Abstract:
For immigrants and refugees, the concept of "home" is seldom a concrete definition, as
the question of where "home" is - either in the country of origin or the new country,
activates a tension in self-identity. For the Palestinian immigration and refugee
experience, the longstanding Arab-Israeli Conflict produces an even more complex
tension. The purpose of this study is to explore this tension in a Palestinian-American
context. To do so, the research project focuses on an oral history project about Ibrahim
Hamide, a restaurateur and human rights activist in Eugene for the past 40 years. The
project involved taking participant observation notes prior to the series of interviews,
conducting the interviews themselves, coding the interviews for common themes, and
then analyzing the information with other works about the Palestinian/ Arab American
experience. The primary findings of this study indicate that Orientalism, a term by
Edward Said that means the representation of the Middle East in a stereotyped and
colonialist manner, has a major influence on the tension of self-identity. For Hamide,
this tension leads him to find solace in a ''universal identity," where spirituality and the
learning that takes place after enduring years of Orientalism ("ethic of cosmopolitan
care") are two key components. Rather than choosing between his two "homes," he
finds a sense of home in a universal realm. The significances of this research are that it
sheds light onto post-trauma resilience and serves as documented piece of history for
the Eugene community.
Description:
111 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Anthropology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Winter 2015.