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Chapter 2 Little Is Monolithic: Five Oral Histories T HE FOLLOWING oral histories take readers in-depth into the lives of eight Arab American Muslims: four members of an Arab American family and four individuals, two of them men and two of them women. Three of the interviewees were born in the United States, one immigrated as a young child, and the rest were adult immigrants. Their roots are Egyptian, Palestinian, Iraqi, and Yemeni, and they were selected to represent some of the diversity of national origins among Arab Americans in metropolitan Chicago. Corresponding to the residential patterns associated with these identities, two of them live in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, two live on the city’s north side, and the Egyptian family lives in the northwest suburbs. All of them are Muslims by birth, and in their different ways each understands and practices his or her faith. I selected these interviewees not because they were Arab American superstars or notable victims, but rather for their capacity to represent the mundane humanity of everyday life. While the study data presented in the rest of this book speak from the analysis of a representative sample, the aim of this less representative chapter is to compensate for the truncated perspective that emerges when data are analyzed and sorted by variables and whole persons cease to be seen or heard. These interviews were conducted during the summer of 2008. Unlike the interviews conducted with the 2002 to 2004 sample, they were done without a protocol of questions, their focus was much larger than the immediate post-9/11 historical period, and they were driven in sequencing and topic largely by the interviewee. Interviewees spoke about their own life histories, their joys and challenges, and the issues and experiences that were personally relevant in the summer of 2008. Readers will note that the post-9/11 era was still quite alive to these Arab American Muslims, both as memory and as present-day lived experience. These interviews will introduce readers who do not know any Arab or Muslim 23 Americans personally to a few new people. They will show that unlike the charges of those who tell us to be suspicious and watchful and the claims of those who promote intolerance and hatred—in their insistence that Arabs and Muslims think and act alike and march to the beat of inherent proclivities, feverish emotions, and religious mandates—herein lies the humanity that we all share. The Kulthum Family Samir and Nora Kulthum live in a large, well-appointed home in a somewhat secluded northwest suburban subdivision. A number of Egyptian families live in the area, some of whom are Nora’s brothers and sisters and their families. On the day of my visit, Samir and Nora were heading to a picnic at the nearby mosque and community center purchased through donations from Egyptians living in Chicago’s northwest suburbs. Samir and Nora have two sons and two daughters, all born in the United States and all now married and building their own families. Samir and Nora emigrated from Egypt to the United States in 1973, shortly after their marriage. Samir, who completed a bachelor’s degree in engineering at an Egyptian university, says that they migrated to the United States for a new life. At that time, recalls Samir, “Egypt was comfortable .” There was no political repression, and life was economically manageable. They were not dying to come to the United States and had not given a lot of thought to how life would be different for them. According to Nora, they migrated to be near her family, most of whom had been living in the United States since 1969, when her father left Egypt because he did not want to participate in the corruption and bribery that were a part of his job. Most of Nora’s family stayed in the United States; her mother returned to Cairo after her husband’s death. Now almost everyone in Nora’s family lives in the Chicago area, and only her mother and sister remain in Egypt. Upon migration, Samir found work within three weeks at an engineering firm where his brother who preceded him also worked and where he has worked ever since. Nora spent her time homemaking, raising their four children, and doing volunteer work. The children went to public schools and on Saturdays attended Islamic religion and Arabic classes, which changed locations during their tenure from libraries or rooms at public schools to...

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