N Maghbouleh
Biographic Data
| ID | 52880 |
|---|---|
| NAME | N Maghbouleh |
| GIVEN NAMES | N |
| FAMILY NAME | Maghbouleh |
| SIGNATURE | MAGHBOULEH N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8541-2079 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 103 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Cultural Polarization and Social Groups
An Invisibility/Hypervisibility Paradox
Research on Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) populations in the United States has been shaped by a fundamental paradox: MENAs are statistically invisible in the administrative data infrastructure yet socially hypervisible in other domains. This review outlines key demographic characteristics of the MENA American population and argues that by addressing the invisibility/hypervisibility paradox through innovative research questions and metho…
Heaven without people is not worth going to
To Uncover Disparities, Collect and Disaggregate Self-Identification Data for Middle Eastern and North African Americans
Pallavi Banerjee, The Opportunity Trap
Middle Eastern and North African Americans may not be perceived, nor perceive themselves, to be White
Significance The US government’s classification of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans as White means there is no direct way to numerically count members of this group in official statistics. Therefore, any potential disparities and inequalities faced by MENA Americans remain hidden. Nevertheless, we find that MENA Americans may not be perceived, nor perceive themselves, to be White. These findings underscore the minoritized status …
Twenty-Five Years of Charles Mills’s Racial Contract in Sociology
How have sociologists engaged the late philosopher Charles Mills’ landmark The Racial Contract (1997) in the twenty-five years since its publication? I first synthesize and periodize the corpus of sociological research citing The Racial Contract into two chronological and epistemological waves. The first wave (1997-2009) is distinguished by the scholarship of a vanguard who drew on the text, and direct engagement with Mills himself, in a paradigm…
Grandmothers Behind the Scenes
Research and policy concerning the Syrian Canadian diaspora has not prioritized elders. This article adds to scholarship about the well-being of newcomers admitted via the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Initiative through a focus on grandmothers resettled within their multigenerational families. Using interviews and qualitative field research, we show how the authority and status these elder women once held in Syria may be undermined by their compar…
The Fragile Obligation
This article analyzes the emotional lives of Syrian refugee mothers in the first year of their recent resettlement in Canada. Drawing on two waves of interviews with 41 newcomer mothers, we find three main affective themes in their resettlement narratives: gratitude, discontent, and dissent. Together, they capture a reality we term the fragile obligation, which reflects coexisting conditions of migratory indebtedness, disappointment, and critique…
Ancestry, Color, or Culture? How Whites Racially Classify Others in the U.S
Historically, the U.S. legal system formally institutionalized ancestry and appearance as the foundations of racial membership. Yet evidence suggests informal classification logics based on cultural cues like religion or language may have also long been present. Using a conjoint survey experiment, we disentangle the underlying classification logics of White observers and uncover three key norms: (1) ancestry strongly shapes classification, but th…
From white to what? Mena and Iranian American non-white reflected race
Whereas instruments like the US Census classify Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans as white, racial formation-informed research has established that this population holds an ambiguous relationship with whiteness. I draw on theories of the self and cognition to introduce reflected race as an underexplored dimension of MENA racialization. Interviews with 84 Iranian Americans demonstrate how group members perceive they are appraised a…
Listening in Arabic
This article reflects upon three developments emergent from a feminist approach in research with Syrian newcomer mothers in Toronto, Canada. First, a feminist approach shapes how the authors build their research team and facilitate internal meetings as a diverse, multigenerational group open to learning from others. Second, a feminist approach requires that the authors center mothers' words through the critical practice of ensuring shared Arabic …
The Limits of Whiteness
When Roya, an Iranian American high school student, is asked to identify her race, she feels anxiety and doubt. According to the federal government, she and others from the Middle East are white. Indeed, a historical myth circulates even in immigrant families like Roya's, proclaiming Iranians to be the "original" white race. But based on the treatment Roya and her family receive in American schools, airports, workplaces, and neighborhoods—interac…
'Our Table Factory, Inc.'
Marx's critique of capitalism remains foundational to the university social science curriculum yet little is known about how instructors teach Marx. In post-industrial, service-oriented economies, students are also increasingly disconnected from the conditions of industrial capitalism that animate Marx's analysis. Inspired by the discussion of how a piece of wood becomes a table in Marx's Capital Vol. 1., 'Our Table Factory, Inc.' simulates a div…
The War at Home
Despite the defunding and shuttering of many language courses and departments in public American universities, offerings deemed 'critical' to security and military interests have seen a dramatic rise since 11 September 2001. These courses are largely populated by Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) learners interested in career advancement and payment through military stipends for course enrollment and 'heritage' learners interested in deepen…
TheTa'arofTournament
Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and audio recordings at a US summer camp by and for Iranian-heritaged youth, this paper analyses the construction of ethno-national identity during the 'Ta'arof Tournament', a popular camp activity that literally makes sport of the Iranian custom of self-effacement, politeness and hospitality. A repertoire of six ta'arof strategies is identified: (a) reliance on pre-existing, commonly used ta'arof p…
Inherited Nostalgia' Among Second-Generation Iranian Americans
Thirty years after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, nearly 1 million Iranians are estimated to reside in the USA. As a result of this migration, a ‘second generation’ has been born in exile and has come of age entirely in US institutional spaces such as schools and universities. Yet, very little scholarship addresses this new cohort of young adults as they move beyond their diasporic childhood homes and into adulthood. This paper argues that through …
Ancestry, Color, or Culture? How Whites Racially Classify Others in the U.S
Historically, the U.S. legal system formally institutionalized ancestry and appearance as the foundations of racial membership. Yet evidence suggests informal classification logics based on cultural cues like religion or language may have also long been present. Using a conjoint survey experiment, we disentangle the underlying classification logics of White observers and uncover three key norms: (1) ancestry strongly shapes classification, but th…
From white to what? Mena and Iranian American non-white reflected race
Whereas instruments like the US Census classify Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans as white, racial formation-informed research has established that this population holds an ambiguous relationship with whiteness. I draw on theories of the self and cognition to introduce reflected race as an underexplored dimension of MENA racialization. Interviews with 84 Iranian Americans demonstrate how group members perceive they are appraised a…
TheTa'arofTournament
Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and audio recordings at a US summer camp by and for Iranian-heritaged youth, this paper analyses the construction of ethno-national identity during the 'Ta'arof Tournament', a popular camp activity that literally makes sport of the Iranian custom of self-effacement, politeness and hospitality. A repertoire of six ta'arof strategies is identified: (a) reliance on pre-existing, commonly used ta'arof p…
Inherited Nostalgia' Among Second-Generation Iranian Americans
Thirty years after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, nearly 1 million Iranians are estimated to reside in the USA. As a result of this migration, a ‘second generation’ has been born in exile and has come of age entirely in US institutional spaces such as schools and universities. Yet, very little scholarship addresses this new cohort of young adults as they move beyond their diasporic childhood homes and into adulthood. This paper argues that through …
An Invisibility/Hypervisibility Paradox
Research on Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) populations in the United States has been shaped by a fundamental paradox: MENAs are statistically invisible in the administrative data infrastructure yet socially hypervisible in other domains. This review outlines key demographic characteristics of the MENA American population and argues that by addressing the invisibility/hypervisibility paradox through innovative research questions and metho…
The Fragile Obligation
This article analyzes the emotional lives of Syrian refugee mothers in the first year of their recent resettlement in Canada. Drawing on two waves of interviews with 41 newcomer mothers, we find three main affective themes in their resettlement narratives: gratitude, discontent, and dissent. Together, they capture a reality we term the fragile obligation, which reflects coexisting conditions of migratory indebtedness, disappointment, and critique…
Heaven without people is not worth going to
Listening in Arabic
This article reflects upon three developments emergent from a feminist approach in research with Syrian newcomer mothers in Toronto, Canada. First, a feminist approach shapes how the authors build their research team and facilitate internal meetings as a diverse, multigenerational group open to learning from others. Second, a feminist approach requires that the authors center mothers' words through the critical practice of ensuring shared Arabic …
To Uncover Disparities, Collect and Disaggregate Self-Identification Data for Middle Eastern and North African Americans
Grandmothers Behind the Scenes
Research and policy concerning the Syrian Canadian diaspora has not prioritized elders. This article adds to scholarship about the well-being of newcomers admitted via the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Initiative through a focus on grandmothers resettled within their multigenerational families. Using interviews and qualitative field research, we show how the authority and status these elder women once held in Syria may be undermined by their compar…
Inherited Nostalgia' Among Second-Generation Iranian Americans
Thirty years after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, nearly 1 million Iranians are estimated to reside in the USA. As a result of this migration, a ‘second generation’ has been born in exile and has come of age entirely in US institutional spaces such as schools and universities. Yet, very little scholarship addresses this new cohort of young adults as they move beyond their diasporic childhood homes and into adulthood. This paper argues that through …
TheTa'arofTournament
Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and audio recordings at a US summer camp by and for Iranian-heritaged youth, this paper analyses the construction of ethno-national identity during the 'Ta'arof Tournament', a popular camp activity that literally makes sport of the Iranian custom of self-effacement, politeness and hospitality. A repertoire of six ta'arof strategies is identified: (a) reliance on pre-existing, commonly used ta'arof p…
'Our Table Factory, Inc.'
Marx's critique of capitalism remains foundational to the university social science curriculum yet little is known about how instructors teach Marx. In post-industrial, service-oriented economies, students are also increasingly disconnected from the conditions of industrial capitalism that animate Marx's analysis. Inspired by the discussion of how a piece of wood becomes a table in Marx's Capital Vol. 1., 'Our Table Factory, Inc.' simulates a div…
The War at Home
Despite the defunding and shuttering of many language courses and departments in public American universities, offerings deemed 'critical' to security and military interests have seen a dramatic rise since 11 September 2001. These courses are largely populated by Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) learners interested in career advancement and payment through military stipends for course enrollment and 'heritage' learners interested in deepen…
The Limits of Whiteness
When Roya, an Iranian American high school student, is asked to identify her race, she feels anxiety and doubt. According to the federal government, she and others from the Middle East are white. Indeed, a historical myth circulates even in immigrant families like Roya's, proclaiming Iranians to be the "original" white race. But based on the treatment Roya and her family receive in American schools, airports, workplaces, and neighborhoods—interac…
Listening in Arabic
This article reflects upon three developments emergent from a feminist approach in research with Syrian newcomer mothers in Toronto, Canada. First, a feminist approach shapes how the authors build their research team and facilitate internal meetings as a diverse, multigenerational group open to learning from others. Second, a feminist approach requires that the authors center mothers' words through the critical practice of ensuring shared Arabic …
From white to what? Mena and Iranian American non-white reflected race
Whereas instruments like the US Census classify Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans as white, racial formation-informed research has established that this population holds an ambiguous relationship with whiteness. I draw on theories of the self and cognition to introduce reflected race as an underexplored dimension of MENA racialization. Interviews with 84 Iranian Americans demonstrate how group members perceive they are appraised a…
The Fragile Obligation
This article analyzes the emotional lives of Syrian refugee mothers in the first year of their recent resettlement in Canada. Drawing on two waves of interviews with 41 newcomer mothers, we find three main affective themes in their resettlement narratives: gratitude, discontent, and dissent. Together, they capture a reality we term the fragile obligation, which reflects coexisting conditions of migratory indebtedness, disappointment, and critique…
Ancestry, Color, or Culture? How Whites Racially Classify Others in the U.S
Historically, the U.S. legal system formally institutionalized ancestry and appearance as the foundations of racial membership. Yet evidence suggests informal classification logics based on cultural cues like religion or language may have also long been present. Using a conjoint survey experiment, we disentangle the underlying classification logics of White observers and uncover three key norms: (1) ancestry strongly shapes classification, but th…
Middle Eastern and North African Americans may not be perceived, nor perceive themselves, to be White
Significance The US government’s classification of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans as White means there is no direct way to numerically count members of this group in official statistics. Therefore, any potential disparities and inequalities faced by MENA Americans remain hidden. Nevertheless, we find that MENA Americans may not be perceived, nor perceive themselves, to be White. These findings underscore the minoritized status …
Twenty-Five Years of Charles Mills’s Racial Contract in Sociology
How have sociologists engaged the late philosopher Charles Mills’ landmark The Racial Contract (1997) in the twenty-five years since its publication? I first synthesize and periodize the corpus of sociological research citing The Racial Contract into two chronological and epistemological waves. The first wave (1997-2009) is distinguished by the scholarship of a vanguard who drew on the text, and direct engagement with Mills himself, in a paradigm…
Grandmothers Behind the Scenes
Research and policy concerning the Syrian Canadian diaspora has not prioritized elders. This article adds to scholarship about the well-being of newcomers admitted via the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Initiative through a focus on grandmothers resettled within their multigenerational families. Using interviews and qualitative field research, we show how the authority and status these elder women once held in Syria may be undermined by their compar…
Pallavi Banerjee, The Opportunity Trap
To Uncover Disparities, Collect and Disaggregate Self-Identification Data for Middle Eastern and North African Americans
Cultural Polarization and Social Groups
An Invisibility/Hypervisibility Paradox
Research on Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) populations in the United States has been shaped by a fundamental paradox: MENAs are statistically invisible in the administrative data infrastructure yet socially hypervisible in other domains. This review outlines key demographic characteristics of the MENA American population and argues that by addressing the invisibility/hypervisibility paradox through innovative research questions and metho…
Heaven without people is not worth going to
Sociology (14 works) · Political science (11 works) · Gender Studies (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (5 works) · Anthropology (4 works) · Migration and Labor Dynamics (4 works) · Politics (4 works)