In his The Fetishists, Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī uses Ṣūfī themes, motifs, language and symbols to present ... more In his The Fetishists, Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī uses Ṣūfī themes, motifs, language and symbols to present the legendary epic thought of the nature of life in the desert where he lived in his childhood and youth. His goal is to ask questions about the meaning of existence, human adventure, destiny, power and civilization through using the world of the Tuareg as an imaginary source of fiction. Al-Kōnī depicts the elements of the desert world, as if it were a mystical redeemer, with which he unites to reach the ultimate universal truth. What energizes the Ṣūfī context in the novel is the vital presence of Ṣūfī characters-dervishes, wanderers, disciples, saints and the various conflicts inflamed amongst individuals, groups, communities, philosophies, and cultures and between man and nature represented by the desert, sands, winds and droughts. Furthermore, in the manner of the Ṣūfī thinking, al-Kōnī manages to grant a living spirit to every element present in the desert, human and non-human, and animate and non-animate. All share in the construction of the soul of the world to attain through joint prayers the great universal truth of God. That is a major ingredient that goes into the fabric of Ṣūfī philosophy.
The current study seeks to examine English teachers’ attitudes towards using the collaborative te... more The current study seeks to examine English teachers’ attitudes towards using the collaborative teaching method to improve students’ skills at writing and speaking English. The purpose is to test the main following hypotheses: first, English language teachers are mostly unfamiliar with collaborative learning. Second, these techniques are not regularly used in English lessons. Third, most students enjoy practicing them. Fourth, these techniques lead to better performance in the students` language skills. The study was conducted among 15 high school English teachers. A questionnaire was used as a practical part. Data were collected and the results were: English teachers know and support learning techniques; they agree on the importance of these methods in the teaching process especially in improving students` language skills. Students enjoy practicing them. Common suggestions were proposed by the teachers for improving writing and speaking skills such as involvement of students in plan...
The events of Nakba in 1948, when the Palestinians lost their homelands paralyzed every intellect... more The events of Nakba in 1948, when the Palestinians lost their homelands paralyzed every intellectual movement including literature. Scholars and writers fled the country and emerging writers did not find ready models or patterns they could duplicate or learn from. Their short stories relied on offering life concerns, circumstances and social conditions like poverty, human relations, change of customs and traditions under the influence of new social conditions and sales or confiscation of land. What dried the fountains of writing even more was the military rule imposed on Arabs by the Israeli authorities after the establishment of Israel. It constituted a considerable burden on the population and had a clear negative effect on various spheres of the Arabs' life in Israel. With the help and guidance of the Israeli Communist Party, the only political organization that stood in the face of Government policy and practices including the military rule, some Palestinians intellectuals a...
Recognizing the importance of personal narratives in general and in the field of teacher training... more Recognizing the importance of personal narratives in general and in the field of teacher training in particular, this paper first presents a review of research in the field, offers several definitions and theories of analysis, then it provides readers with the personal narratives and the analyses of three fourth- year students in the department of English at a college for teacher training. The goal is to find out, learn and make use of the voices, attitudes, experiences, visions, successes, failures, hopes and frustrations of students engaged in teacher education. The conclusion asserts the necessity of adopting a model of training which is based on students' personal narratives - one which encourages and strengthens partnership between students, cooperating teachers and academics.
Saul Bellow has always been attacked for portraying male protagonists who, as Chris Wood says, ar... more Saul Bellow has always been attacked for portraying male protagonists who, as Chris Wood says, are "at best entirely unsuited, to ... devouring, unreasonable women." A similar attitude is expressed by Joseph F. McCadden, who maintains that Bellow depicts "females as destructive, mercantile figures," while his protagonists are possessed by a "crippling hatred of wives, feelings of inadequacy and a sense of futility with their lives" (243, 89). As evidence, some critics cite the cases of the comedian Bummidge in The Last Analysis, Tommy Wilhelm in Seize The Day, Herzog in Herzog, and Kenneth Tractenberg in The Actual. Others (for example, Lillian Shapiro) question Bellow's conception of women and wonder if his position is molded by the betrayals of his former wives. Worse, D. T. Max thinks that Bellow, along with Hemingway, Mailer, and Roth, "were an aggressive clan--offensive to women" while Cecil Brown accuses Bellow of being racist agains...
"Three Voices from the Galilee" is the third in a series of volumes meant to present th... more "Three Voices from the Galilee" is the third in a series of volumes meant to present the short fiction of Mohammad Naffaa, a political activist, Zaki Darwish, an educator, and Naji Daher, a journalist. These stories faithfully record the development of the various aspects of what is paradoxically called Israeli-Palestinian life. Readers of this volume will encounter serious stories strewn with light and humorous scenes and stories of intense love mixed with stories of the unusual. Story after story presents a different choice in terms of point of view, gender and setting. Each character is exciting and convincing. While casual readers of this volume will taste the flavor of a different culture, scholars interested in Arabic literature will be provided with new arenas for academic evaluations and critique.
In his The Fetishists, Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī uses Ṣūfī themes, motifs, language and symbols to present ... more In his The Fetishists, Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī uses Ṣūfī themes, motifs, language and symbols to present the legendary epic thought of the nature of life in the desert where he lived in his childhood and youth. His goal is to ask questions about the meaning of existence, human adventure, destiny, power and civilization through using the world of the Tuareg as an imaginary source of fiction. Al-Kōnī depicts the elements of the desert world, as if it were a mystical redeemer, with which he unites to reach the ultimate universal truth. What energizes the Ṣūfī context in the novel is the vital presence of Ṣūfī characters-dervishes, wanderers, disciples, saints and the various conflicts inflamed amongst individuals, groups, communities, philosophies, and cultures and between man and nature represented by the desert, sands, winds and droughts. Furthermore, in the manner of the Ṣūfī thinking, al-Kōnī manages to grant a living spirit to every element present in the desert, human and non-human, and animate and non-animate. All share in the construction of the soul of the world to attain through joint prayers the great universal truth of God. That is a major ingredient that goes into the fabric of Ṣūfī philosophy.
The current study seeks to examine English teachers’ attitudes towards using the collaborative te... more The current study seeks to examine English teachers’ attitudes towards using the collaborative teaching method to improve students’ skills at writing and speaking English. The purpose is to test the main following hypotheses: first, English language teachers are mostly unfamiliar with collaborative learning. Second, these techniques are not regularly used in English lessons. Third, most students enjoy practicing them. Fourth, these techniques lead to better performance in the students` language skills. The study was conducted among 15 high school English teachers. A questionnaire was used as a practical part. Data were collected and the results were: English teachers know and support learning techniques; they agree on the importance of these methods in the teaching process especially in improving students` language skills. Students enjoy practicing them. Common suggestions were proposed by the teachers for improving writing and speaking skills such as involvement of students in plan...
The events of Nakba in 1948, when the Palestinians lost their homelands paralyzed every intellect... more The events of Nakba in 1948, when the Palestinians lost their homelands paralyzed every intellectual movement including literature. Scholars and writers fled the country and emerging writers did not find ready models or patterns they could duplicate or learn from. Their short stories relied on offering life concerns, circumstances and social conditions like poverty, human relations, change of customs and traditions under the influence of new social conditions and sales or confiscation of land. What dried the fountains of writing even more was the military rule imposed on Arabs by the Israeli authorities after the establishment of Israel. It constituted a considerable burden on the population and had a clear negative effect on various spheres of the Arabs' life in Israel. With the help and guidance of the Israeli Communist Party, the only political organization that stood in the face of Government policy and practices including the military rule, some Palestinians intellectuals a...
Recognizing the importance of personal narratives in general and in the field of teacher training... more Recognizing the importance of personal narratives in general and in the field of teacher training in particular, this paper first presents a review of research in the field, offers several definitions and theories of analysis, then it provides readers with the personal narratives and the analyses of three fourth- year students in the department of English at a college for teacher training. The goal is to find out, learn and make use of the voices, attitudes, experiences, visions, successes, failures, hopes and frustrations of students engaged in teacher education. The conclusion asserts the necessity of adopting a model of training which is based on students' personal narratives - one which encourages and strengthens partnership between students, cooperating teachers and academics.
Saul Bellow has always been attacked for portraying male protagonists who, as Chris Wood says, ar... more Saul Bellow has always been attacked for portraying male protagonists who, as Chris Wood says, are "at best entirely unsuited, to ... devouring, unreasonable women." A similar attitude is expressed by Joseph F. McCadden, who maintains that Bellow depicts "females as destructive, mercantile figures," while his protagonists are possessed by a "crippling hatred of wives, feelings of inadequacy and a sense of futility with their lives" (243, 89). As evidence, some critics cite the cases of the comedian Bummidge in The Last Analysis, Tommy Wilhelm in Seize The Day, Herzog in Herzog, and Kenneth Tractenberg in The Actual. Others (for example, Lillian Shapiro) question Bellow's conception of women and wonder if his position is molded by the betrayals of his former wives. Worse, D. T. Max thinks that Bellow, along with Hemingway, Mailer, and Roth, "were an aggressive clan--offensive to women" while Cecil Brown accuses Bellow of being racist agains...
"Three Voices from the Galilee" is the third in a series of volumes meant to present th... more "Three Voices from the Galilee" is the third in a series of volumes meant to present the short fiction of Mohammad Naffaa, a political activist, Zaki Darwish, an educator, and Naji Daher, a journalist. These stories faithfully record the development of the various aspects of what is paradoxically called Israeli-Palestinian life. Readers of this volume will encounter serious stories strewn with light and humorous scenes and stories of intense love mixed with stories of the unusual. Story after story presents a different choice in terms of point of view, gender and setting. Each character is exciting and convincing. While casual readers of this volume will taste the flavor of a different culture, scholars interested in Arabic literature will be provided with new arenas for academic evaluations and critique.
Uploads
Papers by Jamal Assadi