publications
Forthcoming Published Work:
Uprising in Tahrir Square: an interactive toolkit for advanced Arabic classrooms. Equinox Publishing, November 2019. 412 pages
This is the first volume of a series entitled "Changes in the Middle East and North Africa."
Book Summary:
Uprising in Tahrir Square is designed as an engaging contemporary resource for advanced Arabic learners. It immerses language students in the monumental events that unfolded in Cairo, Egypt during the mass youth uprisings of January 2011. Before toppling President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule in February 2011, the Egyptian youth movement had captivated the world and transmitted its message of anger, hope, and change to a global audience. The world watched as more than a million protestors gathered to press for reform, democracy and regime change.
Uprising in Tahrir Square places students of Arabic at the epicenter of these real-life events through a simulated journal project and writing exchange. Students become authors in their own right as they invent personas and speak through the voices of diverse characters who all reside in the vicinity of Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Writing in first-person narrative, students’ journal entries bear witness to the early days of the nascent uprising, through its surprisingly rapid conclusion with Mubarak’s resignation, and the uncertainty of what Egypt’s future may bring. Not only do the invented characters grapple with the uprising’s tragedies and triumphs through their own perspectives, but they also interact with a cast of invented neighbors, using contemporary technology tools, creative drama activities and other approaches. The book’s units trace the actual sequence of the Cairo uprising and intersperse fictional scenarios – providing both historical background and interpretive content.
The structure of Uprising in Tahrir Square supports learning on multiple levels. Students deepen their understanding of the cultural, political and social contexts for Egyptian youth’s historic uprisings, while developing fundamental Arabic skills. The book’s activities and array of resources are designed to promote critical thinking, research, peer collaboration and creative writing. Students apply essential skills by using the Arabic language in a vital, authentic context.
Uprising in Tahrir Square is designed as a springboard for further discussion and study of this compelling time in history.
Reviews of Uprising in Tahrir Square
A truly fresh approach to the learning of Arabic at the advanced levels.
Christopher Stone, Associate Professor of Arabic and Head of Arabic Program, Hunter College of the City University of New York
A welcome addition to the current canon of study aids in the area of teaching Arabic as a foreign language.
Ahmad Atef Ahmad, Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
5.0 out of 5 stars Innovative and deeply engaging
This textbook is unprecedented. Everything from the overall structure to each exercise is thoughtfully laid out in a way that engages the learner, reinforcing previous topics and building upon them gradually. The activities are interactive and relevant. Based upon the real sociopolitical context of today's Arab world, this text is educational on beyond the premise of language acquisition. Aimed at advanced (3rd year university) students, this text will bring to life students' outside knowledge, allowing them to apply what they've heard in the news or learned from other experiences and conversations to better understand the personal impact of the 2011 uprisings, all while strengthening and expanding their skills in Arabic. I would highly recommend this textbook to university instructors who are looking for a less rigid structure than the traditional Al-Kitaab series and to students engaged in independent study.
Chelsea Villareal, former Arabic student at Smith College
5.0 out of 5 stars
As a former student of Professor Abdelkader, I remember doing the lessons in his class that he has now collected and curated so clearly into his textbook 'Uprising in Tahrir Square.' As I look through the book, I remember each lesson so well; I have never been more engaged and creative in an Arabic class than I was with this curriculum. This is quite a split from the well-known Al-Kitaab textbook, but I think it is most welcomed and appreciated (from both the student and teacher perspective, I imagine). It has a combination of recording Arabic podcasts, studying social media, acting out skits, and writing your own creative stories by following an imaginary character through her journey in Arab Spring Cairo. For the Arabic learner, these creative, accessible, and fun exercises allow us to use the language in very real ways, which in turn helps us to both understand the politics/culture of the Arab World but also all of the many other facets that make this such a unique and beautiful language. I would recommend this book to any student (whether you do it in a class or you use it by yourself) that wants to engage with Arabic outside of the traditional grammar lists. Use this curriculum because it was with these exercises (the podcasts, movies, Facebook pages, skits etc.) that I first started thinking of Arabic as a 'living and breathing language,'--and when I started to get good at it.
Miriam – former Arabic student at Amherst College
Additional Works:
Three online journals on Al-Jazeera: Teaching Arabic in the U.S.A. 2013-2014
Link: http://learning.aljazeera.net/en/blogs/pages/6ebde074-5f56-46f7-830a-2644e717ee68
Les communautés maghrébines en France : le cas algérien (Maghrebi Communities in France: The Algerian Story).
In Gueldry, M., and Crouzières-Inguerthron, A. (Eds), La France Contemporaine : Unité et Diversités. Polarisations et Solidarités. The French Review, 2020.
Essay Contribution on Zohra Drif. In Goucher, C. (Ed.), Women Who Changed the World: Their Lives, Challenges, and
Accomplishments. ABC-CLIO, 2021.
Essay contribution on Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid. In Goucher, C. (Ed.), Women Who Changed the World: Their Lives,
Challenges, and Accomplishments. ABC-CLIO, 2021.
In Progress:
Syria: From Peaceful Protests to Civil War: an interactive toolkit for advanced Arabic classrooms (in progress). Equinox Publishing.
This is the second volume of a series entitled Changes in the Middle East and North Africa.
Algerian women and the Struggle for Algerian Independence 1954-1962.
