Jack Shaheen
{{Use American English|date=June 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Short description|American media scholar and journalist (1935–2017)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jack Shaheen
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Jack George Shaheen Jr.
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|09|21}}
| birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|07|09|1935|09|21}}
| death_place = Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = Reel Bad Arabs
}}
Jack George Shaheen Jr. ({{Langx|ar| جاك جورج شاهين}}; September 21, 1935 – July 9, 2017) was an American writer and lecturer specializing in addressing racial and ethnic stereotypes. He authored Reel Bad Arabs (adapted to a 2006 documentary), The TV Arab (1984) and Arab and Muslim Stereotyping in American Popular Culture (1997).{{Cite web |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/101102/media.shtml |title=Jack Shaheen to Discuss Stereotyping of Arabs in the Media |access-date=February 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721224246/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/101102/media.shtml |archive-date=July 21, 2016 |url-status=dead }}
Early life and education
Shaheen was born in Pittsburgh to Lebanese Christian immigrants, and grew up in Clairton, Pennsylvania.[http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=ProfileofSuccess&article=19 Jack Shaheen: A life dedicated to fighting racism]{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jack-shaheen-who-worked-to-dismantle-arab-stereotypes-in-media-dies-at-81/2017/07/11/85a7a6b6-65a4-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html |title=Jack Shaheen, who worked to dismantle Arab stereotypes in media, dies at 81 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=July 11, 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/islandpacket/obituary.aspx?pid=186074740 |title=Jack G. Shaheen Jr. Obituary |publisher=Legacy.com |access-date=March 11, 2019}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/us/jack-shaheen-who-resisted-and-cataloged-stereotyping-of-arabs-dies-at-81.html |title=Jack Shaheen, Who Resisted and Cataloged Stereotyping of Arabs, Dies at 81 |work=New York Times |date=July 12, 2017 |access-date=March 11, 2019 |last1=Roberts |first1=Sam }}
Shaheen graduated from Clairton High School in 1953. In 1957, he graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In 1964, he received a master's degree from Pennsylvania State University. In 1969, Shaheen received a PhD from the University of Missouri.{{cite web|title=George Gerbner Archive|url=http://web.asc.upenn.edu/gerbner/Asset.aspx?assetID=1205|website=Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania}}
Career
Shaheen's work focused on racism and orientalism, particularly in popular culture such as Hollywood films. He delivered over 1,000 lectures on the issue across the United States and on three continents.{{cite web|title=Jack Shaheen Biography|url=https://www.msu.edu/course/iah/211c/hassoun/content/famous/shaheenbiography.htm|website=Michigan State University|access-date=February 16, 2015}} He described his life's work in 2015, to Tavis Smiley, as "dedicated to trying to humanize Arabs and Muslims and to give visibility to American Arabs and American Muslims — to have us being projected no better, no worse, than anyone else."
Shaheen was also a former CBS News consultant on Middle East affairs, U.S. Army veteran, and professor emeritus of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.
Shaheen's seminal "Jack Shaheen versus the Comic Book Arab" (1991) has been cited by a multitude of scholars. Jehanzeb Dar, for instance, cited Shaheen as a secondary source for the observation that "Batman speaks Farsi in Beirut" in a comic book storyline. Shaheen additionally contended that, in this same storyline, Batman searched for a " 'Shiite Extremist Group.' " Early Hezbollah's influence in the Beqaa Valley, Batman/Bruce Wayne's destination, thus made the organization a candidate for the vilified "radical Shiite captors" as "bandits-in-bedsheets" in "Death in the Family." Shaheen also first pointed out that the Joker, garbed in "Arab" attire depicted as "Iranian," referred to the "insanity" of Iran.{{cite journal |last1=Shaheen |first1=Jack |title=Jack Shaheen versus The Comic Book Arab |journal=The Link: Published by Americans for Middle East Understanding, Inc. |date=November–December 1991 |volume=24 |issue=5 |pages=1–16}}
Honors
Shaheen received two Fulbright teaching awards He was also the distinguished visiting scholar at New York University's Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies.[http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2011/06/30/the-jack-g-shaheen-archive-comes-to-nyu.html The Jack G. Shaheen Archive Comes to NYU]
Personal life
Shaheen was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, often walked along the beaches of Hilton Head Island and was a former member of the Hilton Head Orchestra board of directors. He also attended, as one obituary describes, "services at Holy Resurrection Greek Orthodox Church in Bluffton. He married Bernice Rafeedie, a Palestinian-American, in 1966 and had two children, Michael and Michelle, along with several grandchildren.
Death
Shaheen died on July 9, 2017, at the age of 81.{{Cite web |url=http://as.nyu.edu/neareaststudies/mourning_Jack_Shaheen.html |title=THE KEVORKIAN CENTER MOURNS THE PASSING OF DR. JACK G. SHAHEEN |access-date=July 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713034439/http://as.nyu.edu/neareaststudies/mourning_Jack_Shaheen.html |archive-date=July 13, 2017 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/07/10/536521681/a-powerful-voice-against-arab-stereotyping-jack-shaheen-dies |title=A Powerful Voice Against Arab Stereotyping, Jack Shaheen, Dies |date=July 10, 2017 |publisher=NPR |access-date=July 11, 2017}} People who praised his work include Ralph Nader, who said that Shaheen "provided the incriminating evidence directly from the biased media, unedited", and Ali Mirsepassi, director of New York University's Iranian Studies Initiative, wrote in 2012 that "Jack Shaheen approaches his critical work with little personal or intellectual bitterness, moral arrogance or intellectual superiority."
Works and publications
- {{cite book|last1=Shaheen|first1=Jack G.|title=Nuclear War Films|date=1979|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|location=Carbondale|isbn=0-8093-0843-6|oclc=317396635}}
- {{cite book|last1=Shaheen|first1=Jack G.|title=The TV Arab|date=1984|publisher=Popular Press|location=Bowling Green, Ohio|isbn=0-87972-309-2|url=https://archive.org/details/tvarab0000shah|oclc=581867731|url-access=registration}}
- {{cite book|last1=Shaheen|first1=Jack G.|title=Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People|date=2012|publisher=Olive Branch Press, Interlink Publishing Group|location=New York|isbn=978-1-62371-006-4|edition=Revised and updated|oclc=928572276}} – originally published in 2001
- {{cite book|last1=Shaheen|first1=Jack G.|title=Guilty: Hollywood's Verdict on Arabs After 9/11|date=2012|publisher=Olive Branch Press, Interlink Publishing Group|location=Northampton, MA|isbn=978-1-62371-020-0|oclc=828794510}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_535/ Jack G. Shaheen Papers] at Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives, New York University
- [http://neareaststudies.as.nyu.edu/object/kc.media.jackshaheen Jack Shaheen Biography]
- [http://www.alrasub.com/interview-with-dr-jack-shaheen/ Dr. Jack Shaheen Interview on www.alrasub.com]
- {{C-SPAN|22270}}
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Category:American writers of Lebanese descent
Category:Southern Illinois University faculty
Category:Carnegie Mellon University alumni
Category:Pennsylvania State University alumni
Category:University of Missouri alumni