Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Exploring Saudi Families’ Engagement in the US Early Childhood Schools: Experiences of Bearing the Burden(University of South Florida, 2024) Alberaidi, Sarah; Han, SophiaA vast body of research in early childhood education has shown the positive effect of parents' engagement on children's emotional, cognitive, and social development. However, researchers identified limitations to parent involvement activities within the culturally diverse context. The purpose of this case study was to fill the literature gap in exploring how Saudi families engage in their children's early education in the United States. Within the context of sociocultural theory, Muscrit theory, family ethnothories, and mirror, window, sliding glass doors framework, this study aimed to understand the family engagement practices of three Saudi families whose children enrolled in early childhood U.S. schools. Semi-structured interviews with both parents and documents were used to collect the data. The data were thematically analyzed. This study's findings revealed that a welcoming and uncomplicated environment helped Saudi families to engage in their children's schools. The families also stated challenges and obstacles that affected their engagement practices in their children's schools and at home. Islamic beliefs, cultural norms, personal preferences, and social anticipations create a burden and a barrier for Saudi families to be able to engage in their children's schools actively. This study discussed implications and recommendations for early childhood schools, programs, teachers, and teacher education programs. Understanding Saudi families' perceptions and experiences in the U.S. early childhood education has the potential to offer valuable insights that can guide our approach and future investigations in the field of early childhood education.33 0Item Restricted Hijab Meets Style | Incorporating service design to simplify the shopping experience for Saudi Hijabi GenZ’s when abroad(University of the Arts in London, 2024-02-16) Sharaf Aldeen, Wejdan; Barber, SamThe realm of fashion expands beyond surface trends and visual appeal, serving as a convergence point for culture, identity, and individual beliefs (Davis, 2013). For Muslim women, the selection of clothing holds deep meaning, going beyond mere style to embody a balanced fusion of modesty and religious dedication (Bernier, 2022). In contemporary Islam, women wear the hijab, a veil covering their hair, and fashionably modest attire covering the chest, legs, and arms. (Rahman et al., 2016, p. 218). The growing modest fashion industry is driven by fashion-conscious Muslim consumers combining a symbol of adherence to Islamic principles with a modern interpretation of modesty that allows for self-expression within contemporary fashion trends (The Cooper Hewitt, 2021). The Global Islamic Economic 2019/20 study projects that Muslim consumer spending on clothing and shoes increased in 2018, reaching 283$ dollars and is projected to grow in 2024, reaching 402$ billion (Dinar Standard, 2019). Despite the growth and demand for modest wear, Madeeha Najeeb (2019) confronts the lack of availability for Hijabi clothing options in mainstream retail and emphasises the neglect of a substantial market gap. This challenges Muslims worldwide to undergo a time-consuming process of matching pieces from different local and international brands to create full hijabi wear, including the headscarf (Hassan & Harun, 2016). This dilemma frequently results in the repetition of outfits and discontent with their wardrobe selections, impacting their self-esteem and confidence level. Today, Gen Z Saudi Muslim women emerge as dominant consumers who prioritise fashionable clothing and seek recognition, diversity, and inclusivity from fast fashion brands. According to a study by Brand Genetics, the Saudi Gen Z generation is characterised by a «more liberal, risk-taking, entrepreneurial mindset» (Alexandra, 2021). Saudi Arabia stands as a major market in the domain of modest clothing. (Herrmann, 2022). Under the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative, significant legal reforms have taken place, marking progress in the status of women in Saudi Arabia by granting them the freedom to choose their clothing over the traditional Abaya and enabling them to travel abroad without strict guardianship (Sadek, 2019). Contemporary Saudi Gen Z women are empowered and expanding their horizons through travel while simultaneously aspiring to uphold their stylish religious identity. Thus, addressing this issue is crucial to empower Saudi Muslim women and help them access diverse Hijabi fashion choices, boost their confidence in navigating diverse foreign cultures abroad, foster a sense of belonging and inclusion, and simplify their shopping experience.42 0Item Restricted “The Gift of Music”: Understanding Dedicating Music Practices Among University Students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia(University of Liverpool, 2023) Alshebel, Rahaf; Tarnovskaya, EkaterinaSharing files and links of music privately among Saudi students is a common and usual behavior in the current state of the digital age. However, the intentions of this exchange can vary. Musical gift-giving or dedicating music is a socially mediated practice where individuals send music links to others. This dissertation explores this practice within the complex context of Islam and the Saudi culture of university students in Riyadh. This research uses a mixed methodology to maneuver around the conservative culture and the possible sensitivity of the topic. Using a survey and conducting interviews, this dissertation found that university students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have polarized into three categories. First, those who intensely indulge in music gifting practices. Secondly, those who slightly care for dedicating music. Finally, those who never partake in the practice. However, This heterogeneous behavior does not reflect the students’ listening habits or religious views. Most students have acknowledged the Islamic ruling against music. The data also clearly shows that the students showed diversity in performing the practice. Some of them dedicate links to complete songs, clips of parts, or written texts of music and songs they like and enjoy. The music they gift is diverse in language (Arabic, English, Spanish, Korean) and genera (Khaliji, Egyptian or Levant, and Western music) and is mostly used in positive contexts or expressing complicated feelings with family, friends, and life partners.40 0Item Restricted Reading Zora Neale Hurston’s Works Through an Islamic Lens: The Absence of Islam in Moses, Man of the Mountain and Jonah’s Gourd Vine.(Saudi Digital Library, 2023) Alqahtani, Asma Abdullah Saud; Lake, Crystal BelleZora Neale Hurston is an African-American writer, anthropologist, and ethnographer of the Harlem Renaissance. She is distinguished for documenting and celebrating the religions of African Americans in the South. In this study, the author argues that Hurston represents the practiced religions in Southern African-American communities in Jonah’s Gourd Vine and Moses, Man of the Mountain while noticeably omitting Islam, despite the fact that Islam predominated in more Northern African-American Communities as a reclaimed religious history and practice. Hurston’s exclusion prompts inquiries into the history of Islamic erasures in Southern African-American communities and introduces ambiguity in interpreting the metaphors found in Jonah’s Gourd Vine because of the differences between the Biblical and Quranic narratives surrounding the figure of Jonah. The author concludes that Hurston omits Islam because it was not noticeably practiced in the South among the African-American community. Finally, the author argues that Muslim readers must understand the Biblical Jonah to understand the metaphorical meanings of the vine relative to the protagonist John Buddy Pearson in Hurston’s Jonah’s Gourd Vine.32 0Item Restricted Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia: A Conflict of Laws, Custom and Policy Reforms(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-10-25) Barnawi, Samiyah; Batlan, Felice; Walters, AdrianIn the contexts of Saudi Vision 2030 introduced in 2016 as well as moderate Islamic policy reforms introduced in 2017, issues of women empowerment through education and employment occurred in various domains, including health, sport, law, media, economics, politics, and oil and gas sectors, to name just a few. In this climate, there are still no studies that engage with how Saudi women’s rights have been understood, advocated, enacted, contested, justified and even protected from being challenged. This nascent study frames and examines the intersectionality between Saudi women’s rights, Islamic law and customary law in the context of those recent policy reforms. It explores the following research questions: (a) how Saudi women’s rights are defined, practiced and justified in the context of moderate Islamic policy reforms?, (b) what do the stories of Saudi women reveal about their lived experiences in the context of moderate Islamic reforms?, (c) what challenges do Saudi women encounter related to their rights?, (d) what strategies do Saudi women use to negotiate emerging challenges?, and (f) how do the findings of this study help improve women’s law in Saudi Arabia today? The data of this phenomenological qualitative study emerge from two sources: autobiographical narratives and semi-structured interviews with 15 Saudi females with different social-economic backgrounds (married, singles and/or college female students). The findings revealed that although recent policy reforms enabled some women to have access to different educational and employment opportunities, there were still some women struggling to fully benefit from these reforms. This is due to the fact that the boundaries among (i) customary law/practices (ii) Saudi women’s rights, and (iii) social and policy reforms for women’s rights are still not clearly set. The study highlights its contributions to the scholarship of women’s rights in the Arab and Muslim communities. It also proposes a conceptual framework, grounded in Islamic legal theory, for understand women’s rights and its complexities.43 0Item Restricted An Analysis of Islamic Legal Literature Concerning Concepts of Privacy as they Relate to Women's In/Visible Bodies in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-09-04) Qirwan, Hind; O'meara, SimonThis thesis examines the concepts of public and private in relation to women's in/visible bodies in Saudi Arabia throughout the twentieth century until 2018. The aim is to demonstrate how manhood (murūʾah) among Saudi Arabian men is obtained and conveyed by controlling and rendering women's bodies invisible in public. Additionally, the thesis aims to illustrate how the restrictions on the visibility of women's bodies are significant in defining the political status of male members in Saudi society. The examination begins with reviewing the relevant notions in Islamic legal thought, including privacy (ḥurmah) and rulings on the issue of the gaze, also known as ʾāḥkām al-naẓar. The examination shows how opinions concerning the aforementioned legal categories established a system of visual practices that were not gender-neutral and were intended to exert more control over the male gaze because it was perceived to have far more severe social consequences than in the case of a woman's gaze. In the light of the legal backgrounds discussed in chapter one and two, this thesis will explore critical political events and social issues concerning a woman's in/visible status in public in Saudi Arabia ( i.e. the siege of Mecca in 1979 led by Juhaymān al-ʿUtaybī and controversies around gender mixing (ikhtilāṭ)). This is to offer a nuanced understanding of the links between political tension and the visibility of women in public. This thesis will also examine attitudes towards public representations of women in Saudi Arabia by focusing on the opinions of the religious establishment regarding looking at images. The examination reflects the intense attention, effective in legal rulings, given to the morality of looking at a woman beyond the act of looking directly at her. It also shows how Saudi scholars found in the principle of "eradicating pretexts" (sadd al-dharāʾiʿ) a legal loophole to justify excessive control over the male gaze, even with regard to the indirect gaze upon the image of a woman.16 0