Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Past the Gardenia Bush, Beyond the Basketball Hoop: A Hybrid Memoir and an Embedded Fictional Narrative of The Medieval Saint Rabiaa Al-Adawiyyah(Florida State University, 2024) Alharthi, Fatmah; Roberts, Diane K.Past the Gardenia Bush, Beyond the Basketball Hoop is a post-9/11 memoir of meaning-making where Sufism and literature claim agency against extremism and family relations. I use two techniques: magical realism and metafictional imagining of the life of Rabiaa Al-Adawiyyah, born in the 8th century and the first female Sufi in Islam. The nested story is a fictionalized narrative of Rabiaa that shows her enslavement, working as a singer in brothels, and her transition to mysticism. I use magical realism in allowing Rabiaa to transcend time, seeking her wisdom in a world fractured by political rifts and societal disapproval of Sufism. In a rhizomatic narration of events, the book illustrates how I found Sufism and why it resonates with my perspective on harmony. It brings forth the journey from the “false self,” seeking immediate gratification, to the “essential self” of internal peace, answering the question, “Who am I?” that has set Don Quixote on his quest. The first chapter theorizes storytelling as a way to claim an identity. In the second chapter, conflict arises between the first instance of Sufism in the narrator’s home, love of literature vs. censorship, and sympathy with the second intifada. It also historizes the root of extremism in Saudi Arabia. The third chapter introduces in a vignette the evolution of Sufism in the narrator’s life and presents Barbie as a model of cultural-in-betweenness. It compares the extremist Zainab Al-Ghazali to the medieval Sufi Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali and introduces Ibn Arabi’s “four-pole-theory.” The fourth section deepens the identity crisis at the cusp of family relations, 9/11, cultural exchange, and imaginary dialogue with Rabiaa Al-Adawiyyah. The fifth section bolts the narrator’s identity in storytelling and the world of letters. It shows the narrator’s personality through further exchanges with the imaginary saint. My dissertation answers the troubling identity question: “Who am I?” reflecting on graven images, novels, songs, portraits, and other paraphernalia the Sahwa Movement prohibited after the 1979 Grand Mosque attack in Mecca. It reflects on Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and weaves into the narrative the understanding of how a young woman develops a sense of self. Past the Gardenia Bush makes the case that multiplicity is an option, that writing fiction and losing oneself in remembering the Divine is compatible with writing stories and interacting with people of different cultures.25 0Item Restricted Entrepreneurship dynamics for women entrepreneurs' inclusion in emerging markets: a case study on Saudi Arabia(University of Glasgow, 2024-05-16) Alzahrani, Eidah; Keston-Siebert, Sabina; Gordon, JillianThis study explored the ways in which institutions affect women that either support or hinder their entrepreneurial endeavours and considers how women can leverage these institutions to their advantage. Few studies have focused on women entrepreneurs' interactions in their local economic and social contexts (Cavallo et al., 2018). This study explores the role of institutions in women's entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia amidst COVID-19 and post-pandemic. The data collection for this study utilised multiple methods including: conducting interviews with (31) Saudi women and (6) institutional representatives; remote observation of entrepreneurial events and document analysis. A thematic analysis approach was adopted to examine the data and identify recurring patterns and themes within the discussion. This research examines the intricate relationship between institutions and women's entrepreneurial activities. Through analysing how institutions can influence and be influenced by women, this research has uncovered the potential for mutual benefits and opportunities that exist within this dynamic. The study utilises complementary frameworks integrating institutional impact and identity play as theoretical lenses with a ‘multi-level model’ (McAdam et al., 2019) and ‘do context framework’ (Baker and Welter, 2020) to gain a better understanding of how entrepreneurs interact with their contexts. This study makes a crucial contribution by emphasizing the pivotal role that women entrepreneurs have in shaping society, offering invaluable insights, and acting as a catalyst for empowering women in the field of entrepreneurship. The decisions they make, the risks they take, and their resilience in the face of challenges are influenced by beliefs, faith, self-worth, confidence, tenacity, self-awareness, risk-taking, adaptability, autonomy and independence, determination, and self-empowerment. Such attributes serve as the defining characteristics of their entrepreneurial journey. The importance of institutional influences is highlighted by the constantly changing environment in which these women operate, thus illustrating their significance. By examining the connection between women and institutions in the field of entrepreneurship, this research provides valuable insights of the complex mechanisms that influence women's interactions and highlight the transformative power of women entrepreneurs to shape institutions and society. Thus, through the development of a multidimensional theoretical framework, it illustrates the continuous interaction between entrepreneurs and their environments in a continual cycle. Through this, women have influenced family, cultural norms and institutional policies in subtle ways. The study describes bidimensional process influences and leverages their contexts to make entrepreneurial decisions, providing a framework for further research.38 0Item Restricted Community, Identity, and Resistance in Minority Literature: Arab American Poets - Samuel Hazo, Nathalie Handal, and Naomi Shihab Nye(University of Exeter, 2024) Alqahtani, Reem Saad Fahad; Rennie, Simon; Phillips, ChristinaIn delving into the world of minority literature, I argue that contemporary Arab American writers provide a unique and previously overlooked perspective on the United States, particularly concerning the legacy of September 11, 2001 (9/11), and the unfolding narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of the proposal is to draw attention to the poetry of Samuel Hazo, Nathalie Handal, and Naomi Shihab Nye as representative of an Arab American identity struggle. Their experiences left them feeling marginalised and alienated in both societies. The special nuances of hybridity, resistance, and identity echoed in their poetry, and identified them as one of the ethnic American minority groups. The study also explores the writers’ post-9/11 experience, affected by the United States’ long history of marginalisation and discrimination against people of colour. As a result, Arab American literature along with that of other ethnic American groups, contributes to art characterised by the aesthetics of cultural hybridity, cultural complexity, and the politics of minorities to promote solidarity and coalition building. The three selected Arab American writers have found a link between their narration and the identity of the exiled by establishing an identity that is a kind of synthesis of diverse identities of Western reality and Eastern nostalgia. The approaches applied in this thesis include historical/biographical and postcolonial. I use the first one to emphasise the influence of the biographical aspects related to the community, identity, and resistance of the three poets in their poetry, and the second to study the effects of colonialism and postcolonialism on these poets and their responses, to establish them as representative poets in their perceptions as postcolonial subjects. This study is significant because it will help shed light on the importance of the Arabic hybrid identity in creating resistance to hegemonic discourses. I also argue that Arab American writers engage in unique and previously understudied ways with contemporary issues.10 0Item Restricted A Sociolinguistic Inquiry into the Future of Bedouin Dialects: Language Use and Perceived Language Vitality Among Bedouin-Speaking University Students in North-Western Saudi Arabia(University of New South Wales, 2024-02-23) Albalawi, Hend; Hatoss, Aniko; Amberber, MengistuAmid global changes in Saudi Arabia’s linguistic landscape, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and English have assumed hegemonic positions as languages. MSA is employed as the formal official language and English as the second language taught in the formal education and the language especially demanded on the job market. As a consequence, the powerful, state-supported statuses of MSA and English are prone to affect the language practices and vitality of other local language varieties in Saudi Arabia. In particular, Bedouin dialects are relegated to the periphery and fall into relative obscurity and their vitality weakened. Considering the uneven power arrangement in Saudi Arabia’s language ecology, the ethnographically based sociolinguistic study conducted for this thesis examined the vitality of Bedouin dialects as perceived by university students of Bedouin background at the University of Tabuk in north-western Saudi Arabia. With empirical data collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the study involved exploring the student’s general use of the three language varieties in everyday contexts according to the various language domains, exploring factors impacting the vitality of their dialects and investigating their attitudes and identities amid Saudi Arabia’s shifting cultural backdrop. The results confirm the low perceived vitality of Bedouin dialects in Saudi Arabia’s linguistic landscape both at present and for the projected future. They also provide evidence of the prevalence of the white dialect as a local lingua franca in informal domains in north-western Saudi Arabia. The findings may be of interest to Saudi language policymakers, educational leaders and individuals seeking to support multilingualism. Above all, they underscore the importance of multilingualism not only for the preservation of linguistic diversity but also from the speakers’ perspective, namely as a way to protect their culture and maintain their ethnic and linguistic identity.25 0Item Restricted An Investigation into Promoting Cross-Cultural Collaboration among Students from Diverse Backgrounds: A Case Study of the University of Aberdeen(University of Aberdeen, 2024-03-05) Alshaiby, Sadiyyah; Carol, SmithThe study aimed to examine the promotion of cross-cultural collaboration among students with diverse cultural backgrounds at the University of Aberdeen. The research aim was met by fulfilling five main objectives regarding international students’ perceptions of cross-cultural collaboration, the challenges international students face in intercultural collaboration, the strategies employed by the university of Aberdeen in promoting intercultural collaboration, practical recommendations for promoting intercultural collaboration, and the role of the social identity theory in explaining the dynamics of cross-cultural collaboration. The study was based on a qualitative case study. Two pilot interviews were conducted to test the interview questions. Data was collected from 10 international students from the University of Aberdeen using semi-structured interviews and analysed using the thematic analysis technique. The findings demonstrated that students perceive intercultural collaboration positively because it helps them get social and academic support from colleagues. Students who embrace cross-cultural collaboration are less likely to be isolated or lonely. However, language and cultural differences undermine collaboration. Differences in dialect are a major cause of misunderstanding in intercultural collaboration. Differences in cultural perceptions about teamwork and superiority also undermine collaboration. However, universities like the University of Aberdeen have adopted strategic measures to promote cross-cultural collaboration. Some measures the university employs to promote cross-cultural collaboration include forming clubs, societies, and academic groups and offering language competence training for students from different cultural backgrounds. A recommended approach is internationalisation, which primarily focuses on creating a universal curriculum to cater to the learning needs of all students regardless of their nationality and cultural background. Based on the social identity theory, promoting cultural diversity and collaboration must entail establishing a common identity for all students to help them interact freely without facing any challenges that undermine their collaboration. Future research should focus on the specific factors influencing cross-cultural collaboration, including language, cultural differences, and university initiatives, while exploring their impacts on acculturation, academic achievement, mental well-being, and considering alternative theories beyond social identity theory to understand this dynamic better.15 0Item Restricted Children, Identity and the Media: How Children as Active Audiences Make Use of their Favourite Screen Media Texts to Engage with their Saudi National Identity(University of Leicester, 2024-01-01) Alareifi, Noor; Kennedy, Melanie; Simmons, Tracy; Whitehouse-Hartn, JoanneConsidering the vital role of popular media in the formation of societal structures, values and identities, and taking into account the importance of reinforcing the national identity of young Saudis within the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative, the study takes a critical cultural approach that focuses on children’s reception by exploring the ways in which they, as audiences, make use of their favourite screen media texts to engage with their Saudi national identity. The subject was investigated from a qualitative, inductive research standpoint. The study adopted a creative artwork method (drawings) and one-to-one semi-structured interviews conducted online through video calls to capture the children’s insights. The screen media texts that the children liked and spoke about also added another layer of contextual analysis. The fieldwork took place in October 2020 with a total of 17 participants (10 girls and 7 boys). The sample included Saudi children aged 7 and 8 years (equivalent to 8 and 9 years in the Islamic/ Hijri calendar) living in different locations in Saudi Arabia. Societal–social–cognitive–motivational theory (Barrett, 2007; Barrett and Davis, 2008) and the British object relations tradition in psychoanalytic psychology were central to the understanding of childhood self-development and sense of identity in this study. In addition, the work was strongly informed by the process of imagining nations (Anderson, 1983, 2006) and also drew on work on banal nationalism (Billig, 1995) and the discussion of representation and the media (Hall, 1997). Thematic and semiotic analysis were applied, and the findings demonstrated that distinct gendered differences were fundamental to the participants’ conceptualisation of their identities. Even though the Saudi child participants apparently constructed their sense of self in line with the traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity in the Middle East, the data revealed that the female participants, unlike their male counterparts, did not fully adhere to these gendered roles and traditions. Alongside the gender discourses, the data showed that religion (Islam) and loyalty to the country’s rulers are key components of Saudi children’s understanding of their Noor Alareifi Children, Identity and the Media: How Children as Active Audiences Make Use of their Favourite Screen Media Texts to Engage with their Saudi National Identity ii national identity. The findings also revealed that the communication process between media and child audiences is more complicated than a direct cause-and-effect relationship, since the children brought elements of themselves to the reading and interpretation of the Western media texts that they liked and had chosen as their favourites. Conducting this child-based research in an Arab/Muslim context in Saudi Arabia adds to the existing knowledge and understanding of childhood and contributes to the gap in media audience research, particularly in the Middle East.55 0Item Restricted Saudi PhD Sojourners’ Construction of Identities on Twitter: An Exploratory Study in the United Kingdom(Saudi Digital Library, 2023-11-23) Almesfer, Badryah Khaled; Satar, Muge; Brandt, AdamThis thesis provides insights into international students' online discursive construction of their identities on social media. Social media platforms have become part of the daily lives of many people. For international students, they are perhaps even more so as they are used for educational and social purposes, as well as staying in contact with family and friends at home. They are also an important way of portraying identity. Increasing numbers of students pursue university studies abroad, but little attention has been paid to how they construct and develop their international identities on social platforms, as existing research has focused primarily on pedagogical uses of technology or intercultural competence. This study explored how a group of Saudi international PhD students constructed their identities online on one of the most popular social media platforms, Twitter, while studying in the United Kingdom. It employed online ethnographic observation of Saudi PhD sojourners’ profiles and tweets on Twitter from May 2019 to January 2020, followed by interviews. The data were analysed thematically, informed by the grounded theory approach. The findings showed that the participants developed multiple identities on Twitter – PhD, global, religious and national – reflecting complex perceptions of capital, power and social identity. Their construction entailed idioms of practice, the use of linguistic and non-linguistic cues, forming communities of practice through audience design and demonstrating affiliation with various groups using hashtags. The participants illustrated how identities can be constructed online and highlighted the importance of undertaking a PhD both socially and professionally. Their interactions on Twitter also showed that the study abroad experience can be enriching in terms of intercultural communication and developing a global perspective. The study concludes that social media can be used as an effective resource for communication by students in making personal and academic representations.10 0Item Restricted Comparative Literature and Criticism(2023-08) Hussain, Nadeen; Boldrini, LuciaThis dissertation examines four works of literature that aim to draw a comparative discussion of the followings: Tradition and Individual Talent By T.S Eliot with A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf and Little by Treuer with The House Made of Dawn by Momaday. The comparison is being held by using different approaches such as comparative close reading and historical criticism to decipher the texts. In T. S Eliot’s and Woolf’s chapter, the dissertation first examines each text individually in their construction of tradition from an artistic perspective that leads to a comparative discussion by the end of the chapter. The literary comparison demonstrates how they differ in the way they define tradition and approach its concept. In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf harshly and sarcastically criticizes the unjust tradition of English society in restricting the progress of women’s writing and creativity as well as the role of previous masculine literature, biased literature that formed and wrote the history in a way where women were excluded from the literary canon. On the other hand, Eliot emphasizes the importance of altering the literature of precursors to add value and greatness to contemporary poets or artists, with the belief that they created the base of literature and contemporary authors are an extension or continuation of them. The second comparative chapter deals with two works of Native Americans’ dilemmas, the role of history in creating their identities and the failure of America’s falsified democracy. First, each novel is examined individually to address racial inequality and its repercussions on the main characters. Afterward, the overlaps of the texts are pieced together in the comparative chapter along with highlighting the possible differences in each text.24 0Item Restricted Exploring teachers’ and students’ efficacy in the teaching and learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Saudi Arabia(Saudi Digital Library, 0023-06-06) Alkhairi, Ahmad Hassan E; Alkhairi, AhmadThis qualitative case study explored teaching and learning practices of English-as-a Foreign Language (EFL) in the school context in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study is underpinned by Bandura’s (1977, 1986) triadic reciprocal causation model, derived from his Social Cognitive Theory. In particular, the research focused on the teacher-efficacy of Saudi EFL teachers and the self-efficacy of students learning the English language. The approach of the research explores self-efficacy through a qualitative method. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews with secondary school teachers and through focus group discussions with their students, through classroom observations, and through examination of teaching materials to comprehend the teaching and learning environment of EFL in Saudi schools.38 0Item Restricted In Between(2023-06-01) Baamer, Ethar; Blazer, LizIn Between is a three-minute, 2D animated film about a girl who struggles to find her true self. In Between focuses on one woman’s journey of self-exploration as she separates into multiple versions of herself in her search for her true identity. The film begins in reality and then journeys to various dimensions of consciousness, unconsciousness and the in-between.30 0