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Full-Text Articles in Near Eastern Languages and Societies

Topographies Of Being: World-Making And Ontological Formation In Modern Saint Catherine, South Sinai, Ahmad Mahana Jan 2027

Topographies Of Being: World-Making And Ontological Formation In Modern Saint Catherine, South Sinai, Ahmad Mahana

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the ecological and sociological processes involved in the production of the socionatural space of the contemporary town and natural protectorate of Saint Catherine, South Sinai. Revered by all Abrahamic religions as the site of the Great Theophany, the town has perpetually been considered an area of immense spiritual and natural significance. In recent decades, however, the town has undergone a series of modernizing campaigns that have not only threatened the region’s natural environment and indigenous lifeways but have also jeopardized the plurality of its extant lifeworlds. By relying on a variety of ethnographic methods, …

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Judaism And Catholicism: Possibilities Of An Inter-Spiritual Dialogue, David Neuhaus Jul 2026

Judaism And Catholicism: Possibilities Of An Inter-Spiritual Dialogue, David Neuhaus

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines the possibilities of an inter-spiritual dialogue between Catholics and Jews. Describing the transformation of the Catholic attitude to Jews andJudaism in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, moving from a teaching of contempt to one of respect, it analyses the far-reaching reformulations of Catholic theology that promote an interreligious dialogue. After centuries of traumatic history, Jewish reactions have been hesitant. However, the past decades have led to a burgeoning relationship that can indeed flower into a mutual inter-spiritual dialogue that deepens the faith of both Catholics and Jews.

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Jainism And Catholicism – Dialoguing Spiritually, Bryan Lobo Jul 2026

Jainism And Catholicism – Dialoguing Spiritually, Bryan Lobo

Journal of Global Catholicism

The inter-spiritual dialogue between Jainism and Catholicism lends itself towards discovering similarities and dissimilarities between the two spiritualities. Recognizing this discovery, this paper, without claiming to be exhaustive as regards the spiritual themes, discusses the chosen themes to facilitate greater reflection and potential to re-discover elements that can help the growth of understanding and practicing the preferred spirituality.

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Islam And Catholicism: Theology And Practice Of Inter-Spiritual Dialogue, Felix Koerner Jul 2026

Islam And Catholicism: Theology And Practice Of Inter-Spiritual Dialogue, Felix Koerner

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article explores foundations, preconditions, aims, persons, groups, practices, methods, texts, and criteria of Muslim–Christian inter-spiritual dialogue. In-ter-spiritual dialogue thrives within the network of other dialogical forms: dialogue of life and collaboration, of theological and practical understanding. This article argues that the spiritual dimension of dialogical encounter may itself constitute a critical site of moral reflection, enabling participants to perceive injustice more clearly and to respond to it more responsibly. Nevertheless, the integrity of in-ter-spiritual dialogue depends upon the cultivation of trust, candor, and a shared orientation toward mutual enrichment and spiritual purification. Where dialogue is subordinated to extrinsic strategic …

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Hindu Poetry And The Project Of An Inter-Spiritual Catholic Theology, Francis X. Clooney Jul 2026

Hindu Poetry And The Project Of An Inter-Spiritual Catholic Theology, Francis X. Clooney

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article engages the work of the Indian south Indian Tamil-language Vaiṣṇava poet saints known as the Alvārs. The article specifically focuses the First HundredHoly Linked verses of Poykai Ālvār to argue for inter-spiritual learning between Catholics and Hindus. The article concludes with personal reflections on this encounter within the context of the global Catholic Church

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A Description Of Zhao Zhang’S Nature No. 2 And Xiaoxuan Xu’S An Unusual Feast Of East, Sicheng He May 2026

A Description Of Zhao Zhang’S Nature No. 2 And Xiaoxuan Xu’S An Unusual Feast Of East, Sicheng He

Dissertations, 2020-current

This research presents a new path in the development of Chinese music by aiming to incorporate both modern Western and ancient Chinese influences in form, texture, tonality, topic, and other dimensions of style and structure. Two Chinese composers whose recent compositions for the piano share similar characteristics: Zhao Zhang (b. 1964; Nature no. 2, 2013) and Xiaoxuan Xu (b. 1990; An Unusual Feast of East, 2022). The research will discuss how Zhao Zhang and Xiaoxuan Xu accomplish this fusion of old and new in their recent piano works Nature no. 2, (2013) and An Unusual Feast of East, 2022. …

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Hammurabi’S Laws: Ancient Traditions Of Violence, Aaron Secrist May 2026

Hammurabi’S Laws: Ancient Traditions Of Violence, Aaron Secrist

The Confluence

The tradition of enforcing private property through violence is truly ancient, and goes back thousands of years to the first civilizations. There exists a prevailing attitude that contemporary culture is more “civilized” than the first organized societies – and while it’s true in some ways, our laws are still remarkably similar to those practiced in antiquity. In the following essay, I analyze the Law Code of Hammurabi and examine its parallels to the way laws function today. First, I will provide context for the technological advances that made the first city-states possible, then give a cultural and economic overview of …

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A Palatable Identity: Turkish-German Integration Through Cuisine, Film And Hip-Hop, Thomas Goldsborough Apr 2026

A Palatable Identity: Turkish-German Integration Through Cuisine, Film And Hip-Hop, Thomas Goldsborough

Student Publications

This paper explores how Turkish-German identity is constructed and negotiated through cultural production in contemporary Germany. It argues that belonging is shaped less by formal political inclusion than by processes of visibility, commodification, and marketability. Through case studies of döner kebab culture, Turkish-German cinema, and hip-hop, the paper shows how minority identity is made legible to the mainstream by being aestheticized and adapted to familiar forms. While these processes enable recognition and creative expression, they also reveal how acceptance is often contingent on profitability and cultural “palatability” rather than genuine social integration.

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Codenames For Language Courses, Jeffrey Nolan Mcculley, Chloe Bennett Mar 2026

Codenames For Language Courses, Jeffrey Nolan Mcculley, Chloe Bennett

UTA Libraries Staff Publications - Archive

In this lesson, students deepen their proficiency in the target language by designing and implementing a foreign-language edition of the game Codenames. Drawing on their understanding of vocabulary, semantics, and cultural nuance, students adapt game components and rules to account for language-specific challenges such as word ambiguity, cognates, homophones, and idiomatic meaning. Through collaborative gameplay, students actively apply linguistic knowledge in a communicative, problem-solving context that emphasizes precision and strategic language use. The lesson promotes critical thinking, intercultural competence, and authentic language practice while reinforcing vocabulary acquisition and comprehension in an engaging, student-centered format.

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Reconfiguring The Category Of 'Sudan' Through The Literary Field: Representation, Disposability, Ambiguity And The 'Magical' In Four Post-Colonial Novels (2002-2022), Mourad Farahat Feb 2026

Reconfiguring The Category Of 'Sudan' Through The Literary Field: Representation, Disposability, Ambiguity And The 'Magical' In Four Post-Colonial Novels (2002-2022), Mourad Farahat

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I shall argue that contemporary African literature, with ‘’both its ethnographic imagination and anthropological complexity’’ (Orock, 2022, p.3), its use of ‘disruptive’ characters, and its focus on the embeddedness of the ‘collective’, the ‘common’ and the ‘vulgar’ in the personal (Mbembe, 2003), may help us mitigate some social scientific limitations on the study of Africa, and may aid us in understanding relations of power within the post-colony. I seek to show how contemporary Sudanese literature has already moved beyond the fixed social categories, lines, and limits which dominate some of the social scientific literature on Sudan. Literature …

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The Religious Groups Of Mecca And Medina In The Sixth And Seventh Centuries Ce, Ilkka Linstedt Feb 2026

The Religious Groups Of Mecca And Medina In The Sixth And Seventh Centuries Ce, Ilkka Linstedt

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

Ancient and modern urban centres have been important loci for encounters between individuals of different identities. In this article, I present Mecca and Medina as multi-religious towns in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods of the sixth and seventh centuries ce. Mecca was a very small town, but the Kaaba shrine there served as a regional pilgrimage site that drew people from different faith communities. Medina was a larger settlement with a significant Jewish population. Jews, Christians and others (‘pagans’) lived in both towns. Some of these ‘others’ had also adopted some of the basic ideas of monotheism, although they …

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An Introduction To Oral Traditions And Poetry Of The Baloches, Emran Dorrazehi Jan 2026

An Introduction To Oral Traditions And Poetry Of The Baloches, Emran Dorrazehi

English Dissertations - Archive

There is not much known about the history and literature of the Baloches besides the translation and transliteration of Mansel Longworth Dames. Dames while serving as an official in the region wrote a book, Popular Poetry of the Baloches (1907) in two volumes. Dames translated a series of oral poetry of his subjects. This dissertation utilized 13 poems from Dames’ transliterations and employed a compensatory, creative and restorative translation to recreate their earlier states.  It is the assertion of this dissertation that the poems given to Dames by minstrels were already heavily censored to reflect Islamic, Mongol and Mughal identities. …

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1340–1345: Ibn Qayyim Al-Ǧawziyya On The Question Of Permanent Truce, Suleiman A. Mourad Jan 2026

1340–1345: Ibn Qayyim Al-Ǧawziyya On The Question Of Permanent Truce, Suleiman A. Mourad

Middle East Studies: Faculty Publications

This article analyses Ibn Qayyim al-Ǧawziyya’s discussion of permanent truce (al-hudna al-muṭlaqa) in his “Legal Judgements about the People of Protected Status” (Aḥkām ahl al-ḏimma). Focusing on Ibn al-Qayyim’s method and arguments, the article examines the content of a relevant section from the work, situating it within the broader discussion of “truce” in the Sunnī legal tradition. Ibn al-Qayyim manages to ground permanent truce in the Prophetic tradition. Both his argument and its justification do not conform to anything we find in Sunnī law, including Ibn al-Qayyim’s own Ḥanbalī school. The article thus underscores the creativity …

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From Crisis To Construction: Museum And Institutional Maturation In The Uae, Csilla Brigitta Lazar Jan 2026

From Crisis To Construction: Museum And Institutional Maturation In The Uae, Csilla Brigitta Lazar

MA Theses

This thesis examines the growth of museums and art institutions in the UAE against the backdrop of international debates about museum crisis. While many museums in Europe and North America are struggling with funding pressures, audience disconnection, collection issues and institutional reinvention, the UAE presents a different trajectory: one of rapid cultural investment, state ambition, private support and institutional construction. This thesis argues that the UAE does not represent a single alternative museum model, but a layered ecosystem made up of civic-educational, heritage, cultural diplomacy, philanthropic, creative economy and independent experimental models. Although UAE institutions benefit from financial stability, their …

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1) Sing And Rejoice, O Daughter Of Zion (Zechariah 2:14)- Studies In Pesiqta Rabbati, Rivka Ulmer Jan 2026

1) Sing And Rejoice, O Daughter Of Zion (Zechariah 2:14)- Studies In Pesiqta Rabbati, Rivka Ulmer

Faculty Books

Chapters focusing on different aspects of Pesiqta Rabbati, a midrashic homiletic work, encompassing semiotic theories, prophesies, apocalypticism, halakhic issues, Chanukah, global theories of midrash, Hebrew manuscripts. messiah, scriptural quotations, mashal, historical issues, Greek loanwords, Parma, Casanata, JTS, Genizah, Vienna, and versions.

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The Cultural Adaptation Of Abstract Expressionism In The Middle East, Solmaz Shoukohi Jan 2026

The Cultural Adaptation Of Abstract Expressionism In The Middle East, Solmaz Shoukohi

MA Theses

Abstract Expressionism emerged in post-WWII New York as both an artistic revolution and a tool of cultural diplomacy. This thesis examines how that ostensibly “American” art movement was adapted and transformed in the Middle East from the 1950s through the  1980s. Chapter 1 outlines the rise of Abstract Expressionism amid Cold War politics, highlighting how the style was promoted globally as a symbol of freedom. It discusses the role of U.S. institutions in exporting avant-garde art – famously described by Eva Cockcroft as a “weapon of the Cold War” – through touring exhibitions and covert sponsorship. Chapter 2 then traces …

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Echoes Of A Country In Question: Visualizing And Constructing Lebanese Identity Through Contemporary Artistic Practice At The Venice Biennale, Anoush Manoukian Jan 2026

Echoes Of A Country In Question: Visualizing And Constructing Lebanese Identity Through Contemporary Artistic Practice At The Venice Biennale, Anoush Manoukian

MA Theses

Historically (and presently) riven by sectarianism, struggling with massively degraded infrastructure, and seething with starkly apparent class divisions, Lebanon has long been tied up with bloody postwar politics, paralyzed by innumerable crippling setbacks on its path to recovery. During war, images of conflict have been plastered across media stations, firming the country’s place in the global conversation and imagination; everyone had heard about Lebanon, and people from the art world were attracted to the work being produced in Beirut: a localized body of work that was thematically interesting, formally unique, aesthetically neoconceptual and allegorical in approach. Unresolved conflicts have long …

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Full Issue Dec 2025

Full Issue

Studia Antiqua

No abstract provided.

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Book Review: Ancient Egyptian Clothing: Studies In Late Period Private Representations, Jonathan Vassar Dec 2025

Book Review: Ancient Egyptian Clothing: Studies In Late Period Private Representations, Jonathan Vassar

Studia Antiqua

In this book, Aleksandra Hallmann focuses on Late Egyptian clothing during the Late Period as represented in depictions of persons without royal iconography. This first volume contains descriptions of the clothing along with her analyses and conclusions. The second volume contains images of objects and drawings to clarify and provide reference for the clothing discussed in the first volume. The book is divided into five main chapters with a sixth consisting of tables giving the different objects analyzed in her study. In this study, Hallmann focuses on revealing the various ways Egyptian clothing appeared during the Late Period, creating a …

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Book Review: Urbanism In The Iron Age Levant And Beyond, Emily Jewkes Dec 2025

Book Review: Urbanism In The Iron Age Levant And Beyond, Emily Jewkes

Studia Antiqua

Urbanism in the Iron Age Levant and Beyond, edited by Aren Maeir, Shira Albaz, and Angelika Berlejung, contributes to the study of the history and creation of settlements in the Levant and other locations, such as Europe and Mesopotamia, during the Iron Age. The chapters in this book are a collection of presentations given at a 2022 conference at Bar-Ilan University on urbanism during the Iron Age that employed archaeological and textual methods to analyze urbanism through a variety of theoretical lenses. The book is divided into three parts that address the topic of Iron Age urbanism in the …

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Book Review: Ancient Synagogues In Palestine: A Re-Evaluation Nearly A Century After Sukenik’S Schweich Lectures, Andrew Holdaway Dec 2025

Book Review: Ancient Synagogues In Palestine: A Re-Evaluation Nearly A Century After Sukenik’S Schweich Lectures, Andrew Holdaway

Studia Antiqua

Synagogue studies in the holy land have been ongoing for a little over a century, beginning with early 20th-century surveys by German scholars Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger. During that time, theories about their dating and chronology of construction have become cemented in scholarly discourse, shaping how archaeologists and historians interpret Jewish life in antiquity. Jodi Magness’s Ancient Synagogues in Palestine challenges the traditional chronology of the construction of synagogues in Palestine. Beginning with Eleazer Sukenik—a pioneering Israeli archeologist operating in the early twentieth century—archaeologists chronologically dated synagogues in Palestine based on architectural types.

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Confidence In The Pompeian Fullo, Tori Nielsen Dec 2025

Confidence In The Pompeian Fullo, Tori Nielsen

Studia Antiqua

Many scholars have discussed a curious graffito parodying the Aeneid found outside of a Pompeian fullonica, but few have taken into account its visual and written context. I synthesize previous scholarship and consider additional neighboring graffiti and visual elements in order to more thoroughly reconstruct the ideas conveyed about fullers in this space. The outer wall celebrates fullers in cultural, social, and fulling matters, thus bolstering their community’s confidence in them.

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Pheonix Imagery In Early Christian Art, Annie Spach Dec 2025

Pheonix Imagery In Early Christian Art, Annie Spach

Studia Antiqua

In Early Christianity, often Christians used popular symbols that would point back to greater truths taught in their new faith. This paper discusses how early Christians followed his council through the use of the imperial representation of the phoenix rather than the common representation, highlighting their belief in resurrection, the majesty of Christ and their hope for eternal life given to all believers, while also speaking to a greater tradition outside of Christianity. The continued use of the phoenix as a symbol of resurrection, renewal, immortality and eternal life in the paradise of God is discussed, as well as the …

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Perspectives On Cognitive Psychology In Ktu 1.40: Moral Implications And Prescribed Emotional Responses To Foster Unity, Richard Jarvis Iii Dec 2025

Perspectives On Cognitive Psychology In Ktu 1.40: Moral Implications And Prescribed Emotional Responses To Foster Unity, Richard Jarvis Iii

Studia Antiqua

This paper examines the Ugaritic ritual text KTU 1.40 through the framework of cognitive psychology to explore its moral implications and prescribed emotional responses. While earlier scholarship has debated whether this ritual carried moral weight, my analysis demonstrates that it prescribes the removal or amelioration of five moral emotions—disgust, fear, anger, empathy, and a sense of justice—to promote unity within the community of Ugarit. Building on Thomas Kazen’s approach and Gregorio del Olmo Lete’s translation, this study argues that the repeated structure and inclusive nature of KTU 1.40 reflect an intentional effort to bridge emotional divides among the many groups …

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Gardens Of Rebirth: Fertility And The Afterlife In The Garden Painting From The Tomb Of Nebamun, Aleeta Day Dec 2025

Gardens Of Rebirth: Fertility And The Afterlife In The Garden Painting From The Tomb Of Nebamun, Aleeta Day

Studia Antiqua

One of the most important aspects of Egyptian art is the emphasis on the eternal and the afterlife. Aspects of real gardens in ancient Egypt as well as artistic depictions of them reflect these values through the cosmological symbolism of life-giving water and plants frequently cultivated in these gardens. These garden depictions were seen as a way to carry their current lifestyle into the afterlife with them. This paper will discuss the garden painting from the 18th Dynasty tomb of Nebamun located in the Theban necropolis. It will briefly discuss methods of Egyptian painting and the medium by which the …

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Egypt, Israel, And The Levant: The Merneptah Stele's Role In Shaping Historical Narratives, Quincy Adams Dec 2025

Egypt, Israel, And The Levant: The Merneptah Stele's Role In Shaping Historical Narratives, Quincy Adams

Studia Antiqua

This paper investigates the Merneptah Stele, an exceptional artifact from the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah during Egypt’s New Kingdom, to reassess the stele’s role in understanding early Israelite identity. The Merneptah Stele is among the earliest known references to “Israel,” and consequently has sparked discussion among scholars regarding this early group’s socio-political and cultural status during the late Bronze Age. By examining the stele in conjunction with the inscriptions of the Cour de la Cachette in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak, this study situates the Merneptah Stele within the broader historical and cultural framework of the New Kingdom to …

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Front Matter Dec 2025

Front Matter

Studia Antiqua

No abstract provided.

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“You Are The Potter I Am The Clay” … Tracing Egyptian Creation, Cult, And Ritual Power Motifs In The Pentateuch., Christopher Jenkins Dec 2025

“You Are The Potter I Am The Clay” … Tracing Egyptian Creation, Cult, And Ritual Power Motifs In The Pentateuch., Christopher Jenkins

Student Scholar Symposium

This paper explores the profound influence of Ancient Egyptian culture on the Pentateuch. It challenges the traditional Documentary Hypothesis, which dates the Pentateuch to the Persian and Hellenistic periods, by presenting evidence that many biblical narratives, themes, and motifs are rooted in the cultural and religious milieu of Ancient Egypt, that could not be older than the 1st Millennium B.C.E. The study highlights parallels between the creation narratives in Genesis and Egyptian cosmogonies, such as the concept of primordial watery chaos and the emergence of order through divine command. It also examines the presence of Egyptian religious practices and deities …

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Star Wars: Andor – An Abolitionist Study Guide, Marcelo Garzo Montalvo, Isaac Ginsberg Miller Dec 2025

Star Wars: Andor – An Abolitionist Study Guide, Marcelo Garzo Montalvo, Isaac Ginsberg Miller

Feminist Pedagogy

This study guide provides a set of activities for teaching abolition through Season 1 of the speculative fiction TV series Star Wars: Andor (2022). Through the practice of critical literacy (viewing, reading, and analysis), we offer various ideas on how to engage Andor as a relevant pedagogical tool for studying and teaching abolitionist movement histories and methodologies. By guiding students through a critical analysis of this widely-circulated, mainstream cultural text, we seek to activate an abolitionist pedagogical lens that can be applied across various genres and media – making tangible connections between popular culture and political struggles writ large. These …

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Arabic Around Us: Exploring Everyday Life Group Project, Bret Windhauser Dec 2025

Arabic Around Us: Exploring Everyday Life Group Project, Bret Windhauser

Open Educational Resources

Students will work in small groups to create a comprehensive and engaging project that explores a particular aspect of everyday life in an Arabic-speaking country. This could include food, traditions, daily routines, or an introduction to the language itself. By the end of the assignment, students will demonstrate their understanding of Arabic vocabulary, grammar, and culture through a creative project.

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