The Discursive Construction of Muslim Identities by Contemporary Muslim Televangelists in the West.

Televangelism or the use of satellite television/YouTube to preach religion has become one important media phenomenon, inter alia, among Muslim communities in minority contexts such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America (e. g. see Echchaibi, 2011). In a similar way to public figures, televangelists have become "media celebrities" with hundreds of thousands of fans and followers on YouTube and social media networks. The aim of the PhD thesis is twofold: first, to provide an explanatory framework for the rise of the phenomenon of televangelism, explore the broader dynamics it relates to and its characteristic features; second, to examine three case studies of American Muslim televangelists popular in the West, who belong to three different generations, namely Yusuf Estes (born 1944), Hamza Yusuf (born 1958) and Baba Ali (born 1977). The "celebrity status" that these televangelists have acquired (see Chapter 1 of the study) raises the question of what self-presentation strategies televangelists draw upon (e. g. see Goffman 1959), i. e. what identities they present for themselves and what multi-modal features they use to construct their identities and appeal to their audiences. Further, the post 9-11 context, which has witnessed the rise of anti-semitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric raises the question of how the three televangelists, that have achieved popularity among Muslim communities in the West, represent Muslim identities in their sermons, for example, if they draw on particular legitimation strategies to respond to anti-Muslim rhetoric. In fact, over the past few decades, many scholars in different disciplines (e. g. psychology, sociology and linguistics) have explored the concept of identities' construction (e. g. see Triandafyllidou and Wodak 2003 and Anderson 2006). Discourse-language in use- can be one domain for constructing identities (e. g. Hall 1996: 17 and Wodak et al 2009:22). Through discourse, individuals can instruct others and be instructed as to who they think they are, with whom they should align, and from whom to distance themselves; from that perspective, identity is a discursive construction (e. g. Wodak et al 2009:22). From this perspective, this study seeks to: a) explore the multimodal and discursive strategies televangelists use to self-represent their identities and b) construct Muslim identities in their sermons. Given the nature of the topic of the study and the many features that are related to this phenomenon (e. g. use of entertainment, use of websites and social networks), a Critical Discourse Studies (thereafter, CDS) approach is well-suited for the study. CDS can be briefly defined as an approach towards exploring complex social phenomena that pays particular attention to the relationship between language, ideology and power (e. g. Wodak and Meyer 2009; Angouri and Wodak 2014). A critical approach will enable us to go beyond perceiving televangelism as a "novel" phenomenon towards raising the question of what might be at stake in televangelism and what might be the wider interactions that have contributed to the shaping of this phenomenon and maintaining its existence. This study employs an innovative synergy of the Discourse Historical Approach and the theory of Visual Grammar to deconstruct the layers of contexts surrounding the phenomenon of televangelism and to explore televangelists' discourses. I argue that televangelism is a complex phenomenon that can be seen within the contextual prism of media power, transnationalism, info-tainment and rise of digital Islam, among other aspects (Chapters 1-4). The study makes general and more specific claims about televangelism and the discourses of the three American Muslim televangelists under investigation. First, the study illustrates that televangelists' sermons and YouTube excerpts represent hybrid multi-modal fields in which televangelists navigate through different discourses and modes to self-represent their (multiple) identities, and gain wider constituencies of audiences, which testifies to the understanding of this type of religious celebrity who can play multiple roles (see Chapter 6). Second, one finding of the study is that the three televangelists are -in varied ways- addressing the socio-historical context of Muslims in the West (e. g. awareness of misrepresentation in mass media), which could be one reason for their popularity. In terms of the representation of Muslim identities in televangelists' sermons, using the DHA, I explore the nomination, predication and argumentation strategies, among other aspects and explain that one feature of the sermons of the three televangelists is that they are also addressing non-Muslims, attempting to bring about change of attitudes towards the perception of Islam. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Visual word processing of non-Arabic-speaking Qur'anic memorisers

PhD ThesisVisual word processing typically involves the interplay between orthographic, phonological, morphological, and semantic knowledge. However, there are atypical learning situations where the input of one of the above is limited, such as rote memorisation of the Qur’an with little semantic input. This is common in non-Arabic-speaking countries where speakers from Muslim communities learn how to read the Qur’an without understanding what it means. Despite this unique and pervasive phenomenon, little work has been carried out in this area. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the visual word processing of non-Arabic-speaking Qur’an memorisers at three levels of processing—lexical, sublexical, and morphological. It also aimed to investigate individual differences through examining potential interactions of effects with Qur’an vocabulary knowledge and amount of Qur’an memorised, thereby informing us of the roles of semantics and print exposure to the language in visual word processing. Using stimuli constructed from the Qur’an Lexicon Project, a series of psycholinguistic experiments were conducted with non-Arabic-speaking Qur’an readers and memorisers from Singapore. Participants were given two visual lexical decision tasks (one with morphological priming and one without) and a speeded pronunciation task. A standardised Qur’an Vocabulary Test was also given to measure their vocabulary knowledge and self-reports of Qur’anic memorisation scores were elicited to measure the amount and fluency of Qur’anic memorisation. Findings from these experiments provide insight into the factors influencing the visual word processing of non-Arabic-speaking Qur’an memorisers and demonstrate that the influence of these factors can vary differentially depending on one’s vocabulary knowledge and amount of Qur’an memorised, given several significant three-way interactions. The findings broadly suggest the implicit learning of lexical and sublexical features of a writing system through exposure to its orthography and phonology, despite limited exposure to semantics, with vocabulary knowledge and statistical exposure to the language ii playing different but interdependent roles in strengthening the quality of lexical and sublexical representations. However, for morphological processing, findings suggest that vocabulary knowledge plays a more important role alongside statistical exposure in the implicit learning of roots whereas statistical exposure is more important than vocabulary knowledge in the implicit learning of word patterns, which is consistent with the view that roots and word patterns represent distinct structural characteristics in Semitic languagesLembaga Biasiswa Kenangan Maulud for their Prestigious Scholarship for three years; Lee Foundation, for their generous bursary

Corporate social and environmental disclosure practices : an international comparison of UK, Indian and Egyptian corporations

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The adoption and impact of computer integrated prepress systems in the printing and publishing industries of Kuwait

This research is aimed at developing a comprehensive picture of the implications of digital technology in the graphic arts industries in Kuwait. The purpose of the study is twofold: (1) to explore the meaning of the outcomes of recent technological change processes for the traditional prepress occupations in Kuwait; and, (2) to examine the impact of technology on Arabic layout and design. The study is based on the assumption that technological change is a chain of interactions among the sociological, cultural, political and economic variables. The prepress area in Kuwait has its own cultural, social, economic, and political structure. When a new technology is introduced it is absorbed and shaped by the existing structure. Based on such a dialectical conceptualisation, four major levels of analysis can be distinguished in this study: (1) technological change in the graphic arts industries; (2) the typographic evolution of the Arabic script; (3) the workers themselves as individuals and occupational collectives; and, (4) technology's impact on Arabic publication design. The methodological approach selected for this study can be defined as a dialectical, interpretive exploration. Given the historical perspective and the multiple levels of analysis, this approach calls for a variety of data gathering methods. Both qualitative and quantitative data were sought. A combination of document analysis, participant observation and interviewing allow to link the historical and current events with individual and collective actions, perceptions and interpretations of reality. The findings presented in this study contradicts the belief that the widespread adoption of new production processes is coincidental with continuous advances in scientific knowledge which provide the basis for the development of new technologies. Instead, the changes have been hindered by the lack of untrained personnel, the Arabic software incompatibility, and the lack of informed decisions to successfully implement the technology. Without any doubt, the new technology has influenced Arabic calligraphy, but this does not mean the decay of Arabic calligraphy as an art. As this study shows, the challenge is not to the art, but to the artist

Layers of meaning : British Bangladeshi children's engagement with learning

This study explores how young children of British Bangladeshi heritage experience instructional events offered in their home, school and community domains. It seeks to understand the sense that children make of these learning encounters, and especially of literacy related events, and thus how they constitute themselves as learners in the ritualised educational activities of their everyday lives. The study views children as active participants in their learning as they make meaning through their lived relationships with peers, siblings and adults. Learning, and particularly literacy learning, is studied from the children's perspective and interpreted within a wider social and cultural context.\ud The study derives its theoretical and analytical frameworks from the research literature on pedagogy and theories of learning, and on the acquisition of literacy, as well as from a review of the Bangladeshi community's experience in the United Kingdom. The children in the study are drawn from three year groups, Reception class, Year Two and Year Five, in an inner-London primary school, and their families and community teachers. The methodology is broadly ethnographic, based on observing naturalistic instructional events as the children participate in literacy related activities in all three learning domains. It also uses interviews and conversations with children, and audiotape recordings of the children's interactions with peers and adults.\ud The analysis takes the form of nine substantial instructional events, three for each of the year groups, with one event per year drawn from each of the three domains of home, school and community. The focus is on literacy learning and how children learn the ýrules', make meaning, and engage with their learning. The analytic process itself explores three layers of meaning: the event itself, the pedagogy of the event, and the broader sociocultural implications of the event for both children and adults.\ud Conclusions suggest that these Bangladeshi children live their world and, as active learners, are able to engage successfully with teaching and learning in and across domains and over the years. In this participatory process they use their existing knowledge and experiences of learning to transform their knowledge, understanding and skills to constitute themselves as strong and flexible learners in their multilingual world. \u

The Role of Zakah in Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Indonesia

Zakah is believed to be the main Islamic institution for the alleviation of poverty. Nevertheless, despite an increase in global income levels during the last century as well as continuing implementation of zakah worldwide, poverty persists in Muslim developing countries such as Indonesia. The main objective of this study, therefore, is to comprehensively explore and systematically analyze the economic (monetary) and multidimensional (non-monetary) impacts of the zakah institution in alleviating poverty in the context of zakah implementation in Indonesia as the world’s largest Muslim country. It also identifies the poor and assesses the determinants of poverty amongst the zakah recipients. Furthermore, it investigates the management model of zakah implementation in Indonesia, including its capacity, efficiency and effectiveness in delivering poverty-focused programs. To achieve the objectives, the study has utilized a mixed-method research design. As part of this strategy, it has conducted a survey and collected primary data on the socio-economic conditions of 685 poor households receiving zakah assistance in nine cities of the Greater Jakarta Metropolitan area in Indonesia in 2011. In analyzing the survey results, a number of quantitative methods including descriptive statistics, inferential statistics (ANOVA and logistic regression) and poverty index analysis were employed. It has also conducted semi-structured interviews with the management personnel of zakah organizations to investigate the model of zakah implementation and assess the capacity and efficiency of zakah organizations in Indonesia. The qualitative data obtained were analysed by using thematic (coding) and content analyses. The rich analytical methods were expected to generate high-quality data and comprehensive analysis that would address the research questions satisfactorily. The main result generally suggests that the zakah institution has contributed positively to reducing the hardship of the recipients, whose poverty is likely to be related to large household size, lack of assets and certain characteristics of heads of households. Specifically, the incidence, depth and severity of poverty amongst the households have decreased due to the contributions from zakah organizations. The impacts of zakah could be felt not only in the economic (monetary) dimension, but also in multiple dimensions of live particularly in terms of health awareness (health), school attendance (education), praying and fasting (religious/spiritual), business/technical skills (economic) and harmony amongst family member (social). Further analysis suggests that higher impacts seem to be enjoyed by the recipients associated with the non-government zakah organizations and those participating in the programs that integrate economic assistances with provision of basic needs. Based on these findings, a framework for an effective poverty-focused zakah management was proposed. Several policy implications and recommendations for various stakeholders of zakah in Indonesia are also highlighted. The overall results are ultimately expected to provide empirical evidence regarding the contributions of zakah in contemporary Muslim societies as well as to enrich the literature on zakah and Islamic economic implementation in the Muslim world.

Web-Based Homework versus Paper-Based Homework in United Arab Emirates Secondary Mathematics

This study investigated whether Web-based homework (WBH) in mathematics is a method of homework delivery more suitable than traditional paper-based homework (PBH) for United Arab Emirates (UAE) secondary students in Abu Dhabi. Few studies have addressed delivery methods for mathematics homework outside of a context where homework is considered usual practice. The study centres in the UAE because of its culturally distinctive attitudes towards homework completion and reportedly low levels of self-efficacy among Emirate students. If homework completion and performance were to increase, WBH could offer opportunities to enrich student learning and engagement in mathematics. This study used the WBH tools Myimaths and GeoGebra in selected school years. The research questions for this study were as follows: (1) Do students interact more with WBH than with PBH? (2) What are student perceptions of their learning with WBH and PBH? The sample consisted of approximately 2,000 students. The data for this two-group, pre-and post-test control group design was collected over three years, covering school years 2012 to 2015. As a measure of interaction, a Pearson Chi-square test suggested that student homework completion was significantly higher in the WBH group. The result led to the rejection of the null hypothesis for the first research question, suggesting that students do interact more with WBH than with PBH. Analysis of the student survey and interview transcript notes indicated that students perceived they spent more time practicing mathematics using the WBH tools due to the immediate feedback offered by the tools. Furthermore, they were encouraged by the feedback to review their mistakes and revise their thinking, subsequently resubmitting their WBH to get a higher score. Student perceptions in this study were that the availability of multiple homework submissions was a motivating factor that contributed to them spending more time practicing mathematics. Students reattempted the homework tasks that led to the possibility of them revising certain mathematical concepts and procedure while in pursuit of a higher homework score. Though WBH is limited in terms of written explanations and partial credit scores for correct mathematical procedures, in comparison to PBH, student interview perceptions in this study were that the WBH tools used facilitated positive interaction effects. The effects described were improved levels of motivation, positive peer communication, higher rates of homework completion and an improvement in their mathematics homework performance

Towards an authentic argumentation literacy test

A central goal of education is to improve argumentation literacy. How do we know how well this goal is achieved? Can we measure argumentation literacy? The present study is a preliminary step towards measuring the efficacy of education with regards to argumentation literacy. Tests currently in use to determine critical thinking skills are often similar to IQ-tests in that they predominantly measure logical and mathematical abilities. Thus, they may not measure the various other skills required in understanding authentic argumentation. To identify the elements of argumentation literacy, this exploratory study begins by surveying introductory textbooks within argumentation theory, critical thinking, and rhetoric. Eight main abilities have been identified. Then, the study outlines an Argumentation Literacy Test that would comprise these abilities suggested by the literature. Finally, the study presents results from a pilot of a version of such a test and discusses needs for further development

Re-conceptualizing the nature of resources in multimodal literacy: The case of young children’s meaning making in an intergenerational art class

This case study was embedded in a SSHRC project called: Learning together: A multiple case study of intergenerational multimodal curricula, led by Dr. Rachel Heydon. The study specifically focused on resources employed by young children in their processes of meaning making within intergenerational art classes. Research questions concerned: 1) what resources were available for young children’s meaning making within the intergenerational art classes? 2) what resources were chosen and used by young children in their processes of meaning making and how? and 3) how did different resources interact with each other in multimodal ensembles? The theoretical tool of the study was the theory of multiliteracies. Sources of data were derived from the original SSHRC project, including audio and video transcripts, interview transcripts, field notes, photos, and participants’ digital portfolios. Methods of data analysis included micro-analysis approach (Kress, 2009) and constant comparison method (CCM) (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2011; Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Findings of this study indicated that except for semiotic resources, human-based resources, contextual resources and young children’s funds of knowledge and funds of identity were employed for young children’s meaning making. Young children chose different types of resources according to their interests and perceived representational appropriateness. Findings also relate that in the multimodal ensembles, different types of resources were orchestrated for meaning making. The resources co-presented and enhanced each other’s expressiveness. Multiple types of resource expanded opportunities for young children’s literacy practices and identity formation. The study enriches the existent understanding of resources for young children’s literacy learning and offers recommendations about resources for young children’s literacy learning in the 21st century