This thesis explores modernism's temporality and location through the examination of Arabic modernism's occurrence. In this thesis, I question whether the authenticity of modernism derives from its temporality period or its literary content while concurrently investigating several poems by Lebanese authors Kahlil Gibran and Nadia Tuéni and Syrian poet Adonis. Additionally, I trace Arabic modernism's influence to the early 1900s-1910s to the conception of the Mahjar movement and the Pen League, an Arabic literary society consisting of Arabic immigrant writers. As I discern the political impact within Arabic writings, I explore political events, such as World War I and its aftermath, that heavily influenced Arabic literature and modernism. Subsequently, I acknowledge Lebanon's position in both a colonial and postcolonial context and dispute the simple notion that the Eastern world entirely comprises Western practices and traditions. I accomplish this by exploring Nadia Tuéni's contribution to Arabic modernism through the dual questions of translation and postcolonial theory. By considering these critical political and literary factors, I hope to call attention to Arabic modernism's influence and temporality.

Maya Abu al-Hayyat (born 1980) is a Palestinian poet who thematizes motherhood, love, war/revolution, grief, and political hypocrisy in her poetry. In the context of Palestinian literature, she fits within a tradition of Resistance Literature, yet redefines it. Given that al-Hayyat has not been widely translated into English, this thesis presents 33 translations of her poems taken from her three poetry collections: Mā qālathu fīhī (Thus Spake the Beloved, 2007), Tilka al-ibtisāma-- dhālika al-qalb (This Smile, That Heart, 2012), and Fasātīn baytīyya wa ḥurūb (House Dresses and Wars, 2016). Throughout these three collections the poet shifts her use of vocalization and her poetic techniques. As argued throughout, translating al-Hayyat into English is important because it marks a shift from resistance as a uniform, collective experience to an individual and multifaceted one. Additionally, in this thesis I argue that the speakers in al-Hayyat's poetry are anxious agents. I interpret the speakers’ anxiety as manifested in the body and caused in part by living under occupation. The speakers are agents because they criticize patriotic motherhood and gender-based inequality. Finally, I explain how the translation concepts of renarration and the deformation zone inform each other because they force the translator confront their position in society and to the text. These terms are significant because they address the anxiety of translators potentially enacting orientalist violence and catering to American poetry values when translating Arabic women's poetry into English.

For decades, the heritage language learner has been the topic of research in the field of second language acquisition for commonly taught languages such as Spanish. However, in the field of Arabic second language acquisition, little research has been done on this learning community. This report seeks to fill this gap in scholarship by reporting the survey results of religious heritage language learners of Arabic, defined as non-Arab Muslim students. This report analyzes a qualitative survey of fourteen religious heritage students of Arabic. The analysis helps characterize this community with regards to trends in previous exposure to Arabic before enrolling in university courses, motivations for learning Arabic and shifts in motivations, attitudes and preferences towards teachers, and the effect their studies has had on their personal spirituality and perceptions about their spirituality. Each section of this report presents suggestions for further research and implications on teaching and learning. Finally, I propose suggestions for curriculum development based on the results of the survey. Given the geopolitical importance of the Middle East and the prevalence of misperceptions about the region amongst Americans, competence in Arab cultural literacies is especially timely and critically urgent. A closer look at religious heritage students of Arabic can help educators strategize the teaching of cultural literacy. For instance, religious heritage students can help their peers learn about Islam and the religious significance of Arabic. At the same time, religious heritage students in particular may benefit most from being taught about the religious diversity of the Arab world and other aspects of the rich Arab cultures to which they may not previously been exposed. By re-envisioning the role of religious heritage learners of Arabic, the hope is that educators can create curricula that effectively and efficiently convey cultural literacy to all students in the Arabic language classroom. The study of religious heritage also has potential for targeted improvement of pedagogical praxis for teaching the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing to these students. / text

An intelligent understanding of international relationships requires a special study of the critical places where continuous crisis arises. It was felt, therefore, desirable to examine a significant aspect of the conflict between the Arab World and the State of Israel that provides the subject of this study. The economic boycott of Israel has assumed a grave significance in international relations, yet to the author's knowledge this subject has not been investigated in a scholarly and comprehensive manner in any available publication. The writer embarks on this topic in the hope that it may provide the American student of Middle Eastern affairs with the essential data for its clear understanding.

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