Official Narratives Research Articles

Unveiling the Interconnections Between Art, Politics, and Society in the Soviet System Through Art: A Case Study of the Exhibition “1972. Breaking Through the Wall”

Summary This article is dedicated to analysing the exhibition “1972. Breaking Through the Wall” from several perspectives: the curator, the viewers, and the exhibition architect tasked with creating an environment for the art exhibition in an unconventional setting. The article examines the curators’ choices, discusses the work of the exhibition architect within the context of heritage conservation requirements, and presents the results of a viewer survey. This exhibition raised the issue of the significance of alternative creativity, opposed to the official narrative, in a non-free society. It focused on Lithuanian art from the 1960s to the 1980s that countered the official Soviet cultural course. The exhibition’s prehistory includes the historical fact that in the spring of 1972, a young man self-immolated in Kaunas in protest against the lack of freedom. These events had direct and indirect reverberations in the arts, although they were not exhibited at the time due to fear of repression. This difficult experience has left its mark on Lithuanian culture and collective memory. The exhibition highlighted the role of various societal groups in opposing the ruling authorities and establishing personal and creative freedom as the highest value. The art display, composed of works from professionals (fine arts, theatre) and amateurs (rock and big beat musicians) from the 1960s to 1980s who resisted official Soviet art, clearly demonstrated how Kaunas – the capital of Lithuania from 1920 to 1940 – was influenced by the city’s prominent pre-war modernism (environment and lifestyle) and the Soviet ideology imposed on the entire country. The clash of two diametrically opposed ideological stances and artistic principles in Soviet Lithuania led to the emergence of an alternative culture. For the first time in the history of Lithuanian exhibitions, this exhibition showed how the social and the arts were affected by the pressure exerted by the official authorities. The visitor survey showed that the positive reactions to the exhibition were also due to socio-political events that have become embedded in the nation’s memory. The events stored in the collective memory of the nation correlated with specific creative artefacts and historical details, which the younger generation saw for the first time. Noteworthy was the symbiosis of emotional experiences among visitors of different ages, observing exhibits with both artistic and historical value. As indicated by the visitor survey, the exhibition facilitated the establishment of a closer connection between generations. The exhibition’s display in a cultural heritage site – the former post office building (by architect Feliksas Vizbaras, 1932) – was a complex task creatively resolved by contemporary architects.

Media Events in the Digital Age: Analysis of the Treatment of Elizabeth II and Juan Carlos I During the State Funeral

Digitalisation has redefined both media events and monarchical communication by enabling the diverse and critical participation of journalists and citizens. Media events that were once dominated by official narratives are now subject to multiple real-time transformations, with competing storylines emerging. This study examines the treatment of two monarchical figures (Queen Elizabeth II and King Juan Carlos I) during “the first major state funeral in the digital age” when the official invitation to Juan Carlos I generated a debate about his status and sparked curiosity about a potential photo. From an initial collection of 100,000 tweets and 1520 news articles, 187 pieces simultaneously mentioning both monarchs were selected and analysed to compare their treatment. In contrast to the British portrayal linked to professionalism and tradition, the Spanish media—and especially the social networks—immerse Juan Carlos I in controversy. A planned event in which strategic institutional messages were launched serves as an excuse for criticism and polarisation around the monarchy. This confirms that digitalisation has not only altered the way people access and participate but has also redefined the narratives of even the most traditional events. These transformations pose significant challenges to the image management of institutions such as the monarchy.

Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev in Burma in 1955: thaw, decolonization, and ambivalences of the Soviet official language

In the article, the author examines the function of ambiguity and contradiction in the Soviet official political language of the Thaw period in the context of internal and external political transformations. The two-volume publication, entitled “Mission of Friendship: N.A. Bulganin and N.S. Khrushchev’s Visit to India, Burma, Afghanistan”, published in 1956 and dedicated to the journey undertaken a year prior, serves as the principal source. Recent historiography has devoted significant attention to the internal contradictions and inconsistency of Soviet policy, particularly the clash between domestic and foreign policy objectives in the context of decolonisation processes from the 1950s to the 1970s. This shift in focus has marked a notable departure from the dominant theoretical perspective of totalitarianism. In examining the case of Bulganin and Khrushchev’s visit to Burma, the author seeks to discern the underlying contradictions, their degree of explicitness in the official Soviet text, and their impact on foreign and domestic policy. The analysis reveals that the ambivalence evident in the official narrative was, in large part, a strategic maneuver, though in many instances, it was the product of ad hoc improvisation aimed at harmonizing disparate political objectives. The existence of contradictions and ambivalences enabled the emergence of disparate political discourses, which undermined the rigidity of the official Soviet rhetoric while simultaneously rendering it more adaptable and malleable.

When the ‘inclusive turn’ fuels the entrepreneurial city: Critical perspectives from Singapore

The rise of the notion of ‘inclusion’ in urban planning, seen in phrases like inclusive city, calls for a critical analysis of its evolving meaning and its spatial, social and political implications. Paradoxically, the meaning of urban inclusion has narrowed such that it now primarily refers to accessibility for people with disabilities. At the intersection of urban studies and critical disability studies, our article investigates the conceptions, criteria and modes of production underlying the implementation of urban inclusion in Singapore's ‘Enabling Village’, a purportedly inclusive space opened in 2015. We use a mixed‐methods approach, analysing official narratives and conducting site visits to understand the site as both an appropriated and a branded space. We show that, in Singapore, the inclusion agenda interacts with the city‐state's distinctive approach to planning and governance, where social issues are ‘engineered’ and give rise to replicable operational models. Our hypothesis is that implementing the inclusive city through the production and promotion of ‘inclusive’ urban projects such as the Enabling Village fuels the expansion of Singapore as a state‐led ‘entrepreneurial city’ (Harvey, Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography 1989; 71(1):3–17). In particular, operationalising ‘urban inclusion’ in this way allows for the reinvention of Singapore as a global urban model.

Framing feminist protest: a content analysis of the glitter revolution

ABSTRACT Feminist groups in Mexico City started a mobilization in August 2019 that would later be called the Glitter Revolution. The protest was a reaction to the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl by four policemen. The protest earned the name after one of the protestors showered Mexico City’s chief of police with pink glitter while he was trying to address activists and reporters. A second protest turned violent, and one of Mexico’s best-known landmarks was defaced by protesters who covered it in graffiti with signs reading “Mexico feminicide,” and “rapists.” This paper engages with literature on the protest paradigm and feminist theories to conduct a qualitative content analysis of news coverage of the two protests. This research shows how: 1) news stories by mainstream media adhere to the protest paradigm deploying a marginalizing framing device to cover the feminist protests; 2) heavy reliance on official sources and information is still prevalent in mainstream news, reinforcing official narratives and discourses; 3) the emergence of new frames that assign more value to historical monuments than to women’s access to justice; 4) and alternative news provided different frames such as feminist movement/activism and gender violence to contextualize the protests.

“Filling the void”: the diversified grassroots disaster narratives of the 2023 riverine flood in Z City, China

PurposeDisaster narratives constitute a crucial and unique element in disaster understanding, recovery and communication. Along with facing various severe disasters, China’s dominant official disaster narratives have played an indispensable role in promoting post-disaster social solidarity. However, the consequences of “weak” official disaster narratives remain unknown.Design/methodology/approachIn 2023, during a riverine flood in northern China’s Z City, diversified grassroots disaster narratives emerged, “filling the void” when the official narratives were comparatively “weak”. This paper uses this riverine flood in Z City as an uncommon case to analyze the official-grassroots disaster narrative interaction. During fieldwork, first-hand and second-hand data from in-depth interviews, on-site visits and public information were collected.FindingsBased on fieldwork, this paper first introduced the “weak” official disaster narratives in Z City. Second, this paper organized and classified these grassroots disaster narratives into three interconnected stages: the flood’s causes, government and social responses, and recovery. In “filling the void,” “sacrifice” and “betrayed” sensemaking are detected and functions of these diversified grassroots disaster narratives become clear.Originality/valueOfficial and grassroots disaster narratives are not simply competing, but complementary. As a unique soft lens to interpret disasters, this paper further discussed grassroots disaster narratives’ underlying connotations and potential impacts on social resilience building. Also, this paper provides insights into the disaster narrative dynamics, especially in China’s political and cultural context.

On Victims, Heroes, and Gulag-gupvi Survivors

Abstract Employing a biographical, oral history approach, this article documents the life story of a war veteran and gupvi survivor in Hungary to illustrate the multiple synchronic as well as diachronic cleavages that exist between the official, societal, and collective memory regimes in postcommunist Eastern Europe. István Bicskei’s life story highlights, in a tangible way, the fact that the socially constructed notions of victimhood and heroism vary as a complex outcome of the interaction of multiple forms of human, institutional, and political agencies in an ever-changing historical context and in multi-layered cultural milieux. The article argues that these key cultural notions are closely tied to individual understandings of personhood, to national and collective identities, but also to ruling ideologies and political regimes. The article also highlights the glaring gap between official, scholarly, and local narratives about the past that exists in marginalized rural communities and points to the conspicuous lack of cultural “mediators” or “intermediators” between these distinct political, media, and social spheres, and between official and grassroots memory narratives.

Morocco’s Distinctive Islam at a Crossroads: The State’s Support for Sufism

In the aftermath of the 2003 Casablanca bombings, the Moroccan state emphasized, through official public discourse, the components that constitute “official Moroccan Islam” to combat extremist ideologies. These religious elements include Mālikism in jurisprudence, Ashʿarism in theology, and the Sufism of Imam Al-Junayd (d. 298/910), all balanced by the pledge of allegiance to King Mohammed VI (a descendant of the Sharifian lineage), the constitutionally designated Commander of the Faithful and sole religious leader. Since the reform policy initiated in 2004, the Moroccan state has constructed a narrative on the distinctiveness of Moroccan Islam—moderate and tolerant—and promoted it among its own citizens and beyond its borders. However, while the Moroccan state claims to have a unique form of Islam, controversial arguments have been raised questioning the nature of the state’s purported Islam. Other criticisms include investigating the state’s endorsement of Sufism and its broader policy of institutionalization. Yet, this article argues that the state supports any form of Islam, not necessarily Sufism, that aligns with its religious and political leadership. Like other Arab and Muslim states, Morocco’s religious policy is impacted by the global context, where Salafism is now perceived as a threat to established worldviews. In addition, this article argues that Morocco’s support for Sufi Islam is based not merely on its perceived political passivity, but because it complements the state’s policies and gains advantages from this support. It concludes that the official narrative of Moroccan Islam, which emphasizes a Sufi-oriented approach to counter extremism, is open to question, particularly given that Salafism was the state’s preferred form of Islam in post-colonial Morocco. This highlights the complex and often conflicting relationship between political actors and religious leaders in shaping Morocco’s religious discourse.

Selling Jewish Victims’ Experiences During the Holocaust for Hard Currency: The Case of the Romanian Communists Compensation Claims Collection from 1970

Abstract In the 1970s, the Romanian authorities put together a large collection of compensation claim files of Romanian citizens victims of Nazi persecution between 1939 and 1945. The Romanian Communists’ scope was for a hard-currency settlement with the Federal Republic of Germany. In doing so, the Romanians claimed that the Federal Republic of Germany would pay for persecutions for which the Romanian state had been responsible. The selective denial of the Holocaust was the Communist authorities’ approach to the topic after the end of the Second World War. Especially after 1948, they carefully avoided tackling the issue of country’s own involvement in the persecution of its citizens, externalizing the blame on Nazi Germany. Additionally, in the official narrative the focus was on anti-Fascist resistance and Communists’ martyrdom during the Holocaust and not on Jewish sufferings. By analyzing different claim files part of the larger Romanian collection to be found in the Arolsen Archives I argue that Romanians’ plan of getting Germany’s money–and indirectly recognition of Germany’s responsibility for the Romanian authorities’ wrongdoings during the Holocaust – would have solidified the externalization of blame at international level on the long run.

In the labyrinth of ideological search: ways to construct a memory of an uncomfortable past (on example of events of the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War)

This article is devoted to the problem of constructing a collective memory of the "inconvenient past" by modern elites of Russia on the example of the events of the 1917 revolution and the subsequent civil war. The conflict aspects of commemoration (installation of monuments and memorial signs) in the process of constructing an official historical narrative are considered. Concidered changes in the official historical narrative regarding the "difficult past" in different periods of time. The preservation of historical memory largely depends on the political objectives of the current government, which not only supports collective memory through various commemorative practices, but also constructs a modern historical narrative. This narrative does not imply the restoration of Soviet historiography; it combines a variety of interpretations of the events of the Revolution and the Civil War in the context of building the historical continuity of Russian statehood. Therefore, the images of some Soviet figures coexist with the figures of their opponents, forming ideas among the mass audience about patriotic service to the Russian state, regardless of ideological and political views. The "lost memory" is not being restored; current generations of Russians have not accepted the political experience of supporters of democratic socialism, who rejected Bolshevism and did not support the "white movement" in the civil war. The attitude towards the losers in the fight against the Bolsheviks today is negative, as towards weak and incapable politicians. Considering historical memory as an integral part of collective memory, it is concluded that only those events of the past that are perceived by society as extremely useful for modern generations are integrated into the structure of collective consciousness. In addition, the inertia of public consciousness affects the "selection of event material". For this reason, during the entire post-Soviet period, it was not possible to completely replace the former Soviet ideological cliches with a new historical narrative.

Revisiting dark pasts: the portrayal of Jewish minority and audience responses to the Netflix series The Club

ABSTRACT The Club, a Turkish series exclusively produced for Netflix, challenges the official historical narrative of modern Turkey by depicting the experiences of minorities on the brink of the country’s political upheaval. It highlights the state’s complex relations with its minorities and historical events that are often silenced in the official historical narrative. This study looks at how Turkey’s dark pasts pertaining to its religious minorities are portrayed in The Club and the ways in which its audience respond to these dark pasts. It argues that the audience of The Club recreates the silences about the past, resulting in the denial or rationalization of state violence, while emphasizing a nostalgic multi-cultural past.

Experiencing ‘Taiwanese’ nationhood in the ambivalent heritage from the Japanese colonial era

ABSTRACT This study discusses how ordinary people experienced and reproduced Taiwanese nationhood in response to the ambivalent heritage of the Japanese colonial era. Heritage serves as a crucial instrument to convey the national imagining; nevertheless, it is unclear how ordinary people could gain a national meaning from the colonial-era heritage of hegemonic discourse. By interconnecting the theoretical ideas of ‘imagined community’ and ‘banal nationalism’, semi-structured interviews were conducted in this study to explore how ordinary people appropriated the colonial-era heritage as the notion of a ‘historic territory’ shared by a ‘national we’. Their discussions revealed intelligence attachments, local characteristics, personal memories, and political statements as scenarios from which they obtained gratification and admiration. The results also revealed that these social narratives extended the official narrative to reshape the colonial-era heritage associated with one particular group and era as the property of all Taiwanese, emphasising the recreation of nationhood through a bottom-up force.

From pharaoh to hero: contested constructions of Mubarak’s image in Egyptian post-uprising collective memory

ABSTRACT The 2011 Egyptian uprising, which ended President Husni Mubarak’s thirty-year rule, initially painted him as a pharaoh. However, more than a decade since his overthrow, Mubarak’s image is variedly invoked and embodied across Egypt. Schools, hospitals, streets, and squares proudly bear his name. Social media groups glorify his memory, while locals openly express longing for his era. Unlike other deposed Arab leaders during the ‘Arab Spring’, Mubarak received a state military funeral, elevating him to a revered patriot and hero. This paper explores the constructions of Mubarak’s image in Egyptian collective memory, at the official and vernacular levels. The paper’s core argument emphasizes that during the transition period, revolutionary forces shaped a negative public memory of Mubarak. Yet in recent years, the resurgence of authoritarianism has marginalized these forces, allowing pro-Mubarak factions to advance a positive depiction, idealizing his legacy, and fostering feelings of regret. The post-June 2013 official narrative regarding Mubarak delicately manoeuvres between these competing narratives. It exalts his military role in the 1973 war while undermining his political heritage, thereby preventing any single narrative from dominating and thwarting influential factions in civil society from challenging the regime’s resilience with a political alternative.

‘And then … ’: new media’s conspiracy theories and counternarratives in Loose Change and The Power of Nightmares

ABSTRACT This paper re-asserts the politically contested status of new media as a site of both conspiracy theories and counterhegemonic narratives through analyses of Dylan Avery’s Loose Change and Adam Curtis’ The Power of Nightmares. I outline how Loose Change’s form reflects its origins in online research, and how the web’s structures influence the film’s conspiracy theory narrative. This is compared to the production and distribution of The Power of Nightmares. The juxtaposition of images and ideas (the ‘and then … ’) provides an example of the web’s formal influence. Exploring Curtis’ use of the BBC archive, barriers to distributing his counternarrative, and the appropriation of his films through online channels, I inform a discussion of the ways new media provides a crucial resistance to hegemonic narratives. Drawing on Jean Baudrillard’s account of September 11th, I argue that both texts must be understood as dialectical responses to the official narratives around 9/11 and the War on Terror.

The Separation of Church and State as an Imperial Project in the Philippines during the Early American Colonial Period

This paper examines the separation of church and state in the Philippines during the early American colonial period, contextualizing it within the process of American overseas expansion and considering it as one of the projects of imperial hegemony construction. After the Spanish–American War, the United States substituted Spain as the new colonial ruler of the Philippines, legitimizing its regime as the spread of ‘civilization’ to the Filipinos. On this basis, the Americans enacted laws guaranteeing religious freedom and introduced an American-style institution dealing with church–state relations. Beyond the legal and administrative initiatives, the new regime also constructed an official narrative of the transformation of political–religious relations in the Philippine that emphasized the absolute ‘difference’ between the American human rights principle, which guaranteed freedom of worship, and the Spanish theocracy, which was dedicated to the consolidation of privileges. By legislating the separation of church and state, buying up church properties, recognizing the equality of denominations, and constructing the official imperial narrative of church–state relations, the Americans hoped to ‘teach’ Filipinos that the ‘true’ belief was rooted in the inner convictions of individual Christians, not in the authority and coercion of the hierarchical church. By disciplining the construction of ‘difference’ under tutelary colonialism, the separation of church and state movement initiated by the American colonial government in the Philippines became an important source of imperial self-endowed legitimacy.

Gender Aspect of Media Discourse in Socialist Yugoslavia – Representation of Gender in the Women's Magazine "Bazar"

The paper revises the gender aspect of media discourse in socialist Yugoslavia on the example of one of the oldest and most popular Yugoslav women's magazine "Bazar." An analysis of the textual and visual content of the 1973 edition (issues 208–233) reaffirmed the assumption that the mass media – including The Women's Press – actively participate in the construction and reproduction of both "femininity" and "masculinity", and in the depiction of desirable/expected gender relations in a certain socio-historical moment (Yugoslav socialism). In addition to the main female character – a beautiful, young, modern and well-groomed woman who is successful in all fields (at work, at home, as a wife, mother, sister, friend, worker...) – there is also an equally caring and dedicated husband and father, a modern man, successful in his field of expertise. In other words, of all the roles that Yugoslav society has assigned to women/men, the following seem to be dominant: She is primarily 1) a wife, mother and housewife, 2) a hard worker, and 3) a woman who is clearly positioned in the new consumer society, while He is 1) Pater Familias, 2) a successful businessman, and 3) a modern man who keeps up with the times. The research has shown that these (and such) "Bazar" images of a woman / man are highly harmonized with the official representation of gender in the socialist Yugoslav society – She is the embodiment of the socialist "super-woman", while He is depicted as part of the hegemonic model of masculinity. The female-male relationship is presented in the experimental media discourse in two ways. The first (socialist) model of gender polarity – the one that is in the central media plan / easily observable / clearly legible – is placed in the official narrative framework of socialism as an ideology that follows the principle of equality as the dominant matrix in social/gender/economic/family relations. In the second narrative plan, there is a traditional model of gender polarity, which is based on binary oppositions – weak-strong, gentle-rough, subordinate-dominant, dependent-independent, right-wrong – performed by the female-male couple. By analyzing the media discourse of the experimental socialist periodical, it has also been established that the narrative of one of the most popular Yugoslav women's magazines contains all three key terms (for gender reading or in the media text) – these are power, gender (in)equality and representation of meaning. Interpreting textual and visual content as a system of representation (and not presentation) of reality, it becomes obvious that despite the change in social paradigm in the years after World War II, the policy of gender representation in the context of power relations (man over woman) continued, which Yugoslav socialism – as a doctrine of equality – clearly could not (or did not want to) eradicate in practice.

Never Again! Fandom and the Culture of Remembrance in German Football

Sport and politics have historically nurtured intrinsic connections. This article examines the role of a left-wing-oriented German football fan movement in confronting the Nazi past of football clubs. Focusing on FC St. Pauli, Werder Bremen, and SV Babelsberg 03, it explores the development of a nationwide culture of remembrance to avoid the resurgence of authoritarian regimes. We theorize that Germany’s Holocaust cultural trauma that developed new notions of time has influenced fans’ remembrance work, which includes the change of institutional official narratives of the clubs’ Nazi pasts. While acknowledging Germany’s sociocultural, political and temporal factors to explain this phenomenon, we call for action within sports organizations and fan bases of other Western countries to revisit their difficult heritage.

Traumy i chwały: polityka, narracje i pamięć pod rządami Partii Sprawiedliwości i Rozwoju w Turcji

This paper examines the use of memory as a political tool by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, emphasising the impact of the official historical narrative on commemoration of selected historical traumas and glories, in addition to its influence on collective identity. Over the last two decades, Turkey has undergone a cultural transformation under the rule of the AKP. This transformation has taken place through reevaluation of the Islamic-Ottoman past while distancing itself from Kemalist secularism. Adhering to the principles of Islam, the AKP has articulated its political agenda through a cultural initiative inspired by Turgut Özal’s Neo-Ottomanism. To this end, a series of narratives was developed under a cultural programme based on nostalgia for the Ottoman while scrutinising different aspects of the country’s secular paradigm. The programme was carried out through the commemoration of identity, including the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453 as well as the construction of ‘sites of memory’, such as museums, theme parks or mosques. The establishment of ‘sites of memory’ around these selected narratives allows for an in-depth exploration of how political ideology intersects with memory, contributing to the ongoing transformation of Turkey’s cultural and political landscape.

The fear factor: examining the impact of fear on vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs

Objectives While anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs can reduce vaccine intentions, longitudinal research shows that vaccine hesitancy can increase conspiracy beliefs. In three experiments (N = 949), we examined the effect of fear about a vaccine on vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs. Method and Measures In Studies 1a (N = 221) and 1b (N = 508), participants were exposed to high fear (vs low fear) about a (fictional) vaccine before reporting vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs. In Study 2, all participants were exposed to high fear before being asked to think about not getting vaccinated (vs vaccinated) against the (fictional) disease. Participants then reported their vaccine hesitancy, anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs, and closeness to others who distrust official narratives. Results In Studies 1a and 1b, exposure to high fear (vs low fear) increased vaccine hesitancy, which was positively correlated with anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs. The reverse model’s effect was either smaller (Study 1a) or non-significant (Study 1b). In Study 2, fear and not wanting to vaccinate resulted in vaccine hesitancy, which then predicted anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs and feeling closer to those distrusting official narratives. Conclusion Therefore, fear creates a response not to get vaccinated. A conspiracy belief may then justify this response.

CROSS-WORLD NARRATIVES AND TRAVELS: RECONSTRUCTING THE HISTORY OF EARLY SYRIAN-AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS

Narratives of travel are part of world literature and cultural history. Scholarly research on migrant narratives and literature is a subfield of intercultural studies and comparative literature which allow cultures to bond and interact. Written histories of Arab Americans start with the Foundational Period (1880-1920) which revolves around the early immigrants from Historical Syria. This period is one of the least documented eras which is still difficult to reconstruct due to its many gaps and various obstacles. This paper examines the strategies and approaches used by Philip Hitti, the founder of Arabic Studies in the United States, who established the master models and approaches for the study of the Syro-Lebanese immigrant community. This model is based on locating alternative sources that include ̶ in addition to official sources and written accounts ̶ folksongs, literary texts, popular stories, and personal memories. It makes use of them to reconstruct the history of this community, which is characterized by its rich popular culture and long tradition of story-telling. There may be polemics and prejudices in presenting the wealth of the oral and cultural tradition of Historical Syria’s communities in the mainstream popular and official narratives about Arabs and Muslims. When presented with scholarly research and comparative perspectives, immigrants’ narratives can have a valuable contribution to world literature on immigration.