
OHIO professor Lybarger challenges stereotypes, depicts complex identities in new book on Palestinian Chicago

51乱伦 professor of Classics and World Religion Loren Lybarger鈥檚 newly released book, 鈥淧alestinian Chicago: Identity in Exile,鈥� takes a deep look into Chicago as home to one of the largest, most politically active Palestinian immigrant communities in the United States.
鈥淚鈥檓 really hoping this book helps people understand the importance of humility and how little we may know about the complex lives of the people around us,鈥� Lybarger said. 鈥淏ecause of persisting stereotypes, we often make mistakes in understanding when it comes to Islam and Muslim immigrants, and Palestinians, especially, in this country.鈥�
Drawing from Lybarger鈥檚 many years of living in Chicago, as well as from his extensive fieldwork and interview data, the book charts shifts in Palestinian immigrant identities from older secular nationalist orientations to newer emphases on religious piety. His rich ethnographic examples trace these changes across religious, political, class, gender, and generational lines, while offering critical insight into current debates about secularism, religion, immigration, and national belonging.
鈥淭his second book of mine, on Palestinians in Chicago, grew out of my personal experiences when I moved to the city for graduate study in 1993 and then quickly got connected to the Palestinian immigrant community there,鈥� Lybarger added. 鈥淒uring that time, I saw this profound shift in the community where Palestinians moved to the suburbs in large numbers and drifted away from the secular-nationalist community centers in their older immigrant enclaves. In the suburbs, they began to embrace a new Islamic orthopraxy as the framework of individual and collective identity.鈥�
Lybarger specifically talks about this shift in his book, including examples such as how one time at a fundraiser for a new, secular social service organization, the Arab American Action Network, Lybarger remembers college-aged activists delaying the keynote speaker, the well-known Palestinian American intellectual, Edward Said, by making a public display of performing the maghrib prayer together. He recounts this incident in 鈥�,鈥� describing it as a moment that caused him to wonder why this religious shift had happened, what it meant for Palestinian secularism, and what its long-term impact would be.
Prior to writing this book, Lybarger published another book, 鈥淚dentity and Religion in Palestine,鈥� that provides insights into the complex social dynamics through which Islamism has reshaped what it means to see oneself as Palestinian. He has also spent seven years living in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, working with the Mennonite Central Committee and AMIDEAST to provide educational and professional development opportunities for Palestinian school children and adult professionals.
鈥淧alestinian Chicago鈥� is the first book to appear in the University of California鈥檚 new series . The New Directions series 鈥減ublishes books that put Palestinians at the center of research projects and that make an innovative contribution to decolonizing and globalizing knowledge production about the Palestinians in and beyond Palestine,鈥� according to the , which also notes that books are made available as affordable paperbacks or for free on UC Press鈥檚 open access platform, Luminos.
鈥淭he College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Research Fund helped support this open-access publishing option for my book, as well as its indexing,鈥� notes Lybarger. 鈥淚 am grateful for this support and think it鈥檚 incredibly important for scholars and their universities to help make research like this as widely accessible as possible.鈥�