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Great Lakes Books Series
Arab Detroit: From Margin to Mainstream
Metropolitan Detroit is home to one of the largest, most diverse Arab communities outside the Middle East, yet the complex world Arabic-speaking immigrants have created there is barely visible on the landscape of ethnic America. In this volume, Nabeel Abraham and Andrew Shryock bring together the work of twenty-five contributors to create a richly detailed portrait of Arab Detroit. The book goes behind the bulletproof glass in Iraqi Chaldean liquor stores. It explores the role of women in a Sunni mosque and the place of nationalist politics in a Coptic church. It follows the careers of wedding singers, Arabic calligraphers,restaurant owners, and pastry chefs. It examines the agendas of Shia Muslim activists and Washington-based lobbyists and looks at the intimate politics of marriage, family honor, and adolescent rebellion. Memoirs and poems by Lebanese, Chaldean, Yemeni, and Palestinian writers anchor the book in personal experience, while over fifty photographs provide a backdrop of vivid, often unexpected, images. In their efforts to represent an ethnic/immigrant community that is flourishing on the margins of pluralist discourse, the contributors to this book break new ground in the study of identity politics, transnationalism, and diaspora cultures.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
630 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2000
About the author
Nabeel Abraham
5 books2 followersNabeel Abraham (born 1950) is an American anthropologist and activist. His research focuses around Arab-Americans and how Arabs and Palestinians are represented in mainstream American media.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 10, 2024
Read 5 chapters for a Community Analysis paper of Dearborn. I enjoying learning about community relations between different Arabic groups and how time spent in their homeland affects those relations. I worked at a liquor store owned by Iraqi immigrants for two years. This book discusses the strong value of entrepreneurship in Arab immigrants. This was extremely fascinating to learn about, especially working for someone with this value.
This book was published in 2000, therefore the literature was published before 9/11 and closer to when refugees came to the Detroit area. This perspective was valuable for my paper and personal reflection.
This book was published in 2000, therefore the literature was published before 9/11 and closer to when refugees came to the Detroit area. This perspective was valuable for my paper and personal reflection.
July 10, 2026
Book Review
Arab Detroit
3/5 stars
"Ethnogenesis, Arab style. Dated. Some interesting parts."
Verdict:
Worth reading at the price of about $2.
Not worth rereading. (It took too long to read the first time.)
This book is rewritten about every 10 years, and so one might read this one if he wants a snapshot of Arab Detroit as it existed in the late '90s; if one wants contemporary conditions, then the most contemporary of the series is suitable.
Dearborn Arabs are very mysterious, and this book aids immensely with the demystification.
Of the book:
-39 chapters/611 pages. ≈15.7 pp/chap.
-9 of these chapters can be ignored right out of the gate. They are a series of lame poems. ("8 Houses From the Birthplace of Henry Ford"/"You Only Exist Inside Me"/"In the Tenth Year of War"/"Fandy"/"There I Am Again"/"What They Did"/"Important Things To an Eight Year Old"/"Status"/"Steps"). If you can't get your poems published in an anthology of some sort, you can always stuff them into a book on ethnography!
Nabeel Abraham and Andrew Shyrock, acting under the influence of graphomania, write no less than seven (!) introductions. One for the book as a whole, and one for each of the six sections.
(A total of 50 pages; 24 for the book's introduction, and then about four pages per introduction for the other six.)
For the remaining 23 chapters, they are either thumbs up or thumbs down:
Building the Infrastructure of Arab American Identity in Detroit (+). Formation of an Arab majority in Dearborn.
A Demographic Portrait of Arab Detroit (+). Self-explanatory. The demographic information is incomplete because it is hard to measure/fragmentary. Arabs have pretty much the same income as whites, but the standard deviation is a lot higher. Poor Yemenis and wealthy Lebanese.
Dumb Like a Fox (+). Great story. Picture of Henry Ford through the eyes of an Arab who actually worked for him and met him. Ford died in 1947.
Growing up in Detroit. A Christian family from Ottoman Syria that came in 1895. Very thoroughly assimilated. The reminiscences are from around the time of the Great Depression.
Behind the Bulletproof Glass (++). Chaldean liquor store owners, in their own words. They have centuries of experience doing this job in Iraq, and decades of experience living in war zones. So, it makes sense that they would do business in Detroit. The hours are punishing. Black people and their familiar refrains: a) whining that service providers are exploiters; b) whining that the Chaldeans/Arabs take their money home and don't interact with people in the neighborhood. (Which is a logical choice!)
On the Road with Bob (-). The Palestinian Christian version of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Low value added.
The American Journey of a Chaldean from Iraq (+). A good glimpse of the Chaldean Christian community.
Egyptian Copts in Detroit (+). Copts are fewer in number, and they therefore have to use the church as a tool to create long-distance networks.
Finding the Straight Path (+). A look at interviews with actual Dearborn natives, who became gradually more religious. A microcosm of how people are navigating their religious boundaries.
Arab Detroit's American Mosque (-). Bickering over the formation of a mosque from three-quarters of a century ago. Low value added, since there are mosques on every corner in Dearborn.
Aliya Hassan (+). Two-page biography of an interesting radical, moderate, feminist Arab Muslim. Non-hijabi. Died in 1990.
After Karbala (+). Iraqi Shia are a uniquely downtrodden group. Impoverished, and with a lot of war trauma and health damage.
Politics, Pragmatism, and the Arab Vote (-). Maya Berry talks about her evolving political interests. (Seems to be foreshadowing Arabs becoming less concerned about things happening thousands of miles away in favor of more active political involvement.) ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services) is mentioned about 25 times in this book. The local reputation of this center, insofar as its ability to actually provide assistance services, is actually extremely bad, and a simple Google search confirms this. Thirty years after this chapter was written, the subject is still off trying to get in front of a camera, yet not elected to any office, and out of work as a Democratic strategist, probably after 2016.
Daughter of America (+). Autobiography of a more traditional Yemeni girl.
Coming Home (-). Bulimic Arab "finds" herself.
Becoming the Center of Mystery (-). Childhood of a not-so-Muslim Arab. Written in stream-of-consciousness style.
To Palestine and Back (+). An English-speaking "Palestinian" Arab does a LOT of peregrinations in search of an Arab identity. Lots of approach-avoidance and disillusionment.
Hope, Figs, and a Place Called Home (+). 30,000 Holy Land/Palestinian Christians abroad. Detroit at that time had 5,000–6,000.
What's Not in a Name (-). Short bio of a mixed-race Arab. Less about her growing up and more of her philosophical expatiation.
The Art and Artistry of Arab Detroit (+). The traditional instrument, the nay, is going the way of the dodo bird. The musician detailed here actually finds more receptive audiences among whites who are interested in ethnic music. It appears that real Arabs (particularly the second generation) could not care less—as evidenced by his inability to even find students. Cameos by: the qanun, henna, doll making, calligraphy, and needlework.
Continuity and Adaptation in American Foodways (++). Interesting detailing of something not surprising: in the same way that the various Chinese culinary traditions amalgamated into something generically "Chinese food," the variegated Arab culinary traditions are amalgamating into "Arab food."
The Sound of Culture, the Structure of Tradition (musicians work in Arab Detroit). Being a musician became professionalized and institutionalized, and being a gigging musician requires gauging between playing things that are generically Arab American and specific to Arab subgroups. Arabs tend to be tough audiences. And second- and third-generation Arabs can't even understand the Arabic lyrics/regional dialect (p. 557). Lots of vocabulary of the Arab instruments. (North Africa is absent from this.) Zagreet.
Family Resemblances: Kinship and Community in Arab Detroit (++). Interracial marriage with whites is quite popular among the Arabs. Tribal/first-cousin marriages are harder to maintain under these circumstances.
Quotes
(529) Whether Muslim or Christian, Lebanese distinguished themselves from other Arabs by drinking alcohol with mezzeh.
(245) "...The things the males did growing up. A lot of them even today are either in jail, or on drugs, or things of that sort."
(248) "Wherever there is a male and female alone together, the devil is the third."
(271) "We've had some difficulties in our community for the last 5 years, where Arab American kids have been targeting Arab families and robbing their homes of everything that they have ever saved in their lives. It's happened to me twice. They rob you when they know you are at the mosque."
(451) "Israel's leaders entered a war of their own making with only one major unanswered question—how many days would it take to defeat the Arab armies? Israel's massive and swift defeat of the Egyptian and other Arab armies hit like a bombshell, turning initial disbelief to demoralization and dejection. Curiously, I can only recall two or three fleeting memories from this period—the mental anguish and humiliation of the Arab defeat having been so great."
Arab Detroit
3/5 stars
"Ethnogenesis, Arab style. Dated. Some interesting parts."
Verdict:
Worth reading at the price of about $2.
Not worth rereading. (It took too long to read the first time.)
This book is rewritten about every 10 years, and so one might read this one if he wants a snapshot of Arab Detroit as it existed in the late '90s; if one wants contemporary conditions, then the most contemporary of the series is suitable.
Dearborn Arabs are very mysterious, and this book aids immensely with the demystification.
Of the book:
-39 chapters/611 pages. ≈15.7 pp/chap.
-9 of these chapters can be ignored right out of the gate. They are a series of lame poems. ("8 Houses From the Birthplace of Henry Ford"/"You Only Exist Inside Me"/"In the Tenth Year of War"/"Fandy"/"There I Am Again"/"What They Did"/"Important Things To an Eight Year Old"/"Status"/"Steps"). If you can't get your poems published in an anthology of some sort, you can always stuff them into a book on ethnography!
Nabeel Abraham and Andrew Shyrock, acting under the influence of graphomania, write no less than seven (!) introductions. One for the book as a whole, and one for each of the six sections.
(A total of 50 pages; 24 for the book's introduction, and then about four pages per introduction for the other six.)
For the remaining 23 chapters, they are either thumbs up or thumbs down:
Building the Infrastructure of Arab American Identity in Detroit (+). Formation of an Arab majority in Dearborn.
A Demographic Portrait of Arab Detroit (+). Self-explanatory. The demographic information is incomplete because it is hard to measure/fragmentary. Arabs have pretty much the same income as whites, but the standard deviation is a lot higher. Poor Yemenis and wealthy Lebanese.
Dumb Like a Fox (+). Great story. Picture of Henry Ford through the eyes of an Arab who actually worked for him and met him. Ford died in 1947.
Growing up in Detroit. A Christian family from Ottoman Syria that came in 1895. Very thoroughly assimilated. The reminiscences are from around the time of the Great Depression.
Behind the Bulletproof Glass (++). Chaldean liquor store owners, in their own words. They have centuries of experience doing this job in Iraq, and decades of experience living in war zones. So, it makes sense that they would do business in Detroit. The hours are punishing. Black people and their familiar refrains: a) whining that service providers are exploiters; b) whining that the Chaldeans/Arabs take their money home and don't interact with people in the neighborhood. (Which is a logical choice!)
On the Road with Bob (-). The Palestinian Christian version of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Low value added.
The American Journey of a Chaldean from Iraq (+). A good glimpse of the Chaldean Christian community.
Egyptian Copts in Detroit (+). Copts are fewer in number, and they therefore have to use the church as a tool to create long-distance networks.
Finding the Straight Path (+). A look at interviews with actual Dearborn natives, who became gradually more religious. A microcosm of how people are navigating their religious boundaries.
Arab Detroit's American Mosque (-). Bickering over the formation of a mosque from three-quarters of a century ago. Low value added, since there are mosques on every corner in Dearborn.
Aliya Hassan (+). Two-page biography of an interesting radical, moderate, feminist Arab Muslim. Non-hijabi. Died in 1990.
After Karbala (+). Iraqi Shia are a uniquely downtrodden group. Impoverished, and with a lot of war trauma and health damage.
Politics, Pragmatism, and the Arab Vote (-). Maya Berry talks about her evolving political interests. (Seems to be foreshadowing Arabs becoming less concerned about things happening thousands of miles away in favor of more active political involvement.) ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services) is mentioned about 25 times in this book. The local reputation of this center, insofar as its ability to actually provide assistance services, is actually extremely bad, and a simple Google search confirms this. Thirty years after this chapter was written, the subject is still off trying to get in front of a camera, yet not elected to any office, and out of work as a Democratic strategist, probably after 2016.
Daughter of America (+). Autobiography of a more traditional Yemeni girl.
Coming Home (-). Bulimic Arab "finds" herself.
Becoming the Center of Mystery (-). Childhood of a not-so-Muslim Arab. Written in stream-of-consciousness style.
To Palestine and Back (+). An English-speaking "Palestinian" Arab does a LOT of peregrinations in search of an Arab identity. Lots of approach-avoidance and disillusionment.
Hope, Figs, and a Place Called Home (+). 30,000 Holy Land/Palestinian Christians abroad. Detroit at that time had 5,000–6,000.
What's Not in a Name (-). Short bio of a mixed-race Arab. Less about her growing up and more of her philosophical expatiation.
The Art and Artistry of Arab Detroit (+). The traditional instrument, the nay, is going the way of the dodo bird. The musician detailed here actually finds more receptive audiences among whites who are interested in ethnic music. It appears that real Arabs (particularly the second generation) could not care less—as evidenced by his inability to even find students. Cameos by: the qanun, henna, doll making, calligraphy, and needlework.
Continuity and Adaptation in American Foodways (++). Interesting detailing of something not surprising: in the same way that the various Chinese culinary traditions amalgamated into something generically "Chinese food," the variegated Arab culinary traditions are amalgamating into "Arab food."
The Sound of Culture, the Structure of Tradition (musicians work in Arab Detroit). Being a musician became professionalized and institutionalized, and being a gigging musician requires gauging between playing things that are generically Arab American and specific to Arab subgroups. Arabs tend to be tough audiences. And second- and third-generation Arabs can't even understand the Arabic lyrics/regional dialect (p. 557). Lots of vocabulary of the Arab instruments. (North Africa is absent from this.) Zagreet.
Family Resemblances: Kinship and Community in Arab Detroit (++). Interracial marriage with whites is quite popular among the Arabs. Tribal/first-cousin marriages are harder to maintain under these circumstances.
Quotes
(529) Whether Muslim or Christian, Lebanese distinguished themselves from other Arabs by drinking alcohol with mezzeh.
(245) "...The things the males did growing up. A lot of them even today are either in jail, or on drugs, or things of that sort."
(248) "Wherever there is a male and female alone together, the devil is the third."
(271) "We've had some difficulties in our community for the last 5 years, where Arab American kids have been targeting Arab families and robbing their homes of everything that they have ever saved in their lives. It's happened to me twice. They rob you when they know you are at the mosque."
(451) "Israel's leaders entered a war of their own making with only one major unanswered question—how many days would it take to defeat the Arab armies? Israel's massive and swift defeat of the Egyptian and other Arab armies hit like a bombshell, turning initial disbelief to demoralization and dejection. Curiously, I can only recall two or three fleeting memories from this period—the mental anguish and humiliation of the Arab defeat having been so great."
May 25, 2007
This is a great book about Arab Americans and their history.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews