I am from Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest populations of Arab immigrants in the United States. This mixing of cultures, of peoples, of identities has informed my writing in many ways. Narrative themes of immigration, exile and isolation inspire my writing and my thesis represents chapters from my first novel, tracing the Arab American immigration experience from 1914 until 1967; and, my second novel, set in Detroit, continues this narrative through the perspectives of two characters, drawing on the post 9-11 Arab American community and experience. The poet Hayan Charara has spoken of “the absence of a ‘personal history’ of the Middle East. . . for those whose families were among the first waves of Arabs to immigrate to the United States.” As an Arab American writer, my fiction attempts to create threads of memory, of family, of stories, that connect us back to a similar space.
","abstract_html":"<p>I am from Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest populations of Arab immigrants in the United States. This mixing of cultures, of peoples, of identities has informed my writing in many ways. Narrative themes of immigration, exile and isolation inspire my writing and my thesis represents chapters from my first novel, tracing the Arab American immigration experience from 1914 until 1967; and, my second novel, set in Detroit, continues this narrative through the perspectives of two characters, drawing on the post 9-11 Arab American community and experience. The poet Hayan Charara has spoken of “the absence of a ‘personal history’ of the Middle East. . . for those whose families were among the first waves of Arabs to immigrate to the United States.” As an Arab American writer, my fiction attempts to create threads of memory, of family, of stories, that connect us back to a similar space.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["O'Neill, Shannon"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Thomas De Haven"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:54:02Z","subjects":["Fiction","Arab American","Detroit","Multiethnic Literature","Arts and Humanities","Creative Writing"],"languages":[],"rights":["© The Author"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/507"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/507","href":"https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/507","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.25772/7Q1Y-NY89","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Thomas De Haven"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["O'Neill, Shannon"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2213-05-29T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Fiction","Arab American","Detroit","Multiethnic Literature","Arts and Humanities","Creative Writing"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["© The Author"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.25772/7Q1Y-NY89","https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/507"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["I am from Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest populations of Arab immigrants in the United States. This mixing of cultures, of peoples, of identities has informed my writing in many ways. Narrative themes of immigration, exile and isolation inspire my writing and my thesis represents chapters from my first novel, tracing the Arab American immigration experience from 1914 until 1967; and, my second novel, set in Detroit, continues this narrative through the perspectives of two characters, drawing on the post 9-11 Arab American community and experience. The poet Hayan Charara has spoken of “the absence of a ‘personal history’ of the Middle East. . . for those whose families were among the first waves of Arabs to immigrate to the United States.” As an Arab American writer, my fiction attempts to create threads of memory, of family, of stories, that connect us back to a similar space.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Lebanon to Detroit and the Places In-Between"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Thomas De Haven"],"dc:creator":["O'Neill, Shannon"],"dc:date.available":["2213-05-29T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["I am from Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest populations of Arab immigrants in the United States. This mixing of cultures, of peoples, of identities has informed my writing in many ways. Narrative themes of immigration, exile and isolation inspire my writing and my thesis represents chapters from my first novel, tracing the Arab American immigration experience from 1914 until 1967; and, my second novel, set in Detroit, continues this narrative through the perspectives of two characters, drawing on the post 9-11 Arab American community and experience. The poet Hayan Charara has spoken of “the absence of a ‘personal history’ of the Middle East. . . for those whose families were among the first waves of Arabs to immigrate to the United States.” As an Arab American writer, my fiction attempts to create threads of memory, of family, of stories, that connect us back to a similar space.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://doi.org/10.25772/7Q1Y-NY89","https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/507"],"dc:rights":["© The Author"],"dc:subject":["Fiction","Arab American","Detroit","Multiethnic Literature","Arts and Humanities","Creative Writing"],"dc:title":["Lebanon to Detroit and the Places In-Between"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:54:02Z"}