Arabic Studies Commons^™

Syrian Perspectives On The U.S. Intervention Against Isis: Analysis Of Youtube Videos, Nelson Cleveland

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates Syrian public opinion surrounding the 2014 U.S.-led military intervention against ISIS through critical discourse analysis of Arabic-language YouTube videos. In light of the renewed interest and continued presence of U.S. troops in Syria following the Assad regime’s collapse in 2024, the study examines how Syrians originally responded to the coalition strikes and political context in which they occurred. Drawing on four primary videos including street interviews, protest recordings, and discussions from expert panelists, the analysis uncovers recurring themes of distrust towards the U.S. and other states who engaged in intervention, condemnation of perceived collusion and exploitation, and …

A Voice For The People: Hybrid Arabic In The Political Oratory Of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Tate E. Bell

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the political oratory of Gamal Abdel Nasser through the lens of Arabic sociolinguistics, arguing that his speeches are best understood not as simple alternations between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA), but as instances of hybridization—a strategic and fluid interweaving of registers across a linguistic continuum. While earlier studies by Clive Holes and Nathalie Mazraani have identified register variation and code-switching in Nasser’s rhetoric, this project expands upon their findings by applying El-Said Badawi’s five-level framework to track intra-utterance blending of MSA and ECA. Drawing on a transcription and linguistic analysis of a key …

"Speak Arabic!": Arabic Dialect Comparison Videos And The Reconfiguration Of The Maghreb-Mashreq Language Ideology, Jacquelyn Stewart-Kuhn

Honors Theses

There is a hidden power imbalance in the Arabic-speaking world. It is not related to warfare, politics, or oil, but language. For decades, Egyptian and Levantine (Mashreqi) dialects have been over-represented in Arabic language media, to the detriment of North African (Maghrebi) dialects. This imbalance has played a crucial role in reinforcing what Hachimi (2013) refers to as the “Maghreb-Mashreq language ideology,” i.e. the belief that Mashreqi dialects are superior to Maghrebi dialects. Yet in an era of social media, Mashreqi voices and dialects are becoming less dominant, and Arabic-speakers across the region are being increasingly exposed to Maghrebi voices …

Aftermaths Of Opposition: Effectiveness Of Repression Against Reformist Islamists In Saudi Arabia, Londyn Lorenz

Honors Theses

Saudi Arabia has long been considered a religious, political, and economic hub of the Middle East and North Africa as the home of the two holiest cities in Islam: Mecca and Medina. The kingdom’s leaders, the Al Saud family, have relied on their Islamic clout to remain in power since the 1700s, but their Islamic credentials were called into question following their allowance of American troops on Saudi soil and alliance with Western ideals during and following the Gulf War of the 1990s. Islamist outrage against the throne poured out across the nation, bringing demands for political change and increased …

Pendulums Of Personhood? Exploring The Multitudes Of Immigrant Womanhood In Spanish-Maghrebi Literature, Kaitlyn C. Sisco

Honors Theses

Often considered articulations of in-between-ness and bearers of fraught selfhoods, the work of Spanish-Maghrebi authors has been widely debated in literary fields, with academics arguing that it constitutes a largely homogenous set of texts about the standard immigrant experience. However, by placing these texts in a single category, such arguments end up erasing the immensely varied identities expressed and represented by Spanish-Maghrebi authors. This thesis seeks to address this issue by paying particular attention to how Spanish-Maghrebi authors negotiate different types of immigrant subjectivities in their writing. Specifically, I analyze the works of three contemporary Spanish-Maghrebi writers, Najat El Hachmi, …

'Here We Start And In Jerusalem We Meet:' The Motivational And Organizational Influences Of Israel's Statehood Ontransnational Salafi Jihad, Charlotte Armistead

Honors Theses

The Israeli occupation of Palestine and its impact on the proliferation and longevity of transnational Salafi jihad is largely underestimated in current literature. In this thesis, I argue that Palestine, defined as both the nation and physical borders before the Balfour Declaration, largely contributed to the twentieth century revival of transnational Salafi jihad and is used by both Al Qaeda and ISIS as liberation and annihilation movements, respectively. In order to assess the motivational and organizational influences of the Israeli occupation of Palestine on transnational Salafi jihad, I examine the works of Abdullah Azzam, a selection of Osama Bin Laden’s …

The Blue State: Unrwa's Transition From Relief To Development In Providing Education To Palestinian Refugees In Jordan, Alana Mitias

Honors Theses

Often referred to as the “Blue State”–due in part to its association with the United Nations’ trademark blue branding–the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has evolved since its creation in 1949 to become both a symbol of the Palestinian cause and an inimitable public service provider across its five areas of operation, especially in regards to education. In the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan alone, the UNRWA education program educates more than 120,000 students in 169 schools with results comparable with, if not often superior to, Jordanian public schools.

The UNRWA regime …

More Than Sectarianism: How Have State And Non-State Institutions Used Violence To Form The Current Iraqi State And What Is The Effect?, Caitlyn Perkins

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the role of violence in Iraq in establishing the current Iraqi state. My chapters provide historical and theoretical context to the subject before getting into the analysis. The goal of this thesis is to show that violence in Iraq is not only caused by sectarian differences, but has been used and influenced by leaders, outside governments, and non-state institutions for personal gain and political goals at the cost of the Iraqi people.

Arab Media's Representation Of Arab-Israeli Normalization Agreements, Rylan L. Forester

Honors Theses

When, on August 13, 2020, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced it was normalizing relations with the state of Israel, few could have predicted the effects it would have. However, since the Emirati decision, three other Arab countries - Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco - have reached agreements with Tel Aviv to normalize relations. Such events are a sharp divergence from the status quo and thus, this thesis examines, through the application of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and analyzed through a constructivist framework, how three Arab media sources - Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, and Al-Mayadeen - discuss and represent these normalization agreements. By …

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.

Syrian And Lebanese Identity In The American South, Caetlind Moudy

Honors Theses

For Americans of Arab descent, identity can present a number of difficulties to define within the existing ethnic and racial categories of the United States. While several scholars have looked at the ways that Muslims American of Arab descent navigate these categories, less attention has been paid to the complex self-identification Christian Arab Americans, many of whom come from Lebanese and Syrian backgrounds. It is the objective of this thesis to explore how Americans of Syrian and Lebanese descent understand their ethnic, racial, cultural, and national identities as well as how these identities both inform and are informed by religion. …

The Power Of Language: An Analysis Of Language Use And Attitudes In Moroccan Universities, Mikaela K. Thomas

Honors Theses

This study examines the connections between language use and attitudes in Moroccan universities. Morocco is a North African country that is historically multilingual, with communities speaking Moroccan Arabic (Darija), indigenous Amazigh, French, and English, in addition to the Standard Arabic used in government and by the Muslim community. The French Protectorate from 1912 to 1956 ushered in colonial language policies and imposed the French education system that enforced linguistic hierarchies. While the subsequent Arabization period attempted to reestablish the importance of Standard Arabic in Morocco, the policies failed to promote true multilingualism by ignoring the Amazigh and Darija languages. Today, …