Schumann APSA draft 2005
both of which operate in two different languages: English and Arabic. For the first generation
of immigrants, the linguistic difference was and still is an obstacle to communication with the
new environment. For the later generations, bilingualism and the need for translation becomes
a common feature due to the process of acculturation. For the diaspora press, the problem is
not only refined to the question of which language to choose for printing and broadcasting in
the diaspora. Apart from language, other differences such as ethnicity, ideology, and religion
multiply the need for translation – within the community and between the community and its
multiple social environments.
Focusing on the Washington, D.C. based magazine Al-Hewâr / Arab-American Dialogue this
paper will analyze the role of language, translation, and the concept of ‘dialogue’ for
transcending differences of language, ethnicity, ideology, and religion. Al-Hewâr started
publication in April 1989. Up until today, Al-Hewâr is one of the few Arab-American
periodicals that continue to publish in both English and Arabic. As will be shown at greater
length below, the title Al-Hewâr (meaning literally ‘dialogue’ in English) is programmatic in
various ways. The publication aims at securing a place for Arab-Americans in US-society and
politics while preserving the community’s bonds to the Arab homelands. At the same time, it
tries to overcome the various frictions within the community by searching for generally
shared concepts such as ‘Arabism’ (`urûba), Islam, and citizenship.
2. Theoretical and methodological implications
‘Diaspora politics’ has become an issue in political science particularly in the fields of
international relations and security studies (Sheffer; Vertovec). Yet the implications for
political theory and history of political ideas have remained underestimated so far. Our
conventional concepts of intellectual traditions or ‘civilizations’ such as “the West”,
“Europe”, or “Asia” have been undermined, in fact, by the process of globalization. The
global flow of capital, goods, information and symbols as well as contemporary
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Convention