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refrain from further exploring the topic until trust was more firmly established. (Muslims and Arab people may be slow to disclose informa- tion related to religion or politics until trust has been established; All et al., 2004; Erickson & Al-Timmimi, 2001.)
The consultant also called Kate's attention to the assumption embed- ded in Kate's statement that she did not want Mouna and Majid to assume that she agreed with the U.S. government's actions. The consultant told Kate that although it was likely (considering the couple's more recent immigration, Majid's strong Muslim identity, and the current political climate) that the couple disagreed with U.S. policies, it was also possi- ble that they did not. The consultant explained that although more recently immigrated Arabs and Muslims tend to be less satisfied with U.S. foreign policy, up until the 1980s the majority of Arab Americans were Republican and tended toward assimilation into the dominant cul- ture (Erikson & Al-Timmimi, 2001). The consultant reminded Kate that there can be just as much diversity in the way Arab and Muslim people see the world and themselves as there is between ethnic and religious cultures. She encouraged Kate to continue her reading and look for community events at which she might meet a wide variety of Arab and Muslim people.
pleted a master's degree in biology at the University of Tunis and then obtained a position as a research assistant in a hospital, where she worked for a year before marrying Majid.
Mouna described her family as very close, noting her parents' pride in her educational accomplishments. Because everyone except her grand- mother spoke French fluently, the family's language was a mixture of Tunisian and French. Although they observed religious holidays and never drank alcohol in their home, Mouna's family members were not practicing Muslims (i.e., they did not perform the prayers five times a day, nor did they intentionally follow a religious diet). Mouna referred to her family and herself as "Tunisoise" (pronounced too-neez-wahz), the feminine form of a term used to describe the well-educated middle- and upper-middle class of the capital city.
To better understand the meaning of Mouna's identity, Kate asked Mouna to describe her life as a young woman in a Tunisoise family.
Mouna responded by describing her typical day as "busy and mostly happy." After waking early to help her mother prepare a breakfast of bread, olive oil, and coffee for the family, Mouna would then get dressed and go to work. She enjoyed the walk to the hospital and being part of the hustle and bustle of the city. She liked her work, too, where she had many female friends. She would return home to have lunch with her family (the largest meal of the day, prepared by the maid), then take a nap and talk a little with her mother before returning to the hospital to complete her work there. In the evenings after dinner, she and her mother frequently entertained at home or visited female friends and relatives while Mouna's father and brothers went to the cafe to see their male friends.
In response to Kate's questions about Mouna's experience in the United States, Mouna said that during her first few months, she con- tinued to awaken early to prepare Majid's breakfast and sit with him while he ate. However, getting up in the morning became increasingly difficult for her, and she eventually stopped. She tended to wake up closer to noon now and described her only activities as cleaning the house, watching television (although she understood little), and prepar- ing dinner beginning in the late afternoon. She said that she'd gone out a few times but that when she tried to buy something at the local gro- cery store, the clerk was rude to her. Another time, she was frightened when a man in a car shouted something angry at her (she didn't under- stand the words). Now she didn't like going out alone and mostly stayed in the apartment. Although she looked forward to Majid's return all day, she felt angry when he arrived home, especially when he didn't want to take her out. She did admit that he drove her to English classes two nights each week, went out with her most Saturdays and Sundays, and had arranged several dinners with couples who were his friends.
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Majid's History
Majid reported that he, too, grew up in a close family. His grandparents on both sides were poor but very religious. His father attended Koranic school and eventually bought and ran his own small grocery store, which provided a modest income for the family. Majid's mother com- pleted elementary school and worked in the home preparing meals, maintaining the household, and caring for Majid and his older brother and younger sister. Majid's parents were both practicing Muslims, and he himself had practiced the prayers and followed the required diet until he left home.
Majid's parents held high expectations of him, and at school he was known for his intelligence and hard work. He won a government scholar- ship to a U.S. university, where he completed a master's degree in elec- trical engineering. He subsequently obtained work as an engineer in a medium-sized company, which allowed him to obtain permanent resi- dence status in the United States. He worked for 4 years, saving money for a dowry and a nice apartment, and then began looking for a wife.
He stated that his family was very proud of him but also disappointed that he did not return home after university.
Majid described his early years in the United States as "hard" but added that "everybody has to go through the same thing when they move here." In response to Kate's questions about his experiences of racism, he said that he'd had people be rude, stare at him, ignore him, and shout things like "Go home!" at him from a distance. He said that most Americans he met "just don't know any Muslim people person- ally, so they have some pretty strange ideas about Islam." He said that generally he found most Americans to be respectful once they got to know him, although he added, "but then there are always those crazy people on the edge that you have to be on the lookout for."
In response to Kate's questions about what had helped him to adjust, Majid said that he considered a key element to be his focus on learning English, because "once you speak English, you can do almost anything." When pressed by Kate to think of other things that had helped him adjust, he recalled learning to cook some Tunisian dishes, playing Tunisian music, and finding a cafe frequented by North Africans.
In addition, a "turning point" occurred when his brother came to visit;
Majid said that showing his brother around the city made Majid realize how much he liked living in the United States. Although Majid intended to return to Tunisia to retire, he did not want to live and work there now, because he said that even during visits, he became impatient with "the slow pace" and could no longer stand the heat in summer.
When asked about his marriage, Majid said that despite their fre- quent arguments, he thought he and Mouna had a good relationship and that the problem was her homesickness. He had tried everything
he could to help her: He took her out as much as possible and encour- aged her to take more English classes. He was starting to worry about their ability to have a baby, and he was beginning to think that she might have some sort of physical problem.