Arabic language learning among Arab immigrants in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: a study of attitudes and motivations

Abstract This study examines the attachment to Arabic language in the Arab‐American community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA as a form of maintaining cultural identity. The researcher interviewed Arab‐American students at the University of Wisconsin as well as selected members of the broader Arab‐American community in the city. This research suggests that there is strong interest in Arabic language education particularly among Arab‐Muslim families who have arrived within recent decades. The researcher concludes that the interest in Arabic language education in Milwaukee stems from the strong leadership structure in the community and the feeling of community members that young Muslims have a responsibility to read the Qur'an in the original and understand it for themselves. Members of the Arab‐American community also maintain an ethos of connectedness with the homeland which results in students' attitude that knowledge of Arabic is important for their cultural identity and relationship to their internationally located families. Notes Enaya Hamad Othman, Arab‐American in Milwaukee: History and Assimilation, unpublished thesis, Department of History, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, 1998. Sandra Whitehead, ‘The Challenge of Arab World Fest’, Shepherd Express, 11–17 September 2003, pp. 20–22. Othman, Arab‐American in Milwaukee, op. cit., p. 88. Ibid., pp. 1–3; St. George Church website, available at: ⟨http://www.melkite.org/icon.htm⟩. Othman, Arab‐American in Milwaukee, op. cit., p. 5. Whitehead, ‘Challenge of Arab World Fest’, op. cit. Yvonne Haddad and Jane Smith, ‘Islamic Values among American Muslims’, in eds Barbara Aswad and Barbara Bilge, Family and Gender among American Muslims, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996, pp. 19–40. Nimat Barazangi, ‘Parents and Youth: Perceiving and Practicing Islam in North America’, in Family and Gender among American Muslims, op. cit., pp. 129–142. Sharon McIrvin Abu‐Laban, ‘The Coexistence of Cohorts: Identity and Adaptation among Arab‐American Muslims’, Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 11, Nos 2 and 3, 1989, pp. 45–63. Eric J. Hooglund, ‘From the Near East to Down East: Ethnic Arabs in Waterville, Maine’, in ed. Eric J. Hooglund, Crossing the Waters, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987, pp. 85–104. Abdo A. Elkholy, The Arab Moslems in the United States, New Haven, CT: College and University Press, 1966; Ibrahim Hayani, ‘Arabs in Canada: Assimilation or Integration?’ in ed. Michael W. Suleiman, Arabs in America, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999, pp. 284–303; Bader S. Dweik, ‘Lebanese Christians in Buffalo: Language Maintenance and Language Shift’, in ed. Aleya Rouchdy, The Arabic Language in America, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1992, pp. 100–118. Mohammed Sawaie, ‘Arabic in the Melting Pot: Will It Survive?’, in The Arabic Language in America, op. cit., pp. 83–99. Nazih Y. Daher, ‘A Lebanese Dialect in Cleveland: Language Attrition in Progress’, in The Arabic Language in America, op. cit., pp. 25–35. Linda S. Walbridge, ‘Arabic in the Dearborn Mosques’, in The Arabic Language in America, op. cit., pp. 184–206. Dallas Kenny, ‘Arab‐Americans Learning Arabic: Motivation and Attitudes’, in The Arabic Language in America, op. cit., pp. 119–161. Nabeel Abraham, ‘Arab‐American Marginality: Mythos and Praxis’, Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 11, Nos 2 and 3, 1989, pp. 17–43. Othman, Arab‐American in Milwaukee, op. cit., p. 71. Kelly Quigley, ‘Islamic Society to Build State's First Muslim High School’, The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee, 20 October 2000. According to principal Humaira Bokhari (author interview, Milwaukee, 11 September 2003). Author interview with Sister Khulud, Milwaukee, 21 January 2003. Othman, Arab‐American in Milwaukee, op. cit., p. 124. Author interview with Janan Nageeb, Milwaukee, 19 March 2003. Nahal Toosi, ‘Reading, Writing, Arabic’, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 19 November 2001. Othman, Arab‐American in Milwaukee, op. cit., p. 6. Ibid., pp. 95–113. Ibid., p. 71. Kathy Hall describes a similar relationship between racism and cultural affirmation among Sikhs in Britain; see Kathy Hall, Lives in Translation, Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, p. 5. Daher, ‘A Lebanese Dialect in Cleveland’, op. cit., pp. 26–27. Sandra Whitehead, ‘Milwaukee’s Palestinians: Their Stories', Shepherd Express, 15 November 2001.

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