Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Mass Communication (Communication)

Media and representation of minorities have long been a focus of attention in communication and social science research. Media representation allowed scholars to move beyond understanding people in the mediated texts as just a portrayal or reflection of the existing reality. It saturated the media stream and established norms and common sense about minorities, cultures, and institutions in modern society. While a great deal of academic research has been conducted on the representations of Arabs and Muslims in Western media and Hollywood, little research which examines the representations of Arabs in Disney animated films were noticed. Therefore, this dissertation centers on the portrayal of Arabs in Disney animated films. It aims to identify the most prominent frames used by Walt Disney to portray Arabs, focusing on whether such films frame Arabs regarding their penchant for violence and terrorism and how they may exhibit sexist images. In addition, it seeks to explore a realization among Disney online audiences of possible negative depictions of Arabs and the story patterns assigned to them. The basis of this research was ten Disney animated films and audiences' opinions and reviews on those films. A mixed-methods convergent parallel design was employed to attain a complementary set of results that would complement one another and, therefore, strengthen the research's overall findings. Specifically, both framing analysis and quantitative textual analysis were used. Framing analysis findings revealed that the behavioral and violence frames were the most prominent frames of Arabs in Disney animation. Also, detailed explanations of Arab images in terms of violence, terrorism, and sexism were offered and discussed. The results on quantitative textual analysis of the IMDb dataset indicated that six main themes emerged, Aladdin, Original Disney, Disney Music, Disney Magic, Entertainment Production, and Animate. Also, the quantitative results illustrated the main concepts (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: M. Laeeq Khan (Advisor) Subjects: Film Studies; Mass Communications; Mass Media

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

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2006, English (as a Second Language)

This study compares the verbal and nonverbal behavior of 33 Arabs and 20 Arab Americans. The study compares the Arabs' use of hada ‘this' and hadak ‘that' against the Arab Americans'. Definitions of these deictic terms provided by grammar books and dictionaries are also examined in this study. The subjects were prompted to refer toobjects as the ones that they liked the best and least, from three distinct groups of objects:different objects; same objects, different color; and identical objects. The subjects'verbal responses along with their nonverbal gestures were recorded. The study suggests,based on Lambda tests of correlation, that the verbal and non-verbal behavior of Arabs is different from that of Arab Americans. It also suggests that the traditional definitions and theoretical explanations of hada ‘this' and hadak ‘that' are not real world properties of the native speakers and have no existence in actual communication.

Committee: Douglas Coleman (Advisor) Subjects: Language, Linguistics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, History

This project examines how the Arabic-speaking immigrant community in northwestern Argentina integrated into local society while still preserving ties to their homelands. Emigration from Greater Syria (contemporary Syria and Lebanon, historical Palestine, and parts of Turkey and Iraq) was part of a global process from 1846 to 1940 in which more than 150 million people migrated to the Americas, Southeast and Central Asia, Manchuria and Siberia. Indeed, mass migration of diverse ethnic and religious groups was a signature feature of this near century of movement as 51 million people migrated from Europe (equivalent to twenty percent of its population) to the Americas, as did two million people from Asia and the Levant. After the United States, Argentina was the most popular destination for those heading west and possessed one of the fastest growing economies during the same era. By 1914, the Arabic-speaking immigrant community, comprising more than 100,000 Christians, Jews, and Muslims, became the third largest immigrant group in Argentina, trailing only Italians and Spaniards. I seek to understand how immigrants survived in a foreign and at times hostile society while maintaining links with the old country. In Argentina, the Arabic-speaking population emerged as an economic powerhouse and a maligned immigrant group. This community became the preeminent ethno-national commercial force in Tucuman, a northwestern province, by 1920, surpassing even Argentine merchants. As this immigrant group grew in commercial strength, members began to penetrate local Argentine social institutions despite limited avenues to political participation and power. Conversely, men from Greater Syria also had the highest arrest rates of any national group in Tucuman for disorderly conduct, aggravated assault and larceny between 1908 and 1941, suggestive of local prejudice and weak social networks for poorer immigrants. Arabic-speaking women worked as domestic servants, owned shops, formed chari (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Donna Guy PhD (Committee Chair); Kenneth Andrien PhD (Committee Member); Carter Findley PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: History