Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Zürich. / Includes bibliographical references (p. xx-xlvii).

Madame Butterfly is analyzed as a cultural icon. Puccini s Madaina Butterfly and the Butterfly icon, i.e. the submissive Oriental beauty who cannot live after her Western lover betrays her, permeate Western stereotypes of Eastern culture. Through this mindset, miscommunication develops. This concept was popularized in David Henry Hwang's play M. Butterfly, which builds upon Puccini's opera. Through the character's misperceptions of each other, the opera's tragic ending is repeated in Hwang's play after the French diplomat Gallimard realizes that his ideal woman is actually a male spy. Traditions regarding homosexuality and cross-dressing help Song to create Gallimard's feminine ideal. The theater contributes through tan and onnagata roles where men are trained to create perfect feminine illusions. These stereotypes are problematic because they do not allow for the complexities that exist in the theater, on film, and in actual events. Through increased sensitivity and awareness, individuals can see past the stereotypes to see other's complexities. / Department of English

This dissertation explores the life and work of a philosophy of education and multicultural education teacher, through the use of narrative inquiry. As a Palestinian/Lebanese Canadian researcher, teacher, mother, activist and writer, I present the journey of freeing myself from colonial grand narratives through the construction of my personal, practical knowledge and values, while providing an answer to the question: “What does it mean to be situated on the boundary between the English West and the Middle Eastern Arab world?” I demonstrate how the Orientalist tradition, as defined by Edward Said (1978), served to confuse, frustrate, and alienate me as an embodied person situated within a web of historical, ethnic, linguistic, social, and cultural tensions. I describe how, having been educated in an English missionary school in the context of a Palestinian culture of dispossession and Diaspora, this education served to paradoxically both estrange and enrich me. I demonstrate how narrative inquiry, modeled after Clandinin and Connelly (1995, 2000), has enabled me to understand and communicate who I really am as an educator in the multiple social contexts I have known. Through story-ing my epistemology, I illustrate how the Canon in philosophy and the grand meta-narratives underpinning it served to oppress and alienate me over the years. I emphasize that education is not value-neutral. My autobiographical writing in this dissertation explores how the constructs of ethnicity, gender, religion, culture, language, and class serve to shape thinking and values. [...] / Cette dissertation explore la vie et l’oeuvre d’une philosophie de l’éducation et d’une enseignante dans le domaine de l’éducation multiculturelle, a travers l’emploi des approches de l’enquête narrative. Comme chercheure, enseignante, mere et écrivaine d’origine palestino-/libano-canadienne, j’y présente le cheminement de ma libération des grandes narrations coloniales, par le biais de ma création des connaissances et des valeurs personnelles et pratiques, tout en essayant d’offrir une réponse a la question: « Que signifie le fait de me situer entre l’ouest anglophone et l’est le monde arabe du Moyen-orient? » Je voudrais démontrer comment la tradition orientaliste, telle qu’elle a été définie par Edward Said (1978), a contribué a mon état de confusion, frustration et aliénation et a l’impossibilité de me retrouver « bien dans ma peau », dans ma situation a l’intérieur d’une toile de tensions historiques, ethniques, linguistiques, sociales et culturelles. J’ai tenté de décrire comment, apres mon instruction dans une école anglaise dirigée par des missionnaires, dans le contexte d’une culture palestinienne de dépossession et de diaspora, cette scolarisation a eu, comme résultat, une situation paradoxale qui, a la fois, m’aliénait et m’alimentait. J’y démontre aussi comment l’enquête narrative, selon le modele de Clandinin and Connelly (1995, 2000), m’a permis de comprendre et de communiquer mon identité véritable, qui je suis comme enseignante dans les contextes sociaux multiples que j’ai connus. [...]

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Thesis (M.A.) (Honours) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 2001. / Thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts (Honours), Contemporary Art, University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 2001. Bibliography : leaves 53-54.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 1998. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 112 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-112).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1996. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Florence McCarthy. Dissertation Committee: Maryalice Mazzara. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 272-285).

Thesis--Munich. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 369-398).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 237-249).

As of Spring 2013, this is the first research study of its type which has looked at and analyzed the results of qualitative interviews conducted with Kurdish Iraqi students studying abroad in the government's, Mhe-HCDP, foreign study abroad program. The study looks at student's actual experiences and perceptions about the program, as well as their recommendations for improving the program. The study also looked at the overall goals and acknowledged problems within the program as established by the Iraqi Mhe reports of 2010 and 2011. The study found a considerable amount of agreement between problems identified by the Mhe and problems recognized by the students in the program. Moreover, the research surveyed a considerable amount of literature in the field of study abroad programs which correlate directly too many of the problems identified by both the Mhe and the students. Several of the problems identified in this research pertain to the need for more ESL programs, more "pre-departure" orientation programs, more coordination between Iraqi universities and host universities, more cultural training, more emphasis on pedagogical structures related to critical thinking, reading, and writing, as well as the need for more education in the area of conducting advanced, post-secondary, research in western institutions and more programmatic support at host universities. The study presents the results of 25 qualitative interviews with students, 3 interviews with program administrators, and one interview with a former minister of the Mhe and lists the recommendations and observations all of them have about the existing study abroad program.