Unlearning the Arab Muslim Hyphen: A More Equitable Discussion of Muslims in the Global North

Hyphenated identities continue to be prominent in twenty-first century scholarship meant to uncover and confront assimilative structures of power in the Global North. However, the “Arab-Muslim” hyphen, in particular, continues to be used as a convention without a proper examination of its assimilative and racial dimensions. This commentary confronts the power dynamics at play in the use of the hyphen and calls for a more equitable understanding of Muslimness as it intersects and diverges from American Arabness. Ultimately, this commentary seeks to build from the already vigorous resistance to xenophobia and ethnocentricity in Muslim Studies, Arab American Studies, and other branches of Ethnic Studies by calling attention to the ways in which the hyphen counteracts the scholarly imperative of equity at the center of these frameworks of inquiry.