What Influence did British Women Arabists Have on the Anglo-Arab relationship in the Middle East (1914-45)?

My meeting in Kuwait, in 1984, with 88-year-old Dame Violet Dickson, Umm Kuwait, began a quest to expand my world-view of the region that would be my home for forty years. My research led to the discovery of a network of British women who had travelled through, lived, worked and even died in the Middle East in the nineteenth- and early twentieth- centuries. I was intrigued by the roles played by such women in a time when imperial Britain, a former trade partner of the Ottomans, had increased its political influence in the region after WW1. Post-colonial discourse today describes the period as imperial ‘colonisation’, ‘occupation’ and ‘invasion’ with the narrative focussing upon the male British key-players (administrators, politicians and military personnel) being opposed by Arab nationalists. This thesis will argue that the women under consideration were not part of the ‘imperial machine’ and their influence, within their given circumstances, was directed towards supporting Arabself-determination and survival.It will show that their personal identities, albeit individual, were the hybrids of imperial, national, gender and cultural identities. These evolved through independent travel and cross-cultural communication, into an alternative British persona (one which has been overlooked by the current academic scholarship). To consider each woman separately is to exceptionalise and easily dismiss her as an anomaly, therefore this thesis has created a collective of British women Arabists to demonstrate that, although they were not the norm, they were representatives of the extraordinary women of their space and time and must be included without bias in the ‘colonial’ discourse. This thesis will demonstrate that women Arabists acted through the ideals of liberalism and in their official positions in support of the self-determination and well-being of the Arab people.Their humanism has left positive legacies remembered today in the Middle East and yet their histories are absent in the current summary of British imperialism in the region. Thus this thesis opens a new discussion for British anti-imperialists existing in the Middle East during that period. The four Case Studies cover the period from the decline of the Sultanate of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of the Ottoman Committee for Union & Progress, World War 1, interwar years and World War 2. This thesis builds on extensive research, using Western and Arab academic, primary and secondary sources. The focus is upon the evolution, work, international thought and influence of Gertrude Lowthian Bell CBE (Case Study 1), Dame Violet Dickson (Case Study 2), Dame Freya Stark (Case Study 3) and Doreen Ingrams (Case Study 4) in the Middle East

Integrating evidence for managing asthma in patients who smoke

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Real-world research and its importance in respiratory medicine

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

UK Utility Reforms. Distributional Implications and Government Response

Distribution, Boundaries of public and private enterprise, Privatization, Contracting out, Economics of regulation, Utilities

Insights from Pennsylvania: Marketing agritourism for the American cider culture

Destinations and activities for travelers are greatly influenced by official tourism agencies that promote their local resources. Marketing for well-known places like breweries or vineyards can be straight forward, but destinations without clear descriptions can be more challenging. This paper examined how cider is defined, promoted, and marketed by official tourism websites to evaluate its potential for supporting the agritourism industry given the resurgence in craft beverages and increased public interest to purchase local products. Discrepancies between federal and state regulations of cider contribute to the public’s lack of awareness of what cider is, who can make it, and how it can be sold. A Quantitative Content Analysis (QCA) was used to evaluate how cider was marketed as a travel opportunity, particularly with its connections for agritourism. The methodology includes a set of questions that systematically evaluate text, graphics, and videos displayed on official tourism websites. While this study focused on Pennsylvania, it also compared and contrasted marketing strategies of other top cider-producing states. Results indicate that food and drink tourism is important and most states promote locally made beverages. Although cider was included in many of these promotions, it was inconsistently placed amongst other products. Cooperation and communication between local, state, and federal agencies in addition to local businesses could potentially improve cider sales and bring economic opportunities to rural communities wanting to increase agritourism

A practical tool for primary care antimicrobial stewardship in children

Peer reviewedPublisher PD