Prize-winning Independent Study Projects in Arabic

Written by SOAS Students During the Year Abroad 2015-16.

Writing a 3500 word essay in Arabic after three years of instruction is a challenging task. It is all the more impressive to see how well many students manage and how stimulating their choice of topic can be. To illustrate this and acknowledge the work done by the students, the Department of the Near and Middle East has decided to publish the best essays of any year on the SOAS website, together with an English abstract.

From the academic year 2015-16, six out of a total of 36 essays were selected. The students’ names, their year abroad destinations and their essay titles in English are listed below. To view the Arabic text, click on the essay titles.  The opinions expressed are those of the students themselves and do not necessarily reflect those of SOAS or the Year Abroad institutions where the essays were written.

• Miriam Hicklin (Joint First Prize, Alif Institute, Fes)
  The Development of a Herbal Medicine Tradition in the City of Fes (pdf; 281kb)  |   English abstract (pdf; 33kb)  
• Eirik Kvindesland (Joint First Prize, An-Najah National University, Nablus)
  A Palestinian History of Zionism: Narratives and Approaches (pdf; 682kb)  |   English abstract (pdf; 287kb)  
• Fatima Jama (Alexandria Centre for Languages)
  Alexandria - the Ideal Cosmopolis? A Reflection on Myth, Memory, and the Contemporary Heritage Preservation Movement (pdf; 248kb)  |  English abstract (pdf; 73kb)  
• Haneen Fattah (Alexandria Centre for Languages)
  Exploring the Various Factors Behind the Long Reign of Ramesses II (pdf; 283kb)   |   English abstract (pdf; 288kb)  
• Margherita Rampoldi (Alexandria Centre for Languages)
  The Italian Influence in Alexandria between the 19th and 20th century (pdf; 639kb)  |   English abstract (pdf; 59kb)  
• Nazifa Valli (An-Najah National University, Nablus)
  The Palestinian Kufiya as an Arab Emblem: Past and Present (pdf; 1336kb)  |   English abstract (pdf; 67kb)  

The Department of the Near Middle East is grateful to the following SOAS PhD students who helped the authors of the prize-winning essays to revise their work for publication on the website: Dalal Albaroud, Alyaa Bakeer, Mohamed Metawea and Miriam Shehata.

Prof. Stefan Sperl,
Head, Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East, SOAS