16 research outputs found
Exploring Power Differentials in Translation: Assessing the Validity of The Pessoptimist by Jayyusi and Le Gassick
No full textThis article delves into the intricate realm of literary translation through a thorough qualitative evaluation of Jayyusi and Le Gassick\u27s rendition of Emile Habibi\u27s novel, The Secret Life of Saeed The Pessoptomist. Given the novel’s ‘subaltern’ nature, deeply entrenched in indigenous language and culture, the study aims to scrutinize the translation\u27s validity through the lens of postcolonial translation theory, as represented by Lawrence Venuti’s foreignizing perspective. Central to this scrutiny is the investigation of the translation’s impact on the novel’s linguistic, semantic, and cultural texture. Employing Antoine Berman\u27s ‘système de déformation des textes’, known as negative analytic, the analysis unveils pervasive deforming tendencies, underscoring the extensive domestication and alteration to which the novel was subjected. This exploratory investigation contributes to the ongoing discourse in postcolonial studies, highlighting that translation serves as a fertile ground for both subversion and manipulation, especially when applied to narratives believed as belonging to subordinate cultures
Navigating Organizational Change in Higher Education: A Case Study of Change Processes, Strategies and their Cultural Implications
No full textThe existing body of literature on organizational change in higher education (HE) has long been a subject of scrutiny and critique, revealing a landscape categorized as fragmented, limited in influence and underdeveloped. This is added to the lack of consensus among scholars on the most effective change management strategies within HE. This discordance in the field has hindered the development of pragmatic insights and a unified framework for navigating the intricate terrain of change in academia. This doctoral research aimed to address these critical gaps by embarking on an exploratory case study of a private university in Oman that emerged as a notable exemplar of transformative change. The main aim of this study was to explore the intricate change process, specifically focusing on identifying the diverse change processes and strategies that the university employed and their potential short and long-term implications on the institutional culture.
The study employed a mixed-methods approach focusing on the embedded design. This approach synergized the combined potential of the qualitative and quantitative research to gain an in-depth and nuanced understanding of the transformational journey of the university in question. The qualitative inquiry was premised on core documents analysis, individual, semi-structured and in-depth interviews with the senior management, and focus group discussions with the middle management. The integration of the quantitative strand harnessed the potency of surveys in garnering input from both staff and students. This methodological synergy between the two approaches enhanced the extrapolation of a comprehensive and thorough understanding of the multifarious transformational dynamics.
This study exhibited originality and made significant contributions in several ways. Regarding focus, the study shifted from the conventional way of investigating ‘what’ makes change successful to ‘how’ it can be effectively managed and implemented within academia, hence offering a comprehensive, actionable change framework. In terms of context, the study’s unique Arab world context addressed the paucity in organizational change research on change navigation and management in an underrepresented region, making it the first case study of its kind in this domain. In addition, the insider perspective employed in exploring the six-year transformational narrative enhanced authenticity and depth, providing nuanced insights of the change processes and strategies and their implications on the institutional culture. The contribution of a ground-breaking case study with a distinctive focus, context and perspective represents a significant addition to the field.
Moreover, the contribution of a comprehensive framework for managing and executing change marks another significant enrichment to the field. Within this framework, ten key principles emerged as practical guideposts for HE leaders, offering a potential trajectory for navigating the turbulent waters of change in academia. The implication of identifying these principles lies in guiding institutions, particularly in the Arab world, into a new phase of transformative change, while providing a pragmatic itinerary that empowers HE leaders to navigate the complex terrain of change with clarity and purpose. It is recommended that researchers build on the emerged framework by conducting empirical studies in different HE settings to further refine and validate it to ensure wider applicability and effectiveness. Lastly, this study deepened understanding of change management dynamics in HE and paved the way for institutions to navigate change while remaining dynamic and innovative in the evolving
educational landscape
Reconceiving Translation: Homi Bhabha\u27s Hybridity and the Third Space in Literary Translation
No full textThis conceptual paper critiques the overgeneralized adoption of hybridity in translation studies, exposing its theoretical circularity, lack of actionable strategies and weak methodological grounding. Although hybridity is often conceptualized as a means of cultural negotiation, its translation-specific application remains underdeveloped. Bhabha’s “third space” metaphor is frequently cited but without translating it into actionable strategies, with existing applications being viewed either as too niche or essentializing cultural binaries. Therefore, the ethical dilemma of striking a balance between source text authenticity and target text accessibility remains unresolved, with actual translation decisions often oscillating between two extremes, either reinforcing or subverting hegemonic structures. To close this gap, this research proposes a dynamic hybrid model which puts practical strategies into action to overcome theoretical limitations of hybridity. The model draws on Joseph Malone’s practical strategies to combine foreignization and domestication in a dynamic framework which enables translators to maintain essential cultural elements while achieving clarity. The model presents a practical hybrid approach to literary translation, one that maintains a balanced harmony between faithfulness and accessibility
Reclaiming Indigeneity: A Postcolonial Analysis of Emile Habibi’s The Pessoptimist in Translation
No full textThis study investigates the linguistic and cultural markers of indigeneity in Emile Habibi’s The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist, a novel translated into more than 12 languages and gaining worldwide recognition. In spite of this recognition, the translation of this indigenous chef-d’oeuvre does not seem to mirror its deep-seated connection to its linguistic and cultural origin. The study, therefore, highlights a gap in the literature that Jayyusi and Le Gassick\u27s English translation of The Pessoptimist has not been verified for its preservation or dilution of the original’s essence of indigeneity. This study utilizes a qualitative textual analysis methodology premised on postcolonial translation studies to examine the novel’s linguistic and cultural indigenous markers. It then looks into the translation of those markers, only to realize that the indigenous novel has been metamorphosed into a mere narrative overshadowed by the dominant culture. This deformation has not only diluted the novel’s indigenous essence but also created gaps in understanding the work’s cultural specificity and identity. By highlighting specific instances of such distortions, the study emphasizes the amount of loss incurred in such conventional translation practices. By presenting critical insights into the challenges facing the translation of indigenous literature, this study not only contributes to the broader field of translation studies but also calls for a retranslation of The Pessoptimist, one that aligns with its true indigenous origin
Fighting Stigma: Remedial vs Supplemental Instruction
No full textRemedial classes targeting at-risk students in the pre-college preparatory programmes in Oman appear to be doing a disservice to the very students the programme intends to support. The ‘culprit’ behind this situation remained a matter of guesswork until this study was initiated. This two-stage study aimed at (a) investigating the reasons behind the lack of motivation of those who were referred to remedial classes and (b) trialling and assessing a non-remedial academic support intervention. A mixed methods approach was used during the two stages to triangulate all stakeholders’ perceptions qualitatively and to corroborate the qualitative findings with statistical data from questionnaires targeting tutors and tutees. The remedial intervention was found to suffer from serious issues related to labelling. Unlike the remedial programme, the non-remedial, non-segregationist intervention, with its two-thronged focus on content and attitude, was found to be a better fit for the pre-college students
An integrated multiparametric system for infrastructure monitoring and earlywarning based on internet of things
No full textOur daily life strictly depends on distributed civil and industrial infrastructures in which Qatar and other heavily industrialized countries have large investments. Recently, fails in such infrastructures have incurred enormous economic losses and development disruptions as well as human lives. Infrastructures are strategic assets for a sustainable development requiring correct management. To this end, their health levels and serviceability should be continuously assessed. Geophysical and mechanical quantities that determine such serviceability are for instance tilt angles, vibration levels, applied forces, stress, and existence of previous structural defects. It follows that for a feasible serviceability assessment, appropriate sensing and data processing of those parameters have to be achieved. For example, bridges are monitored for structure movements and stress level while earthquake early warning systems detect primary seismic waves before arrival of strong waves. In case of riverbank conservation, water level must be monitored together with the associated mass flow for load estimation. In addition, precipitation rate and groundwater level are paramount indicators to anticipate slope fault. Finally, strain/temperature measurement can be used to sense the health of concrete gravity or arch dams. End-users, engineers and owners can take the most appropriate decisions based on the sensed parameters. The Structural Health Assessment (SHA) is not straightforward. The structural condition is generally complex in terms of architectural parameters like damage existence, distributed masses, damping factors, stiffness matrices, and/or applied distributed forces. The above factors make such SHA extremely difficult and/or exceptionally expensive. With the aim to alleviate this difficulty, possible approaches in SHA are based on vibration measurements. The analysis of such measurements reveals the structure dynamic behaviour, which in turn reflects the characteristics and distributed forces on structures. Also, structural soundness is obtained by the estimation of the inverse analyses of the dynamic performance. However, this dynamic behaviour that is inherently complex in both time and/or spatial scale, is more complicated by the fact that for example deterioration/damage/erosion is essentially a local phenomenon. Commonly, technicians with specific domain knowledge achieve SHAs manually. Obviously, this incurs high costs and inadequate monitoring frequency. Also, there is a high probability of making errors due to improper positioning of the instrumentation or to mere mistakes during data collection. Nevertheless, for commonly large buildings (e.g. towers, general buildings, bridges and tunnels), data from just few distributed sensors cannot accurately fulfil the SHA. Consequently, the use of dense distributed sensors working at a sufficiently high sampling frequency becomes a must. Physical wiring of the site under observation is impractical due to cost and architectural constraints. Thus, for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), networks of dense distributed sensors, which are wirelessly connected, become imperative. When a copious number of transducers are adopted, wireless communication appears to be attractive. Also, the high cost needed for the installation of wired sensors can be strongly reduced by employing wireless sensors. The present research the authors implemented a WSN-based approach for widespread monitoring without forcing intolerable boundary conditions, i.e., requiring wiring the measuring nodes, triggering manual data collection or imposing strong modifications to the site before the deployment of the sensory hardware (less intrusive). In view of the above discussion, the investigators explored some key issues on the above challenges by referring to several SHM engineering paradigms. The author designed a novel multi-parametric system dedicated to stability monitoring and control of soils, engineering works (e.g. bridges, stadium, tunnels), underground rail tunnels, offshore platform in order to continuously evaluate danger levels of potentially instable areas. The proposed system can be assembled 'in situ' structuring an underground-instrumented column, where different modules are joined together on a digital bus (e.g. via RS485 or CANBUS communication). Each module contains up to ten different sensors (e.g. accelerometers, magnetometers, inclinometers, extensometers, temperature sensors, and piezometers) and an electronic board for data collection, conversion, filtering and data transmission. Special flexible joints that permit strong, continuous adaptability to bends and twists of the drilling hole, link the modules. A control unit, installed outside the ground provides the readings at regular time intervals and it is connected to other columns via wireless communication forming a wide network. In particular, the proposed approach allows both analysing the response of the infrastructure to vibrations on the fly, so an early warning signal can be triggered, and saving the corresponding measurements for further analysis. Authors believe that this proposal is original and unique in three aspects. First, as most of the earlier studies on SHM were carried out by adapting existing hardwired solution for snap shot measurements rather than representative long-term monitoring, our proposal presents the first initiative to develop green WSN technologies applied to sustainable SHM applications. Second, it will develop tailored sensor technology and new techniques for SHM taking into account metrological and physical parameters such as resolution, cost, accuracy, size, and power consumption. Third, the project will commission a novel multi-parametric SHM system, which can be customized to other areas (e.g. environmental monitoring, traffic monitoring, etc.). The research is to support innovations at system and component levels leading to out-of-the-box know-how. The proposed solution is based on novel/customized sensors and data processing, environmentally powered communication platform, and communication networks and algorithms embracing the visionary nature of the IoT with out-of-the-box solutions. Specific outcomes have been experimental proof-of-concept, through testing and prototyping, of a tailored SHM sensor technology and smart techniques that uniquely provide self-calibration and self-diagnostics of faults, a multi-sensor viable instrumented column for SHM with advanced techniques, and environmentally powered wireless platform with innovative MAC protocols (power-aware, context-aware, cognitive and polymorphic). This work employs tools and techniques of modern sensing, processing, and networking in order to generate novel SHM solutions that uniquely provide precision measurement, green IoT-based communication approach, viability, and cost-effectiveness.qscienc
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Libya and Britain: a study of the history of British-Libyan relations 1969-1979
No full textThis thesis examines relations between Libya and the United Kingdom after 1969 when a new government came to power in Tripoli which seemed to pose a direct threat to a number of key British interests. The thesis is grounded on a careful reading of secondary literature which has been integrated into newly available official documents available in the National Archive. The main claim to originality is in the light these documents throw on our understanding of that relationship. The thesis uses a case study approach which examines specific themes in UK-Libya relations which include arguments over arms sales, the oil economy and the role of oil companies, and relations over the Irish question and the problematic Libyan supply of weapons and support to the IRA in the 1970s. It inevitably touches on relations between both governments and the United States, but that is not a main focus of the study. These areas have been chosen for study because they represent the most significant areas of bargaining and conflict between Libya and the UK in the time period, according to both the secondary literature and press debate at the time and the newly available documentation. The author has been aware of the limitations of using the National Archives, especially where material has newly arrived for view. These include the scope of official ‘weeding’ before documents are made available to conserve space and to avoid repetition, but also to exclude sensitive material relating to intelligence and cognate aspects of relations with other governments. These limitations qualify, but do not undermine, the conclusions drawn
Ideologised foreign policy and the pragmatic rationale: The case of Algeria under Houari Boumedienne, 1965-1978.
No full textThe role of ideology in foreign policy making and implementation has been a subject of study by international relations specialists, especially during the period of the Cold War. The study of Algerian foreign policy under President Houari Boumedienne rule (1965-1978) makes a good
case study because of the particular role that ideology played in the making and implementation of foreign policy during this period. Other studies on Algeria's foreign policy have not directly addressed ideology and pragmatism as themes. The majority of these studies covered only parts
or aspects of this period, not taking it as a subject of their total focus.
This study investigates the role ideology has played in the making and implementation of Algeria's foreign policy under President Houari Boumedienne's regime (1965-1978). It assesses the factors behind the ideological stances of the regime as well as the underlying causes behind the pragmatic foreign policy postures that the leadership adopted at that time.
The study is divided into nine chapters. Chapter one presents a critical review of literature and outlines the research methodology adopted. Chapter two traces the historical background of the pre-Boumediennist era. Chapter three concentrates on the study of the state-level of analysis, it focuses on the domestic aspects of the Algerian decision-making process and seeks to give an
account of the ideological influences on Algeria's economic policy. Chapter four looks into President Houari Boumedienne's policy-making process towards the Maghrib. Chapter five is devoted to Algeria's position on inter-Arab politics, including the Palestinian Question. Chapter
six is a thorough analysis of Algeria's oil diplomacy. Chapters seven and eight examine Algeria's interaction with the Third World and its posture between East and West, respectively. The last chapter provides us with an insight into the impact of ideology on Boumedienne himself and on his decision making. This study believes that President Houari Boumedienne's ideological proclamations and pragmatic motivations were blurred. Although some policy
actions appeared to be ideologically motivated, they were, in fact, taken because they were considered to be in the best interest of the state and the regime in power.
The study is based on a documentary analysis of available material in Arabic, French and English. This has been supplemented with a number of interviews with personalities who were close to President Houari Boumedienne
Military Regimes, Political Power and Human Rights Violations in Postcolonial Algeria
No full textFollowing Algeria’s bloody war of independence, a new, revolutionary military establishment gradually formed out of several largely independent revolutionary units, stationed mostly on Algeria’s borders. It soon expanded with the addition of revolutionary fighters from within Algeria, and from French-trained forces, many of whom had fought against the revolutionary forces during the Revolution, and had deserted late in the war from the French military to join the new Algerian military. A particularly powerful group of officers emerged from the latter group, the “French Officers,” who apparently engaged in a long-term and ultimately successful bid for national political power.
This thesis, which is concerned with the politics behind the massive human rights violations in Algeria, particularly the periods immediately after Independence, and between 1991 and 2002, the “Algerian Civil War,” seeks to explore a central question: why did the Algerian military turn against its own people? While not denying the role of other groups (e.g., religious groups, ethnic groups) in the violence, the central focus of this thesis is on the distinctive and effective structure and role of the military, which was apparently the dominant political power in Algeria after Independence, and particularly on the role of the French Officers, who appear to have manipulated the presidency through coups d’état and assassinations, in their struggle to achieve political hegemony in Algeria by the 1990s. Central to this was the role played after Independence by Houari Boumédiène in establishing political and military organisations that were particularly susceptible to the growing influence of the French Officers.
Central topical foci of the thesis include examinations of the possible effects (on the central question, listed above) of: professionalization of the military; civil-military relations; historical influences; ethnic and religious influences; political parties and party formation; corruption and economic opportunism; international relations and continuing French influence; and the unique role of the French Officers in the national politics of Algeria.
Methodologies used in this study included the analysis of elite (non-random) interviews, based upon a questionnaire approved by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, which the author conducted in Europe and via “Skype” with nearly two dozen prominent Algerian expatriates, for the most part in exile, including former civilian leaders and military officers. Historical analysis was also a central part of the methodology, as well as discourse analysis applied to significant memoirs and newspaper accounts.
The thesis concludes that the immediate self-interests of the French Officers had a determinate effect on politics in Algeria, and particularly on the way in which the military turned against its own people after 1991. The continuing support that the French Officers apparently received from France, while not unexpected, is surprising in its extent and continuity, particularly after acts of terrorism thought to be linked to the Algerian government occurred in France. An unexpected finding of this research is the significance of corruption and economic opportunism in the Algerian military regime’s long-term strategy
