Heroes and antiheroes play a prominent role in Arabic literature. From the writings of Antarah ibn Shaddad and Al-Harriri to Mahmoud Darwish, the figure of the hero looms large. Reading literature in translation, much less pre-modern literature, can feel like… Continue Reading →
The One Thousand and One Night also known as The Arabian Nights is collection of folklore stories that have been used to lay the foundation of many stereotypes towards the Middle East. When Westerners talk about this collection one of… Continue Reading →
Women and Position of Power There are not many portrayal of women main characters in works of literature. The main character is always the man, who comes to the rescue of the fragile woman saving her from the villain. All… Continue Reading →
The Thousand and One Nights, is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales published together during the Islamic Golden Age. The stories are structured around one central tale, about a powerful king named Shahryār. Prior to a visit with his… Continue Reading →
Mountain view of the original Our Lady of La Salette shrine in the mountains near Grenoble, France. God and poetry ~ Which is the highest form of spirituality? To be a Catholic priest in Western culture is a… Continue Reading →
What could the Tale of Buluqiya and Hamilton: An American Musical possibly have in common? On the surface, the modern musical and the fictitious tale from One Thousand and One Nights seem to have nothing alike, but a deeper analysis… Continue Reading →
My recent trips back to Germany has made me question some of the cultural and social norms that I was raised with growing up in the U.S. In order to best illustrate the culture shock of visiting a different country,… Continue Reading →
According to a prominent scholar of orientalism, Edward Said, orientalism is a way of coming to terms with the Orient (East) which helps define Europe with a contrasting image. Said defines orientalism as “a style of thought based on an… Continue Reading →
Many lines of comparison could be drawn between One Thousand and One Nights and the Odyssey: their reliance on myth, their origins as oral storytelling, their fantastical cast of characters. However, the common thread of gender is perhaps one of… Continue Reading →
This is the Kabba. Located in Mecca it is believed to house one of Antarah’s poems Antarah ibn shaddad was a pre-Islamic poet whose mother was an Ethiopian slave and father was of the ancient Arab tribe the Banu Abs…. Continue Reading →
Arabian Nights: Women in Power and Cross - Cultural Attitudes
The Commodification and Confinement of Women as Reflected in One Thousand and One Nights
God and Poetry: Which is True Spirituality?
Hamilton and Buluqiya in the Quest for Immortality
Experiences in Germany through the Lens of an American, Ibn Fadlan Style
Unmasking the Depictions of Harlots, Whores, Sinners and "Middle Eastern" Women
Dangerous Women: Gender Themes in One Thousand and One Nights and the Odyssey
My Experience with Race Through the Prose of Antarah Ibn Shaddad
The Qasidah of our Youth: A Poem of the Past
A Nomad’s Home: Travel, Home, and Modern Constructions of Arab Identity
On Spiders and Mercy
Symbolism of Rain in Sayyab's "Rain Song" and Western Songs About Rain
The Function of the Classic Hero Cross-Culturally
Re-creating Ancient Myth in a Modern World: Women in Television
The Great Flood: Comparing Norse and Arabic Myth Today
1001 Nights and Disney: The Three Princes and the Princess of Nouronnihar and Brave
“رحلتي”: Being Visibly the “Other” Inspired by Ibn Battuta’s The Travels and Fatema Mernissi’s Scheherazade Goes West