“But Why Do We Need the Bomber to be Studying for a Science Test?”: Racialized Arab Femininities and Masculinities

Youmna Deiri

doi:10.29333/ejecs/132

Authors

Youmna Deiri The Ohio State University Department of Teaching and Learning College of Education and Human Ecology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/132

Keywords:

gendered racialization, anti-Arab racism, Saudi Arabia, international student, family, femininities and masculinities, schooling experiences, Arab immigrants. Note, all names in this article are pseudonyms

Abstract

In order to understand the schooling experiences of Saudi students and their families across gender and age in the U.S., this article draws on a multi-sited, multi-age ethnographic study with an Arab family from Saudi Arabia living in the Midwestern region of the United States. Through this study, I empirically illustrate the impact of gendered racialization of Arab femininities and masculinities in educational settings through the stories of Sarah, a 40-year-old undergraduate student, and her 14-year-old son, Ayman. The results of this study highlight the ways these gendered racialized experiences differ based onage and gender as well ashow the participants respond to them. The discussion and implications sections focus on the importance of exposing the hierarchies of violence of complicit anti-Arab racisms as well as areas for improvement for school administrators, policymakers, and teacher education programs.

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Author Biography

Youmna Deiri, The Ohio State University Department of Teaching and Learning College of Education and Human Ecology

Youmna Deiri is a Ph.D. candidate and research assistant in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Ohio State University. Her scholarly interests include community literacies, racialization, immigration, language, decolonization, and feminist theories. Her research focuses on community literacies among women and families in Arab diasporas and is informed by her being born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Syria. Her teaching experience focuses on multicultural and equity studies with preservice teachers. Also, she has taught English as a Foreign language in Turkey and Syria and ELL in the United States.

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