The Center for Arab American Studies will be offering four classes in the fall.

ISLAMOPHOBIA - Rose Wellman

In our post-9/11 world, Islamophobia, literally fear of Islam, has gained an increasingly visible presence in the United States media, our laws and policies. But what is Islamophobia and where does it come from. How is it experienced by Muslims in everyday life? How is it similar or different from racism or other kinds of anti-Semitism? What can we do about it? And finally, what is the term Islamophobia good for? This course explores Islamophobia from the perspective of sociocultural anthropology. Students will discuss the relationships between Islamophobia and orientalism, Islamophobia in the media, in literature, and in the everyday experience of Muslims in the United States and Europe. The course ends with an examination of the Arab immigrant experience of Islamophobia in Metro Detroit.

INTRO TO ARAB AMERICAN STUDIES - Sally Howell

This course explores the local, national, and global conditions through which Arab American identity and its alternatives take shape. It introduces students to humanities and social science approaches to the field of Arab American Studies.

PUBLIC CULTURAL WORK IN ARAB DETROIT -Cam Amin

This course explores the field of public humanities work wihle providing a topical focus on metro-Detroit based Arab American history and culture. Roughly half of the course will be used to explore different approaches to public humanities work undertaken by scholars. The second half of the course will provide the historical and social context for understanding a particular research question to be examined jointly by the instructor, students, and a local cultural institution. Students will engage in intensive research and work with a cultural institution to represent their findings to the public. 

ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS - Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine

This course examines the literary and cultural contributions of Arab and Arab American women novelists, poets, filmmakers and artists to the development and consolidation of cultures of understanding and coexistence; explores the relations between, among others, citizenship and belonging, race and national security, gender and geographical mobility, and ethnic minorities and mainstream consciousness; stresses how literary and artistic productions of Arab and Arab American women writers and artists fosters alternative visions of socio-cultural coexistence, dialogue, and hospitality by means of technical and stylistic experimental and renovation. 

Auditing these classes is possible for some residents under the Retired Persons Studies Program.  Founded in 1984, the Retired Persons Studies Program (RPSP), formerly known as Retired Persons Scholarship Program, is a University of Michigan-Dearborn program for retired Michigan residents 60 years of age and older who seek intellectual engagement and stimulation. Through its commitment to nontraditional constituencies, UM-Dearborn continues its outstanding tradition of extending quality and excellence in education to the residents of southeast Michigan.