week 15 nadine naber

In this week’s reading, Nadine Naber discusses on the subject of the cultural disputes uprising ever since being a child in San Francisco and having deeply rooted upbringings of her family’s culture. Coming from a strong Arab background, the culture embedded within each family member was brought up whenever they could do something, when they could not, who could belong and who did not. The American and Arab values and differences that Naber had to face were not easy. She did respect her culture’s rules and guidelines, however this was not entirely true at all times. What felt even worse about not listening to her parents was that when breaking the rules there were times she felt as if she was disrespecting her people’s culture. Because this culture revolved around the word, “we.” Naber also endured the struggle of knowing her uncles need to change their names, in order to stop being harassed by Americans. This exemplified how her family had to assimilate into this American culture, however most things they could not necessarily do was part of the American culture. Even then, assimilation was difficult. Orientalism was the struggle she and her people had to face, because, despite following their culture, it brought them to a greater risk of belonging in a new country. The culture that Naber had to face is much more different than what I had to follow compared to us both being American born, yet having two separate cultures. I am not saying one culture is better than the other, but each culture takes time in order to assimilate in a country like this. Nonetheless, this reading was eye opening and relatable in many aspects to individuals with immigrant families.