ARAB HIP-HOP AND POLITICS OF IDENTITY: INTELLECTUALS, IDENTITY

AND INQUILAB

Ryan Arron D’Souza

Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School

in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree
Master of Arts
in the Department of Communication Studies,
Indiana University

August 2014
 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

Master’s Thesis Committee

Jonathan P. Rossing, Ph.D., Chair

Catherine A. Dobris, Ph.D.

Kristina Horn Sheeler, Ph.D.

ii
 © 2014
Ryan Arron D’Souza

iii
Dedication

I dedicate this thesis to every person of colour, who in the wake of 9/11

became culpable because of their ethnicity, language and religion among other

questions of identification we previously considered inconsequential. I also dedicate

this thesis to the memory of several intellectuals and scholars who dedicated their

lives for causes of social justice; in particular Stuart Hall, who passed away during the

writing of this thesis. Additionally, I dedicate this work to Jack Shaheen, without

whom studies on Arabs in American popular culture would have probably never

matured.

Finally, I dedicate this to my family – Dad, Mom, Amanda and Florence.

Though they never grasped the concept of hegemony they never dismissed the idea.

This dedication is insignificant in comparison to their support and love.

iv
Acknowledgements

Foremost, I thank my thesis advisor, mentor and professor, Dr Jonathan

Rossing. I will always cherish our conversations on Wednesdays throughout Fall

2013. Your insight on topics of academia and otherwise have had a profound effect on

my conduct. And most importantly, I thank you for being patient in the whole process

and for the freedom.

I also want to thank my thesis committee members, Dr Dobris and Dr Sheeler

– two women who immersed me into the world of rhetoric. Dr Dobris, you taught me

mediocrity has no place and I hope this thesis reflects your insistence to do something

different. Dr Sheeler, you taught me how to critique without criticising, and all I can

say is that I tried my best.

I thank every member of the Department of Communication Studies at Indiana

University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Faculty, never underestimate your

influence on a student. Colleagues, thank you for dealing with my shenanigans.

Finally, and with utmost sincerity, I thank the library staff who unremittingly aid

students and always deliver.

v
 Ryan Arron D’Souza

ARAB HIP-HOP AND POLITICS OF IDENTITY: INTELLECTUALS, IDENTITY

AND INQUILAB

Opposing the culture of différance created through American cultural media,

this thesis argues, Arab hip-hop artists revive the politically conscious sub-genre of

hip-hop with the purpose of normalising their Arab existence. Appropriating hip-hop

for a cultural protest, Arab artists create for themselves a sub-genre of conscious hip-

hop – Arab-conscious hip-hop and function as Gramsci’s organic intellectuals,

involved in better representation of Arabs in the mainstream. Critiquing power

dynamics, Arab hip-hop artists are counter-hegemonic in challenging popular identity

constructions of Arabs and revealing to audiences biases in media production and

opportunities for progress towards social justice. Their identity (re)constructions

maintain difference while avoiding Otherness. The intersection of Arab-consciousness

through hip-hop and politics of identity necessitates a needed cultural protest, which

in the case of Arabs has been severely limited. This thesis progresses by reviewing

literature on politics of identity, Arabs in American cultural media, Gramsci’s organic

intellectuals and conscious hip-hop. Employing criticism, this thesis presents an

argument for Arab hip-hop group, The Arab Summit, as organic intellectuals involved

in mainstream representation of the Arab community.

Jonathan P. Rossing, Ph.D., Chair

vi
Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1

Literature Review........................................................................................................... 6

Politics of Identity ...................................................................................................... 6

Arabs in American Cultural Media .......................................................................... 10

Before 9/11 ........................................................................................................... 10

After 9/11 .............................................................................................................. 14

Organic Intellectuals ................................................................................................ 16

Hip-Hop .................................................................................................................... 18

Methodology ................................................................................................................ 22

The Arab Summit as Organic Intellectuals .................................................................. 24

Position of an Organic Intellectual ........................................................................... 26

Developing Counter-hegemonic Consciousness ...................................................... 30

Being Political .......................................................................................................... 35

Representation of their Group .................................................................................. 40

Collective Intellectualism......................................................................................... 44

Organic Pedagogy .................................................................................................... 51

Arab Intellectualism and the Future ............................................................................. 57

References .................................................................................................................... 61

Curriculum Vitae

vi
 ARAB HIP-HOP AND POLITICS OF IDENTITY:

Intellectuals, Identity and Inquilab 1

Introduction

Through fact or fiction, power relations construct Otherness causing a

negotiation of identity, making the Other susceptible to “isms” of discrimination.

Scholars repeatedly discuss Otherness in America in terms of Black and White

relations (Blauner, 1989; Coe & Schmidt, 2012; De B'béri & Hogarth, 2009),

overlooking endeavours for social justice by other ethnic groups. South Americans,

peoples of Asian heritage and Arabs face different forms of discrimination in

America. Peculiar, however, is the combined discrimination by varied groups against

Arabs. Despite being American by nationality, Arab Americans are the quintessential

Other in America. Additionally, the global influence of American popular culture

affects audience perceptions about Arabs in different countries, making Arabs the

ultimate enemy worldwide. Though in recent times the devastation witnessed on 9/11

adjudges Arabs, a genealogy (adopting from Foucault) of prejudice exists against

Arabs, carried forward through cartoons, comics, literature, movies, music and

television (Christison, 1987; Michalak, 1988; Rana, 2007; Shaheen, 1984, 1994,

2003). A culture of différance (adopting from Derrida) dictates the Arab existence,

necessitating a renewed identity.

Rather than romanticising social justice, Edward Said advises intellectuals to

apply themselves realistically against systems of oppression. Said (2007) believed,

“We cannot fight for our rights and our history as well as future until we are armed

with weapons of criticism and dedicated consciousness” (p. 233). The essence of

1
Inquilab (‫ )إﻧﻘﻼب‬is the Arabic and Urdu word for revolution. The usage is uncommon in regular
vocabulary but was popularised during the Indian struggle for independence as “inquilab zindabad”
(Long Live the Revolution). Other than being a convenient inclusion in the title, inquilab is interpreted
as an ongoing struggle against colonialism, imperialism and subordination; which in a conversation of
social hierarchies, most cultural and critical scholars would agree with.

1
Said’s appeal is a universal denouncement of ideologically driven mechanisms. Said

(1979, 1980, 1997) views Otherness as an ideological construct maintaining power in

society. Thus, today’s Arab identity is perennial Orientalism (Kumar, 2012). America

continues imagining into existence a savage Arab world complemented with distorted

images and diabolic rhetoric by media, influencing policies and politics. The

connection between American foreign policy and American popular and socio-

political culture is extant (Steuter, 1990). In recent memory, the “war on terror”

gained approval through media cooperation and President Bush’s ability to conjure

dread against Arabs and Muslims with popular culture dependent discourses

(Merskin, 2004; Nacos et al 2011). However, when attitudes and policies lead to wars

and physical harm on American citizens, Arabs need to realise the extent of their

subjugation and exert their acceptance as equal members of American society.

Notwithstanding, communities bestow such responsibility of creating acceptance

through representation upon specific members of the community.

Representing Arabs, such individuals function as organic intellectuals who

introduce awareness of the Arab community to society. Organic intellectuals actively

engage society in deconstructing the Arab identity and simultaneously create

opportunities for reconstructing the Arab identity. In America and elsewhere,

surprisingly, Arabs have taken up typically American cultural mediums to do so –

one, stand-up comedy (Amarasingam, 2010) and two, hip-hop. Confronting their

Otherness, Arab comedians as organic intellectuals address Arabophobia and

Islamophobia in post-9/11 America (Amarasingam, 2010). Crucial to deconstructing

the popular Arab identity is asserting their “American-ness” despite their difference.

Amarsingam argues organic intellectuals alter perceptions about Arabs, and in doing

so uplift the Arab community. After 9/11, Arab hip-hop artists actively protested their

2
Otherness alongside other representatives. Artists from the Arab world, Britain, other

parts of Europe and Northern America dedicated their musical careers to create a

dialogue about being Arab. Their identity being dominantly configured by American

popular culture, however, makes America the subject of their contention. The artists

engage their audiences against social practices establishing conditions for

subordination. As politically conscious artists their music overturns ideologically

constructed cultural barriers. Rather than opposing the popular Arab they reinforce a

new meaning of Arab. For their audiences – whether the intended audience, actual

listeners or constructed audience (Bitzer, 1992) – Arab hip-hop advances Arab

politics of identity.

Novel about the intersection of politics of identity, Arabs and hip-hop is the

actualisation of a necessary cultural protest. In a culture of difference created through

cultural media, this thesis argues, Arab hip-hop artists revive the politically conscious

sub-genre of hip-hop and function as organic intellectuals deconstructing the Arab

identity. Appropriating hip-hop for a cultural protest, Arab artists create for

themselves a sub-genre of conscious hip-hop – Arab-conscious hip-hop. These artists

are counter-hegemonic in challenging popular constructions of Arabs as they reveal to

audiences biases in media production and opportunities for progress towards social

justice. Their politics of identity maintains difference while avoiding Otherness.

The primary artefact – Fear of an Arab Planet by The Arab Summit is a

collaboration featuring The Narcicyst (Yassin Alsalman), Omar Offendum (Omar

Chakaki), Excentrik (Tariq Kazaleh) and one half of The Philistines – Ragtop (Nizar

Wattad). The four artists work independently but came together as The Arab Summit

to record an album exploring the juxtaposition of Arab culture with the West and the

3
experience of being Arabs in diaspora. Their experience of Otherness is

communicated through hip-hop, which The Narcicyst further articulates:

Omar Offendum, a Syrian-American raised and educated in both Saudi

Arabia and Washington D.C., found himself in a self-imposed internal
cultural clash born out of both his scholastic and geographical
upbringings. Seeking the truth that lies between the kinship of his
homeland and his hometown, he picked up a microphone to find the
truth in himself. As an Iraqi-Canadian, I [The Narcicyst] found myself
stuck between Iraq and a Hard Place; unable to feel grounded in either
the East or the West, torn between my motherland and my mother
tongue in English. Tariq Kazaleh, a Palestinian-American raised in
Detroit, saw himself growing up in an Arab community planted
between the heart of America’s industrial hub and a city by the bay.
Nizar Wattad, also a Palestinian-American, was born in Palestine and
raised in Tennessee, metaphorically standing between an Israeli
apartheid tank and the southern heartland of America’s republican
though. These four characters and their individual inner struggles were
brought together by the sub-cultural nation of Hip-Hop. Conflicted yet
resolute, we joined forces to crush the Fear of an Arab Planet.
(Alsalman, 2010, p. 39)

The Arab Summit’s critique persuades a deeply political sense of Arab consciousness

for their audiences. Fear of an Arab Planet “is a powerful cultural snap-chat of the

Arab Diaspora in the West” (Christoff, 2007). The Arab Summit identifies Arab

struggles and delivers a critical Arab perspective about the Arab history and possible

future with the purpose of advancing Arabs’ cause for justice.

The following sections consider academic contributions, ongoing

conversations and potential gaps to bridge. The literature discusses politics of identity,

Arabs’ designation as the Other through American popular culture, organic

intellectuals and hip-hop. Scholarship on Arabs in American popular culture

drastically changed after 9/11, thus the literature focuses extensively on contributions

before 9/11, because as argued ahead, the Arab identity, if possible, is further

exaggerated after 9/11. Pre-9/11 constructions of Arabs provide the framework for

post-9/11 examination. Hip-hop scholarship frequently reviews the historical

development of the genre which is irrelevant to a study on Arabs’ recent adoption of

4
hip-hop. Furthermore, considering scholarship on Arab hip-hop in North America is

absent, the literature is centred on conscious hip-hop. Ahead, I discuss criticism as a

method of enquiry and employing criticism, I argue for The Arab Summit as organic

intellectuals. The Discussion, titled “Arab Intellectualism and the Future,” considers

limitations and the importance of public pedagogy.

5
Literature Review

Identity reconstruction necessitates deconstructing the popular (myths and)

identity by reinterpreting difference in order to gain social acceptance; importantly

through, difference should not fracture the social fabric. As an approach to seeking

social membership – politics of identity addresses concerns of civil polity. Advancing

pluralism, politics of identity advocates for social integration through factual

representation, such that difference adds to society’s development.

Politics of Identity

Anspach (1979) introduced politics of identity in reference to activism by

disabled and handicapped groups focused on transforming societal conceptions about

disabilities and handicap. Over the next decade, scholars expanded politics of identity

to include ethnicity’s role in contesting politics (Ross, 1982), critical pedagogy

(Bromley, 1989) and efforts exploring cultural identities (Connolly, 1990).

Representing various marginalised experiences, politics of identity developed into a

vital discourse within cultural politics. Scholars discussing politics of identity of

various groups created counter-narratives proposing new ideological spaces and new

social practices. These efforts, however, substituted one “master narrative” for

another, revealing a separatist ideology in politics of identity (Giroux, 1994). Politics

of identity challenged prevailing hegemonic practices, nevertheless failed to move

beyond notions of “being different.” Insistence on difference slowed politics of

identity because radicalism became associated with desires to maintain difference.

Scott (1992) describes such persistence on impassable difference as “imitation of the

powerful” because politics of identity replaced dominance with dominance. Willis

(1991) further expands upon this exchange of dominance:

6
 The appeal of “identity politics” is that it arises from a radical insight –
that domination is systematically structured into the relations between
social groups. The problem is that [politics of identity] gives rise to a
logic that chokes of radicalism and ends up by supporting domination.
If the present obsession with group identity as the basis of politics is
hard to imagine, much less build a broad-based radical collectivity, it
has even more tellingly stood in the way of a principled commitment to
the freedom and happiness of individuals, without which no genuine
radicalism is possible. (p. 58)

Willis emphasises on radicalism because the associated separatism became

irreconcilable. Therefore, Willis argued to perceive politics of identity as

representation of difference. Addressing Willis’ suggestions, politics of identity

consciously avoided separatism while maintaining difference and focused on

representing marginalised groups into the mainstream. Specific to this period, Fiske

(1992) explains difference as “bottom-up differences which are socially and

historically specific […but not] idealist versions of free will” (p. 161). Further,

Staszak (2009) presents difference and Otherness as products of asymmetrical power

relations. According to Lipman (1989) difference in the mainstream became “less on

finding similarities between conflicting realities, concepts, and goals and more on

recognising the differences between them” (p. 15-16). Hall (1987) expands on

difference with a personal insight:

The fact is "black" has never been just there either. It has always been
an unstable identity, psychically, culturally, and politically. It, too, is a
narrative, a story, a history. Something constructed, told, spoken, not
simply found. People now speak of the society I come from in totally
unrecognizable ways. Of course Jamaica is a black society, they say. In
reality it is a society of black and brown people who lived for three or
four hundred years without ever being able to speak of themselves as
"black." Black is an identity which had to be learned and could only be
learned in a certain moment. In Jamaica that moment is the 1970s. (p.
45)

Theorists, thusly, focused on understanding difference as construct to maintain power

and politics of identity continued because it remains “fundamental to any discourse or

7
social movement that believed in radical renewal of democratic society” (Giroux,

1994, p. 35).

Contemporary scholars prefix politics of identity with “new cultural” or phrase

politics of identity as “new cultural politics of representation,” conspicuously

addressing previous theorisations. Contemporary scholarship extends from nationalist

discourses of Louis Farrakhan to progressive discourses on ethnic differences by

Stuart Hall and Homi Bhabha (Bhabha, 1990; Giroux, 1994; Hall, 1996). Today,

history and ideology complexly intertwine with politics of identity exposing relevancy

of current social practices and validating them for the future (Said, 1997; Treacher,

2005). Most importantly, politics of identity is “decisively a question of

empowerment” (Friedman, 1992). Renewed politics of identity emphasises critical

awareness of power dynamics. Politics of identity pursues social justice in pluralistic

societies, achievable through politicisation of identities. Politics of identity, at the

same time, enables holistic identity constructions in society, and with respect to Arabs

– truer identity constructions. According to West (1999), “distinctive features of the

new cultural politics of difference are to trash the monolithic and homogeneous in the

name of diversity, multiplicity, and heterogeneity…and historicise, contextualise, and

pluralise by highlighting the contingent, provisional, variable, tentative, shifting and

changing” (p. 118). Further,

The new cultural politics of difference are neither simply oppositional

in contesting the mainstream for inclusion, nor transgressive in the
avant-gardist sense of shocking conventional bourgeois audiences.
Rather they are distinct articulations of talented contribution to culture
who desire to align themselves with demoralised, demobilized,
depoliticised and disorganised people in order to empower and enable
social action and, if possible, to enlist collective insurgency for the
expansion of freedom, democracy and individuality. (p. 120)

Politics of identity reconceptualises difference for a democratic society. Hall and Held

explain, “The diversity arenas in which citizenship is being claimed and contested

8
today is essential to any modern conception of it because it is inscribed in the very

logic of modern society” (p. 176). Said otherwise, politics of identity understands

dynamics of ideology, hegemony, dominance and subordination. Central to the

struggle of identity is to rethink and rewrite (adopting from Giroux) difference in

relation to national and cultural membership. With cultures coming in contact with

each other, questions of representation become intertwined with issues of power and

identity (Giroux, 1994). Escoffier (1991) acknowledges, America has become

increasingly obsessed with diversity in terms of ethnicity and race and conflicts

within. Therefore, politics of identity transitions societies into multiculturalism

challenging social hierarchies for socio-political transformation.

Despite the stress on representation, politics of identity lacks an understanding

of identity. Hall (1990) suggests, instead of conceiving identity as already existing,

think of identity as a perpetual production. An ongoing conception of identity requires

reflexivity and a constant becoming. Therefore, alongside ideology, hegemony and

dominance, identity is constantly reproduced. Mouffe (1992) elucidates, “The

identities qua individual and qua citizen […] exist in a permanent tension that can

never be reconciled” (p. 32). Prevailing identities being hegemonic constructions and

contested identities being counter-hegemonic constructions create a symbiosis within

which hegemony and counter-hegemony contest. Conceiving identity, Hall (1990)

provides two methods – one, “a superficial or artificially imposed” identity, and two,

an identity “constituting ‘what we really are’ rather than ‘what we have become’” (p.

223-225). I propose politics of identity be conceived through the latter because it

emphasises the historicity of identity constructions.

One drawback to politics of identity has been the conflation of identities

(Somers, 1994). A singular identity functions as a potential gap of this thesis; because

9
in contesting an Arab identity there is a need to advance the entire community before

arguing for categorical identities. There are multiple aspects governing identities –

race, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, gender, religion, etc.; all separate, nonetheless,

they maintain overlapping characteristics with the primary identity. At this point, I

consolidate diverse Arab identities while understanding its limitations.

Arabs in American Cultural Media

Before 9/11

Politics of identity stresses an understanding of the genealogy of prejudice,

and in that, how are prevailing identities constructed. Focused on deconstructions and

reconstructions of the Arab identity, what follows here reviews Arab representations

in American cultural media. Media critic, Jack Shaheen contributes significantly to

the pre-9/11 literature but there is paucity of literature since because literature post-

9/11 limits itself in its focus on the effects of 9/11 on Arab communities.

Scholarly conversations about Arabs, Arabs in the West and Arabs in Western

media are incomplete without considering arguments by Edward Said and Jack

Shaheen. Though separate arguments, Said and Shaheen dedicated their careers

arguing for better representations of Arabs in a cause-and-effect manner. Shaheen

(1994) argues the earliest Arab portrayals in American media were in 1920s. Images

from then and images that followed into present are irresponsible adaptations of

Europe’s Jewish caricatures (Christison, 1987; Michalak, 1988; Shaheen, 2009).

Said’s (1979) critique of Orientalism predates Shaheen’s earliest contribution on the

topic, but is solidified with respect to cultural media by Shaheen’s argument. Said

(1997) presented “the affiliation of knowledge with power” (p. xlix). The West

imagined the East into existence, creating knowledge of it, and articulated Western

10
interests through it, maintaining power over it. Arguing against control over people’s

lives Said (1979) affirms, “Orientals [i.e., Arabs] were rarely seen or looked at, they

were seen through, analysed not as citizens, or even people, but as problems to be

solved or confined or – as the colonial powers openly converted their territory – taken

over” (p. 207). Orientalism is a master discourse that constructed and polarised the

Arabs.

Ibn Warraq (2007) argued against Orientalism, defining the West as rational,

universal and self-critical. Warraq further argues that other cultures did not possess

Occidental values. More explicitly, people of colour are incapable of progress and if

not for colonialists and Christian missionaries, people of colour would still be

languishing. Hamdi (2013) articulates this argument stating, denying “the Orientalist

representation whether in literature in history and politics is contaminated by power

and interest is to deny the reality of imperialism and its machinery” (p. 145). In

addition to imagining the East into existence through the “Oriental gaze,” the West

placed itself in opposition to the East. Michalak (1988) argues, “We project the

negation of our values and the enactment of our taboos” (p. 33) into the Arab identity.

Above all, Arabs’ designation as the ultimate enemy proves Orientalism is still alive,

noticeable in American media and increasingly evident in post-9/11 discourse.

Shaheen (1997) argues the average American psyche is configured by mass

media – comics, cartoons, movies, music, news, novels and television shows – to hate

and fear Arabs. Shaheen (1990) laments that instead of entertaining, unwarranted

portrayals of Arabs obscures reality and narrows viewers’ perception. Over the years,

Shaheen (1980, 1984, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2009, 2012) produced compelling

evidence proving American media vilifies and slanders Arabs, and also proves

Orientalism persists. Misrepresentations create a “habit of radical and cultural

11
discrimination” (Shaheen, 2009, p. 6). Although, Hollywood’s Arab is the sinister

character, such portrays affect how Arabs are generally perceived. Despite continued

discrimination through various media outlets, Arabs have made limited attempts to

protest their slanderous identity. In fact, Arabs’ media subordination represses

identities in an attempt to avoid public persecution (Michalak, 1988). Tamer (2010)

claims discrimination against other ethnic groups is declining but discrimination

against Arabs has either remained the same or has increased. Tamer further argues,

“Arab Americans are considered “outsiders” to the definition of a U.S. citizen” (p.

115-116). With no other social groups do cultural producers actively prove political

illegitimacy, social underdevelopment and violent tendencies.

Arab stereotypes are further exaggerated in the Palestinian cause. If Arabs are

generally villainous, Palestinians in particular are a deplorable nefarious group

(Shaheen, 1990). According to Shaheen, since Israel’s conception and development of

diplomatic alliances with America, Palestinians have been deliberate portrayed as

terrorists. Palestinians are always the aggressors, never the victims. S. D. Ross (2003)

summarily highlights the effects of disproportionate coverage on the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict:

The editorials portray Palestinians as members of an antiquated,

murderous caste consumed by old hatreds, constantly stoking tensions
with peace-loving Israelis, and intent upon eliminating the state of
Israel. Palestinians are stereotyped as racist, anti-Semitic, terrorist
suicide bombers. Palestinians are never presented as moral victims.
The need for Palestinian sovereignty and security is routinely
presented as secondary to the same interests of the Israelis. What Israel
deserves, Palestine is only begrudgingly and conditionally granted.
And it is Arabs, not Palestinians, who are linked to editorial
discussions of cease-fires, diplomatic efforts, and the peace process. (p.
61)

Shaheen (1990) further contributes on media coverage of the conflict arguing:

What is forgotten in all this is that the great majority of Palestinians,

like all other human beings, seek peace and abhor violence. Yet, on

12
 silver screen Palestinians, adorned in fatigues and kuffiyehs [Arab
headgear], almost never appear as victims of violence or even as
normal human beings. When, if ever, has the viewer seen a Palestinian
embracing his wife or children, writing poetry, or attending the sick?
As journalist Edward R. Murrow said, what we do not see it often as
important, if not more important, as what we do see. (p. B2-B3)

Media skews the history of the conflict in favour of Israel and never condemns for

apartheid policies against Arabs, Muslims and immigrant Africans. Media demonises

Palestinians and associates their (and Arab) culture and tradition with violence. Such

bigotry affects audience attitudes and repetition lends validity to perceptions.

American cultural media, moreover, has an Orientalist view towards Islam,

due to popular erroneous association of Arabs with Islam. However, it were

Orientalists who first declared Muslims a race (Kumar, 2012), and thus present day

conflations of race and religion. Said (1997) remarks in Covering Islam, linking

“Islam” to Orientalism:

One of the points I make here [in Covering Islam] and in Orientalism
is that the term “Islam” as it is used today seems to mean one simple
thing but in fact is part fiction, part ideological label, part minimal
designation of a religion called Islam. (p. 1)

Such ideologically-driven construction enables the West to perceive Muslims as

Muslims alone, under the “nation” of Islam without other allegiances. Islam was

added to America’s cultural heritage because Islam became linked with the 1970’s Oil

Crisis, Iran (to be noted that Iranians are not Arab), Afghanistan and terrorism (Said,

1997). However, instead of objective media reporting, Americans were presented with

“crude essentialised caricatures” (p. 28). Said links the “Islamic phenomenon” with

America’s quest to maintain dominance over the Arab world. Insinuations against

Islam made Arabs and Muslims prime suspects in time of adversity. Said remarked,

which remains true today, “a corps of “experts” on the Islamic world has grown to

prominence, and during a crisis they are brought out to pontificate on formulaic ideas

13
about Islam on new programs or talk shows” (p. xi). “Arab,” “Islam” and “terrorism”

generate pre-configured images of decadence and violence. Alongside other media,

news coverage maintains unanimous prejudice against Arabs. Collectively, Arabs are

misrepresented; or Palestinians and “Islam” are equifinal objects of venom.

Literature presented until this point discussed the Arab identity before events

of 9/11. Arabs were always America’s enemy created through Orientalism. However,

as I will highlight further, the Arab identity is still constructed through the Oriental

gaze. American mass culture before 9/11 exacerbated the situation after 9/11.

After 9/11

Following the events of 9/11, a hyperbolic rhetoric re-Orientalised the Arab

world (Ivie, 2003). President Bush’s rhetorical card of evil justified America’s fascist

wars as long as war avoided further attacks. Bush’s policies conceived a “clash of

civilisations” within American borders, which objectively or rhetorically codified

people of colour. As a result, scholarship on Arabs drastically shifted. Media criticism

focuses extensively on political discourse ignoring instances of Arab

misrepresentations (Gerges, 2003; Merskin, 2004; Witteborn, 2004). Nonetheless,

scholarship increased the Arab voice academically and culturally (Salaita, 2005).

Howell and Shryock (2003) observe:

In the aftermath of 9/11, Arab and Muslim Americans have been

compelled time and again, to apologise for acts they did not commit, to
condemn acts they never condoned, and to openly profess loyalties
that, for most U.S. citizens are merely assumed. (p. 444)

It is difficult to imagine an Arab different from the devastation witnessed on

September 11th. The newly-constructed-old identity, however, dictates Arab lives

around the world. Bodily harm on Arabs, Muslims and similar looking people, in the

aftermath of 9/11, were ignored as displaced anger (Ahmad, 2004). Ahmad

14
importantly argues, “The aftermath of 9/11 reminds us that racism, and its companion

systems of subordination, remain quintessentially American passions” (p. 1330).

Response to 9/11 unanimously condemned Arabs, Islam and terrorism alike. Once

raced as Muslims, Arabs became “raced as terrorists” (Saito, 2001). The “war on

terror” culminated into a socio-political disaster (Jiwani, 2011; Love, 2011).

Orientalism expressed through Arabophobia and Islamophobia became

institutionalised. Yet, academic and popular opinions fail to condemn the act of terror

a response to U.S. military interventions.

In the years preceding 9/11 Arab literary works emerged – Post-Gibran

anthology of new Arab American writing (Mattawa, 1999) and Arabs in America:

Building a new future (Suleiman, 1999) – expressing Arab consciousness. Their

consciousness was organic self-construction in a polarised world. The partial uplift

was depressed following 9/11, only to return more persuasively. Academic and

cultural contributors among others emerged as, what Gramsci termed, organic

intellectuals.

Organic Intellectuals

According to Gramsci, marginalised groups come to be subordinated through

a complex interaction of “objective and subjective” factors (Adamson, 1983; Gramsci

& Buttigieg, 1996). Said otherwise, the subordinated are complicit in their

subordination by accepting hegemony or not protesting hegemony. However,

whenever marginalised groups organise themselves in opposition of hegemony, they

seek “conceptual and philosophical elaboration of ideas” from organic intellectuals

(Amarasingam, 2010). Organic intellectuals serve as interlocutors between their social

group and society (Adamson, 1983). So stated, Gramsci (1995) noted, everyone can

15
be an intellectual but not everyone functions as an intellectual. There are, additionally,

different types of intellectuals – traditional and organic; the former failing to perform

a progressive role. Strine (1991) remarks, “traditional intellectuals, set them[selves]

apart from the drift of partisan political life” (p. 195). Traditional intellectuals hold

privileged positions in society, yet fail to advance their community with their

privileged positions. Traditional intellectuals’ socioeconomic status tends to benefit

them, and hence they perpetuate dominance. Organic intellectuals hold similar

privileges as traditional intellectuals, but they exploit their position “to intervene in

hegemonic conception(s) of the world” (p. 195).

Organic intellectuals represent their social group in the mainstream. Strine

(1991) summarises the role of organic intellectuals stating:

By closely aligning their theoretical work with their identified social

group’s internal struggles for self-empowerment and local sovereignty,
organic intellectuals can ideally generate counter-theories of social and
cultural process, explanations that are at once historically grounded,
contextually nuanced, and politically emancipating. (p. 195)

Organic intellectuals create opportunities for their social group to control

narratives dominating their existence (Adamson, 1983). Organic intellectuals

disseminate counter-hegemonic consciousness in society introducing notions of self-

governance in opposition to existing dominance. However, Gramsci reduces counter-

hegemony to opposing “common sense.” Gramsci uses common sense not as a

synonym for hegemony but for ideology instead. Common sense is an ideology,

“common to a social group, or common to a society as a whole” (Jones, 2007, p. 54).

Common sense establishes the ideological space within which hegemony functions

but is not hegemony itself. According to Gramsci, organic intellectuals challenge

societal common sense; but this simplistic reduction functions on the premise of

political utopia. To challenge common sense, according to Gramsci, is to oppose

16
ideology and never have an ideological space thereafter. Instead of challenging

common sense to dissolution, Amarasingam (2010) suggests introducing “new

sedimentations.” Sedimentations added to prevailing common sense is realistic is

comparison because socio-political relations are a reality. Counter-hegemony

functions alongside hegemony, and therefore, an ideological space is necessary to

develop counter-hegemony.

Writing on new politics of identity, West reconceptualises Gramsci’s organic

intellectual as critical organic catalyst. West’s catalysts are “intellectual freedom

fighters” representing marginalised groups in the mainstream. A catalyst working for

representation, as West (1999) argues:

… can thrive only if there are communities, groups, organisations,

institutions, subcultures, and networks of people of colour who
cultivate critical sensibilities and personal accountability – without
inhibiting individual expressions, curiosities, and idiosyncrasies. This
is especially needed given the escalating racial hostility, violence, and
polarisation in the United States. Yet, this critical coming-together
must not be a narrow closing of ranks. Rather, it is a strengthening and
nurturing endeavour that can forge more solid alliances and coalitions.
(p. 136)

Catalysts work towards promotion of difference among marginalised communities.

Though intellectuals and/ or catalysts of different groups do not actively associate

themselves with their counterparts, at the same time, they do not restrict themselves to

their community, creating a sense of collectivism among marginalised groups

(Gramsci & Buttigieg, 1996; Jones, 2007). Despite functioning in diverse spheres, the

works of intellectuals intersect with each other demanding heterogeneity. There is a

shared effort in the work they do for “people of colour” to contest an identity. The

challenge for intellectuals, though, is to “overcome de facto segregation in the life of

the mind of this country [America]” (West, 1999).

17
 In recent times, cultural appropriation paved the path for social justice. Within

America, stand-up comedy and hip-hop have been adopted and adapted by different

communities to represent themselves in the mainstream. Adoption of popular cultural

mediums establishes cultural membership while providing opportunities to normalise

difference. Amarasingam (2010) argues that Arab stand-up comedians function as

organic intellectuals by adopting a quintessentially American medium discussing

Arabophobia and Islamophobia in post-9/11 America. Arab comedians as

representatives “voice the interests of their communities, defend the perception of

them in public and aid the community in its fight for recognition” (p. 474). Avila-

Saavedra (2011) makes a similar argument, though not for organic intellectuals,

stating Latino comedians “articulate an implicit tension between ethnic otherness and

desire for assimilation for U.S. Latinos” (p. 272). Interesting about arguments made

by Amarasingam and Avila-Saavedra is the cultural appropriation of American

popular mediums for mainstream recognition. Using an undeniably American medium

creates possibilities of a new ideological space within which new identities can be

constructed. Similar cultural appropriation for recognition is in the form of hip-hop,

which several groups in U.S. have appropriated.

Hip-Hop

Hip-hop is a political medium (Dery, 1990). Hip-hop develops a culture of

resistance (Rose, 1994). Hip-hop is anti-racism (Osumare, 2007). Hip-hop is activism

(Higgins, 2009). Hip-hop represents the relationship between real and imagined

(Butler, 2004). On one side hip-hop presents a harsh and unpleasant reality, informing

listeners about societal problems; and on the other side hip-hop celebrates a life

audiences only aspire to. Hip-hop’s appeal, however, lies in artists’ balance of life and

18
art (Osumare, 2007). Whether scholars applaud or denounced hip-hop, the genre

cannot be ignored as an artistic expression – whether political hip-hop or

contemporary hip-hop.

Institutional discrimination African Americans endured during the Reagan-

Bush era compelled Black hip-hop artists to politicise their music (Hess, 2007). The

music produced during that period contributed towards initiating the “hip-hop

political movement” (Bynoe, 2004), because artists who infamously celebrated the

“thug life” became socially conscious and addressed distraught realities of being

Black. Traditional intellectual organisations like the Black Church and civil rights

organisations failed to cohere vulnerable youth the way hip-hop artists did with music

(Bynoe, 2004). Black conscious artists became “a voice for (the) voiceless” (Higgins,

2009, p. 97). As Chuck D of Public Enemy (Chang, 2007) famously claimed, hip-hop

was the “Black CNN.” Hip-hop artists became an important representation the Black

community had in mainstream media, bestowing responsibilities of intellectualism

upon regular citizens. Through hip-hop, most importantly, artists challenged their

community’s subordination and initiated public discourse about African Americans’

inclusion into the mainstream.

At the same time, commercialisation of hip-hop initiated a wave of cultural

adoption within America and internationalisation 2. Internationalisation of hip-hop

reinforced the genre as a socio-political narrative for recognition and progress (Kahf,

2007; Malone & Martinez Jr, 2010; Reiter & Mitchell, 2008; Rose, 1994).

Nonetheless, however and whenever appropriated, hip-hop carried messages of Black

liberation. Maira and Shihade (2012) argue:

2
Hip-hop scholars use the term “globalisation” instead of internationalisation. I choose the latter
because globalisation has a connotation of commercial capitalism, which hip-hop opposed in its
beginnings. I believe hip-hop scholars should promote hip-hop’s anti-establishment credo.

19
 So while hip-hop has become a hypercommodified youth culture it is
also an increasingly transnational and hybridised cultural form that has
been transformed by youth around the world and injected into, or
produced by, a range of political movements, including those of the
Arab Spring. (p. 2)

Hip-hop transformed into a worldwide medium addressing socio-political realities.

Hip hop culture has become associated with identity constructions of the

marginalised. Communities who share experiences of discrimination appropriate hip

hop (the culture and not just the music) in a unique expression of protest (Kahf,

2007). Malone and Martinez Jr (2010) describe hip-hop as a “grassroots global

organiser” recognising audiences’ adoption of the genre for cultural protests. Hip-hop

no longer remains solely a Black expression (Mitchell, 2002). Instead, hip-hop is a

complex weapon of empowerment.

Hip-hop scholarship attends to cultural appropriation within and outside

America; however, literature on Arab hip-hop in North America remains absent. To

defend hip-hop scholars, Arab hip-hop is a fledgling genre gaining popularity with the

advent of social media and Arab Spring. There is a deep rooted Black aesthetic in hip-

hop and conscious Arab hip-hop or Arab-conscious hip-hop is not different from

conscious hip-hop other than the context. Rapping about Arabs and the Arab world,

Arab hip-hop artists work towards reinventing the Arab identity in mainstream media

accommodating popular Arab identities in the space that hip-hop provides. Artists in

music videos adopt the orange jumpsuit to bespeak institutional criminalisation of

Arabs and Muslims. Artists incorporate into their lyrics words like “Ayrab,” “sand

nigger” and other racial epithets and speak out against discrimination. Arab-conscious

hip-hop reflects the Arab reality which is enmeshed with their community.

Representing the Arab community, artists perform the role of organic intellectuals.

Their music critiques social practices but also critically engages listeners. For Arab

20
listeners, more than putting forth a contested identity, artists put forth what they could

have been. Said differently, it is self-criticism – to rethink and rewrite their position in

society. Though experiences through hip-hop are delineated by contexts, hip-hop

enables identification (Harrison, 2009; Hebdige, 1990). Upholding Black protest

culture, conscious artists create the space for their identity in opposition to the

mainstream (Quinn, 2005). As Frith (1996) suggests, identity through music is an

ongoing process; just like power relations. But identity construction through music, of

any genre, is sans boundaries.

Power relations are permanent, making politics of identity a perpetual strife.

Contemporary notions of politics of identity stress both – recognition and access to

resources (Fraser, 2009). Though either is insufficient, I advance an argument for the

former because capital membership belongs in a different conversation about

Otherness. Recognition should emphasise belonging (Hall & Held, 1989) yet it is

crucial to maintain difference while losing Otherness. Recognition as equals despite

differences expunges any stigma associated with difference which leads designation

as the Other. If history narrates our present and future (Liu & Hilton, 2005), a struggle

for equality should correct history and claim control over narratives and the future.

Essential to this struggle is to rethink and rewrite difference. If difference signifies, it

also speaks (Hall, 1997). Arabs in America, though not geographically restricted,

have upon themselves the task of reconstructing the Arab identity.

21
Methodology

Ideological criticism, according to West (1999), serves as the method of

inquiry for those involved in politics of identity and representation. Ideological

criticism understands power dynamics and responds to conditions created thereby.

Failing to acknowledge how history and ideology intertwine in the present, as

Bourdieu (2001) argues, is to fail to understand the relation between social structures

and cognitive structures. Ideological criticism, importantly, enables multi-dimensional

analyses. Ideological criticism offers the freedom from “objective” methods

permitting prejudiced interpretations in advancing an argument. Therefore my

methodology is not to be restricted to ideological criticism. I propose ideological

criticism as the primary method, while allowing myself the freedom from a singular

method. While this is troubling, it upholds Marxist criticalness. Living critically

resists reduction to any mechanism.

Based on the structure of the argument to follow, I interpret texts while

creating texts. Interviews by the artists will serve as artefacts in addition to songs

from Fear of an Arab Planet. Since Arab hip-hop is relatively new and the artists are

independent of record labels there is limited public discourse surrounding them and

their work. Therefore, I will include interviews before and after collaboration on this

album from various sources. Such an approach to criticism is encouraged by McGee

(1977) as part of rhetorical criticism. Creating texts for interpretation focuses on the

audience, according to McGee. The same purpose remains; however, I am not

undermining an audience’s ability to create texts. Instead, as a harbinger introducing a

new genre of music to communication studies, I am taking it upon myself to create the

texts for an audience who have not been exposed to Arab-conscious hip-hop. The text,

22
though, is temporarily finished, until more texts contribute to a deeper understanding

of the genre.

McGee’s (1990) primary concern with rhetorical criticism remains that critics

involved in creating and interpreting texts cannot maintain objectivity. Here West’s

approach to ideological criticism informs rhetorical criticism. According to West,

ideological criticism “begins with social structural analysis [and] also makes explicit

its moral and political aims. It is partisan, partial, engaged, and crisis-centred, yet

always keeps open a sceptical eye to avoid dogmatic traps…or rigid conclusions” (p.

133). Marx famously announced, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world

in various ways; the point is to change it” (Marx & Simon, 1994, p. 98). Theorising

and investigating constantly changing social conditions which substantially affect

society are primary tasks of criticism. Critics analyse present societal problems,

understand the development of problems in their historical conditions and validate or

invalidate its relevance in present society. Linking ideological criticism with

rhetorical criticism, I investigate how The Arab Summit challenge socially developed

narratives dictating Arab lives.

23
The Arab Summit as Organic Intellectuals

Intimidation created in the aftermath of September 11th 2001 motivated acute

scrutiny of socio-political conduct in America. Assaults on people of colour

persuaded attempts at becoming “white passing,” repressing ethnic identities. In

academia, Salaita (2005) however argues, 9/11 strengthened the Arab presence.

Condemning the act of terrorism, scholars vocalised against equal acts of terror

committed against Arabs and Muslims around the world. During this time, cultural

intellectuals remained absent, recognising the close proximity they maintain with

society. As racial assaults continued to be dismissed as misdirected sentiments,

xenophobia grew in America (Ahmad, 2004). Responding to growing hostility in the

years after 9/11, Arab hip-hop artists established a reputation in the hip-hop

community as well as politically. Without abandoning their Arab identity they upheld

their American-ness. Addressing Arabophobia, Islamophobia, racial profiling of

Arabs and Muslims, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and America’s fascist military

operations around the world, Arab hip-hop evolved as Arab-conscious hip-hop.

Arab-conscious hip-hop is not different from the politically conscious hip-hop

of the Raegan-Bush era. Arab-conscious hip-hop, it can be argued, is an undertaking

to revive conscious hip-hop. Like African Americans did with hip-hop, Arab artists

work towards spiritual uplift and community mobilisation (Hess, 2007). The element

of consciousness in hip-hop, however, can be conceptualised through Freire’s (1973)

notion of consciousness – conscientization – as reflection on reality, transforming an

individual’s worldview, in order to transform the individual’s position in the world.

Audiences of conscious hip-hop do not “have to already be self-conscious in order to

struggle. By struggling I [we] become conscious/aware” (p. 46). Consciousness is

awareness – it is self-reflection, self-construction and self-determination.

24
Consciousness initiates change by developing the ability to rethink and rewrite

individual narratives. Informing listeners on societal complexities, conscious artists

arouse listeners to struggle against hegemonic constructions of society. Specific to

Arab-conscious hip-hop, Arab listeners contemplate on what their community has

become and speculate on what their community could become. Arab-conscious hip-

hop as a social influencer is characteristically pedagogical because it challenges

societal essentialism.

Gershon argues, every musician, irrespective of their genre, is a public

intellectual (Sandlin, Schultz, & Burdick, 2010). Gershon’s argument has merit –

because most musicians maintain a public life they are entrusted with intellectualism.

Gershon defends his argument stating:

First, music is part of people’s daily lives. It is a way of knowing that

is understood both cognitively and affectively…Second, whether one
is practicing alone or on stage in front of thousand, the act of making
music is an inherently public act. Finally, music contains knowledge.
The organised/emergent sounds that are music pass implicit and
explicit idea to those who hear it. (p. 628)

Knowledge communicated through music enables audiences to understand their world

(Ellsworth, 2005). Music creates an experience for the musician and the listener, from

which neither can be withdrawn. That experience holds the potential to educate

audiences on a myriad of topics.

Said (1996) contends that public life imposes intellectual responsibilities but

Gramsci distinguishes between public (traditional) intellectuals and organic

intellectuals. The departure between traditional intellectuals and organic intellectuals

is that organic intellectuals exploit their position to advantage their community. In this

section, I argue that in addition to the position organic intellectuals have in society,

they are engaged in creating a politically conscious society while advocating for

struggles by other marginalised groups. The Arab Summit, as musicians, exploit their

25
position, develop counter-hegemonic consciousness, address political mechanisms of

society, represent the Arab community and assume the role of collective intellectuals

to overcome segregation in society. In addition to excerpting interviews by the artists,

I will analyse lyrics to advance my argument, because in lyrics are the evaluative

intellectual elements. Due to the argument’s structure I do not analyse lyrics

chronologically nor do I analyse a song entirely at once.

Position of an Organic Intellectual

Chomsky believes everyone is capable of engaging against hegemony (Sandlin

et al., 2010). Choosing not to engage hegemony, society brings “the truth about

matters of human significance to an audience that can do something about them” (p.

576). Organic intellectuals exemplify such an audience, who are produced out of

dominance to critically encounter societal anxieties. Their production is, at the same

time, paradoxical because organic intellectuals balance between privilege and power

and exclusion and marginalisation (Mahlomaholo & Netshandama, 2012). Organic

intellectuals, consequently, exploit their unique position to develop tactics which

challenge hegemony. Challenging hegemony is imperative because hegemony ensures

domination. Hegemony normalises subordination without objection. The subordinated

are, to an extent, unaware of their subordination. Making the subordinated aware of

their position in society, organic intellectuals challenge hegemony because they

challenge the normalised. Advocating for the advancement of marginalised into the

mainstream, organic intellectuals challenge hegemonic practices in its ideological

space. Nevertheless, developing counter-hegemony is not possible without a position

in society, knowledge of power and an inclination towards pedagogical performance.

26
However, manipulation of their position requires an understanding of both sides – of

domination and subordination.

Omar Offendum balances his identity as an Arab-American by declaring

himself a “SyrianamericanA” (also the title of his first solo album) to normalise his

adjective (and sometimes hyphenated) identity. The purpose is to separate and

authenticate the Arab part and the American part of his identity. Through hip-hop,

Omar Offendum enables his audience to authenticate their identities as well. Granted

that the objective is to validate each part of his identity, at times one identity triumphs

the other according to the situation. Omar Offendum commented:

…hip-hop has given me a platform to express myself and challenge

these stereotypes very directly over the past 10 years. I think through
the efforts of artists like myself, as well as authors, professors,
journalists, bloggers and everyday people living their lives in a positive
way these things will change. I am so proud of my Arab and Muslim
roots. I don’t feel the need to be apologetic about anything. I don’t get
sucked into having to deny that I’m a terrorist or extremist. To me it is
more important to tell people what we are: beautiful, loving,
intellectual, compassionate and proud people with a long history and a
bright future Insha’Allah [God willingly]. (Dennaoui, 2011)

Omar Offedum’s narrative, throughout his career, focused on being an “Arab”-

American. There has always been a need for representation because American media

repeatedly misrepresented the real Arab. Arab portrayals became increasingly

polarised in the wake of 9/11, adding urgency to Omar Offendum’s narrative. Since

then he focuses on being identified as an “Arab”-“American.” Using hip-hop he

communicates his reality to a diverse audience, urging them to think differently about

Arabs as equal American citizens. As a result he challenges dominant understandings

of Arabs, providing opportunities for audiences to develop counter-hegemonic

understandings. Omar Offendum exploits his position as an artist to balance as well as

represent his communities – the marginalised Arab and the privileged American. He

acknowledged, “The position I’m in is one where I can use hip-hop as a platform to

27
bridge these two cultures that I identify with and raised me” 3. Omar Offendum’s

stress on his Arab-ness and American-ness is an attempt to balance his paradoxical

position. As a bridge-builder, he initiates a dialogue to move Arabs from the

subalterns to the mainstream. Though such a dialogue is counter-hegemonic it comes

sans restrictions because it is channelled through an artistic expression which permits

expressions inconceivable in other mediums. Hip-hop artists maintain the freedom to

ask questions no one asks and answer questions no one answers. Despite the freedom,

Omar Offendum uses the medium responsibly, challenging hegemony to bridge

cultural gaps created.

The Narcicyst, similarly, bridges gaps of ignorance created by American

media. The Narcicyst understands his potential through hip-hop and believes:

…because all societies that are under oppressive situations, or even

being subjugated to racism or profiling or any form of oppression, have
used hip-hop to facilitate their voice and be able to create a space for
them to navigate in that the regular media, or the media that does
engender people or racialise people, have no control over. It’s
unedited. It’s straight from me to the listener. (Koudous, 2011)

Between The Narcicyst and his audience is hip-hop, making his music an unedited

personal narrative. Similar to Omar Offendum, these narratives are counter-

hegemonic because The Narcicyst attempts to challenge the dominant interpretations

of an Arab’s identity with his experience as an Arab in the West. The Narcicyst’s

performances, politically insensitive compared to other members of The Arab

Summit, challenge the mainstream. Informing audiences on how they are

subordinated, The Narcicyst exploits his position of privilege to engage listeners in a

radical learning against hegemony.

3
“Interview with Omar Offendum” by JnJ503Productions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCZRcrTJ2JQ

28
 As The Arab Summit, Excentrik, Omar Offendum, Ragtop and The Narcicyst

collectively comment on politics concerning Arabs. As part of The Arab Summit, The

Narcicyst accepted:

…it is our duty to use the many opportunities that we were lucky
enough to access living in North America to use our voices…the fact
that our people are being oppressed and are subjected to so many
injustices…our experience is inextricably a reflection of [our
community’s stigmatisation] (Christoff, 2007)

Each member achieves a common purpose through hip-hop, i.e., to normalise the

Arab being in America. In Fear of an Arab Planet, they channel four different

struggles as Arabs in the West to reflect dynamic realities of the Arab community.

Excentrik aptly cautions, “There are no absolutes in art, and nor should there be-

Similarly, there are absolutely no absolutes in Arab identity and culture. Let this

album stand to the myriad of clichéd, boxed-in and stereotypical offerings of the past”

(Alsalman, 2010, p. 79). Their production challenges the Orientalist gaze through

which Arabs continue to be conceived. Instead of the Arab identity being developed

through a lens of an apathetic culture, The Arab Summit attempts to develop an

identity which they believe reflects their community. While doing so they challenge

dominant interpretations of an Arab while creating opportunities for the Arab

community to move into the mainstream. Essentially, the exploitation of their position

– as artists, as Westernised Arabs and as individuals between mainstream and

subalterns – focuses on challenging the ideology which enables hegemonic

constructions of Arabs. That ideology having being spread through popular culture

makes it fitting that The Arab Summit attempts to reinforce a new popular in the same

ideological space.

The Arab Summit’s position in society demands engagement with audiences

in a learning against ideological apparatuses. As prominent Arab voices in the

29
mainstream, they engage audiences in understanding hierarchical constructions of

society. Their politically conscious music about prevailing ideology aims at

developing a counter-hegemonic audience, who can then socially challenge the

dominant. Exploitation of their position undoubtedly translates to developing counter-

hegemonic consciousness; however that includes politicisation of their being,

conscious representation and universal intellectualism, all of which demand engaging

audiences in a critical pedagogy.

Developing Counter-hegemonic Consciousness

According to Landy (1994), “New meanings and new attitudes are in the

process of being created alongside the old: change is constantly in the state of

becoming just as dominant and traditional practices are constantly exerting their

power” (p. 25). New ideas introduced should at the same time manifest a sense of

consciousness, enabling audiences to enter a process of self-reflection. Said

otherwise, resisting hegemony is limited in the scope of progress. Counter-hegemonic

consciousness is instead needed for socio-political transformation. Critical

consciousness should be pedagogical to truly transform society. Since hegemony and

counter-hegemony exist within the same ideological space, they are cyclical in nature.

Today’s counter-hegemony potentially is tomorrow’s hegemony. Societies are

(probably) never going to be without ideologies, and therefore, hegemony will always

be enacted. For this reason, organic intellectuals should create awareness with

opportunities to resist stagnation in society. Whether they engage audiences in

political positions against the elitist, or they introduce radical ideas through political

incorrectness, the purpose is to breakdown society’s hierarchical construct and to

move towards a socio-politically pluralistic society.

30
 The Narcicyst gives voice to narratives the dominant culture suppresses. These

narratives are counter-narratives aimed at challenging dominant messages about

Arabs. With these counter-narratives The Narcicyst deconstructs the hegemonic Arab

identity as an ideological myth. Consciousness spread through these narratives urges

audiences to evaluate their complicity in power dynamics. The Narcicyst’s

criticalness asks audiences to avoid being objects of ideological conveniences. When

subordination remains unchallenged, because hegemony seems natural, the dominated

mindlessly inhabit the ideological space constructed by the dominant. Absence of

opposition leads to headless existence making the dominated an object which can be

persuaded or manipulated. The Narcicyst further explains:

And I think, you know, if you listen to my music, my message is

mostly about individuality and the narcissist, narcissism and society
and what’s going on around us and just telling people, you know what
– I’m aware of what’s going on around me and I’m trying to be critical
of both myself, my environment and where I come from and maybe we
should all do the same… 4

Noteworthy about the transfer of narratives into lyrics is that the narratives are

essentially personal experiences. Excentrik on transferring experience to music

explained:

Its [real life experiences] an intrinsic value in the music we create

because of our interesting identity – Arab… The messages in the music
are rarely deliberate, and that speaks volumes to the amount of thought
these issues stimulate, they are perennial, unavoidable – even in
subjective mediums. (Christoff, 2007)

The experiences The Arab Summit channels into their music are experiences unheard

in popular media. Experiences reconstructed into lyrics attempts to invoke the

listener’s consciousness, because the lyrics are not deliberate constructions and the

experiences are likely to be experienced by the listener. Without being intentionally

counter-hegemonic, The Arab Summit challenge dominance.

4
“The Narcicyst” by SHOT BY JFK: http://vimeo.com/14706605

31
 The same criticalness is evident in The Arab Summit’s production. Of The

Arab Summit, The Narcicyst writes:

Through The Arab Summit, we are attempting to “take it back” – in

other words, to return to the original form of the music, in its political,
social and figurative meaning to our specific cultural group, and more
broadly, to the entire hip-hop community. (Alsalman, 2010, p. 18)

The Narcicyst’s notion of “take it back” resonates deeply within hip-hop’s history.

Take it back signifies struggles by African Americans to change their identity from

“niggers” to “niggas” (Kitwana, 2004). Niggers (and the word Negro) changed from

racial epithets to words filled with historical emotion. Notwithstanding, nigga

connotes a dynamic identity (Judy, 1994). The Narcicyst’s take it back, in the same

way, attempts to reclaim the Arab identity. The purpose is to categorise the Arab

identity without controlling elements of society or bureaucracy (Prashad, 2000).

Rather than Arab (or Ayrab) being a derogatory designation, The Arab Summit

endeavour to change its meaning to signify a struggle in association with other

struggles. At the same time, take it back proposes to revive politically conscious hip-

hop. The commercialisation of hip-hop dismantled the political hip-hop movement.

Despite being politically incorrect with the potential of mass mobilisation, hip-hop

never aimed at influencing politics (politics here meaning the electoral system)

(Bynoe, 2004). However, conscious hip-hop of the Reagan-Bush era threatened the

ideologically constructed society. The Narcicyst’s desire of taking it back, in the

context of hip-hop, attempts to revive a politically conscious society. There is a sense

of collectivism as The Arab Summit resolves on liberating hip-hop from

commercialisation and superfluous appropriation. The Narcicyst’s “take it back”

appeals to marginalised narratives, not just Arabs’. That collectivism aims at

awakening a politically unconscious society to marginalisation of various groups, but

it begins by challenging the false consciousness in its ideological space.

32
 In “Justice Tomorrow” Ragtop challenges hegemonic practices by

condemning capitalism and consumerism, “Where your waste is they food, Shit that

you’d throw away gets consumed with a little bit of regret, whole lotta not enough,

Yet get your dollars anyway that you can.” Criticising how society is consumed by

consumerism, Ragtop invites the listener to reflect on their complicity towards

systems of oppression. Ragtop denounces societal structures and behaviours while

without the dominant. Ragtop’s second verse further offers insight into media

constructions, “When the subjects of this verse are referred to subjectively as bums

and murderers, Media perverts the scale of the danger ‘til neighbour, All nervous eye

each other like strangers or worse.” Ragtop presents the effects of media portrayals on

those being viewed and those viewing. The verse again questions the listener’s

complicity. Ragtop challenges the listener to avoid being an object of ideological

convenience. Rather than being influenced by dominant constructions, be aware of

them and challenge them. His first verse criticising capitalism and his second verse

criticising media constructions are not necessarily deliberate attempts at counter-

hegemony. Ragtop’s criticism is commonplace; however, they reveal the listener’s

complicity towards such systems. Indeed, Ragtop aims at consciousness, but he does

so through uncomplicated rap references. Audiences listening to “Justice Tomorrow”

and Ragtop’s criticism will have to first understand their contribution towards

hegemonic practices before they protest it. Counter-hegemonic consciousness is a

process, which begins by learning how an individual contributes towards hegemony.

Omar Offendum’s verse from “Quasi-Islamic” is similar to Ragtop’s criticism,

“Even when our brother from the gutter, Killing one another for the bread and butter –

wow…it’s so foul, Yet I can’t help but think we should have seen it coming…like

porn stars, All these warlords do is fuck us over for the money.” His verse is a critical

33
examination of Arabs’ position in society. Unlike Ragtop, Omar Offendum

specifically addresses the Arab community. Likening Arabs to porn stars, Omar

Offendum presents the Arab community as racialized (contextual to sexualised)

objects. Additionally, he holds Arabs culpable for their stigmatised designation in

society. Omar Offendum, by rapping about Arabs’ Otherness, urges the listener to

become a self-determined subject rather an object to influence. His criticism,

however, is not without purpose. Informing audiences about social structures and

subsequent domination and subordination, Omar Offendum involves audiences in a

pedagogical performance against society’s hierarchical construction.

Such criticalness advocated by Ragtop and Omar Offendum as part of The

Arab Summit is reflective of Hall’s (1990) conception of identity – understanding

what we really are rather than what we have become. The Narcicyst explains The

Arab Summit’s conception of the Arab identity:

Where exactly do we stand in the scheme of Arab being, and how have
our forefathers shaped this experience into its present jumbled state?
From our history of war to post-colonial studies on identity, Arab
culture has been plagued by the constant intervention of outside forces
and misrepresentation through public forms of media (No victim
complex please). The culmination of our generational displacement
finally reached a breaking point on September 11, 2001. As Hollywood
vilified our existence and the news targeted our experience, many
Eastern youth in the West latched on to the underground ways of life in
order to subvert and externalise the experience of migrant identity
formation. (Alsalman, 2010, p. 38)

The Arab Summit’s reality as criticism communicated through music creates an

epistemic function. It establishes a connection between the artist and the listener,

enabling pedagogical reflection. Through hip-hop, audiences engage social practices,

questioning their validity. Behaviour towards Arabs, specifically, is contemplated in

light of new information made available by artists. Their lyrics being personal

experiences introduce new messages and new meanings, enabling construction of a

34
new Arab. The Arab Summit’s attempt at introducing a sense of counter-hegemonic

consciousness aims at perceiving Arabs as equal members in society. However they

choose to spread counter-hegemony, because of society’s construction it will

undoubtedly be political.

Being Political

Adeleke (2012) describes organic intellectuals as guerrilla intellectuals, who

remain hidden from the oppressive systems they are embedded into while destroying

it from within. As representatives of the marginalised in the mainstream, organic

intellectuals produce counter-hegemony threatening the ideological space enacting

hegemony without engaging the elitist. Such pursuits make organic intellectuals,

according to Gramsci (1995), inherently political. Their political involvement is,

however, not partisan politics. Organic intellectuals concern themselves with political

mechanisms that perpetuate domination and subordination. Appropriating hip-hop,

The Arab Summit embodies the dominant culture to oppose their subordination as

Arabs. The Arab Summit, using hip-hop as their medium, politicise systems which

discriminate Arabs in an attempt to disassemble the constructed societal power.

The Narcicyst, in particular, politicises his personal experiences:

…in the beginning my music was extremely political. And I wouldn’t

say “political” more than I would say “politicised.” You know, it was
very much dealing with direct issues that politics had – how politics
had affected our lives on the daily level, be it through profiling at
airports or, you know, just the stereotypes that are engendered through
Hollywood film, through regular popular culture, even through hip-hop
music that I listen to, and how that isn’t helping, you know?
(Kouddous, 2011)

Everything that happens is political. From me not getting a job, to my

cousin not getting a job because of his beard or whatever, to, you
know, getting stared at in the store, to being at the border. All these
things are political. These are experiences that bled into my music. I
don’t feel like there’s time to waste, you know. It is important to be

35
 able to use your art to facilitate dialogue or to create a voice for
yourself. 5

The Narcicyst describes situations commonplace to Arabs, despite being

discriminatory. Addressing the discrimination, The Narcicyst expresses an Arab

perspective. Politicising these situations to an audience he creates consciousness in

society questioning society’s conscience. Without consciousness political dissent is

limited. At the same time, The Arab Summit’s political consciousness does not affect

politics, in terms of polling, and should never. Instead their politics awakens

audiences to causes of social justice.

For The Narcicyst, “Hip-hop stands for highly intellectual people hovering

over politics. That hyphen between the hip and the hop is the land that we walk on.” 6

Omar Offendum, similarly believes, by being political they “tell the stories that need

to be told, educate about history and reach out to Arab Americans, especially the

youth, and let them know that it’s okay to be political and that they have something to

be proud of” (Saville, 2012). Excentrik on The Arab Summit’s political undertaking

pointed out:

The project, be it as it may, is a perspective, a conjoining effort as

Arabs with a different framework for change. Of course we could wave
flags, scream, slogans, done the usual protest attire and art, for all
intents and purposes, typical. But we haven’t. And I can say with all
rejoice and enthusiasm and that’s not the case. (Alsalman, 2010, p. 77)

The Arab Summit could protest in typical ways; instead they politicised their

production. The Arab Summit understands the influence of cultural politics and Fear

of an Arab Planet is a responsible attempt at politicising Arabs’ racial identity, their

Eastern culture, social statuses and their duality as Westernised Arabs in the West.

Their music reflects their disposition which inclines them to Arab movements. They
5
“The Narcicyst” by SHOT BY JFK: http://vimeo.com/14706605
6
“TEDxDubai 2010| Narcicyst | Who We Are, When We Were-Identity In Flux” by TEDx Talks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Libf3KYeCZ8

36
address politics concerning Arabs in a fashion that is not limited to dissent. Beyond

their political position is an attempt to elevate society’s consciousness.

“We Need Order” by The Arab Summit is a sanguineous track castigating

Arab politics. The Narcicyst begins by criticising Arabs and external intervention for

the current situation in the Arab world, “Them Arabs at it again, Harab [war] on the

menu, Thareb [hit] on the gavel, We in!” The Narcicyst, with his verse, highlights the

extent to which war is part of an Arab’s lived experience. Violence and death are

usual sights for Arabs that there is “war served on menus.” The Narcicyst further raps:

Assassination assertive, a fascination with murder

The past erased and unheard of, we trapped in ancient disorder
Blasting flames of a mortar attack that came in the morning
All hard to ignore like the pain of lacking a name for his coffin

“The past unheard of” alludes to Arabs’ glorious history. Secretariat violence has left

the Arab world to reminisce about the past because they are stuck in times (“ancient

disorder”) hindering their society’s progress. With “Blasting flames of a mortar attack

that came in the morning, All hard to ignore like the pain of lacking a name for his

coffin,” The Narcicyst laments that wars continue to prove Arab lives are cheap. The

absence of order produced by an unjust socioeconomic order condemns Arabs and

treats their sufferings as inevitable and unavoidable. These verses, again, are not

deliberate, because The Narcicyst describes “ordinary” situations in the Arab world.

However, The Narcicyst essentially attempts to replace the narrative of disorder.

Though The Narcicyst implicates Arabs for their current situation, he attacks media

constructions of the situation. His war driven description is the mainstream

composition of the Arab world. The Narcicyst challenges that mainstream

composition with the mainstream Arab perspective. Instead of media narrating the

Arab experience, The Narcicyst as an Arab narrates the Arab experience. He attempts

37
to claim control over his own narrative. Despite political disorders, it is Arabs’

responsibility to reorder themselves.

Omar Offendum’s verse following The Narcicyst’s gives the listener hope. He

raps, “Now let me show ‘em how the Arab Summit up, Hung up on war, Wanna

erupt, We’re torn, Wanna give up, But forfeiting’s for chumps, It’s more fitting to

force a formidable thump.” Omar Offendum continues from The Narcicyst’s verse.

Demanding an Arab reorder, Omar Offendum’s verse develops positivity – a reorder

is not a lost cause. He further raps, “There’s no time to evolve when old-timers are

caught, In Osama mirages, Your barometer’s off, Check the pressure and gauge us.”

“Osama mirages” does not allude to Islamist terrorism; instead to a sense of

conservatism that is part of al-Qaeda’s ideology. Conservatism in the Middle East is,

however, not the sole product of religion. Post-colonial experiences and a tendency to

avoid being like the coloniser has greatly contributed (Akyol, 2011). Omar Offendum

accepts that Arabs’ shortcomings have created their present failures. He challenges

the conservatism and the generations before claiming the present generation are better

capable. Finally, Omar concludes, “Prayed the rain would soon come but first for

something we need…” Omar Offendum is hopeful for change in the Arab world but

he understands that first, there needs to be order. Though Omar Offendum’s verse is

positive compared to The Narcicyst’s, they both attempt to achieve a similar purpose.

Discussing politics through hip-hop they normalise the conversation. As The

Narcicyst suggested, they politicise common Arab situations, for the purpose Omar

Offendum suggested, to gain the listener’s attention. “We Need Order” and other

political tracks attempt to involve audiences in everyday politics which influence their

lives.

38
 Similarly, in “Justice Tomorrow,” The Narcicyst involves audiences in politics

while presenting the Arab perspective on the colonisation of Palestine. The nature of

the Israeli-Palestinian conflict favoured towards Israel with media bias trivialises the

Palestinian account. Addressing the conflict The Narcicyst raps, “Forced to write to

the cost of life, plus tax Arab fuck that! Kharab a’arith al-deen [spoil your religion],

thareb maridh [hit the sick (and)] they running!” “Cost of life plus tax” refers to loss

of Palestinian lives during the conflict. The Narcicyst calls upon memories of those

who have died over the years. “Thareb maridh they running” does not refer to Israel

alone; it incriminates Palestinian militants who attack Israelis. Implicating

Palestinians for the failure to achieve peace, The Narcicyst proposes that both

Palestinians and Israelis prevent a peaceful conclusion. The Narcicyst’s verse is not

different from media bias, blaming Palestinians for the violence. Nevertheless, it is an

Arab perspective of the conflict. The Narcicyst does not balance the coverage but he

inserts an Arab narrative into the conflict. By blaming Palestinians for the failure to

achieve peace, The Narcicyst challenges the Arab perspective of the conflict as well.

He normalises the discussion and presents an artistic view of the conflict. Eventually

though, The Narcicyst’s contributes Arab narrative to the conflict and informs

listeners on a profoundly politicised issue.

Ragtop’s verse in “Justice Tomorrow” involves the listener in political

consciousness. He raps, “No justice, so get up, stand up, clap your damn hands do

whatever you can to just speak out, Seek out the secrets that leak out, even though

don’t wanna speak ‘bout, there ain’t no.” Ragtop’s provocative call for action is a call

for a cultural revolution. “The secrets that leak out,” is a likely allusion to WikiLeaks.

Ragtop’s reference to WikiLeaks gives direction to a revolution against dominance.

He urges the listener to be conscious of systems that fails to address needs of the

39
society. Opposing dominance similarly, The Narcicyst in “Somebody Please” raps,

“Let your heart split fire, blaze quick! Artificial fertiliser, we ain’t shit. What will it

take to realise, we taint with displacement, straying from enslavement, tape this!”

This verse urges listeners to realise the extent of their subordination. The Arab

Summit, with stimulating lyrics against a system of domination, takes advantage of

their position to audiences’ political consciousness. Ragtop and The Narcicyst,

specifically, call for engagement with the dominant. The political inclination of The

Arab Summit involves their listeners in a radical learning.

Representation of their Group

Gramsci humorously notes, just because “everyone at some time fries a couple

of eggs or sews up a tear in a jacket, we do not necessarily say that everyone is a cook

or a tailor” (Gramsci & Buttigieg, 1996, p. 9). Similarly, because an Arab is a public

figure, the individual is not necessarily representing the Arab community. Of course,

as an Arab there is a level of representation; organic intellectuals, however, represent

their social group consciously. Organic intellectuals are pertinent representatives

because they have valued experience of the mainstream and the subalterns (Simon,

2013). Their experience enables communication between social hierarchies. Despite

organic intellectuals’ position between marginalisation and privilege, they are not

mere representatives of the subordinated in the mainstream. Organic intellectuals are

not token personas who reinforce hegemony; nor are they proponents of happy

concordance advocating for the inclusion of the subordinated in the mainstream.

According to West (1999), organic intellectuals (or his organic catalysts)

representation creates acceptance not tolerance. Representation in the mainstream

should create a multicultural society that is not hegemonic or concordant. Once

40
multiculturalism is established, the established does not become the norm. There

remains scope for integration and further pluralism. Therefore, representation, in

accordance with West, is not advocacy for inclusion or tokenism. Instead it is a

collective attempt by subjugated to challenge heterogeneity and homogeneity for

individuality.

As a representative of the Arab community, Omar Offendum uses hip-

hop as his message. Hip-hop if viewed as an entity maintains the same

perplexing position as organic intellectuals – a mainstream medium started

from desperation for progress. As an Arab-American hip-hop artist, Omar

Offendum highlights the complicated nature of his identity, medium and

message. He explained:

And it’s always the medium is the message too. In the sense that, I’m
on stage doing what I am doing as a, you know, young, confident,
Arab, Muslim male and rapping in this language that they understand
and relate to, and this art form that they can relate to. And that in itself
is a message. 7

In its beginnings, hip-hop artists channelled through it messages of independence. As

hip-hop permeated through different struggles, the same messages spread, making

hip-hop as a medium inseparable from its message of liberation. The medium and the

message interplay in hip-hop communicate self-determination in different ways.

Using hip-hop as the medium and the message, Omar Offendum performs his roles –

a Muslim Arab (-American) – to an audience to redeem his Arab and/or Muslim being

from controlling narratives. The performativity of identities, through hip-hop, creates

layers of representation as Arabs, Americans, Canadian, Iraqis, Muslims, Palestinians,

Syrians and Westerners.

7
“Arab American Stories – Omar Offendum” by Detroit Public TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuAJs0e4Swk

41
 The artists additionally have the responsibility of harmonising their Eastern

identity with their Western identity. On the hyphenated identity Excentrik writes:

We have essentially existed within political and cultural duality,

namely, a hyphenated existence as “Arab-Americans.”

-The Arab: Undoubtedly and understandably angry. We are constantly

frustrated with the wars on Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon and Somalia;
inaction and misguided blame in regards to Sudan’s bloody civil war;
and add an endless list of dictators the US supports in our
region…Plenty of potential for a forceful demand for change.
-The American – Feeling perpetually voiceless and constantly
bombarded with the corporate media’s portrayal of our community
(hello! I am a “terrorist”); the Department of Homeland Security and
it’s racial profiling status quo; police brutality and the lack of any real
face of representation in our respective communities on any level
higher that the local grassroots are all contributors to the necessity for
us, as Arabs in America, to pull closer to homeland (i.e. the Arab-
world).

However, it is exactly that American desire to assimilate all peoples of

“foreign” and hyphenate all identities “western” that Arab Summit has
thrived within. (Alsalman, 2010, p. 78-79, paragraph breaks as in
original text)

Hyphenated identities are characteristic of Diasporas. The hyphenation is the divide

and the connection between “homelands.” It creates an adjective identity, alienating

members of Diasporas from their dwelling and their origin. Specific to The Arab

Summit, and the diasporic experience they maintain, they are too western for the East

and too eastern for the West. On Fear of an Arab Planet, they celebrate their lack of

belonging and their hyphenated identities as Arab-Americans and an Arab-Canadian.

Through “Quasi-Islamic” they explore the uniqueness of hyphenation; yet at the same

time, despite “Quasi-Islamic” recognising the Arab diaspora, it verbalises a typical

diasporic narrative, not restricted to Arabs.

Omar Offendum in “Quasi-Islamic” illustrates the geographic distribution of

the Arab diaspora:

When you say “back home” that could mean a bunch of different
things

42
 KSA born, USA raised, soory [Arabic word for Syria] reppin’ DC
settling on the west coast of the west now
Tupac knows I can get around like the west Nile
Spread fast with my head wrapped in the illest textiles
Steadfast on the silk road from Damascus up to Romaa
Live in the middle of little Armenia eating my dolmaa
Mini Vietnam sand niggaz know my heart pumps that red
Lebanese Palestinian greater Syrians type thread
That binds us all together now
From Baghdad to the river Nile/
But I know a sunny day will shine over that homeland of mine
Oases where J.C.’s & Mohammeds dined.
Mayor Barry smoked crack & Arnold pumped his iron
With a couple of rhymes I’m about a nine
From that homeland in my mind.

While embracing his American-ness, Omar Offendum’s attachment to his Arab

heritage is evident. Though being an Arab in the West is challenging, he emphasises

the privileged life it is, in comparison to Arabs in the Arab world. Omar Offendum

eventually desires the unification of the Arab diaspora but it is not to return to their

place of origin. Instead, it is to create their Arab-ness in their space of attachment. In

the West, Arabs might already be national citizens, however, Omar Offendum seeks

acceptance as cultural citizens. He puts forth, through his verses, the Arabs’

contribution in the development of the West, in particular his West – The United

States of America.

As a member of a diaspora, Excentrik commented, “[Generally] I would say

our music definitely expresses that experience [of being in diaspora], because we [The

Arab Summit] are the product of that experience and have that perspective, which

how we frame our music…to sort of encapsulate the Arab diaspora youth experience

(Christoff, 2007).” As part of The Arab Summit and a member of a diaspora, Omar

Offendum counters essentialism of national identity. His social mediation through

“Quasi Islamic” translates the diasporic experience of detachment into attachment. It

should be noted though, despite representing the Arab diaspora as individuals and

43
through their work, The Arab Summit embodies a general diasporic narrative.

Contexts of each community vary but The Arab Summit creates an appeal through the

same ordeal of being strangers in their “own country.” Members of Diasporas do not

display nationalistic tendencies, especially towards their place of origin. However,

their patriotism towards their place of dwelling becomes questionable when

subjugated (Gabriel, 2011). The Arab Summit’s treatment of being in diaspora creates

a new meaning of “homeland” which other diasporic communities (or communities

subordinated due to their lack of belonging) can relate to, initiating a sense of

collectivism among the marginalised. The meaning challenges norms of identity. It

introduces dynamic representations of their country (America and Canada) and

opposes hegemony of colour, ethnicity and race.

Collective Intellectualism

Since Gramsci’s theorization of organic intellectuals, societies have become

increasingly homogeneous. In a homogeneous society, West’s (1999) critical organic

catalyst is functional in comparison to Gramsci’s organic intellectual. Writing in

context of a racialized America, West addresses Gramsci’s concern of mainstream

representation introducing the concept of collective intellectualism. Organic

intellectuals, or critical organic catalysts according to West, influence their struggles

with other struggles. Struggles by marginalised groups inform each other, influence

each other and highlight each other’s passage to progress; especially in the case of

hip-hop. Black hip-hop movements resistance against institutional discrimination

inspires numerous hip-hop movements to follow the same path towards social justice.

Organic intellectuals remain associated with their social group without being confined

by their actions. Organic intellectuals do no actively advocate for all marginalised

44
groups, rather they stand sympathetic towards them (Simon, 2013). That sympathy

manifests action. Advancing interests of a specific marginalised group, organic

intellectuals enable a collective movement of the subjugated. With respect to hip-hop,

such collectivism began with Black and Puerto Rican hip-hop artists and shortly

influenced other communities within and outside America. Hip-hop, today, is a

worldwide movement, seldom physically unified (like The Arab Summit) yet

intellectually allied against oppressive systems. Advocating for a specific group,

organic intellectuals designate consciousness meaning among the subordinated with

the purpose of elevating the subordinated group’s position in society. West (1990)

describes this demand for action as overcoming segregation, mental not physical,

which is what organic intellectuals of the current period should focus on.

As a Syrian, Omar Offendum’s identity becomes the focal point of his

advocacy for Syria. On the contrary, Omar Offendum believes in issues beyond

affiliations. He conveys his messages sans his Arab, Syrian and American identity, “I

believe in this issue [Syrian civil war], not just because I am Syrian, not just because I

am Arab and not just because I am Muslim. I am a human being who believes in

human rights and equality for all – full stop” (Dennaoui, 2012). Performing as a

“human being” creates a human appeal across communities. According to Omar

Offendum, “Resistance to oppression, representing the universal struggle for human

rights and dignity; these are ideas and themes that often permeate my lyrics and

songs” (Dennaoui, 2011). The Narcicyst is similarly benevolent:

…how can you turn that, you know that message into the medium and
medium into the message, sort of, you know? How do you use that in a
way where people who don’t care or people who don’t want to hear
about our experience, how can you translate that into something that’s
palatable and personalising the, quote-unquote, struggles of my
personal struggle, and how that relates to somebody’s struggle in
Brooklyn or somebody’s struggle in, you know, Los Angeles or
somebody’s struggle in Denmark, or you know, so – because at the end

45
 of the day we’re all human beings, and if you strip all these layers of
conditioning that are put onto our identity then you realise that, at the
end of the day, we’re all fighting the same battle, which is against a
destructive system of economic and political repression. (Kouddous,
2011)

Hip-hop carries messages of brotherhood, in addition to messages of liberation.

Whenever hip-hop is appropriated, it acts as a grassroots organiser (Malone &

Martinez Jr, 2010). Hip-hop’s culture itself unites struggling communities through the

arts, i.e., emceeing, dancing graffiti and rapping. Despite hip-hop’s growth, it remains

undoubtedly rooted in the Black community. Therefore, whenever a community

appropriates hip-hop, it appropriates the Black struggle, establishing a connection

with the community. The same sense of worldliness is transferred into Fear of an

Arab Planet. The Arab Summit unifies struggles without attempting to equal them.

The Arab Summit addresses Arab concerns, which foreground their music, but in the

process they establish connections with people of colour to unify the marginalised.

Appropriating hip-hop, The Arab Summit prudently acknowledges struggles

of the Black community. In “Last Days” Ragtop raps, “Widespread looting, time to

cop a gun, shoot ém, Ain’t no PAC left, Malcolm X, speaking for the movement.

Ain’t no pride left, kill or die, why because we human, ain’t no family, damn it’s just

me - & my confusion.” Ragtop’s reference to Malcolm X is common to Arab hip-hop.

Several Arab artists frequently call upon memories of African American leaders.

Their salutation establishes connections with African Americans and informs the Arab

struggle. Allusions and connections, like Ragtop makes, form alliances among

racialized communities. Ragtop recognises their leaders are now of the past and the

responsibility of intellectualism is now upon members of the community. His last line

in particular, “damn it’s just me - & my confusion,” is a hopeful cry for unification

despite being grim. Ragtop presents the mental and physical alienation among people

46
of colour with the hope that such estrangement among racialized communities

reduces.

Excentrik in “Justice Tomorrow,” further exemplifies attempts to unify people

of colour. He raps, “Whether you an immigrant, Or children of slaves, You can see it

in the difference of the living in conditions, Like missions tortured Indians force ‘em

to Christians, We call ‘em Palest-Indians we ain’t missing.” Excentrik refers to Native

Indians’ forceful conversion to Christianity but there is a deeper meaning in calling

them Palest-Indians. Using religion, Zionists claim ascendancy over Palestine and

though not similarly, the Pilgrims claimed superiority with Christianity to displace

Native Indians from their lands. Excentrik establishes a connection with struggles –

through claims of land, a place in history and general class struggles. Excentrik

extends the Arab struggle to immigrants, unfortunate products of slavery and Native

Indians. Excentrik ends with a call for collective power against hegemonic

dominance. He reminds the listener that consolidated power enables domination over

the weak. Excentrik’s purpose to unify people of colour is to reverse the power of

balance. Excentrik’s sense of collectivism attempts to change the power of balance

and thereby change Arabs’ and other groups’ subordination.

While The Arab Summit attempts to unify people of colour, their identity as

Westernised Arabs urges them to address the Arab world versus the West conflict. In

order to overcome the clash of civilisations, The Arab Summit alludes to Abrahamic

religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – to assuage growing hostility between the

East and the West. Oftentimes religion propagates ideological violence – Arabs are

thought to be anti-Christianity while the West is thought to be anti-Islam. Judaism,

Christianity and Islam find their origins in the Middle East and that advances The

Arab Summit’s appeal for harmony. Using religious references, The Arab Summit

47
attempts to overcome the divide between communities and constitute a new ideology

in society. “Quasi-Islamic” (or “The Guide”) demonstrates such employment of

religion. In “Quasi-Islamic,” The Arab Summit reveal the interconnectedness among

Abrahamic faiths through the chorus, “Believing in God, We breathe in the lah, A

seasonal guide and reason to rhyme, My people subscribe or just leave it behind, Give

it back fam, damn – I might wanna read it sometime.” ““The” Lah” translates to “Al”-

lah in Arabic. The Christian West believes in “God” and Allah translates to “The

God” which is the same concept of God across Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Furthermore, when Arab Christians offer prayers in Arabic they refer to God as Allah.

The interplay between Allah and God indicates that language and ignorance

essentially separates the East from the West. The Narcicyst and Omar Offendum, in

“Quasi-Islamic,” act as “guides” (hence the alternative title) throughout the song, but

in the chorus, God/religion is the guide to unify the divide. The Narcicyst and Omar

Offendum, once again, do not ignore the complicity of Arabs and Muslims in the

discord. The Narcicyst and Omar Offendum accept their contribution towards the

divide and propose a path to peace through religion. The last lines of the chorus urge

coreligionists to follow religion as it is intended.

Within the Arab versus the West conflict, over the years, religion has

exacerbated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conflict that was once between Arabs

and Jews (where Jews are thought of as a race) is now fought between Muslims and

Jews. In “Justice Tomorrow,” The Narcicyst directs his verse at Zionist Jews – “Life

that kill death, divisive ill step to heaven like isra al-mi’raj and this talk will dislodge

the sick knowledge minaret, dishonest spite to the plight of an immigrant entitled to

live again.” With his verse, The Narcicyst attempts at collectivism through religion.

Isra al-mi’raj refers to Quran readings, when the Prophet travelled from Mecca to al-

48
Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) then to heaven and back. Today al-Aqsa Mosque is

among the few places in Palestine without restricted access. In fact, al-Aqsa mosque

sits atop Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. The Narcicyst believes that

unification through religion can conclude the conflict and bring peace to a land

considered holy by both. “Life that kill death” addresses the Zionists, referring to

Jewish Aliyah. At the same time it resonates with a chant of the Intifada – “resistance

is existence.” “Entitled to live again” reminds Zionists of refuge they found in historic

Palestine. The Narcicyst asks Zionist Jews to realise their ancestors faced the same

fate as what they make the Palestinians go through. The Arab Summit extends their

collectivism to Zionist Jews calling for unification in the name of religion and historic

struggles.

Discrimination Arabs face in America includes discrimination by various

ethnic groups despite those groups’ marginalisation, making collective intellectualism

increasingly difficult. Associating struggles and the influence of religion target the

ideological barriers between communities, which is what West advocated for – mental

divide not physical. Reinterpreting ideologies, The Arab Summit engages audiences

in pedagogy against self-imposed mental apartheid. Collective intellectualism,

though, is impossible without multiple engagements in society, whether active or

passive. At the same time, collective intellectualism is severely limited through music

because music lacks relatability across varied audiences. The Arab Summit’s

production itself is authenticated with Arab influence in the context, lyrics (though

predominantly English, it is influenced by Arabic) and sound (instruments, sampling

and singing styles). Such authenticity reduces the appeal across different groups.

Nonetheless, collaborations can attract audiences to different messages. For example,

“#Jan25” by Omar Offendum and The Narcicyst, dedicated to the Egyptian civil

49
revolution, features Freeway, a prominent Black conscious artist. Freeway’s inclusion

introduces his audience in solidarity with the Egyptians. Fear of an Arab Planet does

not include any collaboration tracks, but Arab organic intellectualism is not limited to

this single album. Albeit collective intellectualism is limited through music,

collectivism can still be achieved with the position of an organic intellectual. At

present stage, though, collectivism among racialized communities is uncommon,

which makes theorising collective intellectualism problematic.

Reconsidering Gershon’s (Sandlin, Schultz, & Burdick, 2010) argument of all

musicians being public intellectuals, said differently, all musicians are consciously

engaged in society. Of course, some artists are seldom concerned with cultural

politics. Just because musicians maintain a public life they are bestowed with the

responsibility of intellectualism. If musicians fail to use their position to advance their

community, as Gramsci argues, they are traditional intellectuals. Organic intellectuals

involve themselves in political representation of their social group and collectivism

with the dominated. However, political representation and collectivism are not

primary undertakings. Exploitation of privilege for advancement of society,

developing counter-hegemonic consciousness, awakening the politically unconscious,

representation of a social group and collective intellectualism contributes to a radical

learning. Organic intellectuals exploit their position to intersect power relations and

politics in the context of culture and involve themselves in pedagogy of the masses.

While they are inclined to Arab movements, Excentrik, Omar Offendum, Ragtop and

The Narcicyst do not isolate other audiences. The Arab Summit’s music addresses

collectivism required for today’s society; and while being Arabs in the West they also

acknowledge their roles as people of colour and people in diaspora. However, these

artists essentially perform public pedagogy. Whether it is Gramsci’s conception of an

50
organic intellectual or West’s conception of critical organic catalyst, there is an

inseparable pedagogical element.

Organic Pedagogy

Power constructs society in relation to ideology, making the dominated an

object of convenience. Pedagogy in a power dominated society, therefore, should

embody the interplay between fact and fiction. Public pedagogy should focus on

confronting social myths and interpretations alike. Gramsci, like Freire, Hall, Said,

Giroux and West did years later, advocated for the dispersion of a relational

knowledge which engages society in conscious self-development. Public pedagogy

should create opportunities for communities to rethink and rewrite themselves in the

context of history, present and future. Within discourses of historical significance,

public pedagogy challenges present practices and develops strategies to challenge

hegemony. Instead of focusing on classrooms, Hall (1992) urges intellectuals to

occupy non-traditional sites for pedagogy. The purpose is to challenge prevailing

hegemony from its inception without actively engaging the elite. Engaging non-

traditional sites in a progressive education, pedagogues interact with the dominant in

same the ideological space within which dominance is enacted. For Hall (1996),

public pedagogy questions identity and identification in the context of difference and

belonging.

Hip-hop, as a site for public pedagogy, engages audiences in discursive

manners, developing new ways to think of one’s position in society. Though

contemporary hip-hop concedes to elitist tendencies, conscious hip-hop and learning

through political performances holds the potential for resistance. Conscious hip-hop

serves an epistemological function, particularly in relation to knowledge regarding

51
racism, identity, social progress and more. Listening to hip-hop, and messages and

meanings communicated through it, knowledge becomes culturally available (Price,

1987). Hip-hop shapes rappers’ and their listeners’ political orientations (Sandlin et

al., 2010). Public pedagogy highlights “performative aspects of how people enact

their identities and a performance designed to ignite political and social consciousness

in the public realm” (p. 506). Hip-hop engages audiences as co-creators. Said

otherwise, when rap verses are practiced and repeated, listeners who begin as

consumers of a form of knowledge become co-producers of the same knowledge.

Such pedagogy is performative, engaging experiences as interactions between texts

and audiences. As a site for popular engagement, hip-hop enables construction of

identities.

Arguing for organic pedagogy, I propose the core function of an organic

intellectual as public pedagogy. The political nature of The Arab Summit’s production

immerses audiences in radical learnings. Whether The Arab Summit engages in

political consciousness or Arab representation, they involve themselves in public

pedagogy. The Arab Summit’s music and accompanying elements showcases their

pedagogy. As pedagogues, The Arab Summit critically engages audiences in

deconstructing the popular Arab. Performative pedagogy is, more often than not,

deliberate because pedagogues condition learners to recollect previous learnings

before challenging those learnings. Their music informs listeners on the interaction of

their ideologies and social practices. Consciousness communicated through their

songs enables the realisation of how power and ideology influence knowledge, social

relations and identities. The Arab Summit’s pedagogy informs audiences of an

alternate reality.

52
 The Arab Summit, on Fear of an Arab Planet, combine intricate references in

lyrics with complex layering and sampling to engage politically unconscious

audiences in new learnings. “Justice Tomorrow” exemplifies performative pedagogy

with its sampling and progression of verses. “Justice Tomorrow” begins with a

sample from Fairuz’s “‫اﻟﻤﺪاٮﻦ‬

ؑ ‫( ”زھﺮة‬Flower among Cities), an ode to Jerusalem:

‫ﻻﺟﻠﻚ ﯾﺎ ﻣﺪﯾﻨﺔ اﻟﺼﻼة اﺻﻠﻲ‬

For you the city of prayer, I pray
‫اﻟﻤﺪاٮﻦ‬
ؑ ‫ﻻﺟﻠﻚ ﯾﺎ ﺑﮭﯿﺔ اﻟﻤﺴﺎﻛﻦ ﯾﺎ زھﺮة‬
For you, with splendid houses, my flower in the valley
‫ﯾﺎ ﻗﺪس ﯾﺎ ﻗﺪس ﯾﺎ ﻗﺪس ﯾﺎ ﻗﺪس‬
Oh! Jerusalem, Oh! Jerusalem, Oh! Jerusalem
‫ﯾﺎ ﻣﺪﯾﻨﺔ اﻟﺼﻼة اﺻﻠﻲ‬
Oh city of prayer, I pray for you

As Fairuz’s sample ends, the crackling of a helicopter beats the air into submission,

setting the mood for the song. The composition of “Justice Tomorrow” inures a

listener to typical messages regarding Palestine and then challenges a listener’s

inclination. Fairuz’s sample in memory of Palestine and chants against Israel in the

background gives an impression “Justice Tomorrow” is dedicated to Palestine; and if

not, denies Israel’s existence. However, the song does neither. Ragtop and Excentrik

concern themselves with struggles around the world and The Narcicyst attempts to

bridge the divide between Zionists and Palestinians making “Justice Tomorrow” an

anthem against discriminating systems. “Justice Tomorrow” informs audiences about

unheard narratives. Regardless of The Arab Summit’s ability to change

marginalisation, they engage the popular for the purpose of social transformation.

“Quasi-Islamic,” like “Justice Tomorrow,” challenges dominant messages and

interpretations about Arabs. In an attempt to condition listeners to typical messages

about Arabs, “Quasi-Islamic” is comparably explicit. The track begins with a

mocking announcement:

How you do it as Jamal Abdul

53
 The season guide to being Arab, and Muslim in the West
Volume One, Buy Now
Ever felt like your beard stank?
Have you ever felt like your hijab was frumpy?
Bet you never felt this Arab
Subscribe Now

Jamal Abdul is The Narcicyst’s alter-ego and an archetypical Arab/Muslim name. The

mocking introduction is a Westernised perception of an Arab – Muslim with a beard

or a hijab. The Western construct of Arabs are often Islamic creating immediate

connections to swarthy mean with beards and submissive women in hijabs. Verses

following the announcement by The Narcicyst and Omar Offendum guide the listener

on being Arab beyond being Muslim. “Quasi-Islamic” attempts to present Arab-ness

as consubstantial to any other identity, most importantly to American-ness. The

Narcicyst and Omar Offendum question the listener whether their difference is

socially and historically specific. Without addressing the question, they challenge

their Otherness by celebrating their difference. The Arab Summit’s politics of identity

does not intend to eliminate difference for similarities. Politicisation of the Arab

identity instead focuses on proving their position as equal citizens with differences;

difference which Arabs will negotiate themselves and not mainstream constructions of

Arabs. The impact of such conversations through music is profound because such

conversations engage listeners in the same ideological space that denigrates Arabs.

When popular messages are altered through performances, listeners embark on self-

reflection as they distinguish fact from fiction. Most significantly, listeners’ self-

reflection becomes self-determination as they comprehend possibilities of other

realities. The Arab Summit urge audiences to avoid looking at Arabs through lenses

created for ideological purposes. The politically inclined popular Arab has been

constructed to advance ideological propaganda. The Arab Summit recognises the

indoctrination and politicises their identity advancing an Arab propaganda.

54
 Alongside rap references and sampling, the construction of Fear of an Arab

Planet demands for its contributions to a listener’s experience. Fear of an Arab Planet

is structured like a classic hip-hop recording with intros, interludes and outros

creating opportunities to contribute to the listener’s learning experience. The intro and

outro especially, taken from a Hollywood movie, weaves all elements of Fear of an

Arab Planet together. The interludes are interviews in Arabic discussing Saddam

Hussein’s atrocities, and instrumentals – one by Excentrik which he wrote when

detained at an Israeli checkpoint. The Narcicyst explains how these elements

contribute to a pedagogical experience:

In my search for Hollywood’s misrepresentative quotes, I came across

an obscure film starring Sean Connery called The Arab
Conspiracy…At first glance, I though the film was about the
conspiracy against Arabs by Western forces. Through the many quotes
I extracted as interludes for the Arab Summit album, I found that this
film was actually about the internal Arab feuds that have prevented our
nations from moving as one entity…The premise of the film is a
rebellious Arab leader confronting his brethren and falling in love with
the beautiful blonde lady – in other words, backstabbing his people and
falling in love with the quintessential serene image of the West. This
movie was the perfect representation of what the Arab Summit
[referring to the political Arab Summit] was. Sean Connery
represented our internal strife with Arab leadership and our reluctance
to accept our fate to be free of nationalist belonging. Without this film,
the film and overall cohesiveness of the album’s chosen songs would
have been dry and interleaved as separate experiences without a
binding stream of consciousness. (Alsalman, 2010, p. 41-42)

A listener does not necessarily make the connections as The Narcicyst intends.

However, the restructuring of dialogues and placement before and after

relevant tracks creates a conversation with the listener. That conversation, as

The Narcicyst explains, converses with the listener about failed leaderships

and Arab shortcomings. In addition to the intro, interlude and outro, the

samplings contribute towards pedagogically consciousness. The American

songs used as samples belong to the period of time when African Americans

55
were culturally claiming their place in American society; for example “We

Need Order” by Chi Lites and “Ain’t No Justice” by The Temptations.

Noteworthy, Fear of an Arab Planet is a contextualised remake of Public

Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet from the golden age of hip-hop. Public

Enemy castigated racism and White supremacy. The Arab Summit changed

the context but not the purpose.

As organic intellectuals, The Arab Summit exploits their position engaging

audiences in a radical learning. They do not necessarily advocate for a new social

order as much as for a transformed social order which advances the marginalised from

the subalterns. They embrace their difference in being Arabs but object their

Otherness. They urge audiences to think differently, or at least think for themselves,

about Arab identity.

56
Arab Intellectualism and the Future

Representation should not be viewed as mainstream inclusion. Instead,

representation should focus on creating a culturally vibrant society which accepts

difference as part of democracy and individuality. Difference, irrespective of any

condition, should avert separatism and identity negotiations. Difference in the

mainstream expresses pluralism towards a post-racial society. Representing difference

develops articulations for social justice because post-racialism requisites social

justice. Identity politics and representation therein advances subordinated groups

towards justice. Communities’ organic intellectuals involved in representing

difference, at the same time, are not singular groups or individuals striving towards

homology. Organic intellectuals are not always connected to each other –

geographically or personally. In the context of Arabs, The Arab Summit is definitely

not the sole representation of the Arab community. Within the popular realm, several

contribute towards better Arab representation through art, comedy, movies and

various music genres. Noticeable are contributions in the non-popular realm,

additionally, through academia and literary works. Such progressions are germinal in

attempts to control Arab narratives. Such contributions manifest intellectualism in

different ways by adapting to criteria discussed in previous sections.

The Arab Summit satisfies primary criteria of organic intellectualism, i.e.,

exploitation of their position to the advantage of Arabs. As artists with racialized

backgrounds, The Arab Summit confidently challenges society’s prevalent ideology

dictating Arab lives through their political engagements. Their political assertions are

limited, however. Awakening the politically unconscious through hip-hop is severely

restricted because the audience is limited by their ability to realise the alternative.

Nonetheless, underestimating masses potential to rise against systems of oppression is

57
erroneous; but at present stage, assuming Arab-conscious hip-hop holds potential to

dismantle social hierarchies, bearing in mind the genres nativity, is an idealist

outlook. Laclau (1990) posits, social existence determines consciousness but contrary

to Laclau I argue, consciousness is primary. Social existence, simultaneously though,

creates conditions for socio-political progress. Consciousness initiates conversations

about Arabs as equal citizens, or at least as fellow human beings. Consciousness

coupled with social existence will lead to socio-political transformation which will

enable self-determination among subjugated populations. Socio-political

transformation, as I argue with organic pedagogy, requires public engagement in a

progressive education.

Education preconditions social progress; nonetheless, education should not be

limited to schools because classrooms are not the most influential sites for education.

Classrooms reinforce hegemony, offering limited space for cultural protests (Sandlin

et al., 2010). Ghareeb’s (1983) research confirms classrooms’ hegemonic tendencies

with evidence of American school textbooks disseminating detrimental

misinformation about Arabs. Curriculum reinforcing hegemony, however, resonates

with Gramsci’s pronouncement that “every relationship of “hegemony” is necessarily

an educational relationship” (Hoare & Nowell-Smith, 1971, p. 350). Since classrooms

provide limited space for cultural revolutions, popular sites supplement schools for

the purpose of education, where despite the popular being ideologically driven

provides opportunities for resistance (Fiske, 2010). Altering messages in popular

sites, a transformative progress begins which challenges dominant messages.

Specifically to the nature of hip-hop, an artist’s experiences expressed through lyrics,

which otherwise goes unheard, channels a new mode of thinking for the audience –

resentment or action. Through pedagogical performances, artists establish a new

58
ideological space in which dominant narratives are countered. The purpose of public

pedagogy, like classroom education was intended for, is to create a “radically

interdisciplinary and contextualised sensibility” (Sandlin et al., 2010, p. 3).

Occupying nonconventional sites for education, hip-hop artists engage popular

audiences in subconscious pedagogy, actualising absent or avoided protests. These

subconscious learning experiences negate the dominant messages.

My personal experiences with mediated representations of Arab identity

exemplify central problems and possibilities in my argument. Growing up in the

Middle East I was exposed to the same American popular culture as an average

American viewer, only not the same in volume. At a certain level, my life experiences

were antidotes to slanderous images of Arabs I grew up with because my daily

interactions with Arabs negated fictitious elements of Arab representation. The

negotiation between fact and fiction served as my pedagogical performances, with my

performers being average Arabs. Brookfield (2005) further describes such encounters:

When adults experience deep and powerful works of art such as plays,
poems, pictures, songs, sculptures, or novels, they undergo a temporary
estrangement from their everyday world. This estrangement is
disturbing in a productive and revolutionary way. It opens adults to the
realisation that they could reorder their lives to live by a fundamentally
different, more instinctual ethic. (p. 54)

Interacting with people of Arab heritage is an obvious option to challenge media

experiences. Another option, without seeking and interacting with Arabs, would be

popular engagements. Engaging the popular, the public embark on socio-political

transformation. If news media on one side politicises an Arab, on the other side, an

Arab politicises the situation. The same culture destroying a community provides

opportunities to (re)construct the community. Such engagement – deconstruction and

reconstruction – is performativity, which is not limited to the efforts of an intellectual.

Arabs need to vigorously oppose their Otherness and defend themselves as fellow

59
citizens and human beings, which arguably will be through pedagogy. At the same

time though, pedagogy through hip-hop is limited by learners’ acceptance to have

their ideologies, politics, values and reality questioned.

In America, Arabs are racially categorised as White yet fail to receive

accompanying privileges pertaining to social status. Arabs’ involvement in social

justice, certainly, does not claim privileges. Rather such advancements, forwarded by

The Arab Summit and others, endeavour a status of equality as Americans. Such

articulations need initiations from the Arab community. Arabs need to begin asserting

their place in society. Arabs need to inform diverse audiences about their belonging.

Arabs need to collectively change what being an Arab is – first for Arabs, then for the

world.

60
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Curriculum Vitae
Ryan Arron D’Souza

Education
Master of Arts, Applied Communication, Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana 2012-2014
• Thesis: Arab Hip-Hop and Politics of Identity: Intellectuals, Identity and
Inquilab
• Committee Chair: Dr. Jonathan Paul Rossing
Bachelor of Management Studies, University of Mumbai, Maharashtra – India,
2008-2011
• Final Project: Internet Politics: Online Campaigning in India

Awards, Distinctions and Fellowships

• Top Graduate Research Award by the IUPUI Department of Communication
Studies for Countering Arabophobia Through Arab-Conscious Hip-Hop, 2014
• Top Graduate Research Award by the IUPUI Department of Communication
Studies for #UAEDressCode: An Intercultural Approach, 2014
• Chair’s Recognition for Outstanding Leadership by the IUPUI Department of
Communication Studies for TEDxIUPUI, 2013

Research Interests
My present research focuses on cultural assertions by Arab hip-hop artists; in that,
how do they challenge the popular Arab and engage their audiences in public
pedagogy. Additionally, I discuss the concept of Arabophobia and influence of
media on society. In the future, I want to expand my research to study the
epistemic function of music, analyze post-colonial identities and cultures and
propose a separation of Islamic culture from Arab culture.

Publications, Presentations and Abstracts

• D'Souza, R. (2014). Countering Arabophobia through Arab-Conscious Hip-Hop.
Presented at New Haven Hip-Hop Conference 2014, New Haven, CT
• Sheeler, K., Weiss, A. & D'Souza, R. (2014). Communication and Citizenship:
Classroom Opportunities for Practice. Manuscript submitted for publication.
• D'Souza, R. (2014). Countering Arabophobia through Arab-Conscious Hip-Hop.
Manuscript submitted for publication.
• D'Souza, R. (2014). Countering Arabophobia through Arab-Conscious Hip-Hop.
Poster presented at IUPUI Research Day 2014, Indianapolis, IN.

Research Experience
Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Communication Studies, Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, August 2013 –
May2014
• Conducting research for popular and academic sources, preparing
bibliographies, conducting literature reviews and writing and editing material
for academic publication
 • Co-authored an essay with Dr. Sheeler discussing political deliberations in
classrooms, and is due for submission
• Proficiency with Factiva, Google Scholar, LexisNexis, World CAT and
library data bases

Graduate Research Assistant, Survey Research Center at IUPUI, Indiana

University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, September 2012 –
August 2013
• Supporting research staff through all stages of research from data collection
to data analysis and reporting
• Training in quantitative and qualitative methods and multiple data
collection procedures
• Proficiency with CATI, Gravic Remark, SPSS and Qualtrics