“They Give Islam A Bad Name”: Turkish-Americans and Their Conceptualization of “Other” Muslims

• In Event: 1132 - Arabs and Arab Americans

Abstract

This paper focuses on ethnic boundary-making practices of Turkish immigrants in the United States. Based on cultural discourses they were socialized in Turkey, and in an effort to deal with the Muslim stigma they encountered in the U.S., Turkish immigrants constitute highly bright boundaries vis-à-vis the image of Arab Muslim. Few of them socialize with Arabs in their daily lives, and most immigrants hold negative views despite their lack of interaction with them. Although my initial assumption was that Turkish immigrants with higher levels of religious orientation would be more likely to establish relations with Arab Muslims, and eventually construct a transitional Muslim identity, the research shows that immigrants from all levels of religious identification distance themselves from Arabs in general, and Arab Americans in particular. Based on 52 in-depth interviews conducted for my doctoral research, this paper concludes that the ethnic boundary perceived against Arab Muslims is very likely to remain for first generation Turkish immigrants, however there is room for change for their offspring born in the U.S.

Author

• Zeynep Selen Bayhan, Istanbul 29 Mayis University