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Palestinian Evangelical Christian Music In Bethlehem, Israel/Palestine, Abby Smith

Senior Honors Theses

Often the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is portrayed as Jewish vs. Muslim, Hebrew vs. Arab. There is little room in the international dialogue for minorities such as Arab Christians. Though Palestinians have a rich culture of Arabic musical and poetic heritage, they are unable to produce their own new songs. In this study I interviewed three members of Immanuel Evangelical Church on their experiences and opinions on local Christian worship. The findings show that Palestinian Christians may feel unable to write worship music because of a prevalent feeling of inadequacy and a lack of musical training. I propose several …

Constructions Of Democratic Citizenship And Civic Education In Tunisia, Abigail Smith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although Tunisia has made significant progress in establishing procedural democracy since the 2011 revolution, the state still faces significant challenges in consolidating their new spirit of democracy throughout society. This trouble includes difficulty fostering participation from its citizens, particularly among youth aged 18-30. This article hypothesizes that these difficulties stems largely from the state’s failure to construct a concept of Tunisian citizenship in line with democratic ideologies. Citizenship construction is considered as a political science concept that describes the mechanisms by which states relate with their citizenry with the goal of defining citizen interactions with the government and national community. …

Facebook’S Façade: Understanding The Disillusionment Of Tunisian Youth, Adam Cooper

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Over the past nine years, Tunisian youth voter participation has been incredibly low. Once leaders of the country during its democratic revolution in January 2011, youth in Tunisia are now disillusioned with the Tunisian political sphere and have remained absent from formal politics, a transition that is both confusing and worrying. Tunisian youth have also had a dominant presence on Facebook during this time, often utilizing the online space for political activity in lieu of voting in elections and holding membership in political parties. This paper examines the relationship between the Facebook usage and participation in elections of Tunisia youth, …

The Political Development Of Capital Punishment In The Modern Moroccan State, Mia Barr

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The modern Moroccan state seen today is very young. Having only been independent from France since 1956, the country has spent the last sixty-four years crafting its post-colonial statehood. What has emerged is a hybrid political system with powers split, however unequally, between the King and his inner circle, known as the makhzen, and the Parliament. Not only is the monarchy constitutional—meaning that its legitimacy is literally written into the primary governing document of Morocco, which had its last referendum in 2011—but it is also self-sustaining and self-legitimizing, for the monarchy uses its constitutional powers to grant itself further powers …

Secularism In The Arab World: Contexts, Ideas And Consequences, Aziz Al-Azmeh, David Bond

In Translation: Modern Muslim Thinkers

Explores secularism and secularisation in Arab societies since the mid-19th century.

This book is a translation of Aziz al-Azmeh’s seminal work Al-'Ilmaniya min mandhur mukhtalif that was first published in Beirut in 1992. Both celebrated and criticised for its reflections on Arab secularisation and secularism in the modern history of the Arab World, it is the only study to date to approach its subject as a set of historical changes which affected the regulation of the social, political and cultural order, and which permeated the concrete workings of society, rather than as an ideological discussion framed from the outset by …

Khookha Mcqueer: Advocacy For Non-Binary Queerness And Lgbtqi+ Representation In Tunisia, Jake Gomez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2018, the Tunisian government arrested 127 Tunisians on the basis of suspicions regarding non-heterosexual and non-cisgendered acts. Tunisian civil society centralizes its core missions around advocating for the rights of LGBT individuals through attempts to target the measures that allow for such unlawful imprisonment: Articles 230 and 226 of the Tunisian Constitution. But within the undiscussed gaps between laws, cultures of homo and transphobia, and civil society lies alternative measures for non-linear forms of queer advocacy. This research engages with the work of Khookha McQueer -- a Tunisian LGBTQI+ rights activist -- and documents conversations had with Khookha regarding …

Water And War: The Potential For Perpetuation Of Conflict Due To Climate Change, Kaufman Butler

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Climate change has had a dramatic impact on the world’s weather for years, scientists can only make predictions about how global climate will continue to change going forward; but in all scenarios the circumstances are quite dire. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will see some of the most severe effects of climate change, which will permanently alter the lives of millions of people in the region. In the MENA region, climate change is projected to result in extreme drought and temperatures which will lead to increased water scarcity, in what is already the most water poor region in …

Kasbah 3, Kais Saied, And The Construction Of A Post-Revolutionary Political Paradigm In Tunisia, Aj Braverman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Kasbah 1 and Kasbah 2 – sit-ins resulting in the expulsion of old-regime ministers, the installation of a technocratic government, and the promise of elections – are generally regarded as two of the most important popular actions in the Tunisian Revolution. Left as a footnote to this history is Kasbah 3, a third sit-in widely considered to be a failed, radical movement corrosive to the successes of the Revolution. Eight years later, with the election of Kais Saied and the failure of the pre-revolutionary establishment Bourguibist movement, the spirit of Kasbah 3 appears to have returned. This paper seeks to …

The Effect Of Tribalism On Political Parties, Cyrus Lloyd

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Tribalism has been the fundamental organizational unit of Middle Eastern Society for thousands of years. Recently however, modern scholars have questioned the viability of tribalism in the burgeoning democratic systems of the region. This study weighs in on this debate, focusing specifically on how tribal loyalties influence the effectiveness of political parties, considered by political science researchers to be the most effective way for the people to impose their will on the government. Focusing specifically on Jordan, this research takes into account information collected from interviews with several prominent members of Jordanian political, social, and intellectual life, including the heads …

Working For The Worker? A Study Of The Union Générale Tunisienne Du Travail (Ugtt), Ava Erfani

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study attempts to explore the nature of the Tunisian national trade union, the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT), as it operates in Tunisia today. This was achieved by conducting in-depth interviews with Tunisians living in the greater Tunis area in the fall of 2019. Through the lens of both those affiliated with the UGTT and those who have no ties to the organization, an image of the UGTT is able to be revealed as a conspicuous entity. Is its aim to hold power in government? Or rather stay outside of the sphere of national politics to effect change? …

The Role Of Local Communities In Preventing And Countering Violent Extremism (P/Cve) In Jordan, Anna Fraher Klingensmith

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Bordering Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Israel/Palestine, with Lebanon not too far away, Jordan’s location makes it at high risk for violent extremism. Although Jordan is considered one of the safest countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the country is known for having one of the highest numbers of foreign fighters in the world, and for being the homeland of the father of ISIS (Abu Musab al-Zarqawi). Also worrisome is the increasing number of desperate people turning to extremist ideologies due to the country’s economic crisis and lack of opportunities for political engagement. Jordan could be …

“Not Yet A Priority:” The Intersectional Exploration Of Labor Market Access For People With Disabilities, Anona Neal

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Approximately one in four families in Morocco are affected by disability. Of those affected by disability, many are in vulnerable situations, because there is an explicit linkage between having a disability and likelihood of experiencing poverty. The primary reasons for this phenomenon include lack of access to education, employment and health care. Following the Arab Spring, the Moroccan government implemented Article 166 which explicitly banned workplace discrimination against people with disabilities (PWD); however, only 13% of those affected by disability of working age can find employment. In this paper, I investigate the obstacles PWD face that prevent them from accessing …

Music And Social Justice, Jennifer Thomson

Bucknell: Occupied

Jennifer Thomson, assistant professor of History at Bucknell University, interviews students in the Bucknell course Music 322: Music and Social Justice. Students describe the goals of the course and discuss the resources used to exchange knowledge about social justice issues including race, inequity, prison abolition, and sentence disparity.

Limits To Literacy: The Perceived Relationship Between Functional Literacy And Political Empowerment Amongst The Forest-Dwelling Van Gujjars, Nicola Soekoe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The failure of countrywide basic literacy campaigns to enhance social mobility has led to the promotion and development of localized, comprehensive functional literacy campaigns. These campaigns are particularly applicable to marginalized groups; as they aim to empower communities by providing them with the necessary skills to navigate their socioeconomic and political environments. This qualitative study examines the long-term impact of one such functional literacy campaign on the semi-nomadic pastoral Van Gujjar community. I use the Assets, Opportunity Structure, and Degrees of Empowerment (DOE) method to investigate community members’ perceptions of the level of political empowerment that followed their participation in …

Islamophobia In Contemporary America, Matthew Bryce Miller

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Before beginning, it is critical that I establish the scope of this thesis. In an attempt to make this thesis as rewarding and substantive as possible, I have attempted to narrowly construct boundaries for my writing by asking two primary research questions: How and why does Islamophobia manifest in contemporary America? It should be noted that the "How" is the primary focus of this work, while the "Why" is more of a supplementary addition. This was purposefully done because of the sheer magnitude and more objective nature of the first section. I am hesitant to devote too much time or …

Language In The Name Of National Security: The Transformation Of Arabic Language Instruction In U.S. Institutions Of Higher Education, Evelyn Daugherty

Sociology Honors Projects

Government designation of Arabic as a “strategic language” following WWII transformed Arabic language instruction in U.S. institutions of higher education. Funding from the government created a shift away from teaching students to read and translate classical Arabic for academic purposes and toward teaching modern varieties of the language for communication.  I employ a three-pronged institutional analysis that takes into account the role of government, the role of professional associations, and the role of individual instructors in the redefinition of norms governing Arabic language instruction during the past seventy years. I find that coercive pressure stemming from government interest affected Arabic …

Female Genital Mutilation: Policies To Encourage Abandonment, Melissa Arneson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) also known as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) captured my interest the first time I heard about the practice. I assumed, wrongly, that it was only practiced in remote areas of Africa where educational opportunities were few and outside influences were nil. After researching the topic it is clear that is not the case. FGM is practiced in many countries in Africa, the Middle East, and around the world. It is a barbaric practice that has no religious significance and is incredibly harmful to women and their health, both mentally and physically. I focused my research on …