Tarek Fahmy: Cultural Critic

In my thesis project I am dealing with stereotypes and one way to change them. Since I am an Egyptian-American the stereotypes that I want to change are directed towards Arabs in the USA. Generally, these stereotypes are all negative.

Many of these stereotypes are perpetuated by the media specifically Hollywood. Since “Hollywood and Washington spring from the same DNA”, Jack Velenti, these stereotypes are also evident in Washington’s arsenal.

One way to change these stereotypes and humanize Arabs in the western world is to have a lobby in Hollywood via an Arab owned production company.

(DIC), a state owned Dubai International Capital just bought a ’significant’ share of Sony. As you may or may not know, Sony bought the Hollywood giant Colombia Pictures in 1989. In effect, DIC bought a stake in Colombia pictures as well.

I want to design the identity of the ‘new’, Arab owned Colombia pictures. Further, I want to develop a medium sized subsidiary of Colombia pictures that specializes in the production of Arab American films/documentaries, and the like.

Article Link

This article deals with the security in NY’s transportation systems after the bombing in the London underground. Mayor Bloomberg ordered police to start searching bags in the subway, “But there will be absolutely no profiling, Mr. Bloomberg vowed…”.

The writer argues that since the people responsible for 9-11 and the London underground bombings were ‘middle easterners’ that racial profiling is justified, and in fact the rational thing to do.

Early on in the class, we had to select a broad topic of interest to do research on.
My selected topic was ‘Racial profiling‘.

:::::::::I found this definition online:::::::::

racial profiling: the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining if a person is considered likely to commit a crime

Examples of racial profiling in USA:
• Native Americans: mistakenly profiled as Hispanics or middle easterners.
• Mexicans: Illegal immigration
• Arabs, muslims, middle easterners, and south Asians: terrorists
• Blacks and Puerto Ricans: Crime

I started to free associate with the term racial profiling and came up with a number of other interesting words.

• xenophobia: is a fear or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreigners. The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself.

• racism: by its simplest definition, is discrimination based on a racial group.

• Islamophobia: is a term that refers to prejudice against Islam or Muslims.

Since I am an Egyptian-American I want to focus on the Arabic issue in the West and i would like to understand how Arabs are stereotyped and objectified in that culture. I also want to change that stereotyping by raising awareness to it.

“I think that whenever we see a group of people being demonizeed on a regular basis we have to speak up.”