Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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The discussions surrounding the authenticity of the extra-Qur'ānic traditions in Islam has been a prevalent theme in the scholarship for the last six decades. This thesis is about the modern...Show moreThe discussions surrounding the authenticity of the extra-Qur'ānic traditions in Islam has been a prevalent theme in the scholarship for the last six decades. This thesis is about the modern polemics surrounding the parts of the Islamic tradition with supposed Jewish origins, also known as the “Isrāʾīliyyāt”. The term Isrāʾīliyyāt has been the subject of numerous religious-polemical works since the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with Modernist Muslim commentators arguing for the ejection of this material to make way for a return to pristine Islam. Although such arguments against Isrāʾīliyyāt find considerable coverage in the academic literature, the dynamic exegetical scene in Turkey is often neglected. Highlighting the discussions in Turkey, this research aims to bring out the contemporary debates about Isrāʾīliyyāt therein with a study of the ‘new media’, a platform that is widely used by preachers from different ideological camps. This thesis seeks to situate the Turkish case within the larger Middle Eastern context of Modernist Islam by discovering the connections between exegetes from different localities and eras, aiming to locate the intellectual influences of the figures that are studied.Show less
Because contemporary network science is predicated on the assumption that similarity breeds connection, it transforms what seems to be an open web into poorly gated communities that propagate...Show moreBecause contemporary network science is predicated on the assumption that similarity breeds connection, it transforms what seems to be an open web into poorly gated communities that propagate already-existing forms of prejudice and discrimination. If the algorithmic fabric of social media platforms pushes people with the same views and interests towards each other, what does this mean for queer individuals in Beirut inhabiting a city whose very urban fabric segregates and limits their interaction in public space? What possibilities can the digital realm provide queer lives in a cyberspace unhinged by the geography of residence and the materiality of the body? I attempt to answer those research questions by relying on Sara Ahmed’s Queer phenomenology (2006) and on Wendy Hui Kyong Chun’s (2016) concept of “homophily”. Those theoretical lenses will guide my use of auto-ethnography and close visual analysis to explore the outputs and social media strategies of two case studies of visual activism in Lebanon: Beirut By Dyke and Kikafilmadina. My personal experience as a member of civil society groups in Beirut and my positionality as the creator of Beirut By Dyke orient me, to borrow Sara Ahmed’s term, towards these pages as cultural objects. The concept of the social media accounts, which revolves around the narrativization of queer inhabitance in space, propels me toward Sara Ahmed’s theory around sexuality as residence. Conversely, the social impact generated by both social media accounts on collective imaginations and social participation in cyber and physical space leads to me to question how “homophily” (Chun 2016) can be used to challenge the neoliberal assumptions it was built on. My aim is to counter existing literature around gender and digital culture whose understandable focus on the capitalistic and behaviorally predictive valence of social platforms is grim and dystopic (Goldberg 2016). Instead, I suggest that the study of platforms like Instagram offers a resource for queer studies insofar as it “emphasizes the importance of lived experience, the intentionality of consciousness, the significance of newness, or the role of repeated habitual action in shaping bodies and the world” (Ahmed 57). It is specifically the power of repeated habitual actions that I want to focus on in exploring digital possibilities. In a context where systemic oppression is difficult to dismantle and social change impossible to imagine, the creation of new paths is, after all, a labor of repetition.Show less
In this thesis, the concept of hyper-reality is related to the field of new media. The hyper-reality of new media brings about a number of problems, among which a system of control and forms of...Show moreIn this thesis, the concept of hyper-reality is related to the field of new media. The hyper-reality of new media brings about a number of problems, among which a system of control and forms of disappearance. These problems can be solved by approaching new media from the perspective of new media objects as opposed to Baudrillard’s old media perspective. In particular, the medium of video games has great potential merits for a better understanding of the new media hyper-reality and its connected problems.Show less
In the thesis Lore, Commands, and Strategy Guides: Reading as part of Gaming Culture the relation between text and contemporary video games was scrutinised in order to investigate whether video...Show moreIn the thesis Lore, Commands, and Strategy Guides: Reading as part of Gaming Culture the relation between text and contemporary video games was scrutinised in order to investigate whether video games contribute to the reading culture. This investigation was accomplished through the examination of twelve case studies that have been selected by the criteria of relatively recent release dates, broad spectrum of genres, and different gaming industries, i.e. AAA/mainstream and Indie developed games. Additionally, the background section of the thesis provides an insight in how text has played a role in the video game culture as well as to create an understanding of what video games are and what the reading culture entails. From this information and evidence it was concluded that contemporary video games contain sufficient amounts of texts to contribute to the reading culture, yet in varying degrees on account of the three factors, namely genre, industry, and realism that influence to what extent and in what manner text is incorporated in video games.Show less
