Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

Louise Cainkar

Louise Cainkar is associate professor of sociology and social justice and the director of Peace Studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee. She is author of Homeland Insecurity: The Arab and Muslim American Experience after 9/11 (Russell Sage,

MER Article

The Muslim Ban and Trump's War on Immigration

Within one week of taking office, President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promise to implement a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” Clothed in the language of national security, Executive Order 13769, issued on January 27, 2017, immediately prohibited the entry of immigrant and

Louise Cainkar • 18 min read

Current Analysis

The Muslim Ban and Trump's War on Immigration

Trump's war on immigration from the Middle East, enacted through multiple executive orders and proclamations since January 2017, is collectively known as the Muslim ban. Eventually approved by the Supreme Court, it hit the Yemeni community particularly hard with overwhelming costs and other hurdles

Louise Cainkar • 17 min read

MER Article

Becoming Arab American

Scholars have long found that while pan-Arab organizations in the United States called themselves Arab American, few individuals adopted that appellation as a personal identity, preferring Iraqi, for instance, or Syrian. So I was struck, while interviewing 45 Palestinian Americans attending high school in Palestine, that so many of them

Louise Cainkar • 10 min read

MER Article

Civil Wrongs

Within 24 hours of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Bush administration had announced the identities of the alleged perpetrators, all but one dead, and had largely reconstructed the plot as it understood it. In short order the administration put forth the notion that another such attack was immin

Louise Cainkar • 13 min read

MER Article

Persons of Interest

Persons of Interest (Allison Maclean and Tobias Perse). New York: First Run/ Icarus Films, 2004.

Louise Cainkar • 3 min read

MER Article

No Longer Invisible

Unlike other ascribed and self-described "people of color" in the United States, Arabs are often hidden under the Caucasian label, if not forgotten altogether. But eleven months after September 11, 2001, the Arab-American is no longer invisible. Whether traveling, driving, working, walking through a

Louise Cainkar • 16 min read