INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN “What Are You?” Racial Ambiguity, Belonging, and Well-being Among Arab American Women Laila Abdel-Salam Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2021 INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN © 2021 Laila Abdel-Salam All Rights Reserved INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN Abstract “What Are You?” Racial Ambiguity, Belonging, and Well-being Among Arab American Women Laila Abdel-Salam Even within counseling psychology’s multicultural literature, attention to individuals of Arab descent remains narrow (Awad, 2010; Abdel-Salam, 2019). Despite counseling psychologists’ goals regarding multiculturally proficiency, the dearth of systematic empirical research on the counseling of Arab Americans remains conspicuous. The present study attempts to fill this gap by exploring the impact of racial ambiguity and legal invisibility on Arab Americans’ sense of belonging and well-being. This exploratory consensual qualitative research (CQR) investigation analyzed interview data from 13 non-veiled Arab American women. The interview probed their reactions to Arab Americans’ legal invisibility in the US, queried how they believed White people versus people of color racially perceived them, and examined their subsequent emotional responses and coping strategies. The study’s results revealed participants’ feelings of invisibility, invalidation and hurt when they were not recognized as a person of color (PoC) and brought the participants’ perpetual experience of exclusion to the forefront. The results not only have implications for professional practice and education but also for policy. Specifically, this study lends support to Arab and Middle Eastern North African (MENA) advocacy efforts for census recognition, as this acknowledgment of the Arab/MENA community would foster a sense of belonging not only among other PoC but also within US society as a whole. INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..v CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….....1 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………...….……7 Definition of Key Terms…………………………………………………......….………………...9 Arab American Ethnicity in the U.S…………………………………………………......….…...10 Racial Formation of Arab Americans…………………………………………………..…..……16 Bringing a Focus to Invisibility and Racial Ambiguity……………………………………..…...32 Denial of Arab American Visibility: A Political Decree………………………………………...38 Portrayals of Arab American Women……………………………………………………..……..32 Community Belonging, Racial Ambiguity, and Well-being…………………………………….45 Purpose of the Study………………………………………………………………………..……53 CHAPTER III: METHOD…………………………………………………………………..…...56 Utilization of a Qualitative Method: Rationale …...………………………………………….….56 Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR)……………………………………………………..….58 Participants…….…………………………………………………………………………..…..…59 Measures…….……………………………………………………………...……………..…..…60 Demographic Questionnaire…………………………………………………...………...60 Interview Protocol……………………………………………………………...………...60 Procedures………………………………………………………………………………………..61 Recruitment……………………………………………………………………………....61 Confidentiality and Informed Consent………………………………………………..….61 Data Collection………………………………………………………………….……….61 i INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN Confidentiality and Transcription………………………………………………………..61 Training the Analysis Team……………………………………………………………...61 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………………...……..62 Domain Development and Auditing……………..………………………………………62 Core Ideas Development and Auditing……………………………………………..……62 Cross-analysis and Auditing……………………………………………………………..62 Stability Check………………………………………………………………………...…62 Frequency Labels………………………………………………………………………...62 Audits……………………………………………………………………….................…64 Ethical Considerations…………………………………………………………………………...64 CHAPTER IV: RESULTS…………………………………………………………………..…...65 Domain 1: My Perception of My Racial and Ethnic Identity………………………………..…..65 Domain 2: My Reactions to the US Census………………………………………………...……69 Domain 3: Public Recognition of My AA Identity……………………………………….……...73 Domain 4: My Experience of Racism and How I Cope…………………………………………74 Domain 5: How White people (WP) Perceive me Racially……………………………….……..79 Domain 6: My Emotional Responses to WP’s racial perceptions of me…………………….…..81 Domain 7: How PoC Perceive Me Racially……………………………………………………..84 Domain 8: My Emotional Responses to POC’s Racial Perceptions of Me…………………..….87 Domain 9: My Perception of My Experiences as an Arab American Woman (AAW) Versus Those of a White Woman (WW)…………………………………………………..…………….90 Typical case Summary……………………………………………………………..…………….93 CHATER V: DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………………..95 ii INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN The Research Questions and the Study’s Findings………………………………………………95 Juxtaposing the Study’s Findings with the Existing Literature …………………………………99 The Impact of Participants' Demographics on their Responses……………………….…93 The Impact of Participants’ Racial Ambiguity on Their Emotional Well-being……..101 Feelings of Invisibility, Invalidation, and Hurt……………………………………..…104 Efforts Made to be Racially Marked: Emblems and Symbols as Identifiers ……….…106 Hair as an Identifier ……………………………………………………………………107 Names as an Identifier……………………………………………………………….…109 Theoretical Implications Arising from this Study’s Finding…………………………………...110 Awareness of Light Skin Privilege………………...…………………………………...111 Identity Conflict………………...……………………………………………………....113 Internalized Racism or Lack Thereof…………………………………………………..114 Reported Coping Strategies or Lack Thereof………………...…………………….…..116 Scholarly and Professional Implications ……………………………………………………….116 Implications for Theory……………………………………………………………..….117 Implications for Professional Practice………………………………………………….118 Implications for Education…………………………………………………………..….120 Implications for Policy…………………………………………………………..……...120 Limitations of the Study.………………………………………………………………………..122 Directions for Future Research………………………………………………………..………..123 Concluding Remarks ……………………………………………………………………...……126 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………127 APPENDICES……………………………………………….…………………..……………..145 iii INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN Appendix A: Description of Research/ Participants Rights/ Informed Consent………..145 Appendix B: Demographics Form……………………………………………...............147 Appendix C: Interview Protocol…………………………………………………..……148 Appendix D: Recruitment Materials ………………………………...……..…………..150 Appendix E: Table of Findings…………………………………………………………151 iv INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN Acknowledgements No one could have ever prepared me for what a Ph.D. journey entails. I could not have done it alone -- I did not do it alone! To my #bestcohort, I could not have done it without you. How lucky we are to have each other! To the older cohort (the “second years”), thank you for taking me in and for supporting me through the internship process and beyond. To my official committee members, I am so grateful for the time and effort you put into making my dissertation the best it could be. To my research participants over the years, thank you for trusting me with your stories and for taking the time to make my qualitative studies possible. To my research team, your dedication, enthusiasm, hard work has been inspiring. Without you, this dissertation could not have been completed. To Dr. Yasmin Saleh, thank you for encouraging me to pursue my dreams and for modeling me that becoming a psychologist was possible. To the AMENA-Psy steering committee and board members, it has been a privilege to work so closely with leaders in the field. Our dedication to counter the invisibility of Arab Americans profoundly shaped my research and advocacy endeavors. To my clinical supervisors and mentors, I am inspired by your insight, knowledge, and skills. Thank you for shepherding me across these academic years. To Teachers College, I finally understand what positive institutional transference feels like. With all of your flaws, you have become my second home in New York, and I am indebted to the emotional support, the healing, and the intellectual inspiration that I have received within v INVISIBLITY AND RACIAL AMBIGUITY OF ARAB AMERICAN WOMEN your walls. I will be forever grateful for the mentors I have met within the walls of your institution. To my advisor, Dr. Laura Smith, your love for research and your dedication to mentorship is inspiring. My journey at TC would not have been the same without you. I still think of our first meeting before I enrolled in the Ed.M. program so fondly. Being your advisee was instrumental in finding my voice as a young psychologist and gave me the courage to pursue all the things that I held dear to my heart. I will miss being your advisee and feel so lucky to have you as a mentor. To my precious friends at home, thank you for all the laughs, for providing me with the space to feel sorry for myself (at times), for making fun of me, and for believing in me. To my dear NYC family, I could not have done it without you – They say New York can be cold and harsh, but you’ve made it such a beautiful and warm home away from home. To Bendary, thank you for being my biggest support, for encouraging me to heal, and for all the patience you have shown me. This