THE CONTINUOUS RECONSTRUCTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND ARAB AMERICAN FEMALE IDENTITY

Abstract

"What are you?" Not who. Not from where. But what are you? This is an elusive question many Americans are encouraged to think about as they check off the racial or ethnic identity box found on numerous applications, be it for school, a career, or a survey. But it is nevertheless an undeniably significant if not inevitable question to consider in the United States. As the world's self-proclaimed foremost "melting pot- of immigrants and diversity, the United States contains a truly heterogeneous population spanning numerous racial, ethnic, and religious identities that are further divided by class. gender, age, and sexual orientation. Together, underrepresented groups such as Native Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, Arab Americans, Jewish Americans, the working class, immigrants, and homosexuals outnumber the elite group of "white" American Christians who retain political and economic power, yet the minorities still remain underrepresented and marginalized in their own country. The power structure within the U.S. has forced minority communities to continually struggle against political, social, and economic oppression.