Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Culture conflict Arab countries'

This thesis, The Arab as Spectacle, is about representation. It is about the limits and the contradictions of representation. It is about the burden and the violence of representation. It is about the persistence of Orientalism and how the hierarchies of race and gender intersect with discourses on sexuality to inform and inflect the representation of Arabs in contemporary literary and media spheres of Australian popular culture. This thesis comprises two sections. Part One is a research dissertation that explores the strategies, devices and parameters of the representation of Arabic culture and identities through close readings of specific texts. This theoretical project inaugurates the second part of my study which takes up the question of the contradictions of representation through a collection of ficto-critical writings. Through these satirical narratives, I seek to expose and disrupt the hegemony of Orientalist representations that proliferate in English language literature and news media by bringing into focus the inherent paradox of representation, working within and against Orientalist representational traditions. In so doing, it is not my aim to 'correct' the Orientalist logic and imagery that I theorise in the first part of this thesis, but rather to undermine the spurious truth-value of Orientalist representations by deploying the literary weapons of satire, parody and irony. In this way, my fiction works to engage creatively and critically with the very tropes that I theorise in my research dissertation.

This thesis examines nationalism and colonialism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and asks the questions: What is the relationship between these ideologies and "national narratives" constructed of collective historical memory? How do these ideologies produce recognizable, sexualized, national bodies? What are the defining characteristics of these national bodies and how do they perform roles from the national narratives? These questions are addressed through a discussion of the role of masculinity in modern Zionism and the state of Israel, in particular how it relates to the land of Palestine and the Palestinian "other". This thesis also addresses anti-colonial resistance movements in Palestine and argues that performative nationalism produces a fetishized commodity that can me labeled "militancy". This militancy is found institutionalized in the popular culture of everything from poetry to political posters. Finally, Palestinian female suicide bombers, like women nationalists before them, do little to challenge how specific nationalist acts of resistance are defined by patriarchal nationalists and sexualized within a "gendered space of militancy".

Since the advent of the Internet, the use of e-commerce has been an emerging way of conducting business. E-commerce has the potential to radically alter economic activities and social environments. Widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT) along with their widespread diffusion has led to speculation about "frictionless" economies in which the transaction costs are nearly zero, contestability and barriers to entry disappear, as well as markets clear instantly. Although e-commerce is becoming pervasive and has high impact on businesses as well as people's lives, it is still far from achieving its potential as a global electronic marketplace, in particular in Arab countries. This study investigated constructs that impede the use of e-commerce in the Arab countries; more specifically Saudi Arabia. A predictive model was proposed, based on the constructs found in the literature, in order to predict people's intention to use ecommerce in Arab countries. The study further validated the proposed model empirically in order to find the weight of each construct and its contribution to predicting intention to use e-commerce in Arab countries. Finally, the study empirically tested the differences between Saudi Arabia, where the use of e-commerce is somewhat limited, and the United Arab Emirates, where the use of e-commerce is thriving, to find if there was a significant difference in intention to use e-commerce. A theoretical model was proposed, and two statistical methods were used to formulate models and test predictive power: Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Ordinal Logistic Regression (OLR). It was predicted that gender, attitude towards ICT, SES, CSE, perceived usefulness of e-commerce, and culture would have a significant impact on intention to use e-commerce in the Arab countries. Results showed overall significant models of the six aforementioned factors in predicting intention to use e-commerce in Arab countries. Additionally, results demonstrated that attitude towards ICT, CSE, perceived usefulness of e-commerce, and gender were significant predictors of the use of e-commerce in the Arab countries, while culture was not found to be significant predictors. It was also found that the significant predictors were responsible for 75% of the variance in intentions to use e-commerce. To find the differences in intentions to use e-commerce in Saudi Arabia and the UAE test analysis was used, which found significant differences in intention to use ecommerce within the two countries, with UAE residents having much higher intentions to use e-commerce. The data also revealed that women in Saudi Arabia have a much higher intention to use e-commerce as compared to men in Saudi Arabia. However, in the UAE males have a higher intention to use e-commerce as compared to females. This study includes two important contributions. First, an investigation of factors that contribute to Internet user's intentions to use an emerging business technology in the Arab countries. This study has been developed specifically to respond to the questions regarding the lack of use of e-commerce in Saudi Arabia, and second, an investigation of key constructs contributing to the intention of the Internet users in the Arab countries to use emerging technologies to conduct business over the Internet.

O conflito israelo-árabe tem provocado, desde há muitos anos, o desgaste político, social, económico, assim como das relações entre Israel e os países árabes. Este conflito merece atenção quanto à criação de novas estratégias para alterar a realidade dos países envolvidos, através do rompimento da violência e da promoção de um compromisso para a paz. A presente tese procura estudar o problema a partir da investigação bibliográfica diversa e da análise do período compreendido após os Acordos de Oslo até à atualidade. Tomamos a disputa territorial entre Israel e a Palestina como ponto fulcral do conflito, assim como as rivalidades históricas como princípios norteadores que envolvem Israel, a Palestina, o Egito, o Líbano e a Síria na contenda regional. Partimos da hipótese de ser Israel, enquanto país mais forte na região e aquele que se encontra mais isolado das relações diplomáticas e comerciais com a maioria dos países árabes, a iniciativa de desenvolver uma estratégia para alterar positivamente a situação vigente. Os objetivos compreendem a verificação e a análise da política de Israel em relação à Palestina, ao Egito, ao Líbano e à Síria e a importância de uma nova estratégia israelita em direção ao compromisso de paz com os principais vizinhos árabes. Tal como as políticas de ambos os lados têm sido desenvolvidas, elas pouco têm contribuído para a normalização daquelas relações. Ao contrário, criaram-se novos obstáculos que inibem possíveis Acordos. As negociações bilaterais justas são praticamente inexistentes, o que dificulta o avanço ao nível multilateral, que é necessário para se alcançarem Acordos fiáveis e imparciais. Porém, nenhuma das partes se tem se mostrado disposta a conduzir as negociações bilaterais e multilaterais com o compromisso de romper com o passado belicoso. Hoje, é fundamental a génese de novas políticas e estratégias que assegurarem a estabilidade política entre os países envolvidos; ABSTRACT: Title: Israel and the Middle East Between Past and Future. A Strategic Reassurance of Commitment to Peace. The Arab-Israeli conflict has caused, for many years political, social, and economic distress in the relations between Israel and Arab countries. This conflict deserves attention as well as the creation of new strategies to change the reality between the countries involved, by ending violence and promoting commitment to peace. This work aims to study this problem through diverse literary research and analysis of the period after the Oslo agreements to the present day, using the territorial dispute between Israel and Palestine as a focal point of the conflict, as well as historic rivalries as guiding principles involving Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria in regional strife. We believe that the initiative to develop a strategy to positively change the current situation comes from Israel, while it's the strongest country in the region and the most isolated from diplomatic and trade relations with most Arab countries. Our work intends to verify and analyse Israel's foreign policy towards Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria and the importance of a new Israeli strategy towards the commitment to peace with key Arab neighbors. As policies of both sides have been developed, some have contributed to the normalization of those relations. In contrast, new obstacles have been created that inhibit possible agreements. Fair bilateral negotiations are practically non-existent, making it difficult to advance to a multilateral level, which is necessary to reach reliable and impartial agreements. However, neither party has proved willing to conduct bilateral and multilateral negotiations with the commitment to break its warlike past. Today, the creation of new policies and strategies that ensure political stability between countries involved is fundamental.

Beginning with my exploration of art as an aesthetic object, this paper shows the growth of my work and concept. Through my practice, I have been able to understand the contradictions in my traditional society and western modernity. It has helped me grapple with my own beliefs, and begin to confront those I don't agree with.
M.F.A.
Masters
Visual Arts and Design
Arts and Humanities
Emerging Media; Studio Art and the Computer

This study was a qualitative examination of social, economic, political, and cultural dilemmas that face Peruvian survivors of the Communist Shining Path Revolution, an internal armed conflict that cut a swath of terror and destruction during the years 1980-2000, with a reported loss of 69,000 residents either killed or considered “disappeared.” The conflict affected primarily poor, uneducated Andean campesinos and townspeople in the highland areas of the Ayacucho District. In this study, I looked closely at the responsibilities of both government and NGOs in the facilitation of readjustment during and after times of instability. In addition, specific challenges the elderly, women and campesinos face in a post-conflict world are analyzed and possible social policies are discerned that might be developed to better implement the transition to a new form of community. Ideas that emerged from this research may assist policy shapers in other less developed countries involved in similar conflicts by examining how Peru dealt with its own issues. Methodology included participant observation and interviews with long-term Ayacuchan residents who stayed-in-place during war time, along with migrants who went to live in shantytowns in more urban areas. The government-mandated Truth and Reconciliation Commission report serves as a framework as it outlined those ultimately deemed responsible and detailed what those affected may expect in the way of appropriate reparations and compensation in the future. Much emphasis is given to the emerging role of women and how ensuing shifts of gender specific cultural roles may affect familial and communal bonds in small-scale societies.

International relations can be reviewed from different perspectives. One of them is through culture. In general, a lecture and an analysis of it from this specific point of view has been neglected, attracting much less attention comparing to other issues, like the political science, the international law, or the economics. The cultural perspective offers a mirror of the reality and can contribute to a better understanding of the external relations and on what is happening at other levels, usually considered as more relevant in the foreign policies and the traditional diplomacy, like politics, trade and commerce, or military issues. At the same time, this cultural perspective needs a transversal focus to offer a real insight and overview of the actual scope, due to the multifaceted feature of culture considered in its broad approach. The international presence and the role of culture within the bilateral relations is conditioned by the definition of the external cultural policies and the priorities and strategies in its bilateral relations with third countries. Sometimes the external cultural policies can have a close link with the internal cultural policies as well, being a projection of the internal priorities in the international context. The institutional structure and the competences of the different institutions can also influence in the role of culture in the bilateral relations of a specific country. Aside of that, there are other relevant factors that can be determinant in the bilateral relations, like the historical background or the bilateral political and commercial relations, among others. Culture in the context of the international relations and cooperation between Europe and Egypt includes from the institutional level, the bilateral and multilateral relations of the European Union, and its 28 Member States at an individual level as well. Otherwise, some of these European countries have had a long presence during the colonialist period, maintain historical ties, or have economic interests in Egypt. Within this framework, the different cultural policies are embedded in the external actions of the bilateral cultural relations and cooperation, where the cultural projection is a component of the public diplomacy as a form of soft power. The present research has as primary objective to get a deep inside of the bilateral relations, and the identification of some quantitative indicators and qualitative aspects of the European bilateral relations from the public sector, and makes a detailed analysis of which is the present situation of culture in the context of the international relations with a strategic country of the Arab world like Egypt. Getting an insight into the different facts, parameters and indicators allows to identify the different exogenous and endogenous factors which can have a determinant role, jointly with the explicit and implicit objectives, and other elements to consider, including priorities, strategies, instruments and activities. Actions taken into consideration are those from the European Union, and some of its Member States, which are reviewed and compared in a systematic way. This research takes as case study five of the European countries, the most populated of the European Union, and several specific fields. It starts checking the way how each individual country is presenting its external cultural policy in the official web, and followed by the cultural bilateral relations with Egypt. Then it is verified the role of the national cultural institutes, the archaeological cooperation, the higher education, the research and scientific cooperation, the presence of culture in the cooperation to development and the media. Finally it is revised the European Union's cultural presence through actions and initiatives in Egypt, and checked how the individual cultural bilateral relations of the selected countries fit together with them. The result offers a broad and comprehensive perspective of the presence of culture in international relations and cooperation in the particular case of Egypt. The analysis carried out allows concluding an insufficiently structured place of culture in the European external relations and cooperation with Egypt, the missed coordination among the different actors involved, the individual interests, and some incoherencies as well.
Les relacions internacionals poden ser examinades des de diferents perspectives. Una d'elles es des de la cultura. En general, una lectura i un anàlisi d'aquest punt de vista específic ha estat oblidat, i ha atret molta menys atenció comparat amb altres temes com són els temes polítics, el dret internacional o els econòmics. La perspectiva cultural ofereix un mirall on es reflexa la realitat, que pot contribuir a un millor enteniment de les relacions exteriors i sobre el que succeeix a altres nivells, normalment considerats com a més rellevants dins de la política exterior i la diplomàcia tradicional, com són els temes polítics, comercials o militars. Al mateix temps, aquesta perspectiva cultural necessita una mirada transversal per poder oferir una mirada profunda i al mateix temps global de la actual abast del tema, ja que abraça diferents àmbits de la cultura, que en aquest cas és considerada en la seva aproximació més amplia. La presència internacional i el rol de la cultura a les relacions bilaterals està condicionada per la definició de les polítiques culturals exteriors i de les prioritats i estratègies en les seves relacions bilaterals amb països tercers. De vegades les polítiques culturals externes poden tenir un vincle estret amb les polítiques culturals internes, sent una projecció de les prioritats internes en el context internacional. L'estructura institucional i les competències de les diferents institucions poden també tenir una influència en el rol de la cultura en les relacions bilaterals d'un país concret. A part d'això, hi ha altres factors rellevants que poden ser determinants de les relacions bilaterals, com són els antecedents històrics o les relacions bilaterals polítiques i comercials, entre d'altres. La cultura en el context de les relacions internacionals i la cooperació entre Europa i Egipte inclou des del punt institucional les relacions bilaterals i multilaterals de la Unió Europea, així com les dels seus 28 estats membres a nivell individual. Per altre banda, alguns d'aquests països europeus han tingut una llarga presència durant el període colonial, mantenen vincles històrics, o tenen interessos econòmics a Egipte. En aquest marc, les diferents polítiques culturals estan encaixades en les accions exteriors de les relacions culturals bilaterals i de la cooperació, on la projecció cultural és un component de la diplomàcia pública com a forma de soft power. La recerca té com a principal objectiu aprofundir sobre les relacions bilaterals, i la identificació d'alguns dels indicadors quantitatius i aspectes qualitatius de les relacions bilaterals des del sector públic, i fer un anàlisis detallat sobre quina és la situació present de la cultura en el context de les relacions internacional amb un país estratègic del món àrab com és Egipte. Aquest aprofundiment en els diferents factors, paràmetres i indicadors permet identificar els diferents factors exògens i endògens que poden ser determinants, juntament amb els objectius explícits i implícits, i altres aspectes que s'han de considerar, com les prioritats, estratègies, instruments, i activitats. Les accions que es prenen en consideració són les de la Unió Europea, i d'alguns dels seus estats membres, que són revisades i comparades d'una manera sistemàtica. Aquest treball agafa com a estudi de cas a Egipte, i també analitza a cinc països europeus, els cinc més poblats de la Unió Europea, i alguns dels camps culturals específics. Com a marc general es comença per veure la manera com cada un d'aquests països individuals presenta la seva política cultural exterior a les pàgines webs oficials, i es continua amb les relacions culturals bilaterals amb Egipte. Després es verifica el rol dels instituts nacionals de cultura, la cooperació arqueològica, l'educació universitària, la investigació i la cooperació científica, la presencia de la cultura a la cooperació al desenvolupament, i els media. Finalment es revisa la presencia cultural de la Unió Europea mitjançant les accions i les iniciatives a Egipte, i com les relacions culturals bilaterals individuals dels països seleccionats hi encaixen. El resultat ofereix una perspectiva àmplia i comprensiva de la presencia de la cultura a les relacions internacionals i la cooperació en aquest cas particular d'Egipte. L'anàlisi que s'ha portat a terme permet concloure que la cultura té un lloc insuficientment estructurat a les relacions exteriors europees amb Egipte, l'absència de coordinació entre els diferents actors involucrats, els interessos individuals, així com algunes incoherències.
Las relaciones internacionales pueden ser examinadas desde diferentes perspectivas, una de ellas es desde la cultura. En general una lectura y un análisis desde este específico punto de vista ha sido dejado de lado, atrayendo mucha menos atención en comparación con otros temas, como las ciencias políticas, el derecho internacional, o la economía. La perspectiva cultural ofrece un espejo donde se refleja la realidad, y que puede contribuir a una mejor compresión de las relaciones exteriores y sobre lo que sucede a otros niveles normalmente considerados como más relevantes en las relaciones exteriores y la diplomacia tradicional, como son los temas políticos, de comercio internacional o los temas militares. Al mismo tiempo esta perspectiva cultural necesita un enfoque transversal para ofrecer una visión detallada y al mismo tiempo global para conocer su alcance real, debido al carácter multidisciplinar de la cultura, considerada en su amplia aproximación. La presencia internacional y el rol de la cultura en las relaciones bilaterales están condicionados por la definición de las políticas culturales exteriores, además de las prioridades y estrategias en las relaciones bilaterales con países terceros. Por otro lado, frecuentemente las políticas culturales exteriores pueden tener vínculos estrechos con las políticas culturales a nivel nacional, siendo una proyección de las prioridades internas en el contexto internacional. La estructura institucional y las competencias de las diferentes instituciones públicas también pueden influenciar en el rol de la cultura en las relaciones bilaterales de un determinado país. Además de ello, también hay otros factores relevantes que pueden determinar las relaciones bilaterales, como los antecedentes históricos o las relaciones bilaterales políticas y comerciales, entre otras. La cultura en el contexto de las relaciones internacionales y la cooperación entre Europa y Egipto incluye, a nivel institucional, las relaciones bilaterales y multilaterales de la Unión Europea, así como sus 28 estados miembros a nivel individual. Además de ello, algunos de estos países europeos han tenido un larga presencia durante el periodo colonial, mantienen lazos históricos, o tienen intereses económicos en Egipto. Dentro de este marco las diferentes políticas culturales se encuentran incluidas en las acciones exteriores de las relaciones culturales bilaterales y la cooperación, donde la proyección cultural es uno de los componentes de la diplomacia pública como una forma de soft power. La presente investigación tiene como principal objetivo profundizar en las relaciones bilaterales y la identificación de indicadores centrados en diversos aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de las relaciones bilaterales europeas desde el sector público, y analiza en detalle sobre cuál es la situación presente de la cultural en el contexto de las relaciones internacionales con un país estratégico del mundo árabe como es Egipto. Esta profundización de los diferentes factores, parámetros y indicadores permite identificar los diferentes factores exógenos y endógenos que tienen un rol determinante, juntamente con los objetivos explícito se implícitos, y otros elementos que se deben considerar como son las prioridades, las estrategias, instrumentos y actividades culturales. Las acciones consideradas son las de la Unión Europea y las de algunos de sus estados miembros, la cuales son revisadas y comparadas de forma sistemática. Esta investigación se centra en el estudio de case de cinco países europeos, los cinco estados miembros de la Unión Europea más poblados, y en diferentes campos específicos. Se inicia supervisando la forma como cada país individualmente presenta su política cultural exterior en sus páginas web oficiales, seguido por una revisión de las relaciones culturales bilaterales con Egipto. Luego en diferentes capítulos se verifica el rol de los centros culturales nacionales, la cooperación arqueológica, la educación universitaria, la investigación y la cooperación científica, la presencia de la cultura en la cooperación al desarrollo, y los media. Finalmente se analiza la presencia cultural de la Unión Europea en Egipto a través de diferentes acciones e iniciativas, y como las relaciones culturales bilaterales de los países europeos seleccionados encajan con ellas. El resultado obtenido ofrece una amplia y comprensiva perspectiva sobre cuál es la presencia de la cultura en las relaciones internacionales y la cooperación en el caso particular de Egipto. El análisis llevado a cabo permite concluir un lugar insuficientemente estructurado de la cultura en las relaciones exteriores europeas con Egipto, la falta de coordinación entre los diferentes actores involucrados, los intereses individuales, así como algunas incoherencias.

The thesis examines the practice of corruption in the Palestinian Authority (PA) from the period of its establishment until the death of Arafat. Palestinian elite formation from the late Ottoman period until the establishment of the PA was assessed in order to identify the elites that came into power in the PA and the political cultures they came to espouse. The two primary elite groups’ (Outsider elites and Insider counter-elites) conflicting political cultures were assessed in how they influenced the decision making process, the construction, and exhibited institutional behaviour of the PA. With the signing of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements (Oslo Accords) on the 13th of September, 1993 between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Government of Israel it established the Palestinian Authority as the government in transition for the Palestinians. The agreements conferred the governing power and leadership role to the PLO Outsider elites (under Arafat). Due to the secret nature and asymmetrical power relation by which the negotiations and agreements were conducted and signed between the PLO Outsider leadership and the Government of Israel, which excluded inputs from Palestinian Insider elites, the culminating PA structure came to exhibit institutional weakness with certain neo-patrimonial behaviour. The political framework by which the Oslo Accords constructed the PA and influenced by international actors warranted institutional-weakness. Moreover, as external actors’ demands for the PA to deal with the declining Peace Process, and address political and security issues increased, PA corruption behaviour became more apparent and proliferated which became indicative of its fundamental problem in that it lacked statehood, lacked authority and legitimacy, and thus resorted to neo-patrimonial and repressive methods to govern. This neo-patrimonial political culture of Arafat and his governing Outsider elites used corruption as a PA political tool for survival thus suppressing a nascent democratic political culture of the Insiders and consequently led to an institutionalisation of corruption in the PA.

Na Palestina, palco de numerosos conflitos há mais de quatro milénios, as tensões verificadas, desde o século XIX, entre árabes e os judeus tensões verificadas, desde o século XIX, entre árabes e os judeus recém-chegados resultariam numa disputa acérrima que se transformaria numa das mais fustigantes de toda a história. O final da I Guerra Mundial e o inevitável colapso do Império Otomano dariam novos contornos ao conflito israelo-árabe projectando-o para a senda internacional, nomeadamente com a posterior criação do Estado de Israel e o relacionamento deste com os Estados Árabes. O processo iniciado pelo movimento sionista, a que muitos analistas identificam como um paralelo à colonização europeia, provocaria problemas verdadeiramente insolúveis. O desenvolvimento de medidas intrínsecas ao Estado de Israel, muitas delas altamente discriminatórias, conduziu a graves situações paradoxais no seio das sociedades que alimentaram o ódio e desejo de vingança. Várias gerações vivem sistematicamente em guerra, transmitindo tais sentimentos que já terão, por sua vez, herdado. São sentimentos culturais, onde de um lado se encontra presente uma cultura de resistência e, do outro, uma cultura comandada por uma inflexibilidade total que remetem o conflito para uma complexidade imensa e hipotecam um desfecho associado a uma acalmia relativa que contribua para uma paz duradoura. O presente estudo incide em analisar os principais factores que contribuem para o agudizar do conflito permitindo posteriormente delinear as medidas necessárias que corroboram para um acordo de paz sustentável entre as duas sociedades; ABSTRACT: Palestine, scenario of many conflicts for more than four millennia, has had confirmed hostilities since the nineteenth century, among Arabs and Jews who had recently arrived and which would dispute, one of the most lashing in the whole of history. The end of World War I and the inevitable collapse of the Ottoman Empire gave a new shape to the Arab-Israeli conflict by projecting it to the path international panel, namely though the subsequent creation of the State of Israel and its relationship with the Arab states. The process initiated by the Zionist movement, which many analysts recognize has a parallel to the European colonization, truly caused insoluble problems. The development of intrinsic measures in the State of Israel, many of them highly discriminatory, lead to severe paradoxical situations within societies that fed hatred and revenge. Several generations still live in war and systematically pass on what they have inherited. These cultural emotions present on the one hand a culture of resistance and on the other hand a culture driven by a total inflexibility. These two combinations induce the conflict to an immense complexity and set back mortgages an associated outcome that would contribute to a relative calmness and a long-lasting peace. This study focuses on analyzing the main factors that contribute to further exacerbate the conflict thus allowing the outline of necessary measures that support a sustainable peace agreement between the two societies

This sociological study explores the past and current higher education (HE) experience of educationalists at Gaza’s universities and how this experience may be evolving in the shifting socio-political context in the Arab World. The thesis is motivated by three questions: 1. What are the perspectives of academic staff in the Faculties of Education at Gaza’s universities on their own past HE experiences? 2. What are the perspectives of students and their lecturers (academic staff) in the Faculties of Education at Gaza’s universities on students’ current HE experiences? 3. How do educationalists in the Faculties of Education at Gaza’s universities perceive the shifting socio-political context in the Arab World, and what current or future impact do they think it will have on the education context at Gaza’s universities? To examine these questions, I conducted an inductive qualitative study. Using 36 in-depth, semi- structured interviews which lasted between (90-300 min), I collected data from educationalists (15 academic staff; 21 students) at two of Gaza’s universities. Due to difficulties of access to the Gaza Strip, the participants were interviewed via Skype from Cambridge. Informed by the literature review, and triangulated with other research activities, such as reviewing participants’ CVs, browsing universities websites, and keeping a reflective journal, a thematic analysis was conducted on the interview data. Theoretically, although this study has benefited from conceptual insights, such as those found in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and in Pierre Bourdieu’s work on symbolic violence, it is a micro-level study, which is mainly data driven. The findings of this research show that in the past, educationalists were relatively more passive in terms of shaping their HE experiences, despite efforts to become resilient. In the present, students and their lecturers continue to face challenges that impact negatively on their participation and everyday life at Gaza’s universities. However, how the HE experience will evolve out of this context in the future is uncertain. The Arab Spring revolutions have had an influence on Gaza HE institutions’ campuses as they have triggered more awareness of students’ grievances and discontent. Because of some political and educational barriers, however, students’ voices are a cacophony; they remain split between “compliance” and resistance (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 471; Swartz, 2013, p. 39). Previously, Sara Roy (1995) rightly indicated a structure of “de-development” in the Gaza Strip (p.110). The findings from this research show that the impact of occupation and of the changes in the Arab World on the educational context in Gaza are more complex than previously thought. There is a simultaneous process of construction and destruction that is both external and internal to educationalists and which undermines academic work at Gaza’s universities. Based on this, the study concludes by explaining six implications of this complex structure for academic practice at Gaza’s universities, offering nine policy recommendations for HE reform, and highlighting six areas for future research.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2004.
Advisor: Dr. Peter Garretson, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of History. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 22, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
While the Arab spring succeeded in ousting the long-term dictator led governments from power in many Arab countries, leading the way to a new democratic process to develop in the Arab world, it did not end the old suspicions between Arab Muslims and the West. This research investigates the beginning of the relations between the Arab Muslims and the West as they have developed over time, and then focuses its analysis on perceptions from both sides beginning with 9/11 through the events known as the Arab spring. The framework for analysis is a communication perspective, as embodied in the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM). According to CMM, communication can be understood as forms of interactions that both constitute and frame reality. The study posits the analysis that the current Arab Muslim-West divide, is often a conversation that is consistent with what CMM labels as the ethnocentric pattern. This analysis will suggest a new pathway, one that follows the CMM cosmopolitan form, as a more fruitful pattern for the future of Arab Muslim-West relations. This research emphasizes the factors fueling this ethnocentric pattern, in addition to ways of bringing the Islamic world and the West to understand each other with a more cosmopolitan approach, which, among other things, accepts mutual differences while fostering agreements. To reach this core, the study will apply a direct communicative engagement between the Islamic world and the West to foster trusted relations, between the two.

This thesis examines the acculturation process of women immigrant to Czech cultural environment. Acculturation can be defined as adaptation to cultural environment other than the individual was born in. Just like the other phases of international migration, this process is gendered, i.e. influenced by roles, norms and patterns of behavior assigned to women and men by society. Experts have shown that women experience acculturation differently than men. Due to their reproductive role they are considered to be carriers and protectors of immigrant groups' cultural identity and are expected to transmit cultural values to the future generations. The acculturation process' assessment was based on theory of stress and coping. For qualitative research, two groups of immigrant women, from Ukraine and Arab countries, were selected. The main objective of this work was to determine whether the respondents from these countries were experiencing acculturative stress during their adaptation to new cultural environments, how they coped with this stress and also what influenced their acculturation in Czech environment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the respondents and were evaluated using qualitative content analysis. Keywords: acculturation, culture, gender, Ukrainian women, women from Arab countries

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Opposing the culture of différance created through American cultural media, this thesis argues, Arab hip-hop artists revive the politically conscious sub-genre of hip-hop with the purpose of normalising their Arab existence. Appropriating hip-hop for a cultural protest, Arab artists create for themselves a sub-genre of conscious hip-hop – Arab-conscious hip-hop and function as Gramsci’s organic intellectuals, involved in better representation of Arabs in the mainstream. Critiquing power dynamics, Arab hip-hop artists are counter-hegemonic in challenging popular identity constructions of Arabs and revealing to audiences biases in media production and opportunities for progress towards social justice. Their identity (re)constructions maintain difference while avoiding Otherness. The intersection of Arab-consciousness through hip-hop and politics of identity necessitates a needed cultural protest, which in the case of Arabs has been severely limited. This thesis progresses by reviewing literature on politics of identity, Arabs in American cultural media, Gramsci’s organic intellectuals and conscious hip-hop. Employing criticism, this thesis presents an argument for Arab hip-hop group, The Arab Summit, as organic intellectuals involved in mainstream representation of the Arab community.