Are Arabs White?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

JAQs.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

I don't really care.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Yes, generally so.

[Nhoj]

The vast majority are. But arab is a rather broad term.

[politicus]

Poll would make more sense if you divided it according to the continents posters live on + Atlas will be even more unrepresentative than usual on something like this.

[Beet]

Depends on the social context, duh.

[politicus]

Depends on the social context, duh.

This is the correct answer.

[Zioneer]

White Americans tend to treat Arabs as non-white, but Arabs can identify themselves as whatever they want to be.

I'd say there should be a "White Arab" census definition (like White Hispanic), for the sole purpose of making sure that affirmative action programs can reach them as well as other ethnic minorities. If they're classified as White, wouldn't that give them problems with applying to ethnicity-based benefits (like scholarships), while socially being treated as non-white because they're Arabs?

[Goldwater]

I don't really care.

[ingemann]

Most of them are.

[Lief 🗽]

Some are, some aren't.

[Murica!]

Human

[Simfan34]

Depends on the Arab. Some in the region might resent the label Arab, even (e.g. Maronites).

[All Along The Watchtower]

While not a serious thread....

At least in the US, I'd argue that Arabs (and Muslims in general, though of course not all Arabs are Muslim) have seen a general decline in social status within the past decade and a half. And it surely varies by country, whether we're talking about recent immigrants vs long-time residents vs. the descendants of immigrants, etc. So, it really depends on the time and place, and overall context.

Not sure if or how this question applies in the Middle East itself...

[Indy Texas]

Arab is an ethnicity, not a race. You can have Caucasian Arabs and you can have Black Arabs, just as you can have Caucasian Hispanics and Black Hispanics and Indigenous Hispanics.

Examples of Arabs who are white...

Jeanine Piro (R-N.J.)


Camille Chamoun, former President of Lebanon


Examples of black/African Arabs...

Omar Bashir, President of Sudan


Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt

[angus]

Are Arabs White?

?  Odd question.  I reckon some are and some aren't. 

Didn't vote in the poll.  It's rather like asking whether grapes are green.  Some are, of course, but some are purple.  And some are cranberry-colored.  I can't say "yes" to "are grapes green?" either.

Where are you going with this anyway?

[politicus]

Arab is an ethnicity, not a race. You can have Caucasian Arabs and you can have Black Arabs, just as you can have Caucasian Hispanics and Black Hispanics and Indigenous Hispanics.

That is only relevant if you say that Caucasians = White. If White is a subgroup of Caucasians (basically only people of European descent minus - ironically - people from Caucasus and maybe some Mediterranean countries) people from the Middle East and North Africa will regardless of skin colour be non-White. So the question was about where you draw the line (or where you think most people draw the line).

Or at least I assume that was what Gully is asking about.

(see the "are Spanish and Portuguese White" thread for context)

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I'd guess it depends a lot on how long ago they or their ancestors arrived in whichever country in which this a relevant question.

[politicus]

I'd guess it depends a lot on how long ago they or their ancestors arrived in whichever country in which this a relevant question.

And to a large degree on how light skinned the host population is + Christian Arabs seems to be considered as whiter than Muslims in many places. I imagine immigrant communities getting wealthier will influence it as well. Anthropological studies show that wealthier people are perceived as whiter in racially mixed countries.

[Redalgo]

Race designations are arbitrary and subjective to such a degree that a lot of people in my community would describe "Arab" itself as a race distinct from others. It is all rubbish. People like to carve themselves up into little tribal groups. Physical appearance and lineage are simply among the excuses they offer up to do so.

[Thunderbird is the word]

This just shows how ridiculous and arbitrary the whole concept of race is. There's a time when Jews and Italians weren't considered white either in America yet now both groups are even though some could pass for Arab or vice versa.

[politicus]

It seems Arab-Americans are increasingly against being classified as White (partly because they don't feel white and partly because they are not seen as such by other whites - which are interrelated to some extent of course) and want their own ethnic category in the census. The Census Bureau considers making a category for people from the Middle East and North Africa.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/03/24/census-bureau-explores-new-middle-eastnorth-africa-ethnic-category/

Basically Arabs are (officially) White because being classified as such was necessary to avoid discrimination against Asian immigration in early 20th century (and before of course).

Interesting background:

http://www.aaiusa.org/pages/not-quite-white-race-classification-and-the-arab-american-experience

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Arabs and Jews are considered white in my corner of the world.

[politicus]

Arabs and Jews are considered white in my corner of the world.

Interesting, does that also apply for right wing Poles?

Jews are considered white all over contemporary Europe by the general population. So Jews & Arabs is not a pair that "goes together", so to speak, in modern European racial classification.

EDIT: Given that Arab immigration to Poland is so recent and Poles are a notoriously pale people I am sceptical about this and you could be biased given that you study Arabic culture. Has there been any surveys about how Arabs are perceived in Poland?

If true what could explain this deviation from the general pattern in Central Europe?

[The Mikado]

Some are. A Syrian is probably white (if Mediterranean, comparable to Greeks and Turks), while a Sudanese person probably is not white. Arab is one of those terms like Hispanic that doesn't convey a race. Just like there are white, black, and even Asian Hispanics (Alberto Fujimori?), there are Arabs of every color.