America: As an Arab American Narrator Views it

An Introduction to the Project

During the 19th century, there were a series of immigration waves that allowed men and women from Middle Eastern nations to travel into and settle within the United States. These experiences have been subject to much historical scrutiny and a multitude of written documentation have been published on the realities of their journey’s. Despite this focus, there still remains a limited digital record on the contexts surrounding the personal lives of those within the first wave, who later became known as Arab-Americans. Similarly, the relationships between the descendants of these first-wave immigrants and the culture they have inherited is a matter often ignored in academia. Through utilising the first-person narrative as a case study, this project will provide an understanding of the extent to which the Arab traditions of the first wave have been preserved and whether they still continue to be of importance to Arab American families today.

This project undertook the construction of a testimonial narrative on the immigrant experience and through a series of four face-to-face interview sessions, the project captured, understood and documented the family life and history of Jackie Homsy Okeefe. Jackie is an Arab Syrian Christian descendent whose family settled in Brooklyn, New York during the first generation of Arab immigration in the 19th Century. The nature of this community meant that Jackie was surrounded by Arab culture despite the geographical context of the United States. The richness of her upbringing has stayed with Jackie throughout her life and has helped her to navigate the changes she experienced. Within this oral history project, Jackie served as the narrator, with her role focused on highlighting the different culturally relevant moments which have stuck out to her as an Arab American.

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