Counseling Arab Americans
SOCIAL AND MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY
Counseling Arab Americans
Jay C Coleman
Amridge University
Abstract
The belief, common among non-Arab Americans, that Arabic families are oppressive and dominated by violent fathers who mistreat their wives and children, has been documented in numerous sources (e.g. Suleiman, 1988, Al-Mughni, 1993). This is probably not unexpected given the struggle to fit traditional Islam with expanding women’s rights throughout the Muslim world (Al-Mughni, 1993). Despite theological interpretations of the Qu’ran that argue for equality between the sexes (e.g. Engineer, 2004) the issue of sexual equality remains contentious. Accounts of honor killings and other acts of violent oppression against women (Goodwin, 2002) in Muslim countries fuel the image of Muslim and Arabic men as hostile and violent toward women (although other women assist in many of these incidents).
Indeed, in Arabic families, men typically are considered the titular head of the household. However, women normally wield a great deal of influence over decision important to the family. Contrary to direct styles of confrontation and assertiveness favored by mainstream American culture, Arabic women often use more indirect means of communication and influence, which may make them appear more passive to Western observers (Abudabbeh & Nydell, 1993; Jackson, 1997). As is true in other cultures, the exact nature of a women’s power in the family may vary widely between families, as well as according to the cultural traditions of specific regions and nations. As an example of how cultural traditions may be misinterpreted as a sign of oppression, traditional cultural head and/or face coverings are often considered to be indicative of male oppression, although many women consider these adornments a sign of religious or cultural pride and devotion and have no wish to remove them (Erickson & Al-Timimi, 2004).
Family is centrally important to the life of many Arab
Counseling Arab Americans
Jay C Coleman
Amridge University
Abstract
The belief, common among non-Arab Americans, that Arabic families are oppressive and dominated by violent fathers who mistreat their wives and children, has been documented in numerous sources (e.g. Suleiman, 1988, Al-Mughni, 1993). This is probably not unexpected given the struggle to fit traditional Islam with expanding women’s rights throughout the Muslim world (Al-Mughni, 1993). Despite theological interpretations of the Qu’ran that argue for equality between the sexes (e.g. Engineer, 2004) the issue of sexual equality remains contentious. Accounts of honor killings and other acts of violent oppression against women (Goodwin, 2002) in Muslim countries fuel the image of Muslim and Arabic men as hostile and violent toward women (although other women assist in many of these incidents).
Indeed, in Arabic families, men typically are considered the titular head of the household. However, women normally wield a great deal of influence over decision important to the family. Contrary to direct styles of confrontation and assertiveness favored by mainstream American culture, Arabic women often use more indirect means of communication and influence, which may make them appear more passive to Western observers (Abudabbeh & Nydell, 1993; Jackson, 1997). As is true in other cultures, the exact nature of a women’s power in the family may vary widely between families, as well as according to the cultural traditions of specific regions and nations. As an example of how cultural traditions may be misinterpreted as a sign of oppression, traditional cultural head and/or face coverings are often considered to be indicative of male oppression, although many women consider these adornments a sign of religious or cultural pride and devotion and have no wish to remove them (Erickson & Al-Timimi, 2004).
Family is centrally important to the life of many Arab
References: Abraham, N. (1995). Arab Americans. In R. Vecoli, J. Galens, A. Sheets, and V. Young, (Eds.), Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural American (vol. 1, pp. 84-98). New York, NY: Gale Research Inc. Abudabbeh, N. (1996). Arab Families. In M. McGoldrick, J. Giordano, and J. Pearce, (Eds.), Ethnicity and Family History (pp Abudabbeh, N., & Nydell, M. (1993). Transcultural counseling and Arab Americans. J Cleveland, W. (1999). A History of the modern Middle East. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Daniels, R. (1993). Prisoners without trial: Japanese Americans in World War II. New York, NY: Hill and Wang. Delong-Bas, N. (2004). Wahhabi Islam: From revival and reform to global jihad. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dwairy, M, & Van Sickle, T. (1996). Western psychotherapy in traditional Arabic societies. Clinical Psychology Review, 16, 231-249. Engineer, A. (2004). The Rights of women in Islam. Annapolis, MD: New Dawn Publishing. Erickson, C., & Al-Timimi, N. (2004). Counseling and psychotherapy with Arab American clients. In T. Smith, (Ed.), Practicing Multiculturalism: Affirming Diversity in Counseling and Psychology. Boston, MA: Pearson. Goodwin, J. (2002). Price of honor: Muslim women lift the veil of silence on the Islamic world. London: Plume Books. Gorkin, M., Masalha, S., & Yatziv, G. (1985). Psychotherapy of Israeli-Arab patients: Some cultural considerations. The Journal of Psychoanalytic Anthropology, 8, 215-230. Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T. (1997). Terror management theory of self- esteem and cultural world-views: Empirical assessments and conceptual refinements. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 29, 61-139. Hedayat-Diba, Z. (2000). Psychotherapy with Muslims. In P. S. Richards & A. Bergin (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and religious diversity (pp Hournani, A. (1992). A History of the Arab peoples. New York, NY: Warner Books. Jackson, M. (1997). Counseling Arab Americans. In Courtland Lee (Ed.), Multicultural Issues in Counseling: New Approaches to Diversity, (pp Keddie, N. (2003). Modern Iran: Roots and results of revolution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Laqueur, W., & Rubin, B. (2001). The Israel-Arabic reader: A documentary history of the Middle East conflict. New York, NY: Penguin Books. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. (2004). The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States Norwich, J. (1998). A Short history of Byzantium. New York, NY: Vintage Books. Said, E. (1997). Covering Islam. New York, NY: Pantheon Books. Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2000). Pride and prejudice: Fear of death and social behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(6), 200-204. Suleiman, M. (1988). Arabs in the mind of America. Brattleboro, VT: Amana Book.