Arabs' Stereotypes Revisited: The Need for A Literary Solution

Abstract

In the past few decades, there has been a steady growth of interest in studying the representations of Arabs in media as shown by the increasing number of journal articles. Scholars have talked abundantly about he ugly images of Arabs that have been shown in American media for over a century. However, research lacks explanation and sufficing solutions to ameliorate such images. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to facilitate the understanding of Arabs’ stereotypes drawing on the bulk of the theorizing and empirical data in cognitive science, and explain how literature can help undo the mischiefs of stereotypes. Moreover, this paper explores the ways in which the teaching and the promotion of Arabic literature can help dismantle the stereotyping of Arabs in the American media. Particularly, it demonstrates how Ghassan Kanafani’s Men in the Sun can be used to correct faulty representations of Arabs that appeared in media for a long time. Keywords: Arabs-Stereotypes-Literature-Empathy-Media-Representaion-Attitude-Emotion