When Leadership Falls Short: The Crisis of Care in Library Work
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Commemorating National Arab American Heritage Month with TIE and Choice Content
In honor of National Arab American Heritage Month, we selected TIE and Choice resources on Arab American history and identity, including book reviews and interviews.
Posted on April 28, 2025 in Blog Posts
National Arab American Heritage Month
In honor of National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM), the Toward Inclusive Excellence team gathered TIE content and Choice resources on Arab American history and cultural production. Choice, the publisher of TIE and a publishing unit at the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, provides book reviews to help librarians identify academic sources and professional development tools like webinars, podcasts, and white papers.
Officially recognized in 2023, NAAHM celebrates the heritage, culture, and achievements of Arab Americans. For more information on NAAHM, the Arab American Institute provides background on the establishment of National Arab American Heritage Month and resources to commemorate the period. We hope these selections aid in learning more about Arab American activism, identity, and historical events this month and throughout the year.
Featured Reviews
Featured Reviews consider how a title exposes racist systems and inequities or proposes means of dismantling them. These important works from valuable perspectives are of use to undergraduates, faculty, and anyone interested in learning more about racism and racial inequalities. These reviews look at anti-Muslim racism and Arab racial identity in America.
Making Sense of Anti-Muslim Animus: Untangling the Roots of White Supremacy
The United States today is witnessing white Protestant Evangelicals and other Christians pushing for the establishment of Christian theocracies. This wide-flung movement seeks to promote laws that will back its proponents’ mission to challenge what they perceive to be the country’s out-of-control liberal thrusts. Some of the issues at the forefront of this conflict include bans on abortion under all circumstances, as well as bans on books that deal with topics that make this white religious constituency uncomfortable, including slavery, Islam, or anything negative about the settler roots of the United States or Canada. Read the full review of Nothing Has to Make Sense: Upholding White Supremacy Through Anti-Muslim Racism.
Racialization in the War on Terror: Aziz Highlights America’s Racial-Religious Hierarchy
The Racial Muslim opens with the author recounting her experience of witnessing the planes crash into Word Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Aziz (Rutgers Law School) reflects on how that day changed many things in her life, including the way it shifted how she was perceived in the United States, “from racially ambiguous to racially threatening” (p. 1). For many readers, this may bring to mind Nella Larson’s novel Passing (1929). In that story, one of the central characters seizes the opportunity to become white because of her lighter skin. She thinks she has entered mainstream society until an encounter incites psychological turmoil. This story of passing highlights the fluidity of racial identity as it intersects with class, gender, and family as described by several reviewers. The goal is to become a functioning member of white society. In this pursuit of belonging to the dominant American race, however, actual racial identity, colorism, and concerns of gender and class are subsumed. Read the full review of The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom.
TIE Blog
This selection includes a TIE Talks interview with Edward E. Curtis IV, author of Arab Indianapolis and Muslims of the Heartland. To keep up with upcoming TIE content, subscribe to the TIE newsletter.
TIE Talks with Edward E. Curtis IV
This TIE Talks interview features Edward E. Curtis IV, who is the William M. and Gail M. Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts, Professor of World Languages and Cultures, and Director of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Indiana University in Indianapolis. In this interview, he discusses his most recent books, Arab Indianapolis and Muslims of the Heartland, the research for which was inspired by his own family’s deep-rooted Arab American heritage in the Midwest. From there, he delves into the experience of researching in local archives to recreate a portrait of the Midwest few may be familiar with and the growth of Arab Indianapolis from a community history blog into a book, a heritage trail, online learning modules, and even an Emmy Award–winning documentary on PBS. Along the way, the conversation touches on how scholars can work with community members to inform research that is widely accessible through public-facing media, as well as the importance of uncovering seemingly hidden histories to educate the public on America’s diverse and layered histories. Read the interview with Edward.
Review of the Week
Each week Choice highlights a review that addresses a topical issue, event, or holiday—or simply, a review we believe deserves more attention. These titles include topics of queer Arab critique, the Islamic print revolution, and Arab cultural production.
Hot Topic
Hot Topic takes a deep dive into timely, significant, or niche topics guided by reviews over the decades. This list highlights titles on Sudan’s history.
Sudan
With the recent outbreak in fighting between the military and paramilitary forces in Sudan, these books consider the country’s complex history.
Ask an Archivist
Ask an Archivist is a monthly editorial franchise produced by Choice that explores the research and production behind compelling special collections and exhibits through interviews with their curators, archivists, and directors. This interview features the A Is for Arab exhibition.
The A Is for Arab Exhibit
In this interview, Choice sits down with Amita Manghnani, associate director, Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, and Laura Chen-Schultz, deputy director, Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, to discuss A Is for Arab, a traveling exhibition showcasing pervasive stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in US media. Read the interview on the A Is for Arab exhibition.