Arabic in the USA and the genealogy of Arab-Americans: from migration to integration

Abstract

This study finds a unique trend in the United States, where Arabic is one of the heritage languages of the superpower. Starting from the birth of migrants, Arabic has been more developed in America than in any other foreign language. Several educational institutions and grassroots movements could give birth to their ethnic group called ‘Arab-Americans’. We divide this article into four sections based on archived research and statistical reports. First, migration from the Arab world to America. Second, is the preservation of the Arabic language in the USA. Third, contemporary sketches through the demographic distribution of Arab-Americans, diglossia, and MSA, and funding for teaching Arabic in universities. Fourth, the prospects of Arabic in the USA. This article concludes that Arabic, originally ‘Arab-centric’, is now transforming across transnational boundaries, which provides an argument that not only Arabic is the linguistic heritage of America but also Arab-Americans who have become a new ethnicity that characterises contemporary American life.

Keywords:

• Arabic
• Arab-American
• ethnic migration
• heritage identity
• education

Reviewing Editor:

• Komalsingh Rambaree, Social Work and Criminology, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden

SUBJECTS:

• History; Religion; Cultural Studies; Language & Linguistics

Introduction

Arabic (al-lughah al-‘Arabīyah) is a popular language known as the language of Islam because the Qur’ān was revealed in this language. This language which is related to Middle Semitic, Hebrew, and Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (Khalaily & Doron, 2015; Khan, 2007), is spoken by over 300 million people in an area that stretches from northwest Africa to the Persian Gulf (Horesh & Cotter, 2016). As the spread is fast, so this language has various dialects and influences other languages such as European, Persian, Turkish, and Asian languages (Alshhre, 2016; Perry, 1985), including its influence on the American continent.

In this context, Arabic is concentrated on the interaction between speakers of that language and other languages. This has had a major impact as the current status of Arabic in Spain has undergone a process of recognition of identity as the ‘other Spanish language’. Given the role of Arabic in the history of Spain, especially during the era of the Islamic Caliphate in Andalusia, the mandate of the Spanish constitution, orders from various European bodies, and teaching bilingual (Spanish-Arabic) (Plann, 2009). In Western Europe and Latin America, the influence of interference varieties of Arabic has shifted towards becoming a more dominant language studied extensively for scientific research and experimentation (Aissati, 1996; Haskins, 1925). Outside of the Arabophone, these varieties are also influential, creating a dialectic with their mother tongue, such as Maltese Arabic, Spirus Maronite Arabic, and Nudi Arabic (Uganda and Kenya) (Čéplö et al., 2016; Wellens, 2003).

Regarding the Arabic language in America, Rouchdy said the prevailing general view is the identity conflict between Arabs and Americans (Rouchdy, 2002). The establishment of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, NY on Tuesday, September 4, 2007, is one example of the identity conflict that caused a great commotion (Zakharia, 2016). Since this institution was founded, dozens of bilingual schools in the public school system have been offered to the American community and this has given rise to the separatism of the bicultural teaching model (D’Adamo, 2008). This was met with resistance from parents who did not want to divide the classroom separately (Salomone, 2010). Another reason is the acceptance problem that Arslane discovered recently is Khalil Gibran’s early works, which often regard his texts as oriental and spiritual in a monolithic manner and later on the acceptance of his English works in the Arab world (Arslane, 2022). From the outside, the confrontation came from conservative columnists who claimed that the school was affiliated with a fundamentalist Islamic organisation that rejected religious innovation (Paley, 2010). This latter claim seems reasonable, in that the school is grassroots individual organisation connected to several Middle Eastern institutions, such as the Middle East Forum chaired by Daniel Pipes (Almontaser, 2011; Pipes, 2022).

Arabic in America also creates panic and creates ideological tension. Americans consider that teaching Arabic is a racial act in education other than English (Hill, 2001). This assumption is also a racial assumption because it puts too much emphasis on ethnic sentiment rather than language development. However, few people know that Khalil Gibran himself is an Arab-American who is a Christian. As grassroots educational institution, Khalil Gibran International Academy also develops curricula for other religions such as Christianity and Judaism. Public discourse in the United States has deep roots in that this Arabic language educational institution is a ‘Muslim Jihadist’ institution that deliberately spies on the life of liberalism in the United States. In 2007, the Khalil Gibran International Academy, through an interview with Debbie Almontaser, stated briefly defending the Palestinian intifada against the Israeli occupation of Palestine (Almontaser, 2015). Western media such as the New York Post labelled this institution as the ‘Big Apple Jihad’ which was widespread among Americans as a Jihad movement in Uncle Sam’s country (Paley, 2010).

Learning Arabic in the United States does not get a good place. I related this to the American invasion of Iraq from 2003 to 2011, which ended with the American occupation of Iraq with the main mission of overthrowing Saddam Hussain’s government and controlling oil fields in the country (Bischof, 2020; Yaphe, 2003). During the occupation, they delegated 33 Arabic speakers to the American embassy in Baghdad, but only 6 were fluent in Arabic (Sinclair, 2018). But despite all that, Arabic has become the language of the United States’ heritage, especially with the proliferation of Arab-American ethnic groups that inhabit all 50 states. This ethnic group then formed the Arab American Institute (AAI) based in Washington D.C. founded by James Zogby to advocate for ethnic Arab-Americans in the world of politics in the United States (Tabbah, 2020a). AAI got the demographic distribution of Arab Americans from the established Zogby International Poll to get this mapping of ethnic political votes (Hassoun, 2020). In education, young Arab-Americans also experience discrimination in the school and development systems that enable educational reform in the United States (Tabbah, 2020b).

Despite these problems and challenges, this article aims to summarise the Arabic language in the United States and the ethnic genealogy of Arab Americans in the contemporary era. It focuses on four things: the migration of the Arab world to America and efforts to conserve Arabic, analogies of the Arabic language and ethnicity in other parts of the world, learning Arabic in this ethnic demographic distribution, as well as the prospects and challenges of preserving Arabic in contemporary America. This study provides a new distinction that is preserving the Arabic language in the United States is carried out by preserving their post-migration descendants by forming a new Arab-American ethnicity.

Arab world migration to the United States

Regarding the entry of Arab culture into the United States, historians differ, and there are two versions. The first version is that the first Arab contacts with America far preceded Arab contacts with Europe. In the 8th century, the Muslim scholar al-Shaerif al-Idrisi sailed from Lisbon and landed in South America, as Elkholy discovered (Elkholy, 1969). In the North, we estimate that in the 1689s, an Arab pastor spent his life seeking a suitable settlement for his community (Younis, 1969). Subsequent contact followed the migration of Muslim slaves from Africa, and the ‘Trans-Atlantic slave migration’ (Bean, 1972). Five hundred thousand people, 50% of them are slaves who have ties to areas of Islamic rule, which affects (Lovejoy, 2002). Estevánico was the first Muslim to inhabit North America following the wave of transatlantic migration (Gomez & Gomez, 2005). While Austin and Bean estimate that this wave of migration formed Arab colonies in America, at least 10% of their population is Muslim. Their Arabic proficiency in interacting with each other and with Americans made these colonies even more many (Austin, 1997; Bean, 1972; Diouf, 1999).

Apart from Africa, this wave of migration lasted until the end of the 19th century with five distinct Arab regions. First is the wave of immigrants from Syria who are still under Islamic rule (the Ottoman Empire). According to Kemal Karpat, the migration of people from the Middle East and Balkan countries under Ottoman rule between 1860–1914 was a large-scale diaspora where the tribes in East Anatolia, Syria, and Iraq were separated from the influence of the Ottoman superpower, and they then formed new colonies in Indonesia. Europe, Asia, and America (Karpat, 1985). Bawardi gave an example of immigrant traders from Syria who participated in the Philadelphia International Exhibition in 1876 as the initial trigger for many other immigrants to come to America (Bawardi, 2014). Their positive stories about America encourage other immigrants and their families to move to America. Thus, the first wave of this migration was from Syria.

Around half a million Ottoman Syrians migrated to America from the end of the 19th century until the end of World War I. Their goal was to generate coffers of money to survive the collapse of Ottoman rule in Syria (Baycar, 2020). Meanwhile, Elkholy divides the work of immigrants into two. The first immigrant group also includes many Syrian farmers with no formal education and a group of traders who maintain their middle-class status in America. The number of Ottoman-Syrian immigrants increased by over 9,000 people entering America, and a wave of anti-Arab anti-immigrant sentiment swept the country during World War I (Elkholy, 1969). Even immigration was considered something that threatened the security of civilisation in the USA (Persaud, 2002). It made even the Immigration Act of 1924 strictly control the constellation of racial categories of immigrants (Ngai, 2007).

The second wave of Arab migration to America occurred after World War II. Unlike the first wave of Ottoman-Syrian farmers and merchant groups, this wave was dominated by classy and formally educated Muslims from their country, so they were proficient in English (Ajrouch, 2007). Their ratio of Arab-Christian immigrants is 2:1 because they are dominated by Egypt (44,000 people), Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon (126,000 people), and most of the others (9,200 people) are refugees from Palestine. Naff and Karam documented this number between 1948 and 1979 (Karam, 1994; Naff, 1983). This second wave was not so significant, because political conflicts in the Middle East worsened, especially the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians because of establishing the state of Israel in 1948 (Jamal & Naber, 2008; Naff, 1983, 1993).

In 1975, the Lebanese civil war broke out, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated with the first Intifada movement in 1987, which marked the third wave of Arab migration to America (Alimi & Gamson, 2006; Fregonese, 2009). According to a report from the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) 60,000 Arabs lived in the Detroit area, Michigan’s most populous city, from 1988 to 1990 (Karpat, 2004). Detroit was the first Arab-American colony after the Middle East riots, where they built the infrastructure that developed their Arab-American identity. Like other immigrants, the colony quickly blended in with Native Americans and sought to maintain their homeland Field’s social, cultural and psychological support (N. Abraham, 2000; Armbrust, 2000). Some of these colonies include the Palestinian colony occupying the west side of Detroit (Livonia), the Egyptian colony on the east side (Troy), the Iraqi colony outside and metro Detroit (Seven Mile Road and West Bloomfield), and the Yemen colony northeast of Detroit (Hamtramck) and in Dearborn. It is in the Detroit area that it is the most common designation of ‘Arab-American’ as an entity, and this is where a distinct dual language contact occurs between minority Arabic and dominant English (Rouchdy, 2002). But keep in mind that the Arab-American community is part of the macrocosm of the Arab world with all its variations and divisions, so this entity differs from the Muslim world in other parts of the world.

Preservation of the Arabic language in the United States

Discovering how the preservation of the Arabic language in America must be seen from the pattern of migration of the Arab world to America, because this is the only most valid evidence. Judging from the migration wave above, the third wave of Arab migration to America is possible. In the third wave, English became the dominant language (Peyton et al., 2008). The Arab-American identity in the Detroit area developed so that the Arab-American community saw themselves differently from other immigrants recently (S. Y. Abraham & Abraham, 1983). The difference with the first wave of Arab immigration to America, mostly dominated by Christian farmers and traders, made this first wave a ‘wave of integration’. Despite their dominance, Christian Arabs were poorly trained in the Arabic used in rites, so English quickly eroded their native language.

In addition, the first wave also focused on trade motives, so they had a strong extrinsic motivation to learn English as the language of instruction in doing business. One effect of this motivation, in 1928, there were 120 magazines originally in Arabic and then shifted to English, such as The Syria World, which was published only in English (Shibley, 2015). However, in 1930, this publication disappeared from the market (Sawaie & Fishman, 1985). Efforts to preserve the Arabic language in America were more intense after World War II. Such as Arabic language courses are increasingly being carried out in churches and mosques in America and at religious events (Naff, 1983). In addition, efforts have been made through print and electronic media, such as the discovery of 12 Arabic-American mixed-language magazines, and 11 Arabic-language television and radio programs. In education, 12 schools use Arabic both only and extensively, and 38 religious activities (both Christian and Islam) (Sawaie & Fishman, 1985).

Efforts to maintain Arabic in the USA occurred during passaging the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, which was incorporated into the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The 1968 law served as an intermediary for efforts to develop bilingualism throughout the United States (García & Sung, 2018). More precisely, the Act is to counter racism and social injustice in American society. In states such as Detroit, this Act advocate for establishing and developing various bilingual programs (Arabic-English), and even more funding listed in this Act is allocated for Arabic language development with the aim of ‘state defence’ from issues in the name of Islamophobia (Elia, 2006; Gabsi, 2015). McCarus identified that Arabic in the USA was introduced more than a century ago even before the signing of the USA Declaration of Independence, and was used to complement the study of religion which was then still using Hebrew and the Old Testament, as happened in the 16th century where interest in the study Bible exegesis is becoming more and more common. In 1640 Harvard University was the first American college to introduce Arabic as an analytical tool for studying Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Syriac literature. Then, in the post-President Charles Chauncey between the years 1654–1672, Arabic was used as the language of the Hebrew family. In 1788, the University of Pennsylvania introduced Arabic. In 1822, the Theological Seminary at Princeton in Arabic was also introduced (E. N. McCarus, 1987). Currently, there are 36 universities in the USA that provide Arabic language programs to study, such as George Washington University, which offers a Bachelor of Arabic language program with Arabic language analysis specialists, counter-terrorism experts, foreign service officers, and interpreters. In Los Angeles, the University of California offers the same 4-year full-time Bachelor of Arts in Arabic as George Washington University.

On the aspect of national defence, McCarus details efforts to maintain Arabic through public and private organisations, as well as other institutions such as the Institute of Defence Languages, the Institute for the Foreign Service, and the University of National Defence in Anacostia, Washington, DC (E. McCarus, 1992). As the Arab-American colony mushroomed in Detroit, through passaging the National Defence Education Act (NDEA) in 1958 it funded various Arabic education efforts such as the procurement of teaching materials, and summer programs for intensive Arabic language classes to symposiums and conferences on Arabic language.

In conclusion, this section clarifies how the dynamics of preserving Arabic in the United States did not just happen. Starting from the pattern of migration of the Arab world to America, especially in the third wave of migration, where the Arab-American community in the Detroit area began to reveal their identity. Arabic language courses at the church, to the publication of magazines, television and radio programs in Arabic began to be carried out after World War II. Subsequent efforts to incorporate Arabic into education by establishing an education law amid America’s struggle with religious issues. From education, they shifted to military efforts to create interest in maintaining national security. This proves that the preservation of the Arabic language in America has taken place in historical complexity, publication, and education, up to the goal of national security.

Arab-American demographic distribution: Post migration

This section describes how the Arab-American community focused on its institutionalisation to maintain Arabic as the language of their community in the superpowers. This serves as an effort to affirm that the post-migration spread of the Arab-American community has greatly contributed to preserving the Arabic language in the Americas. Since the USA conducted the census in 2000, the Arab-American population has increased by 72%, approaching a lift of 2,041,484 inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Arab-American Institute reports that 3,665,789 people live in 50 states and 94% live in metropolitan areas such as New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C. The rest occupy Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Population data is only a starting point for this ethnicity for population mapping, but it needs to touch on how Arabic is an effort to legitimise the existence of this ethnicity in America. The US Census Bureau says 1.2 million Arab Americans are among the 281.4 million population. Arab Americans have 33 ethnic groups, with over 1 million people. In 1990, this ethnicity jumped as much as 40% faster. Of this population, Egyptians and Yemenis were the fastest-growing group of other breeds (De la Cruz & Brittingham, 2008). They countered this number by the AAI, which states that the population is 3.5 million, three times more than that reported in the 2000 census.

The AAI statement asserts: ‘Arab Americans 94% of Arab Americans live in metropolitan areas (Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, Chicago and Washington, DC). These findings were compared with the 2000 census report, where half of the Arab American population was concentrated in just five states (California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York). Of these states, Michigan has the largest proportion of Arab Americans, representing approximately 1.2% of the state’s total population. Dearborn less than 30% of the city’s total population, and New York City has the largest absolute number of Arab Americans, only in under 70,000’(De la Cruz & Brittingham, 2008).

The Arab-American population has doubled in Tennessee by 102% since 1990, from 6,000 to 13,000 in 2000. This number has also increased by over 50% in North Carolina, Washington, Colorado, and Virginia. Meanwhile, Florida and Michigan experienced high growth rates of 57%, from 49,000 to 77,000, between 1990 and 2000; and Michigan grew by 51%, from 77,000 (in 1990) to 115,000 (in 2000) (De la Cruz & Brittingham, 2008). Recall that Arab immigrant’s shift in introducing the American population to the Arabic language brought 3.5 million Arab Americans marked to America. The percentage mentioned by Shin and Bruno may serve as a basis that Arabic became the top 10 languages besides English or Spanish, with a growth rate of 0.6 million during the 1990–2000 census (Shin & Bruno, 2003).

Besides the population, there is another way to discover how strong the Arabic language is in the USA: by looking at the percentage of schoolchildren of Arab descent who are reported to the government. I got this percentage of proficient English (LEP) children. In the LEP report, in the 2000–2001 academic year, 41,279 LEP students were proficient in Arabic. This number represents 0.9% of the total LEP population in the USA and places Arabic as LEP students’ seventh most common home language (Table 2).

Table 2. The top ten language groups of LEP students.

Rank	Language	LEP Students	Percent of LEPs	Dialects
1	Spanish	3,598,451	79.0%
2	Vietnamese	88,906	2.0%
3	Hmong	70,768	1.6%
4	Chinese, Cantonese	46,466	1.0%	Yue
5	Korean	43,969	1.0%
6	Haitian Creole	42,236	0.9%	Haitian, French Creole
7	Arabic	41,279	0.9%	Regional Arabic
8	Russian	37,157	0.8%
9	Tagalog	34,133	0.7%	Pilipino, Filipino
10	Navajo	27,029	0.6%	Dine

Note LEP: Limited English Proficient. Source: (Kindler, 2002).

Besides Arabic’s position as the seventh-largest home language group for LEP students, it ranks among the five largest LEP home languages in 19 states. This reveals that Arabic speakers learning English found in public schools throughout the United States have experienced significant development. Table 1 aims to provide an overview of how the spread of the Arab community after it migrated to America. The percentage of 77.7% is a number that is not small, so they gradually also bring the influence of Arabic culture, including language. Table 2 is a representation of how the influence of demographic distribution influences Arabic, which occupies the top ten positions in America.

Table 1. Arab-American Population: Survey 2000.

Subject	1990		2000		Change 1990 to 2000
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Total Arab Population	860.354	0,35%	1.189.731	0,42%	329.377	38,3%
Lebanese	394.180	45,82%	440.279	37,01%	46.099	11,7%
Syrian	129.606	15,06%	142.897	12,01%	13.291	10,3%
Egyptian	78.574	9,13%	142.832	12,01%	64.258	81,8%
All other Arab	268.378	31,19%	476.863	40,08%	208.485	77,7%

Source: (De la Cruz & Brittingham, 2008).

Diglossia and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA): a language integration

Diglossia is a variation of Arabic that exists in American dialects. Charles A. Ferguson introduced Diglossia in Word magazine in 1959 (Ferguson, 1959). It introduces varieties of two or more languages used by speakers of a language in a language community. This means that apart from the main dialect of the mother tongue used by the community, there are local dialects, and each region has its characteristics. This local dialect influences the mother tongue, so it has a special dialect of the mother tongue used. Ferguson gave an example that Arab Christians would speak using the Baghdad dialect when they spoke to them among themselves. However, they will speak in an Arab-Muslim dialect when speaking to mixed groups. In particular, Ferguson chose four key languages in diglossia, including Arabic (Ferguson, 2000).

In the American context, it refers to fuṣḥā or the reading of written Arabic by Americans for everyday communication and interaction. Fuṣḥā gave birth to different dialect variations among Arab Americans according to the adaptations in which these ethnic colonies were located. Native speakers of Arabic in America serve as linguistic catalysts so that this language is compatible with its genetic origin, although ultimately, it must calibrate sociolinguistic factors with the situation and location of this ethnic colony and the people involved in it. This is one factor why Arabic is classified by the Department of State as in Category III of ‘very difficult language- for native English speakers’. I said Arabic be the only Semitic language in this classification.

Diglossia recognises the variation of Arabic in the USA because of the cultural diversity brought by Arabs from their home countries to the Arab-American colony culture in various states. Fuṣḥā from Qur’ān and other classical Arabic works has developed into its dialect called Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). This suggests that the Arabic-American dialect differs from the original language, giving rise to an Arabic-American spoken variety that is already ‘bilingual’, and they use it daily (Rouchdy, 1992). When MSA was implemented, Arabic teaching was mainstream, focusing on developing spoken Arabic variants in English-speaking countries. This MSA effort was first carried out in 1968 when the University of Michigan published the MSA by Abboud and McCarus.

Arab-Americans and American scholars, study and document the main Arabic language from Egypt, North Africa, and Iraq in various aspects, such as grammar references, dictionaries, and Arabic and linguistic course programs and lexicography. The MSA dialect is considered a catalyst for acceptance by universities as a subject and curriculum in universities. MSA is also the reason that a second language (L2) is the primary discourse on the language education agenda in the USA. As stated in Heidi Byrnes’ 2002 essay, where foreign language skills are a basic requirement ‘Toward academic-level foreign language abilities’ (Byrnes, 2002).

Previously, MSA had been the hot Muslim language program in Middlebury and has been a medium for Arabic language proficiency development since its launch in 1982. It interested that students agreed to a commitment not to use English at all for 9 weeks in their summer course. Arabic is used in spoken and written language between teachers and students (Brustad et al., 1995). Intensive discussion of Arabic in the Middlebury program resulted in the selection of MSA as the only foreign language vehicle highly regarded in America. In addition, MSA is also taught using a mixed method called the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) where MSA is taught together with formally spoken Arabic. Arabic is closer to MSA than regional dialects by combining the most common lexical and morphological features of colloquial Arabic speech. The strategy is 6 hours of lessons a day, 4 hours devoted to spoken Arabic and 2 hours to written Arabic.

Funding for teaching Arabic in universities: integration with education policy

The NRC is a program of the US Department of Education that provides grants to all universities in the USA to establish, strengthen, and operate international language and regional study centres. NRC’s goal is foreign language teaching to accelerate modernisation in the USA. This NRC project is known as the ‘Title VI Grant’ because it was officially started by the 1965 Higher Education Act which was re-enacted in 1980 based on the launch of the Sputnik I satellite which required a wider foreign language coverage capacity (National Research Council et al., 2007).

Arabic in America is an interesting subject that few scholars study. Most have concentrated on the study of Arab-American ethnicity and the formation of their identity. However, an important finding in this study focuses on how Arabic has become one of the priority programs of countries in the USA, such as teaching Arabic in universities. Efforts began with the 1965 Higher Education Act in the 1980 re-enactment, which funded universities for the development of the Arabic language. In 2002, the Act changed the allocation of funding to allow the establishment of the National Middle East Language Resource Centre at Brigham Young University. Two years later, Michigan State University (MSU) started a major research project on a language that is rarely taught, such as Arabic.

14 universities in the USA are funded by Title VI in the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) scholarship program (Table 3). Each sponsoring university, NRC, has an Arabic program name for Middle East funding. Table 4 shows that in 2022, NRC funded 11 universities with Arabic language programs with total funding of USD 2,838,995 and FLAS funded USD 3,397,560. FLAS Scholarships are awarded for study during the summer of each academic year. Many FLAS associates receive multiple awards to support further study and FLAS requirements do not require a language major to qualify for grants. FLAS scholarships are aimed at students from various disciplines to incorporate Arabic learning into their studies. In awarding FLAS scholarships, they do not ask students about their language background (i.e. whether or not their language is native). It is not possible to find out from the database the extent to which the FLAS program supports learners of Arabic heritage. This is consistent with the U.S. mission. Department of Education to promote student achievement as a step to prepare for global competitiveness to achieve educational excellence and ensure equal access without discrimination (Cahalan et al., 2022).

Table 3. List of title VI middle east NRCs, as of May 19, 2021.

Middle East NRCs Focus	NRCs Programs
Columbia University	Middle East Institute
Duke University	Middle East Studies Center
Georgetown University	Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Indiana University Bloomington	Center for the Study of the Middle East
New York University	The Hagop Kevorkian Center
University of Arizona	Center for Middle Eastern Studies
University of California, Berkeley	Center for Middle Eastern Studies
University of California, Los Angeles	Center for Middle Eastern Studies
University of Chicago	Center for Middle Eastern Studies
University of Michigan	Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies
University of Pennsylvania	Middle East Center
University of Texas, Austin	Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Yale University	Council on Middle East Studies

Source: (U.S. Department of Education, 2022).

Table 4. List of grantees and funding amounts middle east NRCs for 2022–2025.

NRC Award Number	FLAS Award Number	Institution	NRC Type	NRC Funding FY 2022	FLAS Funding FY 2022
P015A220111	P015B220112	Columbia University	Comprehensive	$246.688	$326.816
P015A220109	P015B220111	George Washington University	Comprehensive	$241.429	$289.489
P015A220011	P015B220012	Georgetown University	Comprehensive	$268.296	$289.075
P015A220089	P015B220091	Indiana University	Comprehensive	$262.323	$288.660
P015A220141	P015B220139	New York University	Comprehensive	$303.785	$262.531
P015A220019	P015B220018	University of Arizona	Undergraduate	$271.959	$282.024
P015A220148	P015B220144	University of California, Los Angeles	Comprehensive	$263.506	$289.075
P015A220084	P015B220081	University of Chicago	Comprehensive	$294.815	$371.193
P015A220073	P015B220075	University of Illinois	Undergraduate	$153.356	$263.776
P015A220006	P015B220008	University of Michigan	Comprehensive	$269.332	$408.105
P015A220007	P015B220010	University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill	Comprehensive	$263.506	$326.816
				$2.838.995	$3.397.560

Source: (U.S. Department of Education, 2022).

The second source of federal government funding for Arabic teaching is K-12 teaching. One program that was born from this source is the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, Title VII of the ESEA which abolished the name No Child Left Behind (NCLB)’. From NCLB, they later changed it to the ‘Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students’ program. It is this program that funds Arabic preservation efforts in the Detroit area, where the preservation of the transitional bilingual Arabic language is still ongoing.

Apart from federally funded Arabic language programs, there are many more privately run Arabic language programs at US universities. Like the Middle East Institute (MEI) based at Columbia University is the Middle East Institute course bulletin intended to provide a listing of the Middle East and North Africa-related courses at Columbia University. The following courses meet the regional course requirements for the Master of Islamic Studies, Middle East Postgraduate Certificate, and SIPA Regional Specialisation. In their Fall 2022 edition of courses, they published a course directory (see http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/). This directory doesn’t just cover the Middle East and North Africa, the institution likely offers Arabic teaching as part of the MEI focus.

Sure enough, the MEI bulletin opened courses in Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Persian and Turkish. They put this information on the first page of the MAY newsletter in the fall of 2022. On the following page, they opened courses for the Arabic program. There are six areas that MEI is targeting, including anthropology, architecture, to political science about Arabs (in Table 5). They apply 3-course models: hybrid, in-person, and online. For their hybrid model formatting in-person and online teaching, the mechanism students must meet face-to-face (but not all) based on what has been set by the faculty of each course. In the MLA (Modern Language Association) survey, enrollment of students in Arabic majors fell by 5.9%, but 51.5% of all Arabic programs recorded steady or increasing enrollment. However, the percentage of institutions with Arabic enrollment increased significantly, from 5.7% in 1990 to 25.6% in 2016 (Looney & Lusin, 2019).

Table 5. Course of middle east institute in Columbia university.

Graduate Level Course
Course	Instructor	Day and Time
ANTHROPOLOGY
The Ancient Empires	Terence N D’Altroy	TR 11.40am-12:55pm
Modern State/ Colonial Subject	Mahmood Mamdani
ARCHITECTURE		R 11:am-1:00pm
The Arab City in Film	Yasser Elsheshtawy
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Arabic Autobiography	Muhsin Al-Musawi	R 2:10pm-4:00pm
The Maghreeb in Transition	Madeleine Dobie	T 2:10pm-4:00pm
HISTORY
Modern Arab Intellectual History	Marwa Elshakary	W 2:10pm-4:00pm
US. Middle Easr & Cold War	Rashid I Khalidi	M 2:10pm-4:00pm
MIDDLE EASTERN, SOUTH ASIAN, & AFRICAN STUDIES
Reading Politics and Law in Classical Arab	Wael Hallaq	W 4:10pm-6:00pm
POLITICAL SCIENCE
National Security Strategy of Middle East	George Lewis	R 10:10am-12:00pm

Source: (Middle East Institute, 2022).

From this, conservation efforts at the government level include NRC, a program from the US Department of Education to provide grants to all universities that organize Arabic study centres. The second attempt was the passage of the Higher Education Acts of 1965, 1980 and 2002, in which, in 2002, government policy allowed the establishment of the Middle East National Language Resource Center located at Brigham Young University and Michigan State University (MSU). Meanwhile, at the community level, teaching K-12 is a program of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, born from community funding sources. This program funds efforts to preserve the Arabic language in the Detroit area. The second effort at the community level is the Middle East Institute (MEI), based at Columbia University, to provide Arabic language courses as a requirement for students to pursue a master’s in Islamic studies in the Middle East and Africa.

Future prospects of Arabic language conservation in the USA

Contradictions and integration efforts that have been made

When speaking Arabic in the USA, the first things that come to people’s minds are Islam and Arabic. The two words caused even more violent confrontations when 9/11 created a climate of animosity and considerable sentiment towards ethnic Arab Americans. Arabic is considered the language used by Muslims and their worship. From here, we are reminded of an ‘anti-Arab’ and ‘anti-Islamic’ statement to young Muslim immigrants in America so that they are considered ‘foreign humans’ in America. They must fight against all forms of marginalised citizenship degradation in the aftermath of 9/11 (Ghaffar-Kucher et al., 2022). This negative climate also impacts Arab-American students, especially female Arab-American students, in exiled Caucasian school districts, ultimately resulting in duality and dual consciousness (Jaber, 2022).

Besides the Khalil Gibran International Academy controversy we mentioned in the introduction, another example of a hostile response came from CAIR holding a panel discussion on the debate over the unrest in the Middle East funded by donors in the Persian Gulf. This panel discussion was held at the Washington, DC conference hall, which aroused widespread suspicion of ethnic Arab-Americans (MacFarquhar, 2007). The next influential example is the Terrorist Awareness Project (TAP) which promotes Islamofascist awareness in 114 universities in the USA. This TAP effect led to the teaching of Arabic in universities (Khodr, 2018).

The federal government is trying to develop Arabic in various educational and social programs. They poured millions of dollars into financing language programs from elementary to graduate school. The National Flagship Language Initiative (NFLI) and the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) are popular American initiatives. NFLI is an advanced language studies program and graduate students for home language and foreign language proficiency, such as Arabic, Korean, Russian, and Chinese (Wahba et al., 2014) (see https://www.thelanguageflagship.org/). The NSLI-Y is a multi-lingual education program started by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to enhance Americans’ ability to engage with people worldwide. What is even more astonishing is that NSLI-Y has assumed roles in the US Department of State, Department of Defence, Department of Education, and the National Security Agency (Davidson & Shaw, 2019; Rensink, 2020) (see https://www.nsliforyouth.org/). The two institutions are still unclear on the potential impact on the development of Arabic in the USA. However, NFLI and NSLI-Y have formally contributed substantial funding from the federal government for the study and study of foreign language development in the USA for decades. Since these two institutions were founded, the ‘anti-Arab’ sentiment and the development of foreign languages in this superpower have increasingly shifted, and consider Arabic as the language of America’s heritage.

Potential and opportunity

This study suggests concrete steps for preserving and developing the Arabic language in the USA. First, to investigate substantially the social impact of the 9/11 tragedy, which resulted in sentiment towards all things ‘Arabic’. Theological and ideological approaches seem necessary to provide a different perspective on Islam and Arabic. Borrowing the analysis of Dehshiri and Shahmoradi with the ‘Arab Spring’, the existence of Arab-Americans is the effect of the spike in Middle East development and the uncertain geopolitical conditions in this region that trigger migration reactions to America and other parts of the world. However, Dehshiri and Shahmoradi did not deny that this effect was also caused by Islamic rule and its subsequent upheavals, such as the Shia Islamic axis led by Iran, the Salafis axis led by Saudi, and the Ikhwanul axis led by Turkey (Dehshiri & Shahmoradi, 2020). This argument is also supported by the ‘new anti-Semitism’ which asserts as if Arabic is an inseparable part of Islam so this sentiment is not based on the essence of Arabic as an ethnic language, even though Islam legitimises it as a religious language in the scriptures (Schroeter, 2018). Arabic in America and the Arab-American community must look at this grassroots side to understand the mission of equality and freedom in society and the state.

Second, this research seeks a good understanding through a scientific analysis of where Arabic is the ‘heritage language’ in the USA. This argument is based on demographic data and efforts made by the government and outsiders for the development of the Arabic language through educational and social programs. Llamas considers that they often orient the use of language toward the local identity (Llamas, 2009). The formation of Arab-American colonies scattered in various metropolitan countries in the USA has strongly shown that Arabic is a ‘second home language’ in the contemporary United States. Diglossia fuṣḥā Arabic and MSA are local identities that the Arabic language belongs to America. This variety seems to be the focus of teaching Arabic from elementary to postgraduate levels. Unsurprisingly, the federal government represented its interest in Arabic by appointing the NFLI and NSLI-Y as donor agencies. Borrowing the ‘ethnolinguistic-Arabic diaspora’ approach, diglossia fuṣḥā Arabic and MSA is a substantial impact that the existence of the Arabic language and the Arab-American community can thrive in the USA (D’Anna & Amoruso, 2020).

Both potentials bring the opportunity that the Arabic language and the Arab-American community are the local identities of the USA that can answer the gap that has been going on regarding the differences between these two cultures (Arabs and Americans). The implications of this opportunity pave the way for the United States to be more open to accepting ethnic Arabs in public spaces. However, this openness does not rule out the most sensitive politics. But at least, educational and social aspects can accept this entity as one of the heritage of the United States.

Conclusion

Arabic in America is two contradictory things in the view of the wider community. The prevailing general view is that the identity conflict between Arabs and Americans has led to Islamophobia in various parts of the United States, although genealogically, ‘Arab’ and ‘Islam’ are two distinct entities. It evidences this by the history of the first wave of Arab world migration to America dominated by Arab-Christian farmer groups. It was not until the second wave of domination that class and educated Muslims migrated more, forming Arab-American colonies in the metropolitan states of the USA. This colony’s formation strengthened the Arabic language’s preservation in the USA at the beginning of its development when print and electronic media were adorning American public spaces. In addition, many schools and religious activities (both Christian and Muslim) are conducted in Arabic. Efforts from the government also appeared when the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 entered ESEA and various Arabic language programs in universities.

Moving on from these efforts, the demographic distribution of Arab-Americans and Arabic also shows a positive number, which raises practical implications in the creation form of Arabic fuṣḥā diglossia and MSA. This effect is intertwined with government recognition through the US Department of Education providing ‘Title VI Grants’ to 14 universities (in 2021) and 11 universities (in 2022) for the development of teaching Arabic in colleges. Finally, Arabic has been transformed across transnational boundaries, which argues that it is not only Arabic that is the linguistic heritage of America, but also that Arab-Americans have become the new ethnicity that characterises contemporary life in the United States. This implication opens the possibility that the Arabic language and Arab-American ethnicity fill public spaces in the contemporary United States.

Author’s contribution

Abd. Fattah acts as the concept of ideas, data mining, and data analysis and acts in writing articles. Hamzah acts in article preparation, data mining and analysis. Wa Muna fought data mining, data reduction, and data presentation. Aminuddin acts as a data miner and data-checking and draws conclusions based on the construction of the article writing composition.

Acknowledgement

We want to thank those who have assisted in this research process, including STAIN Majene, IAI DDI Polewali Mandar, and IAIN Kendari, who gave each author research permits and supported the administrative process. We also thank Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, NY, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Middle East Institute for allowing us to present the latest data related to this research. And do not forget the Center for the Study of Muslim Society for connecting us with Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, NY, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Middle East Institute.

Disclosure statement

This research does not have any conflict of interest. The respective authors independently funded this research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abd. Fattah

Dr. Abd. Fattah, M. Pd. is a Lecturer of Arabic Language and Literature in Arabic Language and Literature of Studies Program at State Islamic Religion High School of Majene. Interested in research in humanities, especially in Arabic Language and Literature. The scientific work that has been produced, among other things: The Qur’an Style between Stilistics and Balagah, (Rabbani Press, 2008), Storyist Analysis of The Qur’an, (Rabbani Press, 2008), Methodology of Nahwu Abu Hayyan Al-Andalusi, (Rabbani Press, 2016), Gender Relation in The Family, (Journal, 2006), Domestification and Double Role of Women, (Journal, 2007), The Qur’an’s Epistemology of Women Leadership, (Journal, 2010), and Khasha’is al-Lugah al-‘Arabiyyah Wa Mazaayaahaa (Journal, 2011).

Hamzah

Dr. Hamzah, S. S., M.Pd.I. is a senior lecturer at the Tarbiyah and Teacher Training Faculty at the Islamic Institute of DDI Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi, Indonesia. He completed his doctoral studies at the Postgraduate School of UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim, Arabic Language Education Study Program (2019). The research interest of Dr. Hamzah currently focuses on the Arabic Language and Literature, Arabic Language Education, Arabic Learning Strategies, Psikolinguistics, and Arabic Qur’ani. The books that have been produced are: Majaz in Contrastive: in Arabic & Indonesian (Ar-Ruzz Media, 2019), and Majaz: Basic Concepts and Their Classification in Balagah Science (Academia Publication, 2021). And the research that has been produced are: The Intersection between the Basrah School and the Kufa School Regarding Determination of Origin and Furu’ in Isytiqaq (2019), Historical Study of Drill Patterns Technique in Acquiring Arabic Language Skill as a Foreign Language (2019), The Use of Asalib al-Ma’ani in some Verses in The al-Qur’an al-Karim (2020), The Letter ‘Ba’ in Arabic and Its Implications on The Interpretation of The Al-Qur’an Verse (2021), Students’ Perceptions of Learning Arabic Grammar Based on Mind Maps After the COVID-19 Pandemic (2022), and Majaz in the Koran: Reflection on Linguistic Issues (2023).

Wa Muna

Wa Muna, S.Ag, M.Pd.I. is a lecturer at the Tarbiyah Faculty and Educational Science of State Islamic Institute of Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Wa Muna’s current research interests are an Arabic learning methods and their application and those related to other learning activities. Currently she has produced about 23 articles as Journal articles, and books. Among his works are the book Arabic Learning Methods: Theory and Applications (2011), Active Learning Models (2012), Application of the Intiqaiyyah Method in Arabic Learning at Tarbiyah Faculty and Educational Science of Islamic Institute of Kendari (2013), Game Cards: Arabic Learning Media Contextual (2014). Wa Muna also carried out community service activities with Arabic language education study program students and his report at made in the form of books including: Learning Arabic at Madrasah Aliyah Private Nurul Qalbi (2018), Learning Arabic program for Children through the SABAR (Arabic Language) (2020), and TPQ Teacher Guidance with Language Introduction (2021), and Students’ Perceptions of Learning Arabic Grammar Based on Mind Maps After the COVID-19 Pandemic (2022).

Aminudin

Aminudin, S.Ag., M.A. Currently as a lecturer at the Study Program of Da’wah Management, the Faculty of Ushuluddin, Adab and Da’wah, State Islamic Institute (IAIN) of Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The research titles that have been carried out are: Halal Meatball Cart ‘Efforts to Improve Mustahik City’s Spiritual Mustahik’ (2018), Da’wah and its Problems in Modern Society (2018), and Implementation of the Verses of the Qur’an and Hadith on the Practice of Morals in the Fordismi Community (Islamic Student Discussion Forum) IAIN Kendari (2022), and Students’ Perceptions of Learning Arabic Grammar Based on Mind Maps After the COVID-19 Pandemic (2022).