Tales from Arab Detroit (1995)

Unique in post-September 11 America, Tales From Arab Detroit, is an intimate community portrait. A visiting Egyptian storyteller/bard provokes an inquiry into issues of Arab heritage and tradition in a quintessential American immigrant community. American born children-- a "7-11 girl", hiphop dancer and rapper among them-- reconcile social and cultural differences with Arab immigrant parents. Through music, poetry and the ironies of everyday life, young people face up to racial discrimination and other socio-political challenges. Co-Produced by Sally Howell and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.

About the Filmmaker

Joan Mandell is a Detroit-based journalist, oral historian, and documentary filmmaker. She currently divides her time between Washington, DC, where she teaches at Georgetown’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, and Detroit, where she is a beekeeper and educator. She has also taught at the University of California-Irvine, College for Creative Studies (Detroit), Birzeit University (Palestine), and aboard a ship traveling around the world with Semester at Sea. She served for two decades on the editorial board of Middle East Report and was a Fulbright scholar.