“Cultural racism is a problem in the Middle East and North Africa”: Qualitative research about black racism in the Arab world and the MENA region

Abstract

Racism is found all around the world, in every country, and every city. Racism is manifested in diverse forms. However, racism towards Afro-Arabs is a social issue that is not properly identified in the Middle East and the MENA region. In this study, using discourse analysis as a method, I concentrate on answering the question of how Black Arabs experience cultural racism and how destructive it is in the Middle East and the MENA region. Additionally, the goal of this study is to learn more and have a deeper understanding of the racism that Afro-Arabs face in the region. Africa, the ancestral home of humankind, has long been a source of racism, similarly to the other continents. This issue is primarily discussed in the West but is less discussed in Arab countries. To understand racism towards Afro-Arabs, it is essential to clarify the historical backgrounds and acknowledge the issue from the perspective of Afro-Arabs themselves. To understand how racism in the Middle East and the MENA region is different from racism in the West, it is crucial to examine existing frameworks from the West and activists’ speeches and actions regarding cultural racism in the Middle East and the MENA region.