RE: Arabs, Americans and Culture: A Proposal

Further to my post promoting the idea of an Arab Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., I should give a plug to the Arab American National Museum, in Dearborn, Michigan.

Arab American National Museum, in Dearborn, MI (Photos courtesy Kim Silarski)

Pushing a cultural center in Washington shouldn't take anything away from this excellent institution, which opened in 2005. It bills itself as "the first museum in the world devoted to Arab American history and culture." It sees its mission being "to document, preserve, celebrate and educate the public on the history, life, culture and contributions of Arab Americans and their presence in the United States." (It's a sad commentary on our stereotyping of Arabs that the museum has to include among its aims an effort "to dispel misconceptions" about Arab Americans and other minority groups. )

Although it would have been wonderful to have the museum in the nation's capital, it's location in Dearborn is logical and appropriate, being a joyous expression of an immigrant community's ethnic pride. The Dearborn-Detroit area might contain the most concentrated Arabic-speaking population outside the Middle East. After the Arab-American community of some 5 million people began arriving in the U.S. around 1870, Michigan became a favored destination. That was in part because of the job opportunities with relatively good wages offered after the turn of the century by Henry Ford's pioneering automobile factories. Today, by the way, Arab-Americans are twice as likely as the average American to have a college degree.

Back to the Arab American National Museum, which enjoys a prestigious affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington:

It presents permanent exhibits on Arab civilization and the Arab immigrant experience in America (loved the kitsch, like Indianapolis 500-winner Bobby Rahal's racing suit and helmet, and veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas's typewriter). What keeps the museum dynamic are its revolving exhibitions and programs, including art shows, conferences, lectures, readings, musical performances and festivals. One of its recent exhibitions was "Out of Iraq: Artists' Meditations On Their Homeland." Next week, the museum is hosting "Writing While Arab: Politics, Hyphens and Homelands," the second annual Radius of Arab American Writers Conference.

Dome inside the Arab American National Museum

Of course, with 30,000 annual visitors, the Arab American National Museum is a relatively modest endeavor compared to the Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris and to what the Mosaic Foundation envisages for Washington. But its founders nonetheless assembled an weighty group of benefactors in raising the $16 million startup cost: Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, Masco Corp., Comerica Bank, General Motors Foundation, the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar and the Al Maktoum Foundation of Dubai.

Among its achievements, the Dearborn museum stands as a model for what could and should be done in Washington.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo