Arab American

Arab Americans are Americans of Arab ancestry and constitute an ethnicity made up of several waves of immigrants from 22 Arab countries, stretching from Morocco in the west to Oman in the east. Arab-Americans are also Middle-Eastern and North African Americans i.e. terms that do not equate ethnic heritage with nationality but rather a geographic area. Although a highly diverse ethnic group, Arab-Americans descend from a heritage that represents common linguistic, cultural, and political traditions.

Racial Status

Arab Americans in the United States are categorised as white/Caucasian by all government agencies and for statistical compiling by the US census. However, the American understanding of the terms "White" and "Caucasoid" may not always be synonymous, and can change in meaning depending on context. "White" is a somewhat flexible social concept that has had differing meaning throughout history, and has both included and excluded various Caucasoid peoples at one time or another, and acknowledging "honorary whites" at others. "Caucasoid", on the other hand, is a fixed racial category for the peoples original to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and their descendants.

Related Topics:
United States - White

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However, the Middle Eastern and Arab regions do, from the standpoint of genetics and anthropological history, consist of highly mixed populations.

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