Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Introduction & Rasha, p. 1-44; Sami, p. 45-80

Please respond to all three questions below.  

Be sure to number your responses (at least one paragraph for each).



What do we learn in the opening pages about Rasha and her family? What are some of Rashi’s particular character traits? When and why did her family immigrate to the United States? How might these details help Bayoumi accomplish his goal of offering readers more than a simple “profile” of Rasha?
Sami seems to struggle with his identity in several ways, but none so severe as his identity as both an Arab and an American.  Explain why he has this identity crisis.  Second, explain how he learns to reconcile these two identities by the end of the chapter. 
In this weeks’ lecture video, we discussed some basic information about Islam and Muslims who practice the religion.  What differences are you noticing in the way Islam is often represented (both in popular culture and the imaginations of Americans) versus what a more nuanced scholarly understanding of the religion provides?