Post-9/11 Arab and Muslim American Community College Students

Ethno-religious Enclaves and Perceived Discrimination

Bibliographic Data

ID8096051
AuthorsDiane Shammas (corresponding author), Diane S Shammas (a University of Southern California , Los Angeles, California, USA)
Year2009
Volume33
Issue3-4
Pages283-308
Publication date2009-02-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunity College Journal of Research and Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1066-8926 • E-ISSN: 1521-0413
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10668920802580507
OpenAlexW2060440145
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited36

Apart from the widescale media attention that Arabs and Muslims have received in the United States and abroad since 9/11, these two target populations have been largely unexamined at both the two-year and four-year college levels. This study represents a pioneering effort in investigating whether the post-9/11 backlash against Arabs and Muslims has penetrated community college campuses, focusing upon the inter-relationships among the level of perceived discrimination, the degree of diversity of Arab and Muslim students' campus friendships, and their sense of belonging to the college. Two conflict theories are advanced to explain why perceived discrimination might promote ethnic and religious clustering among Arab and Muslim community college students. The study employs a mixed methods design consisting of a 92-item survey and three focus groups. The survey sample consists of 753 Arab Christian, Arab Muslim, and non-Arab Muslim students from 21 community colleges in Southern California and Southeast Michigan. The primary finding was that there was a modest but positive relationship between the level of perceived discrimination and the percentage of campus friends who are of the same ethnicity but different religion. Student focus groups furnished insight into some students' reluctance to report discrimination in surveys. The implications of the study are to develop sensitive measures of the campus climate that draw out more subtle forms of discrimination. Also desirable would be to expand upon the existing research on the denial or minimization of personal discrimination

Denial · Diversity (politics · Ethnic group · Focus group · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Higher Education Research Studies · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Gender Studies · Social Psychology

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