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Arab diaspora refers to the numbers of Arab immigrants, and their descendants, who voluntarily or as refugees emigrated from their native countries and now reside in non-Arab nations, primarily in Western countries as well as parts of sub-Saharan Africa (West Africa, primarily Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Liberia).
The Americas have long been a place of Arab migration, arriving as early as the nineteenth century in some countries. The largest Arab colony in the world resides in Brazil, which has over 12 million Brazilians of Arab ancestry. Of these 12 million Brazilian Arabs, over 9 million are of Lebanese ancestry, making Brazil's population of Lebanese three times greater than that of Lebanon. Most other Brazilians of Arab descent are mainly Syrian. There are also large Arab communities in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Palestinians cluster in Chile and Central America, particularly El Salvador and Honduras.In the United States there are around 3.5 million people of Arab ancestry. Most Arabs of the Americas are of either Lebanese or Syrian extraction and are mostly Christian.
In France, the Benelux countries, Spain and much of the rest of Europe, the Arab communities are of North African origin, particularly Algeria and Morocco, and are mostly Muslim. There is also a medium sized Arab community in Australia, where Arabic is the fourth most widely spoken second-language. The number of Muslim and Christian Arab Australians are roughly equal with a slight upper hand to Christians (see Australian Census).
There are no exact figures of how many Arabs live in diaspora (expatriates). There are many challenges facing Arabs in diaspora, especially in the post 9/11 world: First: Suspicion of Arabs and Moslems has reached almost a paranoid proportion. Arabophobia and Moslemophobia (also known as Islamophobia) have reached new heights.
Second: Another delicate issue for the Diaspora Arabs is the relationship with motherlands and/or fatherlands. These challenges depend on which generation of Arab immigrants we are talking about. Usually, the first generation Arab immigrants are caught between a love for the motherland that on hand increased by leaps and bounds following immigration and fueled mainly by nostalgia and a certain degree of “culture shock,” and resentment stemming from feeling driven out by unfavorable circumstances.
Third: After an initial period of “shock,” the first generation Arab immigrants start the slow process of acculturation/assimilation. The Arab in his self-imposed-exile faces the ambivalence associated with the love-hate relationship with the motherland and/or fatherland.
Fourth: Nostalgia: The memory of the Arab immigrant polishes events, people and places and plays “tricks” on his mind. The things that used to irritate the Arab immigrant in the motherland start to seem so trivial after a few months away. Arabs in diaspora start forgetting or minimizing the bitterness that drove them out and remember only the sweet. In a way nostalgia becomes deceptive and memory turns selective. The first generation immigrant Arab is perplexed and his nostalgia leaves him or her with a heavy heart. Even a song that reminds an Arab of his childhood or adolescence puts a lump in his throat. The bond to the motherland becomes like a rubber band the draws the emigrant Arab ever stronger the longer and the farther he stays away.
Prominent members of the Arab diaspora include;