Abstract
Focusing on the educational efforts of a diverse ethnolinguistic community, this article considers the rationales, mechanisms, and channels adopted by Arabic-speaking communities in the US to teach and learn the Arabic language. The article draws on research conducted with a number of Arabic speaking populations in New York to situate Arabic language education in the US within the transnational context of conflict and migration. By employing a transnational lens, it provides insights into both the growing interest in the Arabic language, and conversely, the challenges posed to Arabic bilingual community efforts. The findings illustrate the embeddedness of Arabic language efforts in the US within a larger sociopolitical and sociohistorical context of conflict. This context, I argue, has shaped the rationales and means adopted by US Arabic-speaking communities to teach the Arabic language to their American children.
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©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Introduction: At the intersection of language and social variables: the case of Middle Eastern languages in the United States
- Turoyo Neo-Aramaic in northern New Jersey
- Language in Armenian American communities: Western Armenian and efforts for preservation
- Juhuri: From the Caucasus to New York City
- “It is the hardest to keep”: Kurdish as a heritage language in the United States
- The Persian Paradox: Language use and maintenance among Iranian Americans
- Hebrew learning ideologies and the reconceptualization of American Judaism: Language debates in American Jewish schooling in the early 20th century
- Language, conflict, and migration: Situating Arabic bilingual community education in the United States
- “Speak Turkish!” or not? Language choices, identities and relationship building within New York’s Turkish community
- Book Review
- Munther Younes, Makda Weatherspoon and Maha Saliba Foster: ‘Arabiyyat Al-Naas (Part One): An elementary course in Arabic
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Introduction: At the intersection of language and social variables: the case of Middle Eastern languages in the United States
- Turoyo Neo-Aramaic in northern New Jersey
- Language in Armenian American communities: Western Armenian and efforts for preservation
- Juhuri: From the Caucasus to New York City
- “It is the hardest to keep”: Kurdish as a heritage language in the United States
- The Persian Paradox: Language use and maintenance among Iranian Americans
- Hebrew learning ideologies and the reconceptualization of American Judaism: Language debates in American Jewish schooling in the early 20th century
- Language, conflict, and migration: Situating Arabic bilingual community education in the United States
- “Speak Turkish!” or not? Language choices, identities and relationship building within New York’s Turkish community
- Book Review
- Munther Younes, Makda Weatherspoon and Maha Saliba Foster: ‘Arabiyyat Al-Naas (Part One): An elementary course in Arabic