Stephen C
- Research Program Mentor
MPhil Master of Philosophy candidate
Expertise
History, Geography, Arabic, Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies
Project ideas
The Qur'ān and Literary Narrative
This project would engage how the semiotics (meaning-making narrative) of the Qur'ān is structured. The Qur'ān is often thought to be a disconnected and 'non-linear' text. This project would engage how, while discursive, the Qur'ān displays coherent thematic connectivity (i.e ring composition) and rhetorical structure. The learning outcomes would be applicable to different literacy genres in general, not simply sacred scripture, and could highlight how semantic shifts, pronominal shifts, shifts in narrator voice, and other features of 'post-modern' literature can still create a thematically connected 'text'.
Female Leadership in the Middle East
This project would explore how female networks of power, as knowledge workers, social leaders, and political figures, have functioned in different social contexts in the Middle East and North Africa.