The role of multilingualism and environmental influences on identity perceptions among university students of part-Arab and part non-Arab ethnicities

How is identity shaped in "part-Arab" young adults who grew up in a post 9/11 society which tends to find conflict with “the other?” Immigrants and refugees from the Middle East living in the United States may experience an internal conflict on how to raise their next generation. The occurrences of assimilation and appropriation in addition to the feeling of the Arabic word, Al-ghorba, or longing for the homeland, greatly influence parents’ choice of language in communicating to his or her child. The use of Arabic language in the household has been shown to deepen ones connection to his or her Arab heritage, yet does a lack of Arabic create a distance in this connection? When immigrants select life partners of differing ethnicities, children from multiethnic marriages may find themselves challenged by their own discovery of self-identification, thus reaching identity affirmation later than mono-ethnic children. Rhetoric involving migration of ethnic Arabs in the U.S. has increased exponentially over the past decade, thus marking an increased importance to focus on shaping identity in ethnically part-Arab young adults and because language so closely links us to identity, the aim of this paper seeks to explore how languages and environmental influences affect ethnic identity formation among part-Arab university students. A total of ten students who identified as part-Arab participated in focus groups and follow-up interviews, answering questions related to ethnic identity, environmental influences on identity, and languages spoken. Students were recruited through Arabic language classes at the University of Texas at Austin as well through the snowball effect through word of mouth. Languages spoken inside and outside of the home, travel to the Middle East/North Africa region, food and traditions shared within the family, religious practices and color of skin arose as factors influencing identity affirmation in university students who identified part-Arab. Findings primarily supported, yet somewhat challenged existing literature which reviewed language acquisition and identity among students who identified as multiethnic. In addition, Arab American immigration patterns resulting in mixed marriages, post-9/11 literature, and heritage language learning literature also support the current research findings.