Musa al-Gharbi

Al-Gharbi grew up in a middle-class family in Sierra Vista, Arizona, near the Mexico border.{{Cite web |last=Hayward |first= Freddie |date=November 22, 2024|title=Musa al-Gharbi's dire diagnosis for the woke elite |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2024/11/musa-al-gharbis-dire-diagnosis-for-the-woke-elite |website=New Statesman|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241127230916/https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2024/11/musa-al-gharbis-dire-diagnosis-for-the-woke-elite |archive-date= November 27, 2024 }} His family was heavily involved in the United States Army, with both his parents being soldiers. He had a twin brother who in 2010 was killed in the War in Afghanistan.{{Cite web |last=Moench |first=B. Duncan |date=May 4, 2021 |title=Is Musa Al-Gharbi the Last Academic Who Can Tell the Truth? |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/musa-al-gharbi-academic-truth-duncan-moench |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210930132935/https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/musa-al-gharbi-academic-truth-duncan-moench |archive-date=September 30, 2021 |access-date=December 6, 2024 |website=Tablet Magazine}}

Al-Gharbi received an associate degree from Cochise Community College, then went on to receive a bachelor's degree in Near Eastern studies and a MA in philosophy at the University of Arizona.{{Cite web |date=September 24, 2024 |title=Musa al-Gharbi to Deliver Annual Loeschner Lecture |url=https://sesp.northwestern.edu/news-events/sesp-news/2024/musa-al-gharbi-to-deliver-annual-loeschner-talk.html |website=Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy |access-date=October 9, 2024 |archive-date=October 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008215104/https://sesp.northwestern.edu/news-events/sesp-news/2024/musa-al-gharbi-to-deliver-annual-loeschner-talk.html |url-status=live }} He graduated from Columbia University, earning a PhD in sociology in 2023.

In 2014, while teaching at the University of Arizona, al-Gharbi became a target of right-wing backlash after Fox News highlighted a Truthout article he wrote criticizing American policy in the Middle East.{{Cite web |date=November 22, 2014 |orig-date=2015-11-04 |title=Arizona instructor claims U.S. military 'greater threat' to peace than ISIS |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/arizona-instructor-claims-u-s-military-greater-threat-to-peace-than-isis |access-date=October 18, 2024 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}

{{Quote|text=It would not be a stretch to say that the United States is actually a greater threat to peace and stability in the region than ISIS – not least because US policies in Iraq, Libya and Syria have largely paved the way for ISIS's emergence as a major regional actor.|author=Musa al-Gharbi|title="How Much Moral High Ground Does the US Have Over ISIS?"{{Cite web |last=al-Gharbi |first=Musa |date=2014-10-13 |title=How Much Moral High Ground Does the US Have Over ISIS? |url=https://truthout.org/articles/how-much-moral-high-ground-does-the-us-have-over-isis/ |access-date=2024-10-18 |website=Truthout |language=en-US }}}}

Numerous death threats were sent to the University of Arizona. Following the controversy, al-Gharbi was fired from his teaching position and denied entry into PhD programs at the University of Arizona. {{Cite web |last=Gutkin |first=Len |date=June 30, 2021 |title='The Culture-War Stuff Just Rots the Brain' |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-culture-war-stuff-just-rots-the-brain |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210701013032/https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-culture-war-stuff-just-rots-the-brain |archive-date=July 1, 2021 |access-date=October 17, 2024 |website=The Chronicle of Higher Education}} He turned to retail, selling shoes at a Dillard's store. He was refused a promotion to shoe department manager because a district manager thought he was overqualified. He was later admitted to Columbia University, where he completed a PhD in sociology.{{Cite web |title=Musa Al-Gharbi {{!}} Department of Sociology |url=https://sociology.columbia.edu/content/musa-al-gharbi |access-date=November 29, 2024 |website=sociology.columbia.edu |language=en}} In 2016, after moving to New York City to attend Columbia, he took notice of a particular culture which he would later explore in his writing. On the Upper West Side, an area known for its progressive politics, he found a "racialised caste system" whose bottom tier consisted of a class of "disposable servants who will clean your house, watch your kids, walk your dogs, deliver prepared meals to you".

Al-Gharbi was the communications director of Heterodox Academy from 2016 to 2020. Since 2020, he has published columns in The Guardian.{{Cite web |title=Musa al-Gharbi {{!}} The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/musa-al-gharbi |access-date=November 29, 2024 |website=www.theguardian.com}}

In 2023, al-Gharbi became an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University.{{Cite web |date=January 12, 2023 |title=Al-Gharbi to Join SoCJ as Assistant Professor of Communication and Journalism |url=https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/al-gharbi-to-join-socj-as-assistant-professor-of-communication-and-journalism/ |website=Stony Brook University |access-date=July 23, 2023 |archive-date=July 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723083006/https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/al-gharbi-to-join-socj-as-assistant-professor-of-communication-and-journalism/ |url-status=live }}

In 2021, al-Gharbi's book We Have Never Been Woke: Social Justice Discourse, Inequality, and the Rise of a New Elite, was acquired by Princeton University Press.{{Cite web |date=May 1, 2021 |title=PUP acquires Musa al‑Gharbi's We Have Never Been Woke |url=https://press.princeton.edu/news/musa-al-gharbi-deal-news |website=Princeton University Press |publisher=Princeton University}} It was published in 2024.{{Cite news |last=Szetela |first=Adam |date=October 11, 2024 |title=Finally, a fresh argument against 'wokeness' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/10/14/never-been-woke-review/ |access-date=October 17, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=November 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241117082408/https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/10/14/never-been-woke-review/ |url-status=live }} He argues in the book that the contemporary "woke" movement had not begun during the mid-2010s matriculation of Generation Z into college, but in 2011 during a surge in media discussions of various forms of prejudice and discrimination.{{Cite web |last=Marks |first=Jonathan |date=October 15, 2024 |title='We Have Never Been Woke' Review: A Symbolic Ideology |url=https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/we-have-never-been-woke-review-a-symbolic-ideology-75c1b35d |access-date=October 17, 2024 |website=The Wall Street Journal |archive-date=November 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241116173740/https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/we-have-never-been-woke-review-a-symbolic-ideology-75c1b35d |url-status=live }} He argues that contemporary American society is dominated by a professional class he calls "symbolic capitalists", whom he describes as "professionals who traffic in symbols and rhetoric, images and narratives, data and analysis". According to him, these symbolic capitalists support social justice movements in order to amass social currency to further their own interests.{{cite web |first=Carrie|last= McKean| url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/10/we-have-never-been-woke-review-musa-al-gharbi/ | title=We Have Never Been Deplorable |website= Christianity Today| date=October 8, 2024 }}

Since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, al-Gharbi has argued that mainstream liberal news outlets including The New York Times{{'}} opinion page and MSNBC have mischaracterized his supporters. He views the 2024 election victory of Trump as a revolt against symbolic capitalists, with Kamala Harris being "a very prototypical symbolic capitalist".

Before attending college, al-Gharbi planned to become a Catholic priest. He later became an atheist and then converted to Islam.

Al-Gharbi is married to a woman from Lebanon.{{cite web | url=https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/musa-al-gharbi/ | title=Musa al-Gharbi on Elite Wokeness, Islam, and Social Movements (Ep. 224) | date=July 7, 2018 | access-date=October 18, 2024 | archive-date=November 12, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241112232422/https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/musa-al-gharbi/ | url-status=live }}

• {{Cite book |last=al-Gharbi |first=Musa |title=We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2024 |isbn=978-0691232607 |language=en}}

• {{Cite journal |last=al-Gharbi |first=Musa |date=April 14, 2018 |title=Race and the Race for the White House: On Social Research in the Age of Trump |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12108-018-9373-5 |journal=The American Sociologist |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=496–519 |doi=10.1007/s12108-018-9373-5 |via=Springer Link}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Benjamin K. |last2=Stohl |first2=Michael |last3=al-Gharbi |first3=Musa |year=2019 |title=Discourses on countering violent extremism: the strategic interplay between fear and security after 9/11 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17539153.2018.1494793 |journal=Critical Studies on Terrorism |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=151–168 |doi=10.1080/17539153.2018.1494793 |via=Taylor & Francis|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Rozado |first1=David |last2=al-Gharbi |first2=Musa |last3=Halberstadt |first3=Jamin |date=February 2023 |title=Prevalence of Prejudice-Denoting Words in News Media Discourse: A Chronological Analysis |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08944393211031452 |journal=Social Science Computer Review |publication-date=July 27, 2021 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=99–122 |doi=10.1177/08944393211031452 |via=Sage Publishing|url-access=subscription }}

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|https://musaalgharbi.com}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Gharbi, Musa}}

Category:Living people

Category:American sociologists

Category:Muslims from Arizona

Category:21st-century American social scientists

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:University of Arizona alumni

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:Stony Brook University faculty