How Does It Feel To Be a Problem? Why Arabs and Muslim Americans Are at the Heart of Today's Culture Wars

Lecture | February 10 | 5 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 340 Stephens Hall

Speaker/Performer: Professor Moustafa Bayoumi, Department of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

Sponsor: Center for Middle Eastern Studies

Set in Brooklyn, New York, Moustafa Bayoumi's How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America (Penguin) offers a look into the struggles seven twenty-something Arab Americans have faced—from discrimination in schools and workplaces to the horror of being arrested and thrown in jail without having committed a crime. But more than a catalog of mistreatment and discrimination, the stories in this book are filled with hope, drive, and the pursuit of a better life. It is in the striving and perseverance of these young people that important lessons for the way forward can be found, turning us away from a present full of suspicion and mistrust and to a future of equality, respect, and understanding. Bayoumi will discuss his award-winning book and the controversy which recently erupted over its being assigned as a common reading at Brooklyn College.

Event Contact: cmes@berkeley.edu, 510-642-8208