essay

Mahdi Pournazari

Quinones

Ethnic Studies 101

The Importance of Identity

While the Middle East is filled with rich culture and history, it is looked at through a stereotypical lens. The media in Western civilizations creates stereotypes for Middle Eastern people, for example, all Middle Eastern people are terrorists, or all Middle Eastern people speak Arabic. Anybody who actually knows about Middle Eastern culture and its diversity is at a loss for words when they hear these statements.

Authors such as Franck Salameh and his work, “Salameh, F. (2012). Language, memory, and identity in the Middle East: the case for Lebanon. Lanham: Lexington Books”,