Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2011, American Culture Studies/Ethnic Studies

Arab Muslim women have been portrayed by the West in general and Western Feminism in particular as oppressed, weak, submissive, and passive. A few critics, Nawar al-Hassan Golley, is an example, clarify that Arab Muslim women are not weak and passive as they are seen by the Western Feminism viewed through the lens of their own culture and historical background. Using Transnational Feminist theory, my study examines four autobiographies: Harem Years By Huda Sha'arawi, A Mountainous Journey a Poet's Autobiography by Fadwa Tuqan, A Daughter of Isis by Nawal El Saadawi, and Dreams of Trespass, Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi. This study promises to add to the extant literature that examine Arab Muslim women's status by viewing Arab women's autobiographies as real life stories to introduce examples of Arab Muslim women figures who have effected positive and significant changes for themselves and their societies. Moreover, this study seeks to demonstrate, through the study of select Arab Muslim women's autobiographies, that Arab Muslim women are educated, have feminist consciousnesses, and national figures with their own clear reading of their own religion and culture, more telling than that of the reading of outsiders.

Committee: Ellen Berry PhD (Committee Chair); Vibha Bhalla PhD (Other); Radhika Gajjala PhD (Committee Member); Erin Labbie PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Ethnic Studies; History; Religion

Doctor of Business Administration, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Weatherhead School of Management

Leadership theories in Western literature articulate ideas on many traits and characteristics of successful leaders, such as being charismatic, transformational, emotionally and socially intelligent, and servant-like leaders. However, do these same ideas exist for leadership in the Arab world and Egypt? While there are abundant leadership theories in Western literature, few exist in the Arab world. Hence, there is a knowledge deficit that needs to be addressed. To address the deficit, we designed a mixed methods research framework that combines qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. First, we conducted qualitative interviews with 27 participants to study how leaders can capture the hearts and minds of their followers and why people would follow. We found glaring evidence from our participants, suggesting through their shared experiences that servant leader characteristics are most desirable. The quantitative stage of our investigation revealed that our independent variables and the moderating variable are significantly related to the dependent variable. We collected data from 524 participants. Surveys were gleaned for analysis (345 surveys for followers and 180 surveys for leaders), yielding 180 dyads for structural equation modeling (SEM). The primary findings suggest that the leader's ideal self has a positive direct significant relationship with leadership effectiveness (β = 0.368, p = 0.00), thus supporting our hypothesis. Emotional and social intelligence was found to have a positive direct significant relationship to leader/follower engagement (β = 0.405, p = 0.00), thus supporting another hypothesis. While some of the discovered relationships were never empirically examined in the past, particularly in the Arab world, which makes this study unique, they were largely expected based on the partitioner, work with copious leaders in the Arab world and Egypt. This research contributes to the nascent literature on leadership in t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kalle Lyytinen Ph.D. (Advisor); Richard Boyatzis Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Management

BA, Kent State University, 2013, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Anthropology

This thesis discusses the intersection between gender and the Arab world through the lens of anthropological theory and conflict management. The first chapter identifies the dominant streams of universalism and relativism within conflict management and anthropology. The second chapter traces gender through anthropological theory of the late twentieth century. The work of scholars Leila Ahmed, Saba Mahmood, and Lila Abu-Lughod are used in the third chapter to analyze how certain ideas about relativism and culture can be used in a variety of contexts dealing with communities of Muslim women and concluding with a series of questions revolving around how conflict management can utilize and benefit from these ideas and the works of the three scholars.

Committee: Richard Feinberg Dr. (Advisor); Landen Hancock Dr. (Committee Member); Jung-Yeup Kim Dr. (Committee Member); Susan Roxburgh Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2013, Journalism (Communication)

This study builds on research that has documented the persistence of negative stereotypes of Arabs and the Arab world in the U.S. media during more than a century. The specific focus is Time magazine's portrayal of Arabs and their societies between 2001 and 2011, a period that includes the September 11, 2001, attacks; the ensuing U.S.-led "war on terror" and the mass "Arab Spring" uprisings that spread across the Arab world beginning in late 2010. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study explores whether and to what extent Time's coverage employs what Said (1978) called Orientalism, a powerful binary between the West and the Orient characterized by a consistent portrayal of the West as superior--rational, ordered, cultured--and the Orient as its opposite--irrational, chaotic, depraved. A quantitative content analysis of 271 Time feature stories and photographs revealed that Time's coverage focused predominately on conflict, violence, and dysfunction. Nations that received the most frequent coverage were those where the United States was involved militarily, such as Iraq, as well as those that receive the most U.S. foreign aid or are strategically important to U.S. interests. These findings coalesce with the study's qualitative portion, a critical discourse analysis of approximately 20 percent of the data set that employs metaphor and framing theory. This thread of the study reveals an overarching Orientalist binary where Arabs are portrayed either as "atavistic"; or "modern." As "atavistic," they are backward and irrationally violent, possessing corrupt and failed leaders and terrified, preyed-upon women; as "modern," they strive to look, dress, act, and think like Westerners. Arab moderns oftentimes apologize for their societies'; atavistic ways. Media scholars have noted an apparent shift in coverage of Arabs after the events of September 11, with more favorable or complex portrayals found in journalism, television, and film. However, this study revealed no such (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Anne Cooper Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Marilyn Greenwald Ph.D. (Committee Member); Duncan Brown Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jaclyn Maxwell Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sholeh Quinn Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism