Book Review: “Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America” by Laila Lalami

Apr 7

Håfa adai! April is Arab American Heritage Month and Autism Awareness Month in the United States. For the first two weeks of April 2025, I will post reviews of books that are written by Arab American authors and depict important experiences and stories of those identifying as Arab Americans. My first selection for Arab American Heritage Month 2025 is Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America by Laila Lalami.

A brief history of Arab American Heritage Month is forthcoming and will be added to this post at a later date.

This book review consists of two parts: a brief summary of content followed by my personal takeaways. I may go into detail about some parts of the book, but I will leave out the greater nuance. I want to share my opinions of the book and encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Social Sciences & History bookshelf.

Summary

What does an American believe, speak, or look like? In Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America, Laila Lalami examines how the experiences of American citizenship can be determined by the color of your skin, the geography of your and your ancestors’ origins, and the belief system you may belong to. Citing examples from United States legislative history as well as her personal journey from Moroccan immigrant graduate student to US citizen, Laila Lalami provides a passionate and vivid glimpse at the lives of Arabs, Muslims, and many more who have called the United States home from the 17th Century to today.

My Thoughts on Conditional Citizens: 5 stars!

Are Anglo Americans expected to answer for the actions of the Ku Klux Klan (a race-centric terrorist organization in the United States), the atrocities committed by mass shooters and serial killers (the overwhelming majority of whom are identified as Anglo American) in the United States, or the violent abuses committed by organized Christian and Catholic institutions? No, absolutely not! Because that would be horrifically unfair to the average random Anglo American who is most likely not a KKK member/sympathizer, not a supporter of mass shooters and serial killers, and is enraged by the abuses committed by many Churches and Church leaders.

Yet Arab Americans like Laila Lalami are consistently expected to answer questions regarding the actions of similar organizations, individuals, and institutions associated with the Arab and Muslim world. This constant test of atonement for actions that have nothing to do with the average random Arab American—combined with legislative history in the United States aimed at members of Arab and Muslim communities—creates a very real social reality of conditional citizenship where Arab Americans are held in this liminal space of being here but not belonging here. Laila Lalami expands the notion of conditional citizenship beyond the experiences of Arab Americans to include those of nearly every race and creed, drawing special attention to lived experiences of women.

In discussing White privilege, White fragility, and White guilt, Laila Lalami holds a non-judgmental position of empathy with a desire to learn and educate. When discussing your first-hand experiences with ignorance, it can be too easy to fall into an angry spiral where you want to make those who belittled or dehumanized you feel the way they made you feel. Laila Lalami does not do that in Conditional Citizens. Instead, she takes care in exploring what these terms mean, what they are often mistaken to mean, and how they are observed in the real world. She goes into detail about the harm White privilege, fragility, and guilt does to those on the receiving end of prejudice as well as those who perpetuate them.

My overall rating of Conditional Citizens is 5 out of 5 stars! Laila Lalami does not hold back in pointing out the dehumanizing and exhausting experiences of being seen as the perpetual other in a first-world nation: those who identify as Arab Americans are subjected to a very specific type of prejudice; those who identify as nearly any kind of minority are subject to doubts and questions surrounding their “loyalty” to the United States; those who identify as women are perpetually seen as unreliable narrators of their own experiences. That being stated, this book was a bit triggering for me. I am an Indigenous/mestiza woman from a United States territory (the modern-day politically correct term for “colony”) who now calls the mainland United States home. Change a few words in some of the examples Laila Lalami gives, and she is describing experiences I have had first-hand in the past decade. Whether or not you draw similarities between what the author describes, Conditional Citizens is an important book to read.

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami.

Rating Cheat Sheet

4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.

Post Date: 7 April 2025