Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2017, Political Science

This paper examines the strategies by which the American Muslim community seeks to normalize its presence within mainstream American culture, and assesses how the social and moral customs of liberal society are internalized and operationalized by American Muslims as orthopraxy, or correct practice and conduct. Recent trends by American Muslims toward “inclusivity,” particularly as it requires the prioritization of non-religious, social and/or political understandings of the function and purpose of the hijab, will form the primary focus of this examination. What has become increasingly prevalent is the use of non-religious language pertaining to the hijab, particularly as a religious symbol functioning in and engaging with the public sphere. The central argument will demonstrate exactly how and why the hijab, a key religious symbol, and being a “hijabi,” (an identifier of women who wear the hijab) is being liberalized (and consequently secularized). This liberalization and secularization of the hijab result from the increasing appeal by American Muslim public figures to individualism, autonomy, and other liberal sensibilities over established theological edicts when making sense of why they cover and what it means to cover.

Committee: Renee Heberle Ph.D. (Advisor); Ovamir Anjum Ph.D. (Committee Member); Samuel Nelson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Islamic Studies; Political Science; Religion; Womens Studies

PHD, Kent State University, 2025, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies

The dynamic landscape of Quranic translation into English has been significantly influenced by historical events, socio-political contexts, and evolving interpretations (al-Amri, 2019). Among the socio-political contexts, the post-9/11 era emerges as a distinctive period, with certain terms, notably kufr (disbelief), jihad (strife), hijab (head/body covering [referred to as jalabeeb and khumur]), and darb (strike), becoming especially contentious in Quran translations (Haddad, 2007; Abdulla, 2007; and Alsultany, 2021). While previous studies have examined linguistic difficulties of pre- and post-9/11 Quran translations (Haddad, 2007; Ghazali, 2012; al-Amri, 2016; Nabeel, 2012), none have undertaken a comprehensive analysis of the event's direct influence on Quran translation. This study, therefore, addresses this gap in the literature by methodically examining if, and how, the 9/1 attacks1 have changed the Quran translations that were published in North America (US and Canada). To address this issue, a corpus of 32 complete English translations was compiled from the online libraries of Quran Archive and Islam Awakened to facilitate a nuanced, close reading and contextualized content analysis of key passages. While the contextualized content analysis method focuses on interpreting the Quranic verses that have been controversial post-9/11, the close reading examines the 32 Quran translations from both a translation strategy's perspective and translator's background perspective (i.e., the translators' religious beliefs, nationality, qualifications, and publication venues). The findings of the study substantiate the hypothesis that the 9/11 attacks had a profound impact on the translation of the four key terms. The results further demonstrate a notable shift in translation strategies, transitioning from a predominant reliance on literal translation and borrowing prior to 9/11 to an increased use of modulation and explicitation in the post-9/11 period. Overall, the infl (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Said Shiyab (Advisor); Françoise Massardier-Kenney (Committee Member); Ryan Miller (Other); David Odell-Scott (Committee Member); Babacar M’baye (Committee Member) Subjects: Language; Language Arts; Religion; Religious Congregations; Religious Education; Religious History; Theology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Media and Communication

This study utilizes an experimental design to explore how different frames impact individuals' perceptions of Muslim women when portrayed in news coverage of protests from the Middle East and North Africa region. Specifically, this research investigates the influence of news media frames on U.S. public perceptions of Muslim women activists, focusing on the impact of the hijab to test various perspectives related to minorities, gender, and stereotypical representations. In addition to examining the effect of text (positive and negative frames) and visuals (no visuals, visuals featuring veiled Muslim women, and visuals of unveiled Muslim women) on perceptions, this study also analyzes the influence of the interaction effect of the text and visual frames. This dissertation employed a factorial design, utilizing Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to conduct an online experiment. Participants were exposed to different news frames describing protests to assess their perceptions of Muslim women activists. One of the key findings of this study highlights the influence of Western-centric notions on perceptions of Muslims. Results demonstrated that positive text frames accompanied by visuals featuring unveiled women facilitated more positive implicit perceptions compared to negative frames. However, exposure to visuals featuring veiled women fostered more support toward Muslim women's protests compared to those exposed to unveiled visuals, regardless of whether the text frame is positive or negative. Additionally, results exhibited that preexisting stereotypes of oppression and victimization, along with interactions with Muslims, emerged as the most influential predictors in shaping perceptions. iv Based on the results, the author urges editors and journalists to carefully consider the goal of their coverage of protest news from the Middle East to ensure accurate and balanced portrayals that contribute to greater social inclusion, diversity, and equity in media discourse. The (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Louisa Ha PhD (Committee Chair); Kefa Otiso PhD (Other); Lara Langel PhD (Committee Member); Yanqin Lu PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Mass Media; Middle Eastern Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2023, Mass Communication (Communication)

This dissertation investigates both Muslim women as well as online media users' thoughts and opinions toward the ongoing conversational debate on hijab bans. Specifically, the aim behind this study is two-fold: It highlights explicitly raising Muslim women's original voices by hearing their own experiencing concerning the recent hijab bans and restrictions. In addition, with the guide of framing approach, this study also centers on gauging YouTube users' sentiments and opinions expressed in comments on news videos about hijab bans—shared by mainstream media outlets in such an uninhabited environment (YouTube). The methodological basis of this dissertation centered on carrying out mixed methods convergent parallel design by combining the results of both a thematic textual analysis of interview data and social media sentiment analysis of social media data. Combining the results of two diverse types of methods in one study helps provide fresh-holistic insights into the phenomenon and enhances the study's overall depth and breadth. In stage one, using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 Hijabi Muslim women, I documented several meaningful statements and stories shared by Muslim women wearing the hijab, and the following themes were emerged: Belief, Freedom of Choice, Spirituality, Happiness, and Education. In stage two, a total of 8775 comments posted by online users as they interacted with mainstream media outlets' news reporting on Hijab bans and restrictions were collected, cleaned, and analyzed using several analytical techniques. The sentiment analysis of user comments shared on the selected ten YouTube news videos revealed that the total sentiment score expressed in the YouTube comment corpus regarding news about hijab restrictions was more negative than positive. Further, the results of both stages were integrated and interpreted in the discussion chapter.

Committee: Laeeq Khan (Advisor) Subjects: Mass Media; Middle Eastern History; Religion; Womens Studies

MA, Kent State University, 2015, College of the Arts / School of Art

My thesis, entitled “Woman: Freedom and Identity,” presents a series of three large woven portraits of Muslim women wearing “Hijab”. The pieces are meant to represent the idea of choice, with the scale of the weavings, the facial expressions of the subjects and the decorative backgrounds carefully considered to reinforce the concept.

Committee: Janice Lessman –Moss Prof (Advisor); Catherine Amoroso Leslie Prof (Committee Member); Kathleen Browne Prof (Committee Member); Rebecca Cross Prof (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, French and Italian

Reductive ideas confining Muslim women to notions of the highly erotic, yet cloistered, have been perpetuated to the general public through the consumption of Orientalist material culture. Objects such as colonial post-cards and comic strips, and even music-cafes, have established harem images of Arab women as truth in Western cultural imaginary of the East. Today, a history of Orientalist stereotypes continues to shape many people's ideas about Arab women. In recent months, Muslim women have become the most widespread target of hate crimes in France. Debates concerning the right to wear the Islamic headscarf in French public spaces, including those centered on the experiences of young, Muslim women, have proven to be circular and repetitive. Moreover, the motivating factors of most debates regarding the veil, such as legitimizing a certain conception of Frenchness, profit from a perpetuation of stereotypes that depict the veil as a form of female enslavement. Thus, Muslim women's subjectivity is often superseded in conversations about the headscarf. This dissertation therefore examines how emergent and cross-cultural artists in France and the Maghreb may be able to represent the veil in a more nuanced fashion than traditional, political Manichean discourse. I consider how the double-cultural backgrounds and trajectories of a Moroccan-British photographer, a Cypriot-French rapper/writer, and a Tunisian-French comedian enable these artists to complicate both Muslim and non-Muslim behavioral scripts defining what it means to be an “authentic” Muslim woman as well as “authentically” French. I discuss how the work of these artists challenges spectators to expand and to question their conceptions of legitimate behaviors for a variety of things, such as Muslim women, Frenchness, and even rap and rock stars. Analyzing the implications of transcultural artistic creations, pro-active silence (silence as an act of resistance), and moments of (in)visibility (questioning (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Danielle Marx-Scouras (Advisor) Subjects: Foreign Language

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2008, Religion

This paper investigates the neo-colonial situation occurring within contemporary France, surrounding the tensions that have emerged concomitantly with increasing numbers of Muslim immigrants in the country. Proposing the application of methods from the history of religions, the thesis traces the concealing function of colonial discourses in French colonial Algeria, suggesting a connection between them and French immigration policy in the 20th century. It further investigates the roles that these discourses play in the formation of the religious identities of the liminal sons and daughters of Muslim immigrants to France with several case studies, including a look at the hijab debate in France and the novel Le Gone du Chaaba by Azouz Begag. Using these examples, the thesis concludes by exploring the way that colonial dynamics of concealment may be subverted.

Committee: Frederick Colby PhD (Advisor); Mark McKinnery PhD (Committee Member); Elizabeth Wilson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Religion

BA, Kent State University, 2011, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science

A succession of French governments, reacting to the more recent widespread social, political, and economic changes that to some are threats to the very idea of what being “French” means, have increasingly taken a harsh stance against perceived attempts by immigrants – mostly North African and Muslim in origin – to identify with their religious or ethnic heritages before identifying with the French nation. Those defending the French nation espouse a universalist, nation-centered approach where no one is defined outside of their Frenchness. This paper argues that recent successful attempts to ban religious symbols in French public schools(in 2004) and the burqa/niqab (in 2010) in all areas of the public domain can be seen as attempts to defend this universalist doctrine against efforts towards multiculturalist integration models where various groups (religious, ethnic, etc.) are recognized as legitimate (such as in the United States). However, as this thesis also argues, these threats are largely false perceptions on the part of the French state. Immigrants of Muslim origin overwhelmingly support the French state and moreover have no qualms about becoming fully integrated into the French way of life. Youth violence and crime in run-down suburban areas (called banlieues)increase this perception that immigrants of Muslim origin do not want to assimilate into French society, where the reality is, greater efforts toward the socioeconomic integration of these immigrants (in schools, employment, and living standards) are all that is missing from these immigrants becoming fully French. Unfortunately, French leaders continue to focus on cultural symbols of division among immigrants of Muslim origin(such as the hijab or the burqa/niqab) rather than the myriad of rather glaring socioeconomic issues affecting this population

Committee: Matthew Kemp Ph.D (Advisor); Rebecca Pulju Ph.D (Committee Member); Julie Mazzei Ph.D (Committee Member); Susan Roxburgh Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: European Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2008, American Culture Studies/Communication

Hijab has born many different meanings associated with social, political and cultural changes. During the Iranian revolution, Hijab was used as an important political tool to represent the new character of Iran after the Pahlavi dictatorship. Hijab is often exclusively connected to Islam even though the practice of veiling is as ancient as the Roman Empire where the free women had to veil themselves when walking out in public places. Hijab is frequently discussed outside the borders of Islam, and it is presented from either a Western or an extreme feminist perspective. This results in a misunderstanding of Hijab, obscuring religious, cultural, political and regional differences. The topic of Hijab will be discussed within an Islamic context, through interviews the auther conducted with girls between the ages of 8-12, from two diffferent cultures. One group represents the diaspora of the United States, represented by girls from Dearborn, Michigan. The Middle East Muslim culture is represented by girls from Bahrain. The goal of this paper is to provide a counterpoint to the accusations made against Hijab. It is an attempt to initiate a new approach in discussing Hijab as it is practiced in current and previous Islamic cultures, from the perspective of girls who willingly choose to practice. It is also constructs a new methodology for percieving the many alternative meanings for Hijab, rather then reducing it simply to an Islamic garment.

Committee: Madeline Duntley PhD (Advisor); Donald McQuarie PhD (Advisor) Subjects: