The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/middle-east/)
There are multiple ways to understand how the war in the Middle East is affecting life around us. One way, perhaps, may be to see it as an assault on the teaching profession and discourse around nation.
Today, I’m reaching out as part of the Cornell community, which is of deep importance to me and my family. I attended Cornell, as did my parents and two of my children.
Over the last fifteen years, Sal, an olive-skinned Arab man alongside whom I’ve grown up, has taught me to see into his world. His world is one where TSA doesn’t let him leave the country without pulling him out of the security line for extra security screening. It’s a world where, when his parents try to pass through Israel to see family in Palestine, airport security drills holes in the soles of their shoes to check for explosives.
Scrolling through my various social media accounts, I see countless posts illuminating and celebrating the work of successful Arab women. These women are praised not only for achieving success, but also for refuting lazy stereotypes that paint Arab women as helpless and oppressed. Breaking through institutional barriers that women around the world face is certainly something to admire and aspire to. However, the few women whose stories are shared do not represent the majority of Arab women, and it’s important to think about why certain women are highlighted while others are not. “Success” for Arab women seems increasingly to be defined as gaining status as a businesswoman, an entrepreneur, occasionally a designer.