which was made this morning. The board stated
that he died of
cholera. He was from Indiana. We met several that had taken
the back track for
the states homesick I presume let them go. We have passed
through a handsome
country and have encamped on the Nimehaw river, the most
beautiful spot that
ever I saw in my life. I would like to live here. As far as the
eye can reach
either way lay handsome rolling prairies, not a stone a tree nor
a bush even
nothing but grass and flowers meets the eye until you reach the
valley of the
river which is as level as the house floor and about half a mile
wide, where
on the bank of the stream for two or three rods wide is one of
the heaviest
belts of timber I ever saw covered with thick foliage so thick
that you could
not get a glimpse of the stream through it. You can see this
belt of timber

for three or four miles from the hills on both sides winding
through the
prairie like some huge snake. We have traveled twelve miles. .
. .
May 12 . . . Our men not much better.
May 13 . . . Henry has been no better to day. Soon after we
stopped
to night a man came along with a wheel barrow going to
California: he is a
dutchmann. He wheels his provisions and clothing all day and
then stops where
night overtakes him sleeps on the ground in the open air. He
eats raw meat and
bread for his supper. I think that he will get tired wheeling his
way through
the world by the time he gets to California.
May 14 Just after we started this morning we passed four men
dig[g]ing a grave. They were packers. The man that had died
was taken sick
yesterday noon and died last night. They called it cholera
morbus. The corpse
lay on the ground a few feet from where they were dig[g]ing.
The grave it was
a sad sight. . . .
On the bank of the stream waiting to cross, stood a dray with
five men
harnessed to it bound for California. They must be some of the
persevering
kind I think. Wanting to go to California more than I do. . . .
We passed
three more graves this afternoon. . . .
Sept. 5 Traveled eighteen miles today encamped on a slough of
powder
river poor camp not much grass water nor wood. I am almost
dead tonight. I
have been sick two or three days with the bowel complaint and

am much worse
tonight.
Sept. 6 We have not been able to leave this miserable place
today. I
am not as well as yesterday and no physician to be had. We
got a little
medicine from a train tonight that has checked the disease
some, the first
thing that has done me any good.
Sept. 7 . . . I am some better today so much so that they
ventured
to move me this for the sake of a better camp. Mrs. Girtman is
also sick with
the same disease. Our cattle are most all of them ailing--there
are two more
that we expect will die every day. . . .
Oct. 8 started early this morning without any breakfast for the
very
good reason that we had nothing to eat still three miles from
the falls safely
landed about eight o'clock tired hungry and with a severe cold
from last
nights exposure something like civilization here in the shape
of three or four
houses there is an excuse here for a railroad of a mile and half
on which to
convey bag[g]age below the falls where they can again take
water for the
steamboat landing. Harry packed our bag[g]age down the
railroad and the rest
of us walked the car is drawn across the railroad by a mule and
they will
car[r]y no persons but sick. We again hired an Indian with his
canoe to take
us from the falls to the steamboat landing ar[r]ived about
sundown a great

many emigrants waiting for a chance to leave the steamboat
and several flat
boats lying ready to start out in the morning encamped on the
shore for the
night.
October 9-October 13 . . .
October 14 . . . I am so anxious to get some place to stop and
settle that my patience is not worth much.
October 15-18 . . .
October 19 . . . We have had a very bad day today for traveling
it
has rained nearly all the time and it has rained very hard some
of the time
and we have had a miserable road the rain has made the hills
very slippery and
had to get up and down we have made but eleven miles of
travel encamped on the
prairie no water for our stock and not much for ourselves.
October 21 . . .
October 22 . . . Traveled three miles this morning and reached
the
village of Salem it is quite a pretty town a much handsomer
place than Oregon
City and larger. . . .
I am afraid that we shall be obliged to pack from here the rest
of our
journey and it will be a wet job another wet rainy day I am
afraid that the
rain will make us all sick. I am already begin to feel the
affects of it by a
bad cold.
October 23 . . . We cannot get any wagon to take us on our
journey
and are obliged to pack the rest of the way Mr. Clark and wife
have found a
house to live in and employment for the winter and they will

stop here in
Salem It took us until nearly noon to get our packs fixed for
packing went
about two miles and it rained so fast that we were obliged to
stop got our
dinner and supper in one meal cooked in a small cabin
ignorant people but kind
started again just
October 24-25 . . . October 26 . . . we reached Burlington
about two o'clock. There is one store one blacksmith shop and
three or four
dwelling houses. We encamped close by found Mr. Donals in
his store an old
acquaintance of my husband's. I do not know what we shall yet
conclude on
doing for the winter. There is no house in town that we can get
to winter in.
We shall probably stay here tomorrow and by the time know
what we are to do
for a while at least.
October 27 . . . Our men have been looking around for a house
and
employment and have been successful for which I feel very
thankful. Harry has
gone into copartnership with Mr. Donals in the mercantile
business and we are
to live in the back part of the store for this winter. Henry and
Mary are
going into Mr. D--- house on his farm for the winter one mile
from here. Mr.
D--- will also find him employment if he wants. I expect that
we shall not
make a claim after all our trouble in getting here on purpose
for one. I shall
have to be poor and dependent on a man my life
time.

Pacific Sociological Association
Gender, Race, and Symbolic Boundaries: Contested Spaces of
Identity among Arab American
Adolescents
Author(s): Kristine J. Ajrouch ,
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Winter
2004), pp. 371-391
Published by: University of California Press
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Sociological Perspectives
, Vol. 47, Issue 4, pp. 371–391, ISSN 0731-1214, electronic
ISSN 1533-8673.
© 2004 by Pacific Sociological Association. All rights reserved.
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GENDER, RACE, AND SYMBOLIC BOUNDARIES:
CONTESTED SPACES OF IDENTITY AMONG
ARAB AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS
KRISTINE J. AJROUCH*
Eastern Michigan University

ABSTRACT:
Attention to social patterns within immigrant groups
provides a critical means for discerning processes of ethnic
identity forma-
tion. This study draws from the theoretical foundations of
boundary work
to examine identity formation among second-generation Arab
American
adolescents. Contested spaces of identity emerge as teens
distinguish them-
selves from immigrant culture and “white” society. Focus group
discus-
sions highlight the significance of gender relations and the way
in which
interpretations of religious teachings shape identity formation.
Specifically,
boundaries drawn reflect moral superiority by controlling girls’
behaviors
as interpretations of religious teachings are used to justify
restrictions.
However, while these boundaries provide significant markers of
in-group
inclusion, they also are contested. This study concludes by
discussing the
implications of symbolic boundaries lodged in race, gender, and
religion
and suggests avenues for future research.
Two prominent theoretical perspectives regarding identity
formation among chil-
dren of immigrants are segmented assimilation (Portes and
Rumbaut 2001) and

transnationalism (Levitt and Waters 2003). The former posits
that among the second-
generation assimilation may occur upward or downward,
depending on both
the social capital held by the immigrant group and the
predominant culture of the
host society in which children of immigrants are enmeshed
(e.g., Zhou and Bank-
ston 1998); the latter addresses identity formation by
highlighting how regular
contact with parents’ country of origin contributes to this
process (Espiritu and
Tran 2003; Kibria 2003). Yet with a few notable exceptions
(Das Gupta 1997; Diner
1983; Espitiru 2001; Lopez 2003) the absence of gender
relations in the articulation
of the boundaries that distinguish ethnic membership is a
conspicuous omission
in the study of second-generation ethnic identity formation
processes. This study
contributes to the emerging work on gender relations and ethnic
identity by explor-
ing the mechanisms associated with activating and maintaining
boundaries,
* Direct all correspondence: to Kristine J. Ajrouch, Department
of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, Eastern
Michigan University, 712 Pray-Harrold, Ypsilanti, MI 48197;
e-mail

:
[email protected]
372 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume 47, Number 4,
2004
specifically, how adolescent children of Muslim immigrants
from Lebanon and
Palestine define what it means to be “Arab.”
By examining how children of Lebanese and Palestinian
immigrants describe
themselves ethnically, I address an ethnic group that is
understudied but currently
the target of much attention, particularly in the wake of Arab-
Muslim attacks on
U.S. soil and the resulting turmoil in the Middle East.
Furthermore, I situate the
analysis within the framework of symbolic boundaries, defined
by Lamont and
Molnar (2002:168) as “the tools by which individuals and
groups struggle over
and come to agree upon definitions of reality.” The study of
symbolic boundaries
is a promising theoretical framework for understanding the

efforts by which indi-
viduals and groups discern identities (Lamont 1992; Lamont and
Molnar 2002).
Boundary definitions are particularly relevant for second-
generation immigrants
who must negotiate between parents’ and host cultures. An
interesting case of
this boundary work may be found among people entering a
society stratified by
race but who are not easily classified according to that system. I
aim to construct
an emic portrait of identity negotiation among Arab American
youth by demon-
strating how they use gender relations and religion as discourse
and markers for
establishing the boundaries of their collective identity,
negotiating between the
poles of an immigrant and “white” identity.
GENDER, ETHNICITY, AND IDENTITY
The significance of gender relations to boundary work among
immigrants is most
aptly illustrated in the work of feminist sociologists. Feminist
approaches challenge
conventional paradigms and draw attention to power relations
within immigrant
groups. Contributions range from historical analyses that
address how gender rela-
tions, or shifts in gender relations, help to demarcate identity
parameters (Diner
1983; Doran 1997; Kaminsky 1994) to ethnographic approaches
that discern how
gender relations shape the immigrant adaptation experience

(Das Gupta 1997;
Hondagneu-Sotelo 1994; Menjivar 2000).
Research findings propose both liberating and constraining
forces at work for
immigrant women. One ethnographic study of undocumented
Mexican immi-
grants suggested that the status of women after such migration
improves in vari-
ous ways, tending toward egalitarianism (Hondagneu-Sotelo
1994). However,
others argue that gender relations incur a dynamic that supports
patriarchal
structures and in many ways increases traditional authority. For
instance, Das
Gupta (1997) illustrates how the boundaries that differentiate
second-generation
South Asian Indian women from other groups living in New
York City involve
relations of power, gender hierarchies that serve to define
authentic cultural char-
acteristics by assigning women the role of upholding tradition.
A recurring theme evident in the emerging work addressing the
significance of
gender is the connection between morality and ethnic
exclusivity. Boundary work
that involves gender relations often materializes in order to
build and maintain
ethnic group characteristics and results in an assertion of moral
superiority over
the dominant culture. Diner (1983) examines how gender
relations contributed to
definitions of what it meant to be Irish in the United States in
the late 1800s and

Gender, Race, and Symbolic Boundaries
373
early 1900s. Irish immigrants did not necessarily believe that
men were superior to
women; Irish women were looked up to as a cohesive force that
kept families together
and guided children to move up from poverty to the middle
class. However, Irish
immigrants, both first- and second-generation, adhered to the
notion that men
and women occupied separate spheres, that women differed
from men in essential
ways and should not attempt to emulate men (e.g. by voting).
According to Diner,
both men and women understood that the different worlds they
occupied ensured
order, balance, and rationality in their lives, which ultimately
benefited everyone.
In a more recent analysis, Espiritu (2001) presents the situation
of Filipinos in
the United States. She argues that assertions of moral
superiority represent a strat-
egy of resistance as Filipinos are always viewed as cultural
others, even when they

have been born in the United States. As racialized immigrants,
Filipinos resist
subordination as a racial minority by asserting power through
gender roles. Spe-
cifically, the site of “womanhood” is equated with traditional,
ideal norms of
appropriate behavior, which then develop into the parameters by
which lines are
drawn to indicate in-group membership and out-group status.
Filipino identity is
lodged in chaste behavior among girls so that the defining line
against which to
differentiate one as better than dominant society rests in that
behavior. Ultimately,
moral superiority represents a strategy of resistance to the
political and economic
subordination experienced by Filipino Americans.
Gender is a structuring mechanism that orders social life
according to accepted
definitions of masculinity and femininity, and undertakings that
seek to address
gender relations will invariably address relations of power
(Connell 1987, 1995).
Gender is not relegated to a corner, impinging on a small area
of social experience;
it structures the entire social gamut, from interpersonal
relationships to the rela-
tionships people have with institutions. As such, gender
relations intersect with
other stratifying forces, including race, class, and nationality
(Connell 1995; Espir-
itu 1997). Indeed, the challenge in presenting research on
gender relations among
Arabs and Arab Americans lies in the difficulty of superseding
stereotypes. In

comparison to white American women, many ethnic and foreign
women are pre-
sented as somehow especially oppressed, undervalued, and,
above all, living in a
more patriarchal culture (Baca Zinn 1980; Kaminsky 1994;
Lazreg 1994). The char-
acterization of Arab and Muslim women is no different.
Conversations among non-
Arab feminists often take for granted a general consensus that
Arab men unques-
tionably lack respect for women. This tendency is perhaps most
obvious as customs
and norms (e.g., veiling) are presented void of context. Many
American non-
Muslims assume that women who wear scarves are forced to do
so. Yet studies that
explicitly address the scarf, or hijab, reveal that this act among
Muslim women,
particularly in the United States, emerges out of an intricate
web of motives, rang-
ing from family and community pressure to personal choice that
may be regarded
with dismay by family and friends (Read and Bartkowski 2000;
Shakir 1997).
RELIGION, IMMIGRATION, AND GENDER
Practices based on religious doctrine are often symbolic,
rhetorically promulgat-
ing traditional male dominance. Yet interpretations of gender
roles and relations

2004
deriving from religious doctrine are frequently shaped by
societal realities (Ebaugh
and Chafetz 1999, 2000; Read and Bartowski 2000). For
instance, as Gallagher
and Smith (1999) discovered, conservative evangelical Christian
families refer-
ence biblical notions of appropriate masculine and feminine
roles (man as bread-
winner, woman as homemaker), yet also configure these ideals
with the reality
of the economic downturn that has drawn women increasingly to
the workforce
in order to maintain middle-class standards of living, producing
what Gallagher
and Smith refer to as “pragmatic egalitarianism.” This work
emphasizes how the
postindustrial economy informs rhetoric about gender roles
among evangelicals and
highlights the process by which
interpretations
of religion shape gender relations.
The act of immigration affects interpretations of religion in
significant ways

(Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000; Warner and Wittner 1998). It is not
uncommon for
immigrant women to “do gender” in the sense of maintaining
social ties through
food preparation and organizing family gatherings; however, as
Ebaugh and
Chafetz (1999) point out, the reproduction of traditional culture
in religious settings
occurs alongside a quest to challenge gender inequality inherent
to the norms and
religious ideals underpinning that traditional culture. This is
particularly relevant
for American-born and/or American-raised daughters, who
begin to sense gender-
based inequities through religiously sanctioned traditional
norms (Ebaugh and
Chafetz 1999).
The influence of religion on gender relations among the second
generation
sometimes stems from the conditions of immigration. For
example, George (1998)
found in his study of Christian immigrants from India that men
immigrated as the
spouses of women who were recruited because of their nursing
expertise. In this case,
immigration created a situation whereby men were marginalized
because their
wives became the main economic supporters of the family.
However, men found
status and power in the church. When their American-born
daughters wanted to
share in church activities, the men (their fathers) attempted
through gender dis-
course to block their participation. These immigrant men were

unsuccessful in
blocking the young women, however, reasons they offered
ranged from female
weakness and frailty to female sexuality. Boundaries based on
gender attributes
emerged as a significant means by which men strove to capture
a sense of power
and control.
The influence of religion on Arab American women’s gender
role attitudes has
been addressed in the work of Read (Read 2003; Bartowski and
Read 2003). In a
study of both Christian and Muslim Arab American women,
Read (2003) discov-
ered religiosity and ethnicity had more to do with traditional
gender attitudes
than did religious affiliation. In other words, regardless of
being Muslim or Chris-
tian, attachment to ethnic community and high attendance at
religious services
were associated with more traditional gender beliefs.
Furthermore, not all Arab
American Muslim women agree that veiling is mandatory
(Bartowski and Read
2003; Read and Bartowski 2000). Veiling among women living
in the United States
can be seen to emerge through negotiations at the interpersonal
level. While Mus-
lim women living in Austin, Texas, disagree about whether
veiling is mandatory,
they do not consider it a basis to assert moral superiority over
one another
(Read and Bartowski 2000). Interpretations of religious
doctrine, and how those

375
interpretations frame individual and group behaviors,
particularly in the realm of
gender and gender relations, encompass a critical area of
inquiry regarding iden-
tity among children of immigrants.
THE STUDY
Adolescence is a key period in identity development (Erikson
1985; Rumbaut
1994). This life stage marks the first juncture at which
individuals begin to social-
ize more frequently in various social contexts outside of the
family. Tensions arise
between self-definitions and attributions of identity by family,
peers, and the com-
munity or society, producing situations that are confirmed or
contested. The indi-
vidual or group may choose to accept or reject identities, and
this decision is often
based on exposure to prevailing norms and customs. As an

exploratory project,
this study seeks to document the ways in which children of
immigrants designate
the boundaries that differentiate themselves from others. The
question I am inter-
ested in is, what parameters do children of Arab immigrants use
to define them-
selves ethnically?
My approach to answering this question began broadly, with the
intent to uncover
the meaning of an Arab ethnic identity. However, the
discussions among the ado-
lescents I interviewed suggested significant structuring
mechanisms that shape
identity boundaries, including gender relations as primary,
which interact in vari-
ous ways with religious interpretations and understandings of
racial categories.
As the data demonstrate, the identity choices and accompanying
consequences
that confront second-generation Arab immigrants become a
contested space of
negotiation in which gender becomes a critical factor.
The Setting
I conducted this study in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the
largest concentra-
tion of Arab Americans living in the United States (Zogby
1990). The Arab com-
munity in Dearborn is composed of immigrants who entered the
United States at
different points in time and with various educational, economic,

and social back-
grounds. The largest group of Arab immigrants is from
Lebanon, and among the
most recent is a significant proportion who tend to be well
educated and prosper-
ous, along with a small number who come from the villages or
rural areas of Leb-
anon (Aswad 1992).
East Dearborn is a working-class and lower-middle-class
community that has
recently been referred to as “Little Beirut.” It is a community
that strives for success,
with no purposeful attempt to re-create life as it was in the
homeland. For instance,
there is no deliberate effort to replicate Middle Eastern
architecture, and many
immigrants wear Western clothing. In addition, the businesses
in this ethnic com-
munity seek to attract non-Arab clients (Walbridge 1997).
Although much of the social activity in East Dearborn tends to
be community
and family centered (e.g., weddings become community events),
other social-
izing among adolescents tends to be segregated by gender, and
dating is not
openly accepted. Therefore, boys and girls generally engage in
separate activities.

2004
Arranged marriages are not the norm, but it is not uncommon
for girls to become
engaged while still in high school and to marry immediately
after graduation.
Most adolescent girls in the community do not wear the hijab,
although begin-
ning at puberty, young women entering a mosque are expected
to cover their hair.
The area setting provides an important backdrop to the analysis,
as ethnic com-
munities often exert influence on the interactions that occur
among and between
its members. That Dearborn represents a stronghold for those of
Arab origin (see
Abraham and Shyrock 2000; Suleiman 1999) shapes the various
challenges chil-
dren of immigrants living in this setting face as they come of
age in an immigrant
community.
Methods
Studying a group where it constitutes the majority allows for an
examination of
activities and social relationships defined as important by
members of the com-
munity (Horowitz 1992). School settings often represent a
microcosm of society

reflecting social patterns that shape daily experiences for those
coming of age
(Bettie 2003; Olsen 2003). Moreover, the adolescent years
provide an ideal oppor-
tunity to examine the phenomenon of ethnic identity
announcements.
Participants
Throughout this article, I refer to the adolescents who
participated in the study
by by the pan-ethnic terms “Arab” and “Arab American” (Shakir
1997; Zogby
1990). Participants volunteered to take part in a series of focus
group discussions
by printing their names, telephone numbers, and addresses on a
sheet of paper
that was circulated in their social studies classes near the end of
the school year.
My primary informant allowed me a few minutes at the
beginning of each of her
five social studies classes to recruit participants. At the end of
the day, she and I
reviewed the list of volunteers, and based on agreement between
the teacher and
me about which of the volunteers would interact comfortably
yet contribute to a
varied discussion in terms of disposition and experience, I
contacted each adoles-
cent and his or her parent(s) and went to their homes to
introduce myself as well
as to obtain consent.
Eight of the ten participants—Lynn, Lama, Mariam, Zacharia,

Houssam, Adel,
Abe, and Nabil—were of Lebanese descent. Raya identified
with her Palestinian
ancestry; Hanan’s mother was born in Palestine and her father
emigrated from
Tunisia. I refer to all participants by pseudonyms. Raya and
Hanan’s national ori-
gins differed from the majority of the participants, whose
families emigrated from
southern Lebanon, but they lived and attended school in a
community that is pre-
dominantly Lebanese. All adolescent participants knew one
another, although
some were closer friends than others. For instance, Hanan,
Raya, and Lynn were
friends, Zacharia and Houssam were friends, and Lama and
Mariam were friends.
The discussions that follow suggest that religion represents a
more salient affili-
ation for the teens than does national origin. All of the
adolescent participants
were Muslim. Only Lama wore the hijab. Most were born in the
United States and
377

have lived in an ethnic community for most of their lives. Those
who were born
overseas (Houssam, Lama, and Adel) immigrated to the United
States before the age
of ten. Participants ranged in age from fourteen to fifteen and
are best described
as coming from working-class families (i.e., most of their
fathers worked “on the
line” in automobile factories or were employed in small
businesses).
Focus Groups
Focus group interviews are especially useful for discovering
those social char-
acteristics that distinguish a cultural group (Hughes and
DuMont 1993). Focus
groups allow researchers to collect data about the language and
words participants
use to structure their experiences and reveal how they think and
talk. In addition,
the homogeneous characteristics of the group provide an
environment in which
the participants tell detailed stories. This allows for an
understanding of how par-
ticipants structure and organize their social worlds.
I organized and moderated three focus groups, which took place
in early June
at the end of the school day. Although I did not grow up in East
Dearborn or in an
Arab community and do not currently reside there, my Lebanese

“roots” are sim-
ilar to those whom I interviewed. My maternal grandparents
originate from
southern Lebanon and were of the peasant class, as are most of
those immigrants
in this study. The fact that I am Arab and a Muslim facilitated
access to the adoles-
cents, whose parents confided on many occasions that they
would not have per-
mitted their children to participate otherwise.
The same adolescents participated in each focus group
discussion over a ten-
day period. Each discussion lasted for approximately two hours.
The first focus
group comprised five girls and two boys. The second group
included the same
seven original participants with the addition of one more boy,
and the third dis-
cussion group incorporated two more boys to allow for a more
succinct under-
standing of the emerging gender issues. Keeping the original
participants for all
three focus groups allowed me to gain insight into the
adolescents’ attitudes and
experiences. They developed shared understandings about an
array of situations
and also demonstrated areas that were contested. At our first
meeting, partici-
pants were asked to introduce themselves and to describe the
advantages and dis-
advantages of attending a school where most of the other
students are Arab (see
Appendix). The questions addressed in the next two focus group
discussions fol-
lowed from the topics that emerged in the first, thus providing

an opportunity to
talk in some detail about issues that the adolescents themselves
deemed impor-
tant. Questions that guided the bulk of the discussion emanated
from statements
the adolescents made. For instance, in describing the advantages
of going to a
school where the majority of students are Arab, the term
“boater” arose. This trig-
gered a discussion that lasted the entire period about what a
boater is and how
the participants differ from boaters. Two issues I did not
introduce were gender
and religion. The adolescents’ narratives revealed that both
represented signifi-
cant subjects that preoccupied their thoughts of being Arab. The
primary subject
introduced and discussed by the adolescents involved the
differential expecta-
tions for girls and boys by parents, peers, and the community.
This brought up the
2004
issue of how they differed from their non-Arab counterparts. I
ended the last
focus group by having the adolescents address the question of

whether or not
they believe they will continue to live in Dearborn when they
become adults.
All interviews were audiotaped and then transcribed verbatim
by the author.
The analysis consisted of a detailed reading of each interview
(open coding), fol-
lowed by axial and selective coding (Strauss 1987; Strauss and
Corbin 1990). Once
the initial themes were identified, connections between themes
and subthemes
became apparent. This resulted in the development of master
categories used to
set the parameters of the overall analysis (Strauss and Corbin
1990). The master
categories that guided this analysis are (1) boater and (2) white.
Subthemes included
the categories of religion, restrictions, chastity, language,
caring, and dating. It
became quite evident that gender relations are rooted in these
poles of identity
and manifest in the subthemes. The findings draw attention to
an identity range,
what I term the “boater-white poles of identity.”
Methodological Limitations
While focus group discussions provide a unique opportunity to
discern group
consciousness, they also have the potential to inhibit alternative
points of view.
The themes that emerged throughout the focus group
discussions, however, pro-

vided important insights into how adolescents think about
identity and the bound-
aries they draw, even if those boundaries are sometimes
crossed. Moreover, ideas
developed throughout the discussions were later corroborated in
one-on-one in-
depth interviews (see Ajrouch 2000).
THE TWO POLES: BOATER AND WHITE GIRL
The boundaries drawn by the adolescents involve a continuum
of identity, two
poles that designate otherness labeled by the adolescents
“boater” and “white.”
The narratives gathered through focus group discussions
delineate the ways in
which gender relations underpin boundary work that shapes
categorizations of
the cultural other. The following data demonstrate how girls are
important to the
construction of ethnic identity and culture, but, ironically, their
value emerges
from a gender hierarchy in which boys gain freedom but girls do
not. Below I
wish to consider each pole of identity (boater and white) as well
as places in the
middle to illustrate the process of boundary work and the way in
which gender
figures into the lines that designate Arabness, or in-group
membership.
Boater

The adolescents’ dilemma of finding themselves caught between
two cultures is
illustrated by a conversation that arose during the first focus
group discussion.
When I asked each participant to indicate where his or her
parents came from,
why they immigrated to the United States, and what language
they spoke at home,
the “B word” emerged.
379
Hanan: My dad was, you know, going to take me to the Arabic
private school
in Canton, but I can’t take it because you know, I’m not used
to—I don’t
mean it in a bad way or I don’t want to offend anybody, but
boaters . . .
The process of eliciting from the participants a definition of
“boaters” involved

some probing, yet features significant insight into their ethnic
identity. They
began by saying that they use the term to define those who have
come from a dif-
ferent country. Finally, Lynn clarified the meaning by stating
that in her school, it
refers to people who only speak Arabic. And indeed the focus
group members
elaborated on the particulars of language as they emphasized
that boaters speak
Arabic more than English, and when they do speak English their
accent still
defines them as a boater, as does style of dress:
Moderator: How would you define a boater?
Zacharia: The same thing, they just talk different.
Moderator: So basically, it’s just that they speak Arabic.
Hanan: No!
Lama: I think it’s because we know how to, I don’t know, like
they wear their
pants up to their chests.
[Laughter]
Hanan: No, you know what. There’s this girl, she wears purple
stockings, yel-
low socks, and a brown T-shirt. Tell me that doesn’t look weird.
I mean it’s
not only that, it’s like how they walk, how they talk . . .
Lynn: . . . it’s like saying they’re ignorant.
“Boater,” then, is a term applied to those recent immigrants who
are not yet famil-

iar with the dominant culture. As the participants elaborated on
the defining char-
acteristics of a boater, they also suggested the existence of three
groups: boater,
white, and themselves, “Arab Americans.”
Lynn: I guess it’s also who you hang around with in this school.
Hanan: Yeah. . . . There’s like three different groups, you know.
I don’t know
how to describe it, but there’s a boater group, a group that’s all
Arabic. There’s
a group that’s Arab American who like, I don’t know, we’re
mixed. And
then there’s like this white group, you know, it’s an all-
American group.
Lynn: The majority, though, is the middle.
Hanan: The Arab American, you know. We’re much different
than the boater.
Mariam: Boaters [laughs].
“Boater” is used by these children of Arab immigrants to
describe a purely Arab
identity, that part of ethnicity which captures the originating
immigrant culture. In
this discussion and in the ones that followed the participants
had an embarrassing
dislike for those whom they had categorized as boaters, and so
boundaries emerged
through this categorization in order to distance themselves from
the immigrant
identity. They want to make it clear that although they may be
Arab, they are dif-

ferent. The term “boater” is rooted in historical immigration
patterns to the United
States: immigrants from various locations crossed the Atlantic
and arrived on
boats. Conversations with older members of the community
confirm that the term
“boater” was used by non–Arab Americans to refer to newly
arrived Arab immi-
grants to Dearborn. That the children of immigrants picked up
this term and use
2004
it to construct otherness suggests that they value an American
identity and, more-
over, have learned that Americanness emerges by debasing
immigrant otherness.
The undesirable boater status can be transcended, however.
Some of the partic-
ipants in the focus group were at one time considered boaters,
and although they
were not able to articulate how they overcame that label, others
made it clear that
once an immigrant adopts the same style and language and
chooses to mix with
others who are not immigrants, they may shed the boater status.

Hanan: No, like Adel, you know. He’s a boater. But he came
here in sixth or
fifth grade, and now, he’s like one of us. It takes a while for
him to get—
Lynn: I don’t remember him . . .
Hanan: But when he came here he was so different, but after he
gets used to
us, he gets adapted to us, you know.
In other words, once a boater sheds his or her immigrant ways
and accepts the
community-sanctioned elements of “American” culture, then
that individual loses
the boater label and becomes one of them—an Arab American.
The boundary work inherent in the development and description
of the boater
category reflects part of the process of constructing an Arab
American identity.
The characteristics of a boater constitute the defined boundaries
by which the teens
differentiate themselves. Designating the boater category
effectively distances the
adolescents from the immigrant identity, affirming their link to
American culture.
However, given that they have grown up embedded in both
cultures, they feel
both distant and linked. They engender distance by announcing
that they are not
“Arab” but maintain links by describing themselves as “Arab
Americans.”

White
The categories invoked by the adolescents against which to
define who they are
also hint at a racialized identity. The juxtaposition of “white” to
all the others
(including themselves, boaters, and other racially defined
groups such as African
Americans) relates to the issue of race in American society. The
children of immi-
grants in this study invoke racial categories to define who they
are not, suggesting
that race is a pervasive influence on their understanding of
identity and will likely
influence their interactions with the dominant society.
Individuals who have Middle
Eastern backgrounds are labeled “white” on U.S. Census forms,
yet the discussions
elicited from the adolescents suggest that they do not see
themselves as “white.”
Little research exists to entertain a situation in which “white”
children of immi-
grants define themselves as racially distinct from the
mainstream, dominant soci-
ety. The emergence of this “white” category is significant in
that it (1) underscores
the fact that these adolescents view America as a pluralistic
society, not as one big
pot into which all peoples melt, and (2) demonstrates that they
view the dominant
society with some apprehension. Perhaps the most salient
characteristic that dif-

ferentiates whites from Arab Americans pertains to symbols of
femininity. The
boundaries that signify ethnic identity for the adolescents draw
heavily on articu-
lations about appropriate feminine behavior, as the following
discussion in the
the first focus group demonstrates.
381
Lynn: I don’t consider myself white.
Hanan: American, Arab American.
Lynn: Yeah, Arab first.
Hanan: Not American, no way.
Moderator: No way American?
Hanan: When I think American, I think white girl, on a corner,
you know.
Like boaters, whites represent a group from which the
adolescents distinguish
themselves. The description of an American as a “white girl, on
a corner” intro-
duces the significance of race and connotes the idea of spatial
mobility and public

display. White American girls symbolize for the adolescents the
freedom to hang
out without restrictions on place or movement. Focus group
participants criti-
cized white American girls for the perceived high levels of
freedom they enjoy.
However, at least two of the girls, Hanan and Lynn, struggled in
that the very
same behaviors they criticized are those they hoped to gain
permission to display.
The adolescents focused their discussion of “white” on the
behavior of individual
girls and the interactions among girls as well as between girls
and boys. The fol-
lowing exchange took place during the second focus group.
Hanan: We all know what we’re going through, and it’s like, I
don’t know. If
you have a problem, your sisters yell. Your sisters are there to
help you. In
this school, we’re one family, you know? We may get in fights,
we may have
arguments, you’re this and you’re that, but still, we all feel for
each other.
We all go through the same things. It’s not like how it is with
white people.
Moderator: How are white people?
Hanan: White people? They’re different. I don’t know, they
don’t care for each
other that much. They don’t care about their reputation. I don’t
know,
they’re different.

Lama: If like there’s an Arabic girl, and she’s sending a bad
influence on all the
Arabs, we’re not afraid to go up and tell her. We can. We go up
and talk to
her. We tell her, you know, this is right. The Americans, what
do they care?
They take after each other.
Hanan: The Arab guys, lets say if I’m doing something wrong. I
know two or
three guys that will come up to me. They go “Hanan, you need
to watch
out.” But if an American girl, they don’t care about her. They’ll
say, “Oh,
who cares about her?”
Lama: They don’t care about each other.
Hanan: They say she’s a slut. They don’t care about her. If they
see me doing
something wrong, they’d come up to me. You don’t see a white,
like Ameri-
can guys going up to American girls telling them “Oh watch
out.” And
Arab guys, they usually don’t go out with Arab girls. They
usually go out
with American girls. They use them.
Lama: They know Arabic girls will get in trouble.
And then:
Lynn: The bad thing is that everyone complains about what
other people do.

For instance, oh you’re Muslim, you can’t wear that short skirt
or see-through
blouse. They all talk about each other when somebody is
breaking a rule for
their religion. Sometimes I sit at lunch and I hear, “Oh my God,
you saw
what she was doing today?” Let’s say we’re in a school that’s
all American.
2004
They wouldn’t say that. They would be doing the same thing.
They won’t
talk behind your back, and complain about you.
Hanan: Yeah, some people are jealous.
Lynn: Yeah, that’s true, and its like in the American school or
something I think
the reason they won’t talk about you is because they would do
the same
thing. Why should they talk about you if they do the same
thing?
Mariam: She’s right. Because some people come up to you and
say, “Oh my
God,

aib
[shameful], you’re doin’ this, this, and this . . .”
These characterizations reveal two important points. The first is
the perception
that being American is equated with a girl who is morally
suspect. The second key
point is the extent to which religion underscores the ideals of
appropriate behavior.
The word
aib
, or shameful, invokes religious doctrine. Another word used by
par-
ticipants,
haram
, signifies something that is religiously prohibited. The adoles-
cents frame girls’ behavior by referring to their understanding
of religion. Arab
American women and girls are aware of the importance of
maintaining a good
reputation and therefore refrain from identifying too closely

with being “American.”
The adolescents rarely alluded to the behavior of American
boys, although they
acknowledged that they sometimes called them “white boys.”
Understandings
about how Arabs differ from Americans unfolded almost
exclusively through per-
ceptions of white girls. The irony of this situation lies in the
observation that
although white girls are viewed with disdain as wayward, their
autonomy and
freedom sometimes emerge as an object of envy:
Lynn: Can I ask you something? It’s not really on exactly what
they’re saying,
but dance clubs. If guys who are Arabic go there, and that’s
cool and stuff,
and they say only American girls go there. If an Arabic girl
goes there, you
know she’ll get talked about, except American girls are allowed
to go there.
You don’t see Arab girls going to dance clubs. That’s what my
brother was
telling me. He goes there, and he tells me. I go to him, well,
you know that
seems fun. I’d like to go there one night. It seems fun to dance
with your
friends. But he goes, “No. When you go there guys come up to
you and they
start dancing with you. They don’t care what you say and stuff.”
There are
no Arabic girls there. American girls can go and they don’t get
talked about
or anything. They’re allowed to and we’re not, because of our

religion or
something like that. I don’t know. (Focus Group 1)
Though the boundaries seem defined and clearly understood,
Lynn’s narrative
also suggests that she does not necessarily accept without
question the criteria
applied to distinguish her and her friends.
PLACES IN THE MIDDLE:
BOUNDARIES CONSTRUCTED, CONTESTED
Finding themselves somewhere between boater and white, the
adolescents dem-
onstrated strategies to maneuver the multiple paths toward
identity. “Talk” repre-
sents a powerful form of social control for the adolescents;
however, the situations
that give rise to “talk” vary. Religion becomes the site from
which the ultimate
form of control originates:

383
Hanan: You know the girls that wear scarves? No offense, but
girls that wear
scarves get talked about more than girls that don’t wear scarves.
Lynn: Yeah, because they expect that girl not to do anything
wrong, whatso-
ever. One little mistake she makes, even if she swears once. She
shouldn’t
be wearing a scarf if she swore once. I don’t know, something
like that.
Mariam: Respect the thing that’s on your head. Respect this,
respect that.
(Focus Group 1)
Arab girls who wear the hijab are held to a higher standard than
are Arab girls who
do not. This situation underscores the importance of religion to
defining appro-
priate behavior for girls. While all Arab girls are the target for
talk, those who
wear the hijab symbolize the pinnacle of respect and obligation
and are farthest
from any sort of freedom. Maintaining honor is central not only
for the girl her-
self; it extends to other family members and to the community.
Her actions are
carefully scrutinized, and thus she essentially becomes the
measure of “Arabness.”
The construction of boundaries takes shape most sharply in the
behavior of

girls. One reason the adolescents focus on girls for defining an
American identity
is the antiassimilation pressure placed on Arab American girls
by their mothers
and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles and by the
community in gen-
eral. The girls incessantly addressed the different behaviors
tolerated by their
families and community, often torn between expected behavior
and how they
wished to behave. The American value of autonomous choice is
an ideal many of
the girls long to acquire, an ideal often exhibited by the boys in
the group itself
and within their families. Discussions initiated by students in
the focus groups
most often centered on the issue of dating, which is a sensitive
issue among this
age group but has far-reaching implications with regard to the
preservation of an
Arab identity. They agreed that boundaries do not go
uncontested, however.
Hanan: I want to ask Abe this, because Abe, you know a lot
about this, not to
offend you . . .
Abe: Go ahead, what?
Hanan: . . . it’s good, but how come a girl’s a rat if she just
talks to a guy? Even
if she didn’t do anything with a guy. How come you guys
consider her a rat,
even if she didn’t do anything? OK, if she did something with a
guy, OK, I’d

consider her a rat, even I’ll consider her a rat, even if she’s my
friend. But
even if she did nothing and she talks to a guy or something. You
say, “That
girl, what a rat, look how sick, oh what a rat.”
Nabil: How do you think he got that in his head?
Hanan: Just if I talk to a guy, and maybe we’re talking about
homework, “Oh,
look at her, what a rat.” Why?
Abe: You know what a rat is? It’s an Arabic girl that flirts and
is desperate for
a guy.
Nabil: How do you think a guy got that in his head? His dad
passed it down
to him. His dad told him an Arab girl should be a lady.
Lama: Respected.
Nabil: Respected. You know she shouldn’t walk around with
guys.
Abe: Exactly.
Nabil: His dad tells him that, which that gives him the picture,
that if he sees
an Arabic girl talking to a guy, that he should warn her, to tell
her that she’s
doing something. (Focus Group 3)

2004
The above discussion links adolescents’ criteria to parental
attitudes. When Nabil
explains that boys perceive girls in a negative light when they
do not act in a
respectful manner, for example, “walking with a boy,” he offers
as an explanation
lessons that he learned from his father. Though girls may have
learned that they
must act in a respectful way, for example, they should not “do”
anything with a
boy (sexually), they are frustrated by these cultural taboos.
Later in the focus
group, the discussion turned to addressing sex acts directly.
Nabil: I want to ask one thing. OK, Abe! I’m not saying that
I’m asking all the guys
here. It’s happened to me, I mean. Excuse me if this is like too
graphic for you.
Would you respect a girl after you have sex with her? Would
you respect her?
Hanan: No.
Nabil: I don’t respect them.
Abe: No, hell no. Not respect them.
Nabil: That’s why we try to tell the girls to watch what they’re
doing. I’m just
telling you one thing. If a guy kissed a girl, an Arabic girl, he’ll
spit on her,
he won’t have respect for her anymore.

Abe: You’re too high for that, you know what I mean? You’re
Muslim, you
shouldn’t do that.
Nabil: I mean, an Arab would take advantage of an Arabic girl
if she was will-
ing to do that with a guy.
Abe: You guys are made for the marriage part, OK, not the
other part.
The discussion between Nabil and Abe highlights the double
standard that
exists for boys and girls, links the expectations to religion, and
explains how the
girls’ restrictions are presented as a means to enhance their
worth. However, this
gender hierarchy, sanctioned by religious teachings, is also
obviously based on
selected interpretations of Islam.
Lynn: Why are girls not allowed to go out with guys?
Hanan: You fool around enough!
Lynn: Exactly.
Abe: Because they forget about religion, alright! You’re not
supposed to go out
with whatever . . . we’re allowed to.
Lynn: Why are you allowed to?!
Hanan: No, you guys are not allowed to! In the Qu’ran, it’s
going to say guys
go out with girls, and girls stay home?!

Lynn: Look according to your religion—
Abe: My dad told me!
Nabil: For girls its
aib.
Lynn: Quit arguing religion. Guys are not allowed to go out
with girls either.
Abe: Guys, its OK,
wallah
[I swear to God] it is.
These contested interpretations of religion represent critical
pathways through
which power differentials in gender hierarchy may be
challenged. Pragmatic real-
ities of gender relations often do not coincide with ideal
representations in Islam
(Ahmed 1992). The boys are adamant that they are exempt from
any restrictions
based on religious teaching, while the girls suggest that the
boys are mistaken in
their interpretations. Boys gain autonomy and freedom by
adhering to their
understandings, which are supported by their peers and families
and privileged
in comparison to their sisters and other girls in the community.

385
Evidence that the boundaries defined do not unquestionably
guide the girls’
behavior can be seen in the following admission and declaration
by Hanan:
You know what, I talk to guys. I’m going to say the truth. I talk
to guys, and I
do flirt with guys. Don’t show my dad that. [Laughs]
But I flirt with them, you
know when we’re playing around. But I don’t do anything that I
think is a rat,
you know? And I don’t care. I’m going to change womanhood.
I’m going to let
girls be able to do whatever they want, and not be talked about.
[Laughs]
Although Hanan does not discuss being sexually active, she
announces her flir-

tatious tendencies and in so doing defines it as acceptable and
decides that she
wants to change “womanhood.” It is clear that she will have to
actively
reinterpret
religious teachings. Previous studies demonstrate that
conservative ideologies
may be reinterpreted among groups whose identity is informed
by religion (Gal-
lagher and Smith 1999). In much of these discussions, religion
influences the ado-
lescents’ conceptualizations of their ethnic identity. For
instance, the scenario
introducing the concept of the boater refers to an “Arabic”
private school in Can-
ton, which in reality is an Islamic school. It is not uncommon
for children of Mus-
lim immigrants from the Arab world to use “Arab” (which refers
to origin from
an Arabic-speaking country) and “Muslim” (which refers to a
religion) inter-
changeably. It may be that the tendency to use the terms
interchangeably consti-
tutes a rhetorical strategy to develop boundaries that exclude
Christians from
Arabic-speaking countries from being considered Arabs and
vice versa, that is,
Muslims from non-Arab countries (e.g. Pakistan) from being
Muslim. It seems more
likely, however, that this is simply a reflection of what the
children learn from
their parents, that Arabness, at least for them, is lodged in the

dictates of religious
doctrine.
The status of boys as protectors of girls ensures the structural
reality of men’s
domination of women (Connell 1987). Both boys and girls
monitor behavior;
however, it seems that boys have a substantial stake in girls’
actions. Boys learn
from family, peers, and the community that their reputation is
tied to that of the
girls in their family.
Houssam: I think when a big brother finds out that his little
sister is going out
with a guy or something like that, he doesn’t know what to do.
Lama: His reputation ruins more than hers does.
Houssam: Because I have this little sister, and I have this
friend. He saw my
sister talking to a guy. And he goes up to her, “Why you
talking?” She goes,
“That’s none of your business.” Then he told me what
happened. And then
I told him I can’t do anything. I don’t know what to do. I just
didn’t know
what to do. (Focus Group 1)
Houssam faces the pressures of masculine ideals as they are
defined by his peers.
This scenario reveals gender work and one of the processes by
which social con-
structions of appropriate “boy” behavior emerge. In Houssam’s

story we detect a
means by which girls are subjugated to male authority. Though
Houssam did not
perceive his sister’s actions as problematic, the fact that his
peer defined them as
such caused him discomfort and confusion. Houssam is learning
how to be a “man,”
which to some extent involves controlling his sister’s behavior.
Gendered behaviors
2004
are created and reinforced through such interactions, supporting
heterosexual
masculinity through the process of managing girls’ behavior.
His response that he
“just didn’t know what to do” indicates that he felt pressure to
act, yet did not
know what his actions as an older brother should entail. Hence
evidence emerges
to suggest that not all boys learn these behaviors from their
families, though there
is significant pressure in the community setting to adopt such
attitudes and
behaviors. Furthermore, the cultural ideal of how girls should
behave (i.e., they
should not talk to boys) does not necessarily represent the

reality of daily interac-
tions. The existence of this ideal nevertheless serves to create
and maintain the
privileged position of boys as they collaborate to ensure that
code of behavior.
The maintenance of ethnicity is not a benign act but involves
the subjugation of
women to a moral authority as articulated by immigrant parents
and community
(Das Gupta 1997; Espiritu 2001; George 1998; Maira 1999–
2000). There are costs
associated with maintaining ethnicity, and women often pay in
the form of incur-
ring sanctions against participating in diverse roles offered in
the host country.
The moral authority inherent in the ethnic culture subsumes
women to a gender
hierarchy in order to guarantee legitimacy. In the case of the
Arab American ado-
lescents who participated in this study, while girls may stray
from the ideal
notions of femininity, they nevertheless acknowledge and easily
communicate the
ideal rhetoric as a way to create and maintain boundaries that
separate them-
selves from boaters and whites.
CONCLUSION
In-group characteristics are defined by the participants in this
study in relation to
both boaters and whites, and boundaries are defined through the
use of labels

that “both abstractly and concretely” (Lamont 1992:xvii)
describe people to whom
they feel superior as well as people who represent an ideal. The
boater label
applies to immigrant culture, a purely Arab identity unaffected
by American
influence. Adolescents clearly differentiate themselves from
that group but also
consider it a status from which immigrants can break away.
Arab Americans are
not considered a legal minority group in the United States, but
those who partici-
pated in this study clearly distinguish themselves from white
America, particu-
larly through the juxtaposition of white girls to Muslim Arab
American girls.
Demarcating chaste womanhood as a marker of cultural
superiority is not unique
to Arab Americans, however (see Maira 1999–2000). Similar
situations occurred
among children of those who immigrated in the late nineteenth
and early twenti-
eth century, for example, the Irish (Diner 1983), Poles (Lopata
1994), and Italians
(Kessner and Caroli 1982). Parallel processes exist among more
recent immigrant
groups, including the children of Asian Indians (Das Gupta
1999), Mexicans
(Horowitz 1992), and Filipinos (Espiritu 2001). The
construction of ethnic identity
and the parameters of in-group membership, which are lodged in
women’s body
and behavior, may constitute “one of the most potent ideologies
shaping second-
generation social spaces” (Maira 1999–2000:141).

This study aimed to uncover the symbolic boundaries that
underpin ethnic
identity formation for Arab American adolescents. Focus group
discussions reveal
387
how gender relations contribute to the adaptation and identity
formation among
Arab American adolescents residing in an ethnic community.
The centrality of
gender relations to identity among the Arab Americans who
participated in this
study contributes to the elucidation of “the dynamics of a
neglected analytic
category—gender—in processes of immigration and settlement”
(Hondagneu-Sotelo
1994:xxiii). The understanding of self-identity, particularly
among those who are
Muslim and from the Middle East, contributes to an extended
articulation of the
dynamics of ethnicity. Traditional markers of ethnicity are
language, food, and
family values. However, this analysis addresses the parameters
of ethnic identity

by giving voice to second-generation immigrants. The results
suggest potential
theoretical value in that interactions between and among
adolescents offer empir-
ical examples in narrative form that provide insights into
prospective processes
of boundary work among an understudied immigrant ethnic
group. This research
was pursued with an appreciation for the fact that identities
themselves are mul-
tiple and may shift depending on external forces.
The insights gained from these adolescents are not meant to
represent all Arab
Americans. Instead, these focus group discussions offer one
portrait of the processes
that underly identity formation from the perspective of Arab
American adoles-
cents living in a specific ethnic community. Specifically, the
discussions demon-
strate how cultural norms are informed by religious norms. As
Haddad and Smith
(1996:20) state in their discussion of Muslim values among
Arab Americans in the
United States, “The values of Islam have shaped and confirmed
Arab cultural val-
ues and thus continue to influence, however indirectly, the
expectations of those
who do not participate directly in religious activities. This is
especially true in the
definition of gender roles and in setting the parameters for what
constitutes
proper social interaction between the sexes.” That is, among
this group of adoles-
cents, who are not particularly “religious” (in the sense that
they do not adopt an

Islamic identity above all other identities), interpretations of
religion guide their
understandings of what it means to be Arab, applied exclusively
to “girl” behavior.
But what is most striking is that Arab Americans are not the
only ethnic group
to implement this strategy. As illustrated in historical analyses
(e.g., Diner 1983)
and recent ethnographies (e.g., Espiritu 2001), identity
parameters draw from
interpretations of permissible behaviors allotted to girls. The
overlap in experi-
ences among second-generation immigrants from a variety of
cultures suggests
that a similar process of ethnic identity formation operates
through gender rela-
tions and also lends evidence to the role of girls as cultural
carriers, transmitters,
and bearers of identity. For the Arab American adolescents in
this study, restrictions
on girls are justified because girls are defined as valuable and
important, in need of
protection. Moreover, the rationalization underpinning the
sanctions on girls is
found in the traditional
interpretation
of religious precepts, which serve to create
and maintain a hierarchy whereby boys’ positions incur
privilege and authority.
Studies of immigrant adaptation usually focus on outcomes,

with little atten-
tion to the social patterns that emerge between and among
immigrants (Hondag-
neu-Sotelo 1994). The symbolic boundaries described by these
adolescents point
to how gender hierarchies produce and designate in-group
membership but also to
how interpretations of religion inform that authenticity. While
moral superiority
2004
surfaces by criticizing white women, it is not clear that this
practice occurs in an
effort to resist racism, as argued by Espiritu (2001). Select
interpretations of Islam,
however, serve to control girls’ behaviors, at least during
adolescence. The impli-
cations of this gendered process hold potential challenges for
adolescent boys and
for Arab American culture in general. For example, if girls
assimilate to the domi-
nant U.S. culture, they may alter taken-for-granted assumptions
about Arabness
as understood by boys and their families.
These adolescents distinguish themselves from the white

majority but are labeled
“white” by the racial-ethnic classification system of the U.S.
government. Recent
world events threaten to increasingly place them as the cultural
other, and so it is
not clear if these adolescents will permanently adopt a nonwhite
identity or instead
opt for inclusion in the dominant culture as they reach
adulthood and have more
contacts outside of the community.
Future research might examine whether the issues of gender and
race remain
important to identity over time and whether they emerge among
other immigrants
from Arabic-speaking nations, who are religiously and
culturally diverse.
For
instance, while religion is used to justify restrictions on girls
among the children
of Muslim immigrants in Dearborn, is religion a pervasive
influence among children
of Greek Orthodox Arab immigrants living on the west side of
the city, or for those
living in other parts of the country? Arab American immigrants
represent a varied
group, and more research needs to be conducted that taps into
that diversity.
Particularly among young women, those who learn to navigate
the two cul-
tures, that of their parents, community, and peers and that of the

dominant soci-
ety, will undoubtedly benefit from both worlds. However, the
situation may arise
where they embrace one culture over the other. Arab American
girls occupy a pre-
carious position in that conforming to Arab cultural values
constitutes a deviation
from dominant cultural norms in the United States, yet
conforming to dominant
cultural norms likely challenges Arab cultural values. Arab
American girls must
negotiate between two worlds and two sets of cultural values
that often seem
incompatible. Restrictions on girls’ behavior represent a social
practice whereby
boundaries emerge to designate in-group membership. However,
these social
practices do not go unchallenged. The contested nature of these
boundaries again
suggests that girls are actively questioning the gendered
hierarchy. The adoles-
cents’ narratives illuminate where restrictions are identified,
discussed, and ulti-
mately challenged, providing some context to the experience of
growing up Arab
American in an ethnic community.
APPENDIX
FOCUS GROUP GUIDING QUESTIONS
1. Let us go around the table, and introduce ourselves. For
example, where were
you born? Where were your parents born? How did your parents
meet? What

languages do you speak?
2. Have you ever visited your parents’ country of birth?
3. How does your growing up in America differ from your
parents growing up in
Lebanon or Palestine?
389
4. What is it like for you to attend a school in which most of the
students are Ara-
bic? What are the good things, and what are the problems?
5. Do parents treat daughters differently than sons? Tell me
about that.
6. What is it like for you to attend a school in which most of the
students are Ara-
bic. What are the good things, and what are the problems?
7. Do you think you look Arabic?
8. What do you think of when you think of “American”?
9. What is it like to live in Dearborn? Would you like to live in
Dearborn for the

rest of your life?
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