Ethnic and Racial Studies Vol. 30 No. 1 January 2007 pp.

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Racial and religious contexts: Situational identities among Lebanese and Somali Muslim immigrants
Kristine J. Ajrouch and Abdi M. Kusow

Abstract This study addresses the racial and religious contexts of identity formation among Lebanese immigrants to the United States of America and Somali immigrants to Canada. Each enters with a different racial status: Lebanese as white; Somalis as black/visible minority. Ethnographic interviews explore the strategies of adaptation and identity development within these groups. Specifically, we compare and contrast the Lebanese and Somali experience through an analysis of ethnic relations in the country of origin, the conditions of immigration, and through accounts of their encounters and identity negotiation with the host society. We demonstrate the strategies each group implements to negotiate both race and religion in identity development. Our findings reveal that each group attempts to make their religious identity evident, however, Somali immigrants must negotiate the effects of othering processes with both race and religion, while Lebanese immigrants build a religious identity from privileges afforded to them by virtue of their white racial status.

Keywords: Immigration; identity; Lebanese; Somali; Muslim; race.

Introduction Immigration to both the United States and Canada has shifted over the years, particularly since the mid-1960s so that the greater majority originates from Latin America, Asia, and Africa (Bureau of United States Census 1997; Peak and Ray 2001; Baines 2002). Moreover, a shift in religious diversity among immigrants, most notably an increase in Muslims, has occurred so that otherness emerges on both racial and religious grounds. The purpose of this article is to explore how Muslim immigrants, originating from two different cultural and

# 2007 Taylor & Francis ISSN 0141-9870 print/1466-4356 online DOI: 10.1080/01419870601006553

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racial backgrounds, negotiate identity in both the United States and Canada. An examination of the intersection between racial and religious identities among Muslims migrating from Lebanon and Somalia provides a novel opportunity to examine how the lines between race and ethnicity blur as immigrants negotiate their identities in their respective host countries. An increasing number of scholars over the past two decades have acknowledged the role of technology and ease of travel as consequential to the immigrant experience. They have described the immigrant experience as one that involves maintaining cultural, economic and social ties to the homeland society. This approach, known as transnationalism (Basch, Glick-Schiller and Szanton Blanc 1994; Malkki 1995; Matsuoka and Sorenson 2001), introduces homeland ties as a key component to the immigrant adaptation process in the host country. We build on this paradigm by providing an empirical instance that illustrates how the interactions between religion and race on the one hand, and homeland and host context on the other, represent critical variables in delineating the processes through which Muslim immigrants live through the adaptation process. While some recent research has examined the connection between identities and transnational migration (Al-Haj 2002; Mittelberg and Borschevsky 2004), a comparative assessment of how identity emerges among Muslim immigrants, and perhaps more critically how it shifts in relation to the homeland, represents an area in need of examination. Race and immigration One way to understand the situational and negotiated nature of racial identities is to examine how a normative racial stratification system patterns the process of immigrant assimilation (Sorenson 1991; Bashi and Mcdonald 1997). Historically, the assimilation of immigrant groups has been articulated in terms of their degree of closeness to and distance from certain cultural, physical, and moral ideals. Those perceived as nearer to white cultural ideals were assumed to assimilate to whiteness, while those who are culturally and physically distinct from whiteness were assumed to assimilate to blackness, or some other non-white category. This process of othering, according to Ong (1996, p. 751) emerges in a range of mechanisms that variously subject nonwhite immigrants to whitening and blackening processes that indicate the degree of their closeness to or distance from the ideal white standards. In order to show how the process of blackening and whitening works, Ong provides ethnographic data that demonstrate the ways in which class informs the process of racialization by illustrating how poor welfare dependent Vietnamese immigrants are blackened while affluent Hong Kong Chinese are whitened.

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One example where the process of whitening and blackening is not completely understood is revealed by the experience of South Asian immigrants to the U.S. (Kibria 1996), where they do not know which category they fit into and as such become ambiguous whites (p. 79). Another example involves Ethiopian immigrants to Canada. Sorenson (1991) illustrates how, upon immigration, Ethiopians face tense relations with those of Jamaican ancestry because they do not readily accept a black identity, preferring to identify with their national origin. Furthermore, Ethiopians encounter an official governmental policy in Canada that does not address social and economic needs of specific cultural or ethnic subcultures, instead opting to keep all Africans together. While Canada approaches its diverse population with a multicultural outlook, still prevalent are notions about a black identity, assumed to include any group with dark skin, regardless whether national origins are from Jamaica or from Ethiopia (Sorenson 1991). These instances indicate that race must be simultaneously understood as a social construction (e.g. Nagel 1994), and as an important organizing principle of social relations in North America, maintained through the competitive interactions between state agencies and minority groups agitating for social change (Omi and Winant 1986, 1994). In other words, race is both a structuring and cultural force in society, shaping interactions as well as being shaped by individual/group agency. Race categories are unstable and fluctuating. While ideas of race structure individual experiences and interactions, definitions of race are also subject to renegotiations, drawing simultaneously from present day and historical predicaments. A key issue to consider in any discussion of race and acculturation is the definition of whiteness. In the U.S., it is an identity that includes both physical characteristics and ideological premises to designate superiority in relation to the other (Cornell and Hartmann 1998; Lewis 2002). In Canada, whiteness represents an implicit (and frequently explicit) norm around which belonging is constructed (Peake and Ray 2001, p. 180). While Canada has officially adopted a multicultural policy, Peake and Ray suggest that it is nevertheless framed by . . . white culture . . . which dominates in terms of social, economic and political power, (p. 182) and therefore insufficiently addresses matters of systematic racism. Similarly, blackness is also at the very basic level derived from physical characteristics and is delegated to any person of known black African descent with the implication that a single drop of black blood makes a person black (Davis 1991, p. 41). While immigrants to Canada may deny affiliation with a black identity, Canadians, both black and white, resent those recent African immigrants who do not identify as such (Sorenson 1991). In reality, the meaning of blackness is a variable phenomenon that has been determined by the different socio-cultural

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and historical moments that defined and continue to define the nature of racial categories (Gordon and Anderson, 1999). Below we provide a conceptual model to illustrate the various ways in which race and religion intersect to produce minority and majority status in both the homeland and host country. Conceptual framework Some forty years ago, Gregory Stone (1962) proposed that identity is not a property of individuals but of social relationships. Critical to this notion is the extent of identity validation, which Stone regarded as the basis upon which consensual roles are enacted. In his scheme, identities are established when identity announcements (information given by persons about who they are) correspond to identity placements (categories that others place the person in). The degree of correspondence between these two can range from total lack of fit between announcements and placements, resulting in identity invalidation and role enactment confusion to total fit between announcements and placements, resulting in complete consensus. In this scheme, therefore, identities are variable, ranging from stable and enduring to unstable and transient, and because they are information-dependent are always constructed and potentially negotiable. We draw from Stones general formulations of identity transactions to join current debates about immigration, race, and religion in our research on Lebanese Muslim immigrants to the U.S. and Somali Muslim immigrants to Canada. For both immigrant groups Islam constitutes an integral force in their originating country, organizing social life. While not always consciously referenced, it exists as an implicit element of everyday life and shapes the nature of daily interactions. However, Islam does not exist as an automatic presence in the U. S. or Canada, both of which are known as Christian countries. Those who are Muslim in North America must engage in identity work to ensure legitimate recognition. On the other hand, race represents a pervasive organizing mechanism in both countries. As such, while classifying individuals strictly on the basis of physical appearance can become complicated, in most cases whether one belongs to the majority group or that of the minority, s/he has no need to assert her/himself, rather it becomes readily apparent. In fact, both the U. S. and Canada collect official data on race through their national census (Darden and Kamel 2000), a legal and government sanctioned identity category that does not exist in either Lebanon or Somalia. Ultimately, we address a question of identity salience (Stryker 1968). Our research question is informed by the contention that identity formation is simultaneously engendered by the social and racial

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conditions in which immigrants come from as well as those they encounter in their host environments. In other words, we argue that identities not only emerge from the social and racial boundaries that define a majority/minority status in the host country, but they also reflect those in the homeland environment. Table 1 presents a matrix of situational identities, the conceptual framework that displays criteria by which identities and the resulting social status emerges in both the homeland and host country. In particular we compare and contrast the situation of Lebanese immigrants to the U.S. and Somali immigrants to Canada. Both Lebanese and Somali immigrants occupied an identity based on religious characteristics in their homelands. Religious affiliation signifies a minority social status for the Muslim Shia in Lebanon, while for the Somalis religious indicators of identity position them as members of the majority culture. However, upon immigration the nature of identity markers shifts in that race becomes a key dimension by which identity placements occur. Social status definitions become inverted so that while the Shia held a minority status in their country of origin, they claim dominant group status by virtue of their placement in the white racial category once they immigrate to the United States. A similar process occurs with regard to Somali immigrants to Canada. They occupied the status of dominant society members by virtue of their religious characteristics in Somalia; however, immigration to Canada places their cultural characteristics in the realm of the visible minority category, which implicitly includes race as a key element in that designation. While characteristics based on culture/religion contribute to identity placements in Canada, racial categories introduce another level to the matrix of identity and become a principal means by which Somali immigrants enter a minority status in contrast to their dominant group position in Somalia.
Table 1. Situational Identities
Lebanese Immigrants United States Identities Religion Racial Social Status Homeland Yes No Minority Host No Yes Majority Somali Immigrants Canada Homeland Yes No Majority Host Yes Yes Minority

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Data and methods Description of the studies The dimensions of situational identities reported here were derived from two-independently conducted qualitative studies (see Ajrouch 1997, 1999, 2000 and Kusow 1998, 2003, 2004, for a detailed discussion of methods and substantive findings). Study 1 was conducted in the Detroit-Dearborn metropolitan areas in the state of Michigan, home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the U.S. (Zogby 1990). The data presented were collected between 1995 and 1996. The purpose of the study was to explore the dynamics of ethnic identity formation among children of Arab immigrants. Study 2 was conducted in Toronto, Canada, estimated to house the largest population of Somali immigrants in Canada and all of North America (for a published estimate in Toronto, CA, see Opoku-Dappah 1995). Data were collected from 1996 to 1997. The purpose of the study was to examine the role of migration and identity processes among Somali immigrants to Canada. Sample descriptions Data for Study 1 were collected from 30 Lebanese immigrant parents. Most of the Lebanese participants in this study had spent a good deal of time in Beirut; however, their initial places of origin were the villages and towns of south Lebanon. Immigration for about half (14) occurred in the 1970s, while the remainder (16) arrived in the early to mid 80s. While the main reason (61 per cent of responses) given for immigration is related to the incidence of war, the second most common explanation revolved around motives such as family reunification, opportunity and marriage. Data for Study 2 were collected from thirty Somali immigrants. Of the thirty Somali participants, 87 per cent were born in an urban area. About one third (10) of the Somali immigrants came to Canada before 1990 while the remaining two thirds (20) came after 1990. Nearly 80 per cent of the Somali immigrants in this study left as a result of the civil war, with the rest immigrating for educational and health purposes. For both samples, participants were equally divided between men and women. Data collection and analysis Data gathered for both studies included audio-taped interviews, and observation in community events. The data in Study 1 were originally derived from fieldwork carried out in the Dearborn public school system. Parents of children who attended this school were contacted

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and asked to participate in either a focus group discussion or a life history interview that would address the issue of raising children in America. Two focus groups were conducted (six participants each) at a social service agency serving the community and eighteen structured, open-ended interviews were completed in the participants home. The focus group questions and open-ended interviews from which data about Lebanese immigrants were collected involved questions that probed for an understanding of the immigrants perceptions of life in the country of origin juxtaposed to life in the United States, conditions that prompted immigration, attitudes about living in the United States, experiences of discrimination, and understanding of community life. Participants were asked to directly compare and contrast the Arab from the American in an attempt to gauge the parameters around which identity is organized, and to glimpse the strategies immigrant parents use to teach their children about who they are and from where they come. The strength of the open-ended format is evident in that information not directly sought often arises through conversations between the interviewer and the participant(s), revealing critical insights about the immigrant experience not otherwise tapped. The data in Study 2 were originally derived from fieldwork carried out in Toronto, Canada. Respondents were interviewed at their home or in an agreed upon location. The primary interview schedule used to interview Somali immigrants comprised thirty-nine open-ended questions and a face sheet containing several socio-demographic variables. The open-ended questions were divided into two thematic areas. The first group of questions pertained to the cultural background of the respondents, particularly, their perceptions of colour-based identity categories before leaving their homeland. The second group consisted of questions dealing with their encounter of colour-based racial categories in North America. In both studies, the authors conducted each interview, and transcribed all interviews verbatim. The initial coding consisted of a detailed reading of each interview (open coding) followed by axial and selective coding (Strauss and Corbin 1990). Once the initial categories and dimension were identified, connections between categories and sub-categories became apparent. The coding schemes developed for each study were then compared and contrasted to one another to generate a profile of conceptual themes and relationships that emerged from each data source (see Table 1). The master categories developed from this comparative data included: 1) Homeland, and 2) Host Society contexts. Each of these master categories resulted in two subcategories: majority and minority statuses. By majority and minority status we refer to the socio-political position of study participants before and after migration. The coding process further gave rise to the prominence of religion and race as two central

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organizing themes in which majority/minority statuses are established. This process was initially achieved through open coding which allowed us to fracture data for the identification of categories, their properties, and dimensions within and across studies (Strauss and Corbin 1990). Although the studies were conducted by two researchers in two different communities, findings from both studies were remarkably consistent in terms of the adjustment process. The Lebanese in the U.S. and Somalis in Canada each reveal how their migration experiences were affected by the interaction between both the cultural and racial contexts of the host country and the homeland. Notable was the overlapping of significant themes regarding strategies each use to negotiate identity as Muslim immigrants. This comparative analysis provides a unique opportunity to highlight the situational aspects of identity formation. Social organzation of homeland and host societies Homeland Lebanon . Lebanon, once part of Greater Syria, was established as a country after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. In 1920, the French declared Lebanon to be a sovereign state, and in 1926, it received a constitution that transformed Lebanon into a Republic. The Lebanese Republic was released from the French mandate in 1943. In 1946, Lebanon became totally independent from France. The country prospered for twenty-five years until civil war broke out in 1972 between religious factions. Lasting for almost twenty years, the civil war formally ended in 1990 when all parties agreed to power sharing between Christian and Muslim sects. Religious affiliation is an important organizing mechanism in Lebanon, and a major component of ones political and social identity. There are seven main religious groups: Maronites, Sunni Muslim, Shia Muslim (the single largest sect), Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Druze, and Armenian Orthodox (Bates and Rassam 1983). By constitutional arrangement, quotas are set for the number of members serving in the political establishment, and positions of leadership are based upon religious affiliation. For example, regarding positions of power: the President of Lebanon must be a Maronite, the President of the Parliament is Shia Muslim, the Prime Minister of the country is a Sunni Muslim, and so forth. Also, whereas civil, commercial, and criminal law is the same for all citizens, (i.e. the administration of such laws are carried out by state courts), family matters concerning marriage, divorce, and inheritance are left up to religious courts officially recognized as part of the Lebanese judiciary. Therefore, religion and sect have to be designated on all legal

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identifications, regardless of personal wishes (Salibi 1988). These processes also produce a stratification system based on religious affiliation, with Christians historically occupying the highest levels, followed by Sunni Muslims, and last the Shia Muslims. The Shia of southern Lebanon have occupied the lowest end of the social strata and possessed the least amount of power and privilege (Ajami 1986). Oppressed and denied access to resources, the Shia were, and still in some circles remain in Lebanon, the epitome of what in the U.S is often referred to as a culture of poverty (Ajami 1986). Their low position in Lebanese society, coupled with the civil war in the late 1970s and all through the 1980s, simultaneously further marginalized the Shia and spurred immigration activities. Immigrants in this study are Shia Muslims from the south of Lebanon. Upon immigration to the U.S., the Shia enter a society stratified by race, and become part of the privileged class by virtue of their racial affiliation, i.e. legally classified as white. Somalia. The Somali Republic became independent in 1960 as a result of the unification between southern and northern Somalilands previously administered by the Italian and British colonial powers respectively. After two successful parliamentary-based civilian administrations from 1960 to 1964, and 1964 to 1968, a military regime toppled the third administration and remained in power until 1990 when the whole country descended into a generalized civil war. Somalia remains without a consensually recognized national government to this day. Unlike Lebanon where the demarcation between Sunni and Shia Islam is an important category of social stratification, virtually all Somalis are professed Sunni, and therefore religious affiliation is not a category of internal social differentiation. Islam, nevertheless, provides a central cultural frame of reference; it is the predominating value system that informs daily life. In terms of social organization, Somali society is divided into five major social groups conveniently known as clans. These are a vast confederation of kinship-based groupings that ultimately claim descent from a mythical ancestor whose status is based on perceived nearness to the lineage of the prophet Mohammed. Descent among individuals within each clan is traced through the male line. Thus, the nature of social organization, as well as the degree of segmentation/differentiation is derived from what anthropologists refer to as segmentary lineage systems. Such societies are made up of several structurally similar groups capable of combining and dividing at various levels depending on the prevailing social, political, and economic circumstances. In other words, social order, whether it relates to political organization, social stratification, or economic distribution, is mediated by perceived clan differences.

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Clan differences, however, are not based on actual racial or ethnic differences, or on observable economic class. This does not, however, mean that social stratification does not altogether exist in Somalia. There are a number of groups who occupy culturally subordinated statuses in Somalia (Kusow forthcoming). However, on both cultural and religious counts, the participants in this study occupy majority status as members of mainstream Somali society. Host Societies United States . Immigration to the United States includes the experience of being placed into a racial hierarchy; race is a master status, and one of the primary means by which identity is established (Bonilla-Silva 1999). Racial identification rests on physical appearances, including skin colour, hair texture, and facial features. Immigrants from Lebanon, regardless of religious affiliation, are labelled as Caucasian/White, a placement secured by a series of legal cases after the Syrian/Lebanese racial identity was questioned throughout the rise of nativist fears in the U.S. during the early 1900s (Gaultier 2001). Denied citizenship due to their Asiatic origins, the Syrian/Lebanese actively claimed whiteness through references to their Christian faith and Semitic (hence Caucasian) origins (immigrants from Lebanon at the end of the nineteenth century, were primarily Christians (Naff 1994)). The denial of U.S. citizenship at the turn of the century forced Lebanese immigrants to embrace the racial hierarchy as they actively lobbied to be white as opposed to the other (black or Mongol). Aside from the legal classification, because the appearance of Lebanese immigrants resemble other Mediterranean people, including those originally from Italy, Greece, or Spain, the average Lebanese immigrant becomes indistinguishable from those of southern Europe. The primary physical marker that distinguishes Muslim Lebanese from other dominant group members is style of dress. That is, otherness is announced when Muslim Lebanese women opt to wear a head scarf, or some variation, designating a religious identity. Canada. As far as racial classification is concerned, Canada is somewhat different from the United States, but in a general sense also quite similar. In this regard, Canada historically differs from the United States in that as a nation it did not experience slavery to the same degree. The majority of the black population in Toronto resulted from Caribbean immigration over the last few decades, and more recently due to migration from Africa. Also, Canadas cultural ideology regarding race relations is officially guided by multiculturalism, a public affirmation of diverse cultures in society, as opposed to

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assimilation, which stresses conformity to the dominant cultural norm. In general, though, because of its proximity to the United States, original settlement patterns (European origin) and history of immigration, Canadas cultural and social ideals, including race relations, reflect a similar inclination to that of the United States. For example, similar to the normative white/non-white dichotomy in the United States, Canada employs white versus visible minorities. The two categories, despite differences in terminology, clearly perform the same processes of exclusion and inclusion. Moreover, in Canada, the notion of blackness is articulated through Jamicanness. According to Levin (1988) . . . despite the existence of white Jamaicans and blacks who are not Jamaicans, in Canada, Jamaicanness has become a euphemism for black (quoted in Jackson 1998, p. 28). Legally those who migrate from Somalia are classified as a visible minority in the Canadian Census, a phrase that in other words, denotes a non-white status. In that sense, racial classifications in Canada may differ from those in the U.S. in the political sense, but not substantively in the ways that race/visible minority status affects social relations and access to resources in both Canada and the U.S. Identity placements and announcements Muslim Lebanese immigrants in the United States Immigration policy in the U. S. historically employed whiteness as a precondition for citizenship (Gaultieri 2001; Hale 2002), and so the saliency of race to adaptation among immigrants is a deep-rooted phenomenon that implicitly organizes the migrant experience. A key issue to consider in the analysis of immigrant adaptation is the definition of whiteness. Whiteness represents a sociological category that demarcates unspoken privilege and power. Its existence derives from the construction of otherness; in other words, the designation of those groups held in lower esteem, possessing less power and privilege in society. To be white means not having to refer to ones race; it is a privileged status that does not require contemplation or reflection (McIntosh 1989). The influx of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East in some ways challenges the ideological underpinnings of whiteness. Legally placed in the white category, their national origins and religious affiliation differ from the initial defining characteristics (Samhan 1999). However, Lebanese Shia Muslims in this study embrace whiteness as a preferred social identity. Even though other white Muslim immigrants may embrace whiteness upon immigration to the U.S., this tentatively suggests that the Shia from Lebanon, because they experienced life as a minority in their homeland, readily embrace

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the privilege that comes with whiteness by ignoring the aspects of their identity that directly conflict with the Christian ideals of whiteness. The benefits of adopting a white identity extend beyond simple successful adaptation; it also confers the advantage of rejecting homeland arrangements. The combined effect provides the bases upon which elevated self-worth and positive identities emerge. We will discuss this phenomenon further in relation to the data presented below, but suffice it to say that the tendency among Lebanese Shia Muslim to embrace a white identity in part stems from the minority status experience in their homeland. The consequence and benefit of dominant group placement emerges through the narratives they produce about their immigrant experiences. Participants elaborate on how religious identity in the homeland shaped their concepts of self. From the discussion below, one senses the depth of this fact, lodged in their upbringing. LENA: In Lebanon, the Christians have all the freedoms they want. Theyre proud to be Christian because, theyre the stronger, ah, well they have the power. NINA: Yeah. And then, I dont know, our parents, taught us to be ashamed of ourselves, not to be proud. You know, to look down on yourself, and look up at the Christians. But this country teaches you not to do that. You know, be proud, and ah, your culture is SARAH: In this country, the freedom in this country gave us more, like a chance to be what we are, gave us the chance to become somebody, and you know we owe it to this country, I think. LENA: Mhmm. Yeah, we owe it to this country. Once in the U.S., Shia Muslims find themselves part of the dominant racial category. This social status aids in the development of a positive sense of self, and pride in their religion, which signifies movement from a minority status to majority status. Of particular interest is that they reference all the privileges associated with whiteness (e.g. freedom), yet do not explicitly refer to the racial identity itself. In other words, they do not talk about being white. This omission lends support to the idea that whiteness is an unspoken privilege, an identity that does not always require direct, verbal reference (McIntosh 1988). In fact, Lebanese Shia Muslim immigrants directly compare their social status in the homeland (Lebanon) to that of the host country (U.S.): NINA: Im talking, is you can be free to be whatever you want in this country. Back home, there is a lot, you cant say youre, especially before the civil war, ok, you were ashamed to say Yeah, Im Muslim, Shia.

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SARAH: Yeah, thats right. NINA: But in this country, you can be whatever you want to be . . . (commotion) and no one would say, that youre different. LENA: But now, if, even if you go back home, youre proud to be Shia. NINA: Well, Im talking aboutAnd Im proud to be Shia in this country, too. LENA: But you will be there too. Because this country teaches you to be yourself, (SARAH: Yeah) and to be proud of it. NINA: And you can speak your mind. You can sit in here and say whatever you want. SAWSAN: You can do whatever you want in this country. NINA: So back there, we didnt have this freedom. And up until now people dont have the freedom. SARAH: In this country youre given a chance, (SARAH: Yeah!) SARAH: To be yourself. Leaving the minority status of their homeland, and entering the dominant rank of their new home, Lebanese immigrants now assert their status based on individual qualities as opposed to status based on membership in a religious category. This fact appears when Sarah claims, They [Americans] make you feel you are a human being. So over there [Lebanon], you know there is a difference. They treat you, you know just because youre Muslim, youre worthless. Pride, equality, and being evaluated as an individual serves to elevate feelings of self-worth, effectively diminishing feelings of inferiority developed in Lebanon vis a ` vis their social status emerging from religious affiliation. The identity that emerges upon immigration is lodged in the privileges associated with being white. It appears that these Lebanese immigrants enjoy white privilege, in the sense of perceiving fairness, equality, and justice upon immigration, but do not directly reference their racial identity. They elaborate on their status in the U.S. without invoking the racial hierarchy into which they entered. The experience of Lebanese immigrants in this study is consistent with the practice of race in the U. S. where claim to whiteness itself does not need public acknowledgement. It is announced through such proxy categories as individualism, as well as perceptions of freedom and equality. Although none of the immigrants in this study explicitly reference their whiteness, the sense of entitlement they have developed mirrors white privilege. Being white means not having to acknowledge the existence of racial categories, and represents a strategy adopted by members of the privileged race (i.e. white) in order to ensure legitimate belonging and downplay any semblance of inequality (McIntosh 1989; Ignatiev 1995).

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Placement into the dominant social status upon immigration becomes threatened when Lebanese immigrants visibly announce a religious identity. The introduction of Islam as part of identity for Lebanese immigrants represents an instance where majority group membership is challenged, and to some extent causes doubt about whether one is accepted into the majority group. In the U.S., Islam produces a situation where immigrants from Arab speaking countries becomes racialized, or perceived as the other (Naber 2000). One participant describes a confrontation she had with a neighbour after she decided to cover her head and wear hijab. The neighbour calls out to this participant, whom we will call Joumana, upon seeing her wear the head scarf for the first time, You cant wear this rag on your head here! This is America. Joumana recounts: I dont used to answer her. Not once. But my husband, he answer her once. He said, this is America, we have the freedom to do whatever we want. And one time he called the police on her. The perception that their rights were violated, leading to a phone call to the police, illustrates the indignation this respondent and her husband felt from such remarks and harassment. Joumana states that she had a cordial relationship with this neighbour before she decided to wear the scarf. They would greet one another when they met on the street, however, when she witnessed a change in Joumanas appearance, she went crazy. I dont know why, who bother her? I dont know why. The above situation underscores the offence that Joumana and her husband took because of the unexpected reaction from her neighbour. However, this incident also illustrates the significance of appearance to identity, and more poignantly, how announcement of a religious identity (through dress) challenges placement into the dominant social status. In this case, the Lebanese Muslim immigrant woman witnesses the intolerance of an American neighbour towards her decision to wear the hijab (head scarf). The immigrant womans husband responds that in America, we have the freedom to do whatever we want. It seems that before this woman chose to wear the scarf on her head, she appeared acceptable to her neighbour. She was not readily identifiable as the other, and in particular, not as the religious other. Once she wore the scarf, however, such identification could occur. The negative reactions expressed by a neighbour who was at least cordial before the decision to dress in an Islamic fashion, offers evidence for how appearance (dress, clothing) not only affects how others see you, altering an identity from acceptable to unacceptable, but furthermore illustrates how religion interferes with full acceptance, at least at the interactional level of social life. While Joumana does not succumb to the pressure to conform to her neighbours idea of appropriate dress, the existence of this conflict reveals the tension that exists between an identity based on whiteness

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as opposed to one based on Islam. The religious identity she visibly demonstrates through dress in fact threatens her position as part of mainstream America. However, even when Joumana faces prejudiced attitudes from her non-Muslim American neighbour, the pride, confidence, and self-esteem developed by virtue of legal admission (i.e. classified as white) into dominant society serves as a source of reference for coping with such negative attitudes. The sense of freedom she draws from in order to justify her choice to deviate from the mainstream norm reflects a privilege accorded those with dominant status. Lebanese Muslim immigrants enjoy identity options (Waters 1990), but only to the extent that they do not announce a religious identity through dress, which ultimately places them outside the majority status. Muslim Somali immigrants in Canada In contrast to the Lebanese Shia immigrant sample, the Somali immigrants in this study have never experienced minority status, either religion or colour-based, in their homeland. The only system of social differentiation that they have actually experienced is based on clanbased categories. However, as we have pointed out earlier, clan differentiation, albeit a meaningful system of classification in Somalia, is not derived from racial or colour-based categories. In other words, for the Somali immigrants in Canada, identity is anything but racial (Kusow 2006:548). This proposition raises a fundamental dilemma for the idea of race in that it challenges the white-nonwhite binary opposition that is the constituent unit of the racial world-view in North America. Virtually all the respondents identified themselves in terms of nationality rather than colour-based identity categories. One woman who responded to the question what did you consider yourself while in Somalia, gave the following comment: I considered myself a Somali. Well, a Somali, like there is Chinese, Indian, or even the whites have different types, they dont all look alike, maybe we think that they look alike, but they dont. So, I consider myself a Somali, I did not consider myself as black, white, Chinese, or Indian, I considered myself as Somali and only Somali, that was my race. According to this participant, the identity invoked presents an undifferentiated, non stratified society in that she simply claims her identity as Somali. There are no references to religion, race, or clan. This is not to suggest that stratification does not exist in Somalia (see Kusow, forthcoming), rather this response signifies that the participant views the world through the lens of the majority group in Somalia. Claiming a nationality based identity as opposed to membership in a clan corresponds to the tendency among whites in the U.S., who do not acknowledge whiteness outwardly. As evidenced in the narrative

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above, dominant group members in Somalia have no need to acknowledge the characteristics that define them as members of the dominant group with majority social status. Despite cultural-based differences in Somalia, Somalis do not employ racialized identity categories to distinguish majority/minority social status in their everyday life interactions. Despite the fact that Somalis in Canada did not employ colour-based racialization to differentiate one another in the homeland, they are, at the same time, aware of the social and political significance of colour-based categories in Canada. Somalis in Canada are well aware of their minority status, and how that affects entitlement and limits full participation in the host country. In response to a question about whether or not a Somali can ever consider himself/herself a Canadian citizen, one participant responded: I dont think so, no. I dont consider myself and I will never consider myself because if you dont get your rights as a citizen, if on the side you are an immigrant and there is no point of claiming citizenship as an indigenous person. My kids who are born here I dont tell them that. I tell them this your country, this is your birth place, but deep in my heart I know, it is not their country, deep in my heart, I know this is a place they will never have the right to be a full citizen unless there are miracles which I dont think will happen. I dont think there will be a black Prime Minster in the next two hundred years in Canada. This comment indicates that racial categories do inform the identity experiences of Somalis in Canada. This is evident in that he refers to the likelihood of Canada ever electing a black Prime Minister. Whether or not immigrants perceive themselves as full citizens of their host country depends on the degree to which they have, or perceive they share similar identity categories with mainstream culture. In this case, Somalis learn that because they do not share the same racial identity as the dominant group in Canada, they face exclusion from full citizenship. In effect, they have moved from majority status in the homeland to occupying a minority status in Canada. A visible minority status in Canada supersedes any differentiation that may have existed within the country of origin, and also superimposes on national origin differences (Sorenson 1991). In some situations, however, the process is more complex because the issue may not be whether or not groups share similar identity categories, but which identity categories they share. For example, as illustrated above in the case of Lebanese immigrants today, sharing racial categories with the host society may be negated by differences in religion.

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What emerges from the interviews with Somali immigrants in Canada as well is that Somalis do not see their minority status strictly on the basis of their skin colour. Skin colour for Somalis becomes only one of the multitudes of identity categories through which they can assert their self identity. Thus, the majority of the respondents assert an identity through non-racialized, particularly, Islamic-based identity categories. While Islam operates as an othering process for Muslim Lebanese immigrants in the U.S., it serves as a strategy Somali immigrants implement to distance themselves from a black identity in Canada. By far, the most important and revealing strategy of staying outside the racialized structure of Canadian society is to deny the existence of discrimination based on race, insisting instead on culturalbased discrimination. Yeah a lot of times, a lot of times. First of all it was when I applied for a job. When they call you for an interview, the first thing they do is find out who you are because when they look at your resume and your work experience they always imagine maybe they are getting somebody who is white and when you show up and they see that you are an African woman and apart from being black being a Muslim that counts too, and sometimes you wear your Hijab and from there they tell you point blank we have a dress code. They ask is this the way you are going to dress. If the answer is yes, then you wont get the job. See when I first came, I used to think it was O.K. I thought because maybe that is their policy until I found out it was not O.K. If you have the experience and you can do the job, then they should not restrict you from what you believe and that is the time I visited I think the human rights office and read their code and every thing. So there was a time after that when I applied for a job and they took me, after taking me they decided I should put my Hijab down, I agreed to put the large over but I kept a small Hijab and then they said no you cant work with that thing, it is too bothersome for you, and this and that. But I said it does not bother me or anything. So I went to this human rights group who intervened. It took a while for them to understand the situation, but after everything was O.K. I still thought I had to leave the job because I was too uncomfortable I thought I wont it was still uncomfortable for me to work for them. The above narrative represents the shifting and increasingly complex ways in which immigrants negotiate identities. Historically, identities were negotiated on the basis of either racial or cultural categories. For those groups who were perceived as racially similar, but culturally different, identity placement as well as announcements were made on the basis of cultural differences. For those perceived racially different, but culturally similar, the process of othering was achieved through

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skin colour. What is striking about the above narrative, however, is that it provides an empirical instance in which the distinction between colour and cultural distinctions cannot be analytically or theoretically maintained because Somalis come to Canada with multiple identities, all of which represent a certain degree of otherness. However, they choose to announce cultural-that is-religious-based identity in favour of skin colour to announce their identity. Such announcement is mainly expressed through female behaviour, i.e., wearing the hijab. However, the resistance is more than just cultural, it is also racial. According to Stone, self and identity are established and maintained by the communication of appearances as much as they are through discourse. The overwhelming majority of Somali women in Canada wear the Islamic hijab. Some of them wear a more conservative version - one that covers the whole body including the face in such a way that one cannot distinguish the identity of the person. This religious attire is in fact very interesting in that women in Somalia do not simply wear the hijab culturally. In other words, Somali women as well as men in Canada become more devout Muslims than they were in Somalia (Bernes-McQwen 1999; Baines 2002). This tendency to practise a more strict interpretation of Islam upon immigration has been found to exist among other Muslim immigrants as well (e.g. see Haddad 1994), and often occurs as a strategy to create a familiar cultural space in response to an otherwise strange and alien value system. Moreover, it is the announcements made by women in their presentation of self through dress that signifies this identity for immigrants. They ensure that the hijab is outwardly noticeable such that it becomes an important visual identity marker to at least the same degree as skin colour. Somali identity emerges through two paths of othering, the first found in skin colour, and the other in religion. The religious identity is emphasized more in identity announcements than is skin colour. This process allows Somali immigrants to become part of a pan-ethnic Islamic identity as opposed to the visible minority category of African/black/Jamaican. Summary and conclusions We look specifically at the adaptation experiences of two Muslim immigrant groups entering a host society, focusing on the processes of racial and ethnic identity formation. The first dimension of this analysis addresses race and how established racial categories impinge upon an immigrant identity. The second dimension addresses the issue of religion, and illustrates how each immigrant group grapples with their religious affiliation within the existing racial/ethnic stratification system of North America. The negotiation of identity involves a desire

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to forge a sense of self that is positive. How each group manages the reaction to their religion stems from identity announcements they carried with them upon immigration, along with those identity placements they faced from entry to their new homeland. Such insights offer a unique opportunity to begin to discern the process of identity formation among immigrant groups, a critical building block upon which life trajectories and opportunities rest. Race and religion are two of the most critical variables in the experience of adaptation among immigrants, particularly in terms of discerning minority/majority status. Immigrants enter the host country with specific identity announcements, and whether they remain the same or change upon immigration hinges on both structural and cultural conditions. These migrant identities, as it were (see Maines 1978), do not enter the cultural configurations of the U.S. and Canada in identical ways. Moreover, insofar as those configurations entail identity placements, they present different kinds of identity transaction modalities for each immigrant group. The establishment of an identity occurs when structural definitions concur with those of the individual or group (Stone 1962). As Stone states, identifications with one another, in whatever mode, cannot be made without identification of one another (italics in original, p. 396). Indeed, establishing a racial identity is an interactional process, the meaning of which is produced through discourse and appearance, particularly when there is some ambiguity in that appearance (Hughes 1958; Kibria 1996). At the same time, establishing identity is the basis upon which interaction occurs, and leads to a trajectory of life course experiences. Somali Muslim immigrants work to reject classification on the basis of skin colour, while Lebanese Muslim immigrants tacitly accept the classification of white. Interestingly, Somalis use an Islamic appearance to enhance a Somali ethnic identity, while distancing themselves from a black identity. An Islamic appearance among Lebanese, however, produces negative reactions in that they are diminished from the status of white to that of other. Racialization refers to the process by which categories of humans are sorted into a hierarchical system based on skin colour, physical features, and cultural values. The racialization process exists in the U.S. and Canada as a means by which to offer (or deny) privilege and opportunity based on physical appearances. Both Lebanese and Somali immigrants attempt to engage with the racialization process in ways to maximize valued identities that have implications for social, political, and economic rewards. However, racialization as a system of power governs the range of identities available to immigrants depending on the socio-political climate. Yet to be determined is how initial immigrant identities, whether based on race or religion, change over time and with future

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generations (Kibria 1996). Socio-economic factors will be key. It may follow that Somali immigrants will emulate the experiences of Caribbean and other African immigrants who initially opt for an ethnic identity based on national origins, but then descend into the racial hierarchy system of North America with the advent of future generations due to the structural organization of the socio-economic system which sees a monolithic culture and race within the African American population (Bashi and McDaniel 1997, p. 675). The Lebanese immigrants in this study are legally defined as white. White identity invites these immigrants and their descendants into the privileged world of the racial hierarchy in the U.S. However, there is evidence that the children of these immigrants do not accept a white identity. As Ajrouch (2004) illustrates, among the second generation, the most salient characteristic that differentiates whites from Arab Americans pertains to symbols of femininity. The boundaries that signify ethnic identity for the adolescents draw heavily on articulations about appropriate feminine behaviour. To the second generation residing in the same community setting as the immigrants in this study, the term white refers not to themselves, but to those who are members of the dominant American society (Samhan 1999; Ajrouch 2000, 2004). Based on the narratives of study participants, religion dictated much of their identity in the countries of origin. Entering the North American context supposes a novel stratification system, where appearance supersedes all other identification markers. Race constitutes a primary means to identify minority/majority status, and identification of one as a member of a particular racial group implies a long list of preconceived ideas about attitudes and actions, as well as trajectories for future generations (Kibria 1996; Bashi and McDaniel 1997). Islam, also a primary means of constructing otherness in the U.S. and Canada, carries with it preconceived notions, much as does racial categorization. Islam is portrayed negatively in the U.S. and Canada, particularly through media outlets (see Iqbal 2003). Such portrayals present another level of otherness beyond skin colour. Distinctiveness based on an affiliation with Islam may supersede the power of skin colour to designate otherness if the socio-political climate continues in the direction of post 9-11 events, providing an added layer of complexity to understanding adaptation processes for Muslim immigrants. In sum, our data provide evidence of a transnational phenomenon, suggesting that it is not only race and religion that inform the nature and kinds of identity embraced by immigrants, but also whether or not the immigrant occupied a minority or majority status in their homeland and moreover how such statuses interact with those available in the host countries. It may be that the interaction between

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status indicators in both contexts provides a critical pathway through which adaptation occurs and both identity placements and announcements among immigrants are negotiated. Acknowledgements This research was supported in part by NIA grant R03 AG19388-01. The authors would like to thank Laurie Abi Habib for helpful comments on an earlier version of this article as well as two anonymous reviewers. References
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KRISTINE J. AJROUCH is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology at Eastern Michigan University. ADDRESS: Eastern Michigan University, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology, 712 Pray-Harrold, Ypsilanti, MI 48197. Email: Bkajrouch@emich.edu
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ABDI M. KUSOW is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Oakland University. ADDRESS: Oakland University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, 518 Varner Hall, Rochester, MI 48309. Email: Bkusow@oakland.edu
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