International studies – Middle East

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://digital.lib.washington.edu/handle/1773/34950

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Now showing 1 - 19 of 19

“Anglo-Saxons of the East”: Redefining Armenians in Early Twentieth Century America
(2023-09-27) Daglian, Ara; Halperin, Liora
This thesis focuses on an important work of Armenian American identity––The Armenians in America by M. Vartan Malcom. While previously known as a source of statistical and quantitative information on early Armenian American history, the text also provided a voice to Armenian Americans in an era where the American public knew them only through paternalistic aid campaigns and fundraiser slogans in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide. To analyze The Armenians in America as a work to redefine the Armenian American identity, this paper turns to Jewish studies for inspiration. Jewish studies historiography boasts a highly developed framework for understanding how Jewish Americans redefined themselves in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, offering a useful tool for studying Armenian Americans as well.
The Damascus Spring: Assessing its Fragility and Stagnation
(2023-08-14) Roller, Samuel; Kasaba, Reşat
This paper compares the Damascus Spring and Syrian Revolution through the political process model of social movement theory. In doing so this paper identifies the key differences between the two mobilizations which have utility in responding to the instrumental question of why the Damascus Spring was so fragile and why it succumbed to stagnation. Through this process, this paper seeks to deepen the utility of existing English-language scholarship on the Damascus Spring by structuring available information to distinguish the importance of different events and processes to the Damascus Spring as a whole.
Religious-Nationalism in Israel/Palestine
(2021-10-29) Katsman, Hayim; Wellman, Jim
This dissertation describes and analyzes the reasons for the changing nature of the religious-Zionist community in Israel. It offers an innovative sociological framework to discuss recent social, ideological and religious trends within the religious-Zionist sector in Israel, which challenges the prevalent conceptualization of religious-Zionism as a sui generis ideology. In contrast to researchers who emphasize the synthesis of Orthodox Jewish religion and militant Zionism in the religious-Zionist ideology, it argues that the religious-Zionist identity is based primarily on social connections (kinship, geographical, institutional) among the members of the group. The dissertation focuses on several case studies within the religious-Zionist community, demonstrating that there is no ideological core that brings together all religious-Zionists. Based on interviews, participant observation and textual analysis, the dissertation describes the different ideological responses by religious-Zionists to the evacuation of Gaza settlers in 2005, with regard to loyalty to the Israeli state, on the one hand, and the religious authority of rabbis, on the other. Another phenomenon described in the dissertation is the rise of American conservative movement in the religious-Zionist community and its attempts to establish a new religious-Zionist hegemony in Israel.
The Political and Economic Effect of the American Response to 9/11 on Israel
(2021-08-26) Valadez, James Robert; Long, Mark C.
The impact of 9/11 was significant to global politics because of the United States’ response to the attack and subsequent wars in the Middle East. As a state with a “special relationship” with the United States, Israel was positioned to be uniquely affected by the change in the US’ behavior in the region. The goal of this thesis was to look for changes that occurred after 2001 in the political and economic spheres of Israel compared to the twenty years prior to 2001. The restriction to 1980 was made to insulate the study from the rapid growth that occurs after the foundation of a new state. Some of the results were that the office of the president moved from left wing control to right wing, the number of political parties represented in the legislature decreased, and the economy continued to steadily grow despite the upheaval in the region. US-Israeli relations were also more strained in the post-2001 era than before due to criticism of Israeli aggression.
Hellenes and Arabs at Home and Abroad: Greek Orthodox Christians from Aleppo in Athens
(2021-08-26) Harris, Owen; Friedman, Kathie
In this thesis, I show how communities living together in relative equality in Aleppo, Syria, and fleeing the same conflict, experienced very different outcomes depending on which religious community they belonged to. Members of the Greek Orthodox Christian community from Aleppo who have moved to Athens reported that their new home is exactly the same as the community they left behind. Members of the Muslim community from Aleppo in Athens did not agree with this statement. Why do Greek Orthodox Christians fare so much better than their Muslim compatriots in Greece? I argue that this inequality is a result of opportunities and challenges created by policies instituted during the great unmixing of peoples in the early 20th century and the refugee crisis in the early 21st century. Greek Orthodox Christians are equal citizens in a secular Arab republic that values ecumenism and members of the Greek diaspora in a Hellenic republic that privileges Greek ethno-religious belonging. They are Arab Hellenes, equally Greek and Syrian. Drawing on data collected in interviews with members of the Greek Orthodox Syrian community in Greece, as well as Syrians of different faiths in other countries, I examine what went right for Greek Orthodox Syrians in Athens and suggest policy tools that government and civil society can use to create similar conditions for Muslim Syrians in Greece.
At the Nexus of Nationalism and Islamism: Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi and the Intellectual History of Conservative Nationalism
(2020-08-14) Duberstein, Tasha; Kuru, Selim
This paper offers an analysis of the work of Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi (1932-1988); a highly influential yet understudied ultranationalist intellectual, whose synthesis of Turkish nationalism and Islamism provided the ideological framework for the current Islamist-nationalist ruling alliance in Turkish politics. A prolific author, poet, scholar, and propagandist, Arvasi's TÃ¼rk-İslam Ã lkÃ¼sÃ¼ (Turkish-Islamic Ideal) was integral to the formulation of conservative nationalism; a form of cultural and religious nationalism which frames national and religious identity as indivisible and mutually constitutive. However, despite Arvasi's significant contribution to the evolution of conservative nationalism, he remains a relatively obscure intellectual outside of ultranationalist circles, and his work is largely ignored in contemporary histories of political ideology. This study reexamines Ahmet Arvasi's work in tandem with the inception of conservative nationalism and the ascendancy of extremist politics, and concludes that his ideological legacy was fundamental to the consolidation of a right-wing bloc perennially represented by Islamists and nationalists.
Screening Late Ottoman Memory in Payitaht Abdülhamid
(2019-08-14) Grossblatt, Hannah; Porter, Deborah
In viewing historical rehabilitations as objects that have the capacity to transform people, this thesis seeks to explain the popular consumption of one such rehabilitation as a function of its resonance with an existential memory of social transformation. This thesis’ deep reading of the Turkish television series Payitaht AbdÃ¼lhamid, a show about the reign of Sultan AbdÃ¼lhamid II, who ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1876-1909, yields a new vantage point from which to view a cultural product’s inherent historicity – in spite of its historical inaccuracies and revisionist position. This paper demonstrates how, through an analysis of the cinematographic language of Payitaht AbdÃ¼lhamid, we may access a subtextual articulation of an existential memory that explains its wide resonation today.
The Sounds of Silence: Iraq's Missing Voices From the Sanctions Period
(2019-08-14) Rodriguez, Heather Anne; Bet-Shlimon, Arbella
Using personal interviews and works of art, I bring into focus the suffering of Iraq’s people who lived through the sanctions period (1990-2003) under the regime of Saddam Hussein. In particular, I examine the effects of the sanctions regime on their everyday lives in regard to family, the economy, medical care, education, and culture. My research centers on the presentation of events from the Iraqi point of view, adding a new perspective to existing articles and books written by non-Iraqis who were not affected by sanctions personally. By providing historical background as a foundation, I demonstrate the ways in which Iraq and its people fell into a downward spiral after Saddam Hussein took control in 1979. Through primary research, I examine corrupt acts committed by the United States and Iraq that began during the presidency of Ronald Reagan and continued throughout the sanctions period. I argue that, in view of this oral history research, the conditions in Iraq during this period were far more devastating than previously acknowledged. Finally, I illustrate how the United States government and the media exacerbated the struggles of the Iraqi people by willfully neglecting them.
Eroticism in the Works of Contemporary Egyptian and Levantine Female Novelists
(2018-07-31) Mahmood, Ibtihal Rida; DeYoung, Terri
Literary and narrative discourses hold an inherent correspondence between themselves and the social, economic, national, and political issues that govern the atmosphere in which they emerge, including those concerning the war of the classes and of the sexes. Using the erotic as a parameter, this paper analyzes three novels by three contemporary women novelists from Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria: Nawāl el-Sa’dāwī, Ḥanān al-Shaykh, and Samar Yazbek, respectively. An analysis of the combination of language, culture, and space can lend itself to an examination of the relationships of power and social hierarchies that govern societies, in a fashion that follows the Foucauldian power/knowledge social theory. Adopting the Lacanian perspective of language as an inherently sexist utility, this paper examines the approaches found in these three novels to the objectification of the female body; the yearning to reclaim agency; and the success – and failure – in regaining and retaining autonomy.
Hebrew and Persian Revival Movements in the 19th Century
(2018-07-31) Molaie, Sara; Sokoloff, Naomi
This paper is a comparative historical study of the revival movements of Hebrew and modern Persian in the 19th century through the lens of two prominent individuals, Eliezer Ben Yehuda and Manekji Limji Hataria. Both men were committed to using language to form new national identities, and they forged new tools for doing so both at the intellectual level and through the formation of community-level groups. In the case of Ben Yehuda, however, these efforts were challenging but ultimately highly influential, while Manekji enjoyed much less success. These two stories illustrate the growth of linguistic nationalism in the cases of Hebrew and Persian and demonstrate why two movements with similar roots would ultimately have very different fates. The paper will proceed in four parts. The first section introduces Benedict Anderson’s theory on the role of language and religion in nationalism. The second reviews the revival of Hebrew and the role of Ben Yehuda, while the third discusses the revival of Persian under the leadership of Manekji. Finally, the fourth part examines the role of language and religion in response to Benedict Anderson’s theory of nationalism.
Upgrading the Women’s Movement in Iran: Through Cultural Activism, Creative Resistance, and Adaptability
(2018-07-31) Samuels, Meaghan Smead; Friedman, Kathie
The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the effects of the 2009 post-election state crackdown on the Iranian Women’s Movement. Varying narratives of how the crackdown affected women’s activism necessitate a better understanding as to how this social movement negotiates periods of repression. An examination of accounts and actions by women in Iran reveal this Movement to be fluid, adaptable, and resilient, utilizing different structures, strategies and tactics depending on the current political environment. This study demonstrates the ability of Iranian women to develop creative solutions for public engagement in repressive moments, including through everyday acts of resistance and by practicing cultural activism. Women in Iran work to transform culture in order to impel the state to make changes to discriminatory laws. Prevailing social movement theories help to explain some characteristics of the Iranian Women’s Movement, but a more complex model is required to account for dynamic gendered social movements in non-Western, authoritarian contexts. This study reveals some of the theoretical gaps for explaining the way gender based movements navigate public space for activism under authoritarian regimes.
The Imperial Frontier: Tribal Dynamics and Oil in Qajar Persia, 1901-1910
(2017-08-11) Cohoon, Melinda Marie; Bet-Shlimon, Arbella
University of Washington Abstract The Imperial Frontier: Tribal Dynamics and Oil in Qajar Persia, 1901-1910 Melinda Cohoon Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Assistant Professor Arbella Bet-Shlimon Department of History By using the Political Diaries of the Persian Gulf, I elucidate the complex tribal dynamics of the Bakhtiyari and the Arab tribes of the Khuzestan province during the early twentieth century. Particularly, these tribes were by and large influenced by the oil prospecting and drilling under the D’Arcy Oil Syndicate. My research questions concern: how the Bakhtiyari and Arab tribes were impacted by the British Oil Syndicate exploration into their territory, what the tribal affiliations with Britain and the Oil Syndicate were, and how these political dynamics changed for tribes after oil was discovered at Masjid-i Suleiman. The Oil Syndicate initially received a concession from the Qajar government, but relied much more so on tribal accommodations and treaties. In addressing my research questions, I have found that there was a contention between the Bakhtiyari and the British company, and a diplomatic relationship with Sheikh Khazal of Mohammerah (or today’s Khorramshahr) and Britain. By relying on Sheikh Khazal’s diplomatic skills with the Bakhtiyari tribe, the British Oil Syndicate penetrated further into the southwest Persia, up towards Bakhtiyari territory. I argue that the Oil Syndicate’s presence initiated this grab of power between the tribes and the rise of Reza Khan, ultimately leading to the loss of sovereignty of the Arab tribes of Khuzestan, and the rise of a few Bakhtiyari elites.
Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State: A comparative study of the Jihadi narratives
(2016-07-14) Gemeah, Ibrahim; Goldberg, Ellis j
This paper explores the major points of contrast between Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State as one of movement versus state. Presenting the former as a revolutionary movement and the later as a state-building entity, I contend that despite their jihadi nature, both groups adopt different narratives and strategies. Following a comparative approach, I illustrate that the identity of Al-Qaeda as a revolutionary social movement and the Islamic State as a modern state entity in addition to the social backgrounds of their members presented them as two separate entities with institutional differences, structure, ideology and strategy. The movement versus state tension I present is not a new one that is exclusive to Islamist groups only, but rather one that was witnessed by groups like the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks of Russia as well as the Zionists of Europe and Palestine. I argue that this divergence between Al-Qaeda and the Islamic state, demonstrates jihadi ideology to be heterogeneous and decentralize.
ISIS Success in Iraq: A Movement 40 Years in the Making
(2016-07-14) Church, Lindsay K.; DeYoung, Terri; Bet-Shlimon, Arbella
In June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took the world by surprise when they began forcibly taking control of large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. Since then, policy makers, intelligence agencies, media, and academics have been scrambling to find ways to combat the momentum that ISIS has gained in their quest to establish an Islamic State in the Middle East. This paper will examine ISIS and its ability to build an army and enlist the support of native Iraqis who have joined their fight, or at the very least, refrained from resisting their occupation in many Iraqi cities and provinces. In order to understand ISIS, it is imperative that the history of Iraq be examined to show that the rise of the militant group is not solely a result of contemporary problems; rather, it is a movement that is nearly 40 years in the making. This thesis examines Iraqi history from 1968 to present to find the historical cleavages that ISIS exploited to succeed in taking and maintaining control of territory in Iraq.
The UAE and the Green Façade: Renewable Energy Challenges in a Hyper-Consuming Society
(2015-09-29) Gornicki, Djames T.; Jones, Christopher D
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a recently formed state has undergone a transition, the speed of which has brought the country to the forefront of promoting a global sustainability discourse. Through the introduction of numerous sustainable development initiatives, a self-contained renewable energy city at Masdar, and a large 5.6GWe nuclear energy program the UAE is pursuing diversification through a number of substantive technologies. Yet despite these programs designed to reduce domestic consumption of oil, the UAE has become addicted to Western cosmopolitan lifestyles that engender support for the ruling regime by tying in consumer subsidies for regime legitimacy. As the UAE is a rentier state, despite its display of exceptionalism in the physical transformation of the land, the rulers bargain with the population will continue to permit consumption at the cost of ushering in an era of sustainable development.
Law and Society in Ottoman Iraq: The Case of the Buried Treasure (1856)
(2015-09-29) Barrett, Elizabeth Page; Andrews, Walter G
As in all legal disputes, there are many versions of this story. One party claims the other broke a contract by failing to pay off a debt. The other argues the contract was never legally binding and he was coerced into signing it in the first place. This may sound like a fairly pedestrian civil case. However, Svoboda v. Pachachi (1856) was beyond unusual—it was a scandal that titillated ‘Victorian Baghdad’; it embodied the clash between European colonial ambitions and Ottoman sovereignty; it is a story about a fortune in buried treasure. Most importantly, it offers historians insight into provincial legal practices in the midst of the upheaval of the Tanzimat reforms.
Iranian Audacity & Israeli Opacity: Challenges to the Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone
(2013-07-23) Bovey, Charles Daniel; Jones, Christopher D
A Nuclear Weapons Free Zone is a concept pre-dating the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), 1968. Five such zones exist today covering more than 50% of the earth's surface. However, one region of the world, the Middle East, has no such agreement. This is in spite of the fact that none of the legitimate Nuclear Weapons States exist within this region and all but two nations are full adherents to the NPT - Israel, which never signed the NPT, and Iran, which has been sanctioned for violations of the safeguards agreement. This work attempts to explain the significance of the dichotomy between these two countries that directly challenge the establishment of such a zone, or restated, the Israel / Iran dynamic as a threat to establishment of a Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.
Bringing the Leader Back In: the Gulf War and the Role of State Leaders in Alignment Decision-Making
(2013-04-17) Minami, Lokela Alexander; Goldberg, Ellis J
This paper looks at the role of Jordan's King Hussein and Turkey's Turgut Ozal in the Gulf War to understand how the individual foreign policy decision maker plays the key role in shaping a state's alignment choices.
The Iranians' Debate after the Crackdown: Is Green Movement Revolutionary or Reformist?
(2012-09-13) Kiani, Tehmoures; Migdal, Joel S
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