Digital Commons Network^™

Ecological Perspectives On Study Abroad For Language Learning, Matthew Thomas Bird

Theses and Dissertations

The field of study abroad for language learning has drawn extensively on related fields such as applied linguistics and psychology to conceptualize learners' experiences, which then informs how practitioners go about designing programs for those learners. Research has encouraged practitioners to increase learners' access to the target language (e.g., through speaking partners, content courses), but it has also become clear that while access might be necessary, it does not guarantee learner engagement and growth. This dissertation explores two unique conceptual frameworks for understanding language learners and presents empirical research that demonstrates the kinds of findings that these frameworks can produce. …

Maẓālim Between Politics And Justice Under The Mamluks, Menna Rashad

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to explore the place of the maẓālim institution in the Mamluk state and to study maẓālim as a product of its period rather than following the strict provisions of al-Māwardī’s theory. This thesis’s primary objective is to explore the place of maẓālim in the Mamluk state by identifying the extent to which this institution was politically utilized and used by rulers to assert their power in different ways. The second objective of this thesis is to study maẓālim in relation to other forms of justice: sharīʿah, siyāsah, and Yāsā. On the basis of this objective, …

Hawsh Al-Basha: The Royal Cemetery In Cairo, Mai Mohamed Kolkailah

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on Hawsh al-Basha, the royal cemetery near the mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi‘i, which is arguably one of the most intriguing architectural moments in Ottoman Cairo. Firstly, the historiography of Hawsh al-Basha is examined carefully in order to situate the mausoleum temporally and geographically. Secondly, for a critical rewriting of the historical narrative, this study systematically cross-references contemporary sources with nineteenth-century travel accounts, among other material evidence, to effectively reconstruct the complicated building chronology of Hawsh al-Basha and reassess when the mausoleum was built. Then, the study surveys the various categories of ornamentation employed at the royal cemetery, …

Contemporary Mosque Architecture In Egypt And Iran (A Comparative Analysis), Hosam Ali

Theses and Dissertations

I would like to introduce my research with this quote from Ahmed Hamid’s book Hassan Fathy and Continuity in Islamic Art and Architecture: As a student of Architecture at Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering, I was ashamed that we Egyptians and Muslims had nothing in our syllabi that could be considered comparable to the genius of the west. Islamic architecture was omitted from the curriculum as being of no interest value for modern architects. It bothered me when I found that Egyptians believed the image propagated by some orientalists that Islam, and by implication its art and architecture, was backward.1 …

Globalization And Cultural Attitudes Of Teachers In Faculties Of Education In Egypt, Marwa El-Shinawy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the cultural orientation of the students in the faculties of education in Egypt towards the phenomenon of globalization as manifested in the visions of the professors and the students, and the curricula of these faculties. Thus, the study aimed to explore to what extent the cultural attitudes of the prospective teachers and the professors in the faculties of education in Egypt motivate/ hinder the globalization of teacher education.

The second section presented the theoretical perspective, which is the transformationalists view of globalization. This perspective represents a mid-way point between the Hyper- globalists …

Modern Standard Arabic Speech Recognition: Using Formants Measurements To Extract Vowels From Arabic Words’ Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-Vowel Structure, Mohamed Ali Alshaari

Theses and Dissertations

Arabic texts suffer from missing diacritics (short vowels) which become obstacles for new learners. Speech Recognition is the translation of words spoken to text through intelligent computer programs. As of today, it has been integrated into many computer systems. Arabic Speech Recognition has made progress over the years, but it is still not as good as English speech recognition due to the problem of short vowels not being recognized. This is mainly because the Arabic language is unlike the English language in the nature because it is a Semitic language. This is reflected in different characteristics such as grammar, morphology, …

A Critical Analysis Of Dower (Mahr) In Theory And Practice In British India Through Court Records From 1800 To 1939, Sunil Tirkey

Theses and Dissertations

The colonial court records between 1800 to 1939 in India show the existence of excessive dower, which were usually paid at the dissolution of marriage to discourage divorce. Supporting this view of excessive dower as a useful device, Mitra Sharafi argues that inflated dower and divorce law protected Muslim women against instant divorce, making it too expensive for husbands to use it. Further, according to her, British judges enhanced women's rights to dower and divorce by pronouncing rulings in favour of a high amount of dower to protect the women against the one-sided authority of men to divorce. Contrary to …

A Comparative Study Of Anti-Slavery In 19th Century Middle East And North Africa: The Cases Of The Egyptian Khedivate And The Husaynid Beylik Of Tunis, Seong Hyun Kim

Theses and Dissertations

In the nineteenth century, the polities in the Middle East and North Africa encountered the British pressure to abolish the slave trade and slavery. While the Khedivate of Egypt and the Husaynid Beylik of Tunis faced the same pressure, the internal causes of them such as a diplomatic motive also led them to adopt anti-slavery policies. However, despite the similar motivations and conditions, their practical measures against the slave trade and slavery showed apparent differences. Saʿid (r. 1854-1863) and Ismaʿil (1863-1879) of the Egyptian Khedivate took many measures against slavery and the slave trade, but their orders or decrees lacked …

A Religious Space As A Place For Migrants In Cairo, Alexsa Macdowall

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study is an international, English speaking Anglican congregation that worships in Cairo, Egypt. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, fifteen congregants of varying nationalities and backgrounds were interviewed in order to understand how the church is a place of meaning for them, as migrants. By this congregation being the focus of study, this thesis contributes to migration research by being a non-ethnic pathway of study, religion, and it contributes to research conducted in the Global South. Findings and observations are understood primarily through the theoretical framework of space and place provided by Yi-Fu Tuan. Place making …

Texts, Language, And History In The Madhab-Law Tradition: A Study Of The ShāfiʿĪ School, Tarek Ghanem

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis advances the study of the legal literature from the madhhab-law tradition by way of studying the Shāfiʿī literary tradition and its two most authoritative classics. These two works are al-Nawawī’s (d. 676/1278) digest Minhāj al-ṭālibīn and Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī’s (d. 974/1567) commentary on it, Tuḥfat al-minhāj. This study will provide a typology of the development of the Shāfiʿī juristic texts. The typology is based on an indigenous and coherent periodization centered around an analysis of the intellectual and social developments within the Shāfiʿī legal tradition, not the classical Eurocentric periodization scheme. The main objective of this typology is …

Readers’ Perceptions Towards Two English Translations Of The Quran, Nour Alanbari

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine readers’ perceptions towards two notable English translations of the Quran, investigating if the readers’ language groups affected their perception of translation quality in terms of fluency, accuracy, clarity, formality, and likability. A total of 136 participants completed a survey where they rated the researched attributes of two different English translations of the Quran. Independent t-tests, paired t-tests, and ANOVA tests were conducted to compare the overall ratings of the two translations to each other, as well as between and within language groups. Ratings of the four attributes were also compared amongst themselves. Significant …

A Walk Through A Lost Treasure: The House Of Shaykh Al-Sadat Al-Wafaâ'Iyya, Norhan Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Cairo “having turned into a provincial town under the Ottoman rule - lost the glorious status it had enjoyed during the Mamluk period. That affected the functions of the city resulting in changes of its architecture. In particular, stripped of its role of the capital and military center, Cairo metamorphosed into a hub of commercial activities attracting mainly merchants and travelers. Such a transformation affected the domestic architecture of the Ottoman period. According to Andre Raymond, the wealthier Ottoman houses were arranged near the center, and the poor were located further away. The socio-economic levels of inhabitants of Cairo under …

Arabic Beyond Arabic, Abir Zakzok

Theses and Dissertations

Arabic is the best and the most complicated language of all time!” Even though this statement seems like an exaggeration, it is what I grew up hearing; from my Arab parents as a child, my Arab teachers as a student, and my Arab customers as a salesperson. The Arabic language has a significant role in Arabs’ identity, yet most Arabs only scratch the surface and do not fully grasp the embedded meaning of the language. I have long been fascinated by the relationship between language and community as well as how it translates to design - specifically, the relationship between …

Dialect Transfer For L2 Arabic Learners, Jozeca Lathrop

Theses and Dissertations

With rising numbers of Arabic language learners studying abroad, language programs face two challenges that are unlike many other commonly-studied languages. First, dialects of spoken Arabic vary significantly across the span of North Africa and the Middle East, so in choosing a location to study abroad, learners are also choosing a particular dialect of Arabic on which to focus their attention. Second, Arabic is diglossic, so written and spoken varieties are significantly different from each other. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is used for most written material, media, and some formal settings, while Colloquial Arabic (CA) is used for informal spoken …

Women, Architecture And Representation In Mamluk Cairo, Amina Karam

Theses and Dissertations

Of the hundreds of documented religious monuments of Mamluk Cairo, known for its intense and often competitive building activity, about twenty are known to be associated with women, at least ten of which still exist in some form. This thesis discusses women's participation in the Mamluk culture of patronage and construction, looking at monuments associated with women not only as a body of work but as the architecture of individual players within the larger building context of Mamluk Cairo. Relying on architectural evidence as well as topographical literature and historical sources, this thesis offers a chronological narrative of women's architecture, …

The Mausoleums Of Fatima Khatun And Al-Ashraf Khalil, Naglaa Muhammad Sami Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will conduct an architectural analysis of two nearly contemporary mausoleums situated on the northern tip of the Southern Cemetery of Cairo near the Sayyida Nafisa shrine. The Southern Cemetery is the oldest one, which stretches from the east at Muqattam hill to the south at Fustat. The mausoleums of the princess Fatima Khatun and al-Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil date to the late 13th century. Among the interesting aspects of the mausoleum of Fatima Khatun (Umm al-Salih), the wife of al-Mansur Qalawun, is its unique Maghribi style minaret. In addition, apart from his splendid mausoleum, al-Ashraf Khalil, Qalawun’s son, constructed …

The Potential Of Architecture: The Meaning And Purpose Of Commemorative Architecture In Islamic Civilizations, Natasha Pradhan

Theses and Dissertations

I have always found places that seem to exist "out of time" so to speak, extremely peaceful and alluring. These could include cemeteries, or even monumental and out-of-time structures like the pyramids. Yet there is something even stronger one feels when inside such a structure. That is, when a space - architecture - has been created that allows one to not simply witness something that seems to exist in eternity, but to reside within it. One cannot divorce these structures - and the human desire to construct them - from religion and religiosity. For throughout time, commemorative architecture has played …

"Dhakirat Al-Alam": Palestinian Traumatic Memory In Three Works By Elias Khoury, Nourhan Tewfik

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project traces the development of a Palestinian counter-narrative of trauma in the literary works of Lebanese novelist, editor and critic Elias Khoury. It does so by looking at three novels by Khoury: the first work is Mamlakat al-ghurabā’ (The Kingdom of Strangers, 1993), which introduces his project on narrating the Palestinian experience and meditates on the potential structure of a Palestinian trauma narrative. Probably his most read work, the second novel, Bāb al-shams (Gate of the Sun, 1998), builds on these beginnings by re-enacting an incomplete, fragmented and non-teleological narrative of Palestinian traumatic memory. The same preoccupation with …

"How To Say No Without Saying No" A Cross-Cultural Study Of The Realization And Perception Of The Speech Act Of Refusal Among German Learners Of Arabic As A Foreign Language And Egyptian Native Speakers, Sherif Ezzat Farawila

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the realization and perception of the speech act of refusal among German Learners of Arabic as a Foreign Language and native Egyptian speakers cross-culturally. Besides, it examines the extent of pragmatic transfer from L1 and its nature of being negative or positive one. Three groups participated in the study: eight native speakers of Egyptian Arabic, eight AFL German learners, and three native speakers of German. The data were collected using enhanced open-ended role plays. Furthermore, to increase the creditability of the interaction data, the study triangulated the data by utilizing retrospective verbal reports. Both quantitative and qualitative …

Implementing Mental Contrasting To Improve English Language Learner Social Networks, Hannah Trimble Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The present study looks at how utilizing mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII), a form of self-regulation, impacts the social networks of English language learners’ in a study abroad (SA) setting. Over 100 English language learners (ELLs) form the treatment and control groups for this study. This research compares the social network measures between students who used MCII and those who did not over the course of one 14-week semester in an intensive English program in the United States. It also examines students' perception of this self-regulation strategy. Additionally, the impact of MCII on students who are in their first …

Law, Love And Violence: Interfaith Romance In Modern Egypt, Mariam El-Maghlawy

Theses and Dissertations

For the past few decades, many incidents of sectarian violence have been triggered by rumors of interfaith sexual and romantic relationships between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt. This thesis argues that the ways in which the Egyptian modern state chooses to govern women’s bodies and address the Coptic question has inevitably enabled sectarian violence witnessed today to take on its current form. One of the main implications of the modernization of the Egyptian legal system was the state’s ability to “jam” women, family, sexuality and religion into the private sphere, as opposed to the public sphere. This essentially has …

Land, Power And Interests: Reshaping The Law Of Endowments Of Agricultural Lands In Mamluk Egypt, Dalia Hussein

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to study the development of the law of endowment of agricultural lands in Mamluk Egypt, by contextualizing historically the fatwas related to these endowments. I argue that, in light of the prevailing economic and social circumstances, legal development during this era occurred as a response to the political, social and economic interests of the religious scholars and of the ruling elite, and as a result of the interaction between the interests of the former and power of the latter.

Surviving The Arab Uprisings: Political Regimes And State Responses, Hood Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

The Arab uprisings threatened authoritarian states across the Arab world with unprecedented levels of mobilization. The nature of these challenges, the states’ responses and the outcomes have been, however, markedly uneven. In accounting for this divergence, while some approaches have examined the structural preconditions for transitions, others have emphasized the impact of interactions between different political actors. This thesis draws on both approaches through examining how the state’s institutional structure shapes the opportunities and constraints of states in employing different authoritarian strategies. It examines why and how different regimes have used different authoritarian strategies to survive and stabilize. In responding …

Politics And Identity In Design: An Analysis Of Two Contemporary Cairene Mosques, Leena Sadek

Theses and Dissertations

Forging a national identity has been an issue many Islamic nations have undergone and struggled with in the wake of a colonial era long established in the third world. The attempts at achieving such a goal have been varied, with many seeking to revive their pre-colonial past under new and modern implications. The success of such attempts has not yet yielded a satisfactory template that can be applied without question in one nation, let alone across the Islamic world. Nonetheless, such a quintessential conundrum has not hindered the building program of many nations, who are still striving to achieve their …

The Muslim Wives' Share In The Matrimonial Wealth: Between Theory And Practice, Yomna Amr Shaffei

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims at responding to the problem of not monetizing women’s labor in the household through the financial Islamic right of al-Kadd wa al-Se’aya which acknowledges that women are economic partners in the matrimonial wealth in exchange to their labor. The right of al-Kadd wa al-Se’aya has its roots in the Qur’anic in verse 32 in Surat al-Nisaa’ which in one of its interpretations links labor to financial compensation, in the same manner as did Ibn Khaldun, Karl Marx, John Locke and Adam Smith. Furthermore, the thesis attempts to illustrate that the right of al-Kadd wa al-Se’aya was debated …

Tracing The Islamic Influences On The Garden Design Of Nineteenth-Century Cairene Gardens, Radwa M. Elfardy

Theses and Dissertations

To be able to analyze and trace such influences one must be aware of the contextual development of landscape architecture of the nineteenth century. A major factor was the designer himself, Jean Pierre Barillet Deschamps, and his assistant Gustave Delchevalerie, both of whom influenced greatly the landscape architectural development of nineteenth-century Cairo. To be able to evaluate their work in Cairo, their original works in Paris must be evaluated first. Deschamps’ most noted works in Paris are the Bois De Boulogne (1855-60) and the Park Monceau (1860). In this thesis, I research the double impact of Ottoman landscape design and …

Imprisonment For Insolvent Debtors In Egypt With Specific Reference To Al-Gharemoun Cases, Nivert Elsherif

Theses and Dissertations

Historically, handling debts was a major issue described in the Islamic legal realm and handling insolvent debtors is a category thereof. Recently, in the 21st century in Egypt, the numbers of incarcerated insolvent debtors has increased dramatically constituting one third of the Egyptian prison population. This paper addresses the legal developments relating to adjudication and imprisonment of debtors since the time of the prophet throughout the development of the Islamic legal jurists’ literature that supported practical solutions to debtors’ insolvencies. Investigation of middle age Egyptian and Ottoman court cases are incorporated to prove the success of the Islamic legal system …

Color Symbolism In Islamic Book Painting, Imane Sadek Abaza

Theses and Dissertations

Light plays a central role in the Quran. The contrast between light and dark demonstrates a pivotal conception in the Islamic faith. It is the difference between knowledge and ignorance, faith and infidelity, and right and wrong. As depicted by al-Ghazali, God is the source of the ultimate light, and by seeing that light a person reaches a state of revelation since only the faithful see that light. The ignorant or unfaithful live in darkness without the light of God or faith to guide them through life. Considering the importance of this concept in the Islamic faith, colors as the …

Cairo: Mapping The Neoliberal City In Literature A Study Of: The Heron, Being Abbas El Abd And Utopia, Nesma Gewily

Theses and Dissertations

While many scholars have explained neoliberalism and its impact on the economic, political and social spheres, writers have successfully grasped the everyday realities created by the implementation of the neoliberal policies. In my thesis, I am going to use literary maps to analyze three novels written by Egyptian writers at different stages of the neoliberal project. The novels are: Malik al-haÌ'zin (1983) (The Heron, 2005) by Ibrahim Aslan, An takun 'Abbas al-Abd (2003) (Being Abbas El Abd, 2009) by Ahmed Alaidiy and Yutubiya (2008) (Utopia, 2011) by Ahmed Khaled Towfik. Mapping the three novels demonstrate the changes that the city …

The Analysis Of The Key Doctrines Of Boko Haram (Jama’At Ahl-I- Sunnah Li Al-Da’Wati Wa Al-Jihad)., Aisha Muhammad Iyawa

Theses and Dissertations

The issue of Boko Haram has received considerable critical attention. It is one of the contemporary threats of the globe . They created a devastation that is having an adverse impact on Islam and the socioeconomic situation in the region and in some parts of Africa. There is a growing body of literature on Boko Haram, mostly focusing on the political aspects. Little emphasis has been put on the religious approach. This study is important because it will approach the issue from a religious perspective. This will be done by analyzing some of their doctrines to challenge and correct some …