Digital Commons Network^™

The History And Manifestations Of The Metaverse In Contemporary Literature, Marlon Semuel Contantin Kansil, Wanting Sun

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The metaverse, an interactive and immersive virtual world, has emerged as a critical theme in contemporary literature, significantly impacting narratives and character development. This paper explores the history and literary manifestations of the metaverse, investigating its influence on identity, space, and social interactions. We find that the metaverse supports flexible and individualistic identities, reshaping how characters and readers understand themselves. The digital space of the metaverse provides a dynamic setting for moral and emotional conflicts, enriching the literary aesthetics of space. Furthermore, literature plays a crucial role in both shaping and reflecting the concept of the metaverse, employing symbolism and …

Punish Yet Cannot Discipline: Two Iraqi Prison Novels, Hanan Jasim Khammas

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Al-Munāḍil (The Militant) (1972) by ʿAzīz al-Sayyid Jāsim, and Iʿjām (Iʿjaam) (2004) by Sinan Antoon are two prison novels about the historical turning points which mark the rise and fall of the Baʿth regime in Iraq. While the first employs imprisonment as a lens through to expose the corruption and injustice exercised by the monarchy against the emergent revolutionary power, the second shows the Baʿthist government applying similar methods of surveillance, and of physical and psychological torture. Reading these texts by al-Sayyid Jāsim, who died in the Baʿth prisons, and by Antoon who wrote Iʿjaam …

The Absurdity Of Liberation In Moroccan Prison Narratives, Hakima Choukri

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Moroccan prison narratives have been credited with major political and social changes, yet their existential value is equally worth acknowledging. The prison narratives of Aziz Binebine, Mohamed Raiss, Malika Oufkir, and Fatna El Bouih, to mention but a few, are fraught with existentialist patterns that are uncovered upon reading them comparatively. One pattern that persists through these narratives is the absurdity of liberation. Borrowing Camus’ concept of the absurd, this article highlights the absurdity of the post-prison chapter for being nothing more than an extension of the prison episode that makes the impossibility of freedom acutely felt. The absurdity of …

Predictors Of Wellbeing For Women With Disabilities In The United Arab Emirates, Tatiana Karabchuk, Osman Antwi-Boateng

Journal of International Women's Studies

Women with disabilities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) face unique challenges due to traditional gender roles and societal expectations. Despite these challenges, recent social policies in the UAE aimed at supporting people with disabilities have significantly improved their life satisfaction. This study explores the determinants of happiness for women with disabilities compared disabled men using data from the 2017 National Survey for Happiness and Positivity. Contrary to expectations, women with disabilities in the UAE have highest happiness scores compared to women without disabilities and men with/without disabilities. Furthermore, both women with and without disabilities consistently over score men with/without …

Review Of Literature On Emirati Women With Disabilities, Their Education, And Career Prospects, Mohammed Humaid Aljanahi, Abdulfattah Yaghi, Ali Al Ahbabi

Journal of International Women's Studies

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has made significant advancements in women empowerment and has established legal frameworks to support people with disabilities, particularly women (People of Determination, POD). However, there is a notable lack of information regarding the career choices of Emirati Women of Determination (EWOD). This literature review aims to address this gap by examining the limited research on EWOD’s career choices and the challenges they encounter. The societal stigma surrounding disabilities, especially with women, often results in underreporting which hinders data collection efforts. While existing research predominantly relies on qualitative methods, providing valuable insights, it lacks generalizability. This …

Silent, Or Silenced: Repression Of The Middle Eastern Subaltern, Amanda Arodes

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This paper employs subaltern theory to examine the socio-political landscapes of Palestine and Syria within postcolonial discourse. Drawing from the works of scholars like Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Ranajit Guha, and Juan R. Cole, this study uncovers the silenced narratives and marginalized perspectives of the Palestinian and Syrian people. Through a critical analysis of historical, cultural, and political dimensions, the basis of this research explores how subaltern groups in Palestine and Syria navigate structures of power, resistance, and identity formation. The experiences of various subaltern groups, including refugees, women, and ethnic minorities whose voices often remain obscured within dominant discourses are …

"Because They Recognized Us": Triangulated Perspectives Of Syrian Mothers' Resettlement Experiences In The Eastern United States., Kayte Thomas

Journal of Applied Disciplines

Research indicates that post-resettlement experiences can be particularly challenging for people with refugee status. Despite finding safety in and adjusting to their new home, former refugees have indicated that this time can be stressful and even traumatic. The current Syrian crisis has created the largest wave of refugees ever known, and Syrian women are amongst the most vulnerable. However, women’s needs and preferences are often not taken into consideration during the resettlement journey and when they are, there is no distinction between mothers and their childless counterparts. As social workers strive to empower the individual person within their environment, it …

Picturing Consumer Culture, Cultural Hybridity, And Womanhood: Farah Al Qasimi’S Photographs From 2012 To 2020, Minji Lee

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Farah Al Qasimi’s 2012-2020 color photographs, arguing that this work presents a distinctive and salient critique of domesticity, material culture, and womanhood in the UAE. Through her lens as a woman and a culturally hybrid subject, Al Qasimi explores the tensions of modernization, globalization, consumerism, and gender.

The Emancipation Of A Harem Girl: Resisting The Gendered Division Of Space In Wafa Faith Hallam’S The Road From Morocco, Rachid Lamghari

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines the challenging of Orientalist and Western discourses and of patriarchal authority over Eastern women in Wafa Faith Hallam’s memoir The Road from Morocco. The conventional representation of these women is revisited as Saadia in the memoir debunks the passivity and docility with which they are associated by exercising her agency and trespassing the sacred cultural and physical frontiers. Regardless of being introduced to confinement in the private space of a harem since her infancy, Saadia manages to liberate herself first through leaving the allegedly sacred frontiers of the house and trespassing in public space which is discursively …

Shall Her Eyes Rest: A Story Of A Syrian Refugee, Hamza Qasem, Manal Al-Natour

Journal of International Women's Studies

“Shall Her Eyes Rest” is a short story about a Syrian refugee woman, Maryama, who overcomes challenges in her journey as a refugee in the USA through hard work, dedication, and resilience. The story reveals how she displays agency by asserting herself in a foreign community, becoming independent, and sharing her Syrian cuisine and culture with the American society. Moreover, Maryama’s story reveals a nightmare that some refugees face—family separation. She and her children and husband were able to board their flight to the United States, but one of her sons was denied entry and was not allowed to join …

A Forgotten Woman Writer: Representations Of Women In Faridah Ahmad’S Creative Writings, Sylvia Azmy

The Undergraduate Research Journal

In her creative writings Farida Ahmad (1939-2018), an Egyptian woman writer and journalist excluded from the Arabic literary canon, subtly presents a different narrative about the leftist movement in the seventies and eighties. This research argues that Ahmad’s works, which present that women’s liberation and nation’s liberation are different, faced structural marginalization. She presents that in her novella, Akhāfu ʻalayka Minnī, using the relationship dynamics between two intellectual leftist activists, Mustafa and Nadia. Mustafa marginalizes Nadia from the political sphere through his patronizing attitude. Moreover, he utilizes the sexual (nation) liberation rhetoric and conservative rhetoric to convince Nadia to be …

Mary Sidney’S The Tragedy Of Antony And Fadwa Tuqan’S A Mountainous Journey: Language, Gender Politics, And The Emergence Of Authorial Identities, Bilal Hamamra

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article engages with the critical lenses of new historicism and presentism, using Fadwa Tuqan’s A Mountainous Journey and the discourse of Palestinian female martyrs as contemporary intertexts to scrutinize women’s silence, speech, and authorial identity in Mary Sidney’s early modern English work The Tragedy of Antony. I contend this text enabled Sidney to construct a narrative of mourning for her brother Philip Sidney, just as Tuqan uses her writing to mourn her brother Ibrahim Tuqan. It is argued here that Sidney’s and Tuqan’s creation of their authorial identities emanated from their close relationships with their brothers. I argue that …

Writing As Liberation: Challenging Yemeni Patriarchal Practices, Sheema Alamari

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Patriarchal societies create an environment where men hold power and women are often treated as second-class citizens or are often held as having an inferior status. Throughout history and across cultures, literature has provided a platform for writers to share their stories and express themselves. However, Yemeni women have often been silenced and marginalized due to limited education and censorship. In recent times, Yemeni and Yemeni-American women have turned to storytelling as a means of creative expression and emotional release. This thesis analyzes Zubaida “Jasmine” Sharif’s memoir, Caged in America: One Woman’s Journey Through the Veil, and Nadia Al-Kowkabani's …

Angela Jurdak Khoury (1915-2011) As The First Woman Diplomat In Lebanon: Feminism And Education During The French Mandate, Angela Kahil

Journal of International Women's Studies

Angela Jurdak Khoury was born in 1915 in Lebanon and died in 2011 in Washington D.C. She was the first woman who studied in the Department of Sociology at the American University of Beirut, and the first to graduate with an M.A degree from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1938. She was also the first woman to teach and be involved in social services at the university. In 1945, Khoury joined diplomatic affairs to become the first woman diplomat in Lebanon, representing her country in the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN between 1946 and …

Film Review: Capernaum, A Lebanese, Refugee Drama Film, Manar Hesino, Manal Al-Natour

Journal of International Women's Studies

In Capernaum, a drama film directed by the Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, the viewer is taken through a child’s perspective on life in the slums of Beirut, Lebanon. Through the perspective of the 12-year-old boy, Zain El Hajj, the film depicts global issues including child poverty, child marriage, the current Syrian refugee crisis, lack of documentation, and gender-based violence.

Market Feminism In Morocco, Claire Madsen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite widespread views of “Moroccan Exceptionalism,” Morocco continues to rank poorly on international evaluations of gender equality. This project seeks to understand the extent of the influence neoliberal economic forces in Morocco have had on the feminist landscape. Analysis of Moroccan political history, Foucauldian theories of power relations, and relevant literature on state feminism set the groundwork for the evaluation of the extent state feminism in Morocco can be understood as market-based, in accordance with the definition from From State Feminism to Market Feminsim (2012) by Kantola and Squires. Through interviews of three experts, three meetings with women’s empowerment NGOs, …

Film Review: Gaza Mon Amour, 2020. This Palestinian, Drama Film With Spanish Subtitles Was Directed By Brothers Arab Nasser And Tarzan Nasser And Written By The Brothers And Fadette Drouard. Produced By Rani Massalha, Marie Legrand, Michael Eckelt. Distributed By Versatile Films., Tucker Nadeau, Manal Al-Natour

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Cultivation, Conflict, And Consumption: Food Systems In Syria, 1920–1946, Sara Pekow

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines Syria during the French Mandate using food as a primary unit of analysis. The exploration of food pushes this project beyond the boundaries of political and diplomatic histories of Syria during the French Mandate, bringing forward the hidden voices of the nonelite. Nonelites are often not visible in archives, but their absence in most written sources permits us to ascertain their experiences in studying the materials that comprised their everyday lives. The sources consulted for this work include memoirs, print media, and state archives, to name a few.

Each chapter of this dissertation follows a different link …

Decolonizing Female Archetypes: Creating An Oppositional Consciousness In Contemporary Chicana And Iraqi Women’S Fiction, Semah Salih Hussein

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In dominant imperialist discourses, women, such as Iraqi women and Chicanas, have been marginalized in political, social and economic structures and have been manipulated to maintain imperialist exploitation and processes. They have been frozen within certain archetypal configurations. Iraqi women have been misrepresented as victims of their culture and traditions, and Chicanas have been represented in derogatory terms or excluded from mainstream hierarchies of representation. This study examines some counternarratives and oppositional subjectivities/ consciousnesses provided by Iraqi and Chicana women writers through their utilization of the legacy of a number of fictional and historical female figures. The primary texts analyzed …

Zinā In The Criminal Legislation Act (1999-2000): An Evaluation Of The Implication For Muslim Women's Right In Nigeria, Paul Orerhime Akpomie

Theses and Dissertations

The research engages in an exploration of human rights in Islam. Human rights issues are then contrasted with international law positions. The data gotten is then used for investigating women’s human rights issues in Shariʾa penal tradition regarding zinā (adultery) in Nigeria. The re-emergence of Sharia penal codes adopted by 12 Northern states in Nigeria in 1999 as an operative Islamic law has sparked concerns about rulings amounting to stoning to death in several cases of zinā. These events raised concerns about Shariʾa penal traditions’ legality and relationship with other legal traditions operational in Nigeria, a secular political space. …

New Approaches To Islam In Film, Sophia Rose Arjana

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Kristian Petersen, ed., New Approaches to Islam in Film (New York: Routledge, 2021).

Arab Americans In Film: From Hollywood And Egyptian Stereotypes To Self-Representation, Danielle Haque

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Waleed Mahdi, Arab Americans in Film: From Hollywood and Egyptian Stereotypes to Self-Representation (Syracuse University Press, 2020).

Book Review: Lebanese Women At The Crossroads Caught Between Sect And Nation, Manal Al Natour

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Warrior Mothers: Narratives Of Women From The United Liberation Front Of Assam (Ulfa), Munmi Pathak

Journal of International Women's Studies

The archetype of the mother is always perceived as ‘pacifist’ in war and conflict situations. However, there are numerous examples when mothers are not ‘pacifist’ but become participants and perpetrators of war. This article, through the analysis of the experiences of the mothers in the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), an armed nationalist organization waging war against the Indian nation-state to establish ‘sovereignty’ and ‘liberate’ Assam since1979, argues that mothers can also be warriors, going beyond their ‘pacifist’ archetype. With the analysis of the oral narratives of the women cadres of the organization, this article discusses how these mothers …

Gender Equality And Democratization: How Greater Gender Equality Helps Explain Tunisian Success In The Arab Spring, Hannah Miller

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

A Life Boat, Shahd A. Nahel, Manal Al-Natour

Journal of International Women's Studies

“Creating a Lifeboat” is a story of a Syrian refugee woman who rises from the ashes to build a life for herself and family. The story reveals Adeebah’s agency and role in adapting to the new life in USA as a refugee. It depicts how Adeebah steps outside her comfort zone to challenge gender norms and engage in economic activities such as working in restaurants and catering food. Adeebah exerts her agency as active participant in shaping her life as well as her family’s. She uses her talent of painting and finds herself an artist who sells her paintings in …

Arab American Women In Engineering: How Did Their Culture Influence Their Achievement?, Iktimal Bia Hamed

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This body of research examined the Arab American culture and its impact on women who studied the male-dominated major of engineering. Through a qualitative approach, women born and raised in an Arab American home unpacked their experiences since childhood that made them who they are today. The 10 female Arab American participants shared how they made it through and successfully completed their major in engineering. This study focused on engineering, since there has been little to no growth in women who major in this male-dominated subject. This research examined how the participants’ parents, extended family, friends, community, and both K-12 …

Gendered Use Of Language In Facebook Status Updates Among Jordanian And American Youths: A Sociopragmatic Study, Ashraf Wenas Al Sad

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The study examines the types of speech acts of Facebook status updates that are posted by Jordanian and American youth. The participants were from Yarmouk University which is located in northern Jordan and from West Virginia University which is located in the US. The data was elicited from 50 American males, 50 American females, 50 Jordanian males, and 50 Jordanian females. Searle’s taxonomy was used to do the content analysis of the data. Searle’s taxonomy and additional speech acts were found: directive, expressive, assertive, God’s invocation, humor, and quotation. The findings of the study indicate that the religious and cultural …

On The Basis Of Sex: Personal Status Law Reforms And Economic Growth, Kylie Bring

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how law reform toward gender equity has an impact on economic growth in Arab countries in the Middle East. Personal status law reform granting women economic, social, and personal freedoms is spreading across the region and showing substantial change. Using case studies of major PSL reforms in Tunisia and Morocco, this thesis outlines qualitative and quantitative evidence to support the case that gender equity benefits the economic growth of the given country.

Writing The Body As Subversion In Alexandra Chreiteh’S Always Coca-Cola, Luma Balaa

Journal of International Women's Studies

Women in Always Coca-Cola are oppressed by multiple intersectional forces of oppression, such as patriarchy, the male gaze, colonialism, and the beauty myth. Although some women in the novella are caught in a state in between rebellion and conformism, Always Coca-Cola largely subverts patriarchy. By the end of the novella, the female protagonist is able to break free from some of her chains of oppression. Through a close textual analysis, this paper draws on many theories such as the “male gaze,” Hélène Cixous’s “writing the body,” and Naomi Wolf’s “the beauty myth” to argue that Alexandra Chreiteh’s Always Coca-Cola attempts …