Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Representations of Recognition and the Radicalised in Selected Fiction and TV Shows on ISIS(University of York, 2024-01-22) Alfageeh, Asmaa; Chambers, ClaireAfter the emergence of ISIS, the Anglophone literary and audiovisual scenes witnessed a transformation in the portrayal of the terrorist figure and in the treatment of issues related to jihadism, terrorism and radicalisation in recent works dealing with ISIS. The narratives in these works shifted from depicting the demonised terrorist to representing the humanised radicalised subject, giving the jihadi a voice and recognition. However, there remains not only a need for further studies on terrorism in fiction and visual culture, but also a gap in the fields of literature, film and TV studies on the topic of radicalisation as a precursor to terrorism. Thus, this thesis aims to study these narrations by looking deeply into representations of radicalisation, rather than terrorism, and the figure of the radicalised, instead of the terrorist. Using different theorisations and conceptualisations of the theory of recognition, it examines a selection of fictional and televisual works: Kamila Shamsie’s novel Home Fire, Muhammad Khan’s novel I Am Thunder, Fatima Bhutto’s novel The Runaways, Peter Kosminsky’s factual drama The State and the melodrama Black Crows by Hussam Alrantisi, Hussein Shawkat and Adel Adeeb. I argue that exploring representations of recognition and the radicalised contributes to understanding radicalisation and its factors. The study begins by examining the claim to recognition of the radicalised characters in relation to listening and speaking in the selected novels under scrutiny. It moves on to look beyond the claim for recognition in the selected TV shows by investigating and comparing how they recognise the radicalised. I contend that in these works, recognition is used as a mode of textual and visual engagement. Theories of recognition facilitate an understanding of the process of radicalisation, while factors including the authors’ and directors’ identities and social and political discourses affect the degree of sympathy they evince.46 0Item Restricted EMPLOYING CRITICAL LITERACY TO EXPLORE CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TO MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE IN A BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION IN SAUDI ARABIA(2023-06-30) Alqahtani, Nadia; Medina, CarmenMulticulturalism is about equality, social justice, and welcoming the differences of a group of people in the same world. It is a reform, challenge, and change of the domination of one culture, race, gender, ethnicity, and class in a society that consists of multiple people of diverse backgrounds. There has been a rapid change in Saudi Arabian society as it welcomes refugees as residents and tourists from around the world and it has lately granted citizenship to foreigners who have improved various aspects of Saudi society. Because of this, it is crucial to encourage citizens to value diversity and individual differences because they are vital to the country’s growth. With the growing diversity among students in Saudi Arabian classrooms, stakeholders and teachers need to start cultivating the ideology of multiculturalism and students need to accept and respect each other despite their different cultural backgrounds. The main goal of this study was to examine how a diverse group of students responded to a literary discussion in a book club while reading multicultural books. Literary texts and book clubs are a means to identify the challenges that students, especially diverse students, face. These experiences provide opportunities for students to analyze, delve into, and negotiate diversity issues as they construct their identities. A case study approach using critical thematic analysis was used to explore the responses of six high school students. Initially, the students expressed unconscious responses and knowledge that lacked critiquing, analyzing, examining the texts, and addressing multicultural issues. However, the students’ identities in this study were revealed when exposed to multicultural literature books. They demonstrated the possibilities of valuing themselves, reflecting with others, and shaping their identities for belonging, confidence, relationships, and familiarity. The book club provided a chance to speak, interrogate, and analyze the authors’ perspectives and thoughts by digging deep to reach issues hidden under the authors’ words. As a result of the study, a model was developed to guide teachers and other stakeholders of the educational system in Saudi Arabia to improve approaches to multicultural literacy.16 0Item Restricted Home, Belonging and Multiculturalism in Twenty-First-Century British South Asian Fiction(2023-04-16) Alhaisony, Anas Galet M; Poyner, Jane; Stadtler, FlorianThis thesis contributes to the literary and cultural debates surrounding multiculturalism and questions of home and identity in contemporary Britain, using the British South Asian novel as a case study. Through close readings of six novels, including Maps For Lost Lovers (2004) by Nadeem Aslam, Londonstani (2006) by Gautam Malkani, The Year of Runaways (2015) by Sunjeev Sahota, Home Fire (2017) by Kamila Shamsie, Exit West (2017) by Mohsin Hamid, and In Our Mad and Furious City (2018) by Guy Gunaratne, the thesis brings theories of multiculturalism, class, and race into conversation with contemporary British South Asian fiction. It re-examines multiculturalism, as represented in the fiction, in light of recent key events that have catalysed its reconfigurations (e.g. 9/11, 7/7, the 2011 England riots and Brexit) alongside conceptual developments of notions of race, class, home and identity. Stuart Hall (1990) suggests that identity is constructed “within, not outside of, representation”, which indicates that literature plays a potentially important role in the public perception of identity (222). The thesis seeks to demonstrate that terms like diaspora, migrancy, hybridity and liminality do not fully capture the experience of multiculturalism as depicted in the selected novels. Whilst the thesis does not fully dismiss these terms, it redirects attention to critical, non-celebratory conceptions of multiculturalism. In so doing, it makes interventions into debates on multiculturalism. It shows how the UK government has tended to present multiculturalism as “a management exercise” (Mishra 2007, 133) through a “series of hesitant moves and recommendations”, which, as Peter Morey argues, it would be “hard to call […] a multicultural policy” (Morey 2018a, 5). It argues that theories of multiculturalism might become more coherent if approached from specific theories of race, ethnicity, and class. Such mapping, as Vijay Mishra (2007) advocates, allows us to think more precisely about these theories, so that we can view multiculturalism as “a critical concept” rather than “a management exercise” (133). The thesis first sets out a theoretical framework by which to explore its central concerns with the modalities of representation of British South Asians in fiction and their engagement with ideas of home and identity that are always already inflected by the complexities of race, class, religion and multiculturalism. It then turns to the historical and socio-political contexts of diverse British South Asian experiences as they are depicted in the fiction. The research employs a mixed-method approach synthesising theories of multiculturalism, race, ethnicity, and class, with close readings of British South Asian fiction written between 2000 and 2020. In the process, this enables a critical re-evaluation of these theories (Gilroy 2004, Mishra 2007, Ahmed 2015). Finally, the thesis offers new ways of reading the various permutations of British South Asian identity as culturally diverse in contemporary literature produced by British South Asian authors.17 0