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Representing Arabs in the West: a Comparison of the Arab European League (AEL) with the Arab American Institute (AAI)1

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Representing Arabs in the West: a Comparison of the Arab European League (AEL) with the Arab American Institute (AAI)1 Representing Arabs in the West: A Comparison of the Arab European League (AEL) with the Arab American Institute (AAI)1 Virginie Mamadouh Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies (AMIDSt), Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/10/3-4/153/1446260/arwg_10_3-4_yv5237g70q374101.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 Department of Geography, Planning, and International Development Studies,University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands This paper discusses two attempts to mobilize communauté. Cette étude analyse et compare “Arabs” in a Western context: the Arab European leurs représentations respectives des Arabes, du League (AEL) and the Arab American Institute monde arabe et de l’Occident. Les pratiques des (AAI). The first is a grassroots political move- Arabes en Occident présentent un cas particuliè- ment mobilizing Arab migrants and their descen- rement intéressant d’actions collectives par les dants in Flanders (Belgium) and the immigrés, car elles énoncent une identité qui Netherlands; the second is a Washington-based n’est pas délimitée par l’appartenance nationale non-profit organization promoting the electoral à un seul pays d’origine et par conséquent vrai- participation of Arab Americans. Both organiza- semblablement plus contestée. En outre, le tions aim at representing and mobilizing Arabs contexte géopolitique et la pertinence mondiale as a single community. The paper analyzes and des conflits dans le monde arabe perturbent les contrasts their representations of the Arabs, the dynamiques locales de migration et d’intégra- Arab world, and the West.The experience of tion. Arabs in the West is a particularly interesting Mots clés : action collective, mobilisation poli- instance of migrant collective action, because it tique, représentations, Arabes, Marocains, articulates an identity that it is not bound to the Libanais, États-Unis, Europe occidentale, citizenship of one country of origin and therefore Belgique, Pays-Bas is likely to be disputed. In addition, the geopolit- ical context and the global significance of the Introduction conflicts in the Arab world interfere with the domestic dynamics of migration and integration. This paper examines collective representa- tions by Arabs in the West. It focuses on a Keywords: collective action, political mobiliza- comparison of two organizations trying to tion, representations, Arabs, Moroccans, Lebanese, USA, Western Europe, Belgium, The mobilize immigrants from theArab world and Netherlands their descendants as Arabs and to improve their political position in their country of resi- Cet article examine deux tentatives de mobilisa- dence: the Arab European League (AEL) and tion des « Arabes » dans un contexte occidental : the Arab American Institute (AAI) (see Box la Ligue arabe européenne (AEL) et l’Institut 1). This comparative approach was chosen in arabe-américain (AAI). La première est un order to explore both diversity within the mouvement politique de base mobilisant des population of Arab descent in the West and immigrés d’origine arabe ainsi que leurs diversity among Western countries. How do descendants en Flandre (Belgique) et aux Pays- they represent the Arab communities and Bas ; le second est une organisation à but non their relations with the West and the Arab lucratif basée à Washington favorisant la participation électorale des Américains arabes. world? What are differences and similarities Ces deux organisations visent à représenter et à between organizations operating in different mobiliser les Arabes en tant qu’unique parts of the West? The Arab World Geographer/Le Géographe du monde arabe Vol 10, No 3-4 (2007) 153–169 © 2007 by AWG Publishing, Toronto, Canada 154 Virginie Mamadouh After clarifying the terms “representa- articulating by Westerners in the West—for tion,” “Arabs,” and “the West,” the article example travellers, painters, geographers, introduces insights from the literature on the adventurers, and the military. It focuses collective action of migrant communities. instead on the representation of the Arabs Arabs in the West form a particularly inter- who live in the West, that is, migrants from esting migrant group, not a diaspora linked the Arab world and their descendants. Now to a specific state or to a nation claiming that it is clear that our discussion here will statehood but related to a broader cultural focus on representations involving “Arabs in group or a pan-nationalist ideology. This the West,” rather than all Western represen- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/10/3-4/153/1446260/arwg_10_3-4_yv5237g70q374101.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 means that many alternative identities can be tations of Arabs, the three terms within this invoked (and, indeed, are invoked) to mobi- phrase need some clarification. lize the same population, including national, ethnic, religious, and local identities (e.g., Representing …? Moroccan, Amazigh, Muslim, or Rifain identities for the large group of immigrants Representation is conceived here at two to the Netherlands and their descendants levels. The first pertains to representations originating from the North of Morocco). In as narratives, images, discourses, and prac- addition, this group is of special interest to tices that label, classify, and frame actors political geographers because Arabs in the and events, distributing blame, naming West must manoeuvre at the intersection of heroes, and consequently shaping domestic and foreign policy agendas, the constraints and opportunities for action. one relating to the position of immigrants “Representing the Arabs” is used here as a and their descendants in their country of broad umbrella term for the discursive residence and the other concerning the construction of the identity of that social policy of their country of residence toward group in the public domain, especially in the the Arab world. They are an especially inter- media (see, e.g., Hargreaves and Perotti esting migrant group in relation to geopoli- 1993; ter Wal 1996).The second-level mean- tics, national identities, and the connections ing pertains to political representation: in between them. This article discusses repre- other words, it is about giving voice to Arab sentations articulated by two organizations communities in the political arena, either in two different parts of the West, one in the through electoral participation or in specific United States and one in the Low Countries representative institutions (see, e.g., (Flanders and the Netherlands). Moulier-Boutang 1985). Obviously these two levels of represen- Representing Arabs in the West? tations interact. Discursive representations are performed in the process of political “Representing Arabs in the West” is a simple representation. Political entrepreneurs sentence that is easily misread. It first aiming to mobilize and organize a group evokes a long history of Orientalism in according to a certain identity have to deal painting and literature, coupled to a long with pre-existing identities; they can also history of political and cultural imperial- use both ascribed and self-proclaimed iden- ism.2 In human geography, Edward Said’s tities, and they can reproduce these through seminal work Orientalism (1978) has been political representation or shape new identi- influential too, ensuring a sustained atten- ties in the process. tion to the importance of geographical repre- This article examines how two political sentations and imaginations (Gregory organizations that claim to mobilize and 1994). But this article is not so much about represent Arabs in the political arena (i.e., in the representations of Arabs that have been the second meaning of the term “representa- The Arab World Geographer/Le Géographe du monde arabe 10, no 3-4 (2007) Representing Arabs in the West 155 tion”) represent Arabs and the Arab world in colonialism and decolonization, and by their publications (i.e., in the first meaning Islamism as the main alternative transna- of the term). To research the representation tional ideology in the 1990s and 2000s.5 practices of the AAI and the AEL, I looked Arabness is a complex cultural concept, mainly at their activities and their publica- with competing religious, cultural, and tions, both in print and online. Both organi- political connotations. Still, Arabness zations maintain extensive Web sites, though relates primarily to a language community, the AAI has a much wider range of publica- one that shares the use of Arabic. tions and activities than the AEL. In addi- Nevertheless, no easy inter-communicabil- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/awg/article-pdf/10/3-4/153/1446260/arwg_10_3-4_yv5237g70q374101.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 tion, secondary sources were consulted. ity should be expected between people from Both organizations enjoy coverage by different parts of the Arab world, especially conventional media, the AEL much more, between those who are not able to read and but over a shorter period, than the AAI. write in modern Arabic and between those Additional information on the AEL came from the Mashrek and those from the from observation of meetings and lectures. Maghreb, even if these differences between colloquial Arabic variants have recently … Arabs …? been mitigated by audiovisual mass media— the cinema and, later, television (earlier from To clarify the issues at stake in the strategic Egypt, later from Lebanon and the Gulf use of Arabness in identity
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