http://hdl.handle.net/10526/1925 This collection includes theses and dissertations authored by American University in Cairo graduate students. Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:22:18 GMT 2013-06-18T08:22:18Z http://hdl.handle.net/10526/3607 Ambiguity in literature: recovering the life of reading Bowditch, Eden Unger This thesis contends that ambiguity in meaning performs an essential role in the reader’s response to literature. Ambiguity is not simply an incidental or marginal feature of literary texts but relates in basic ways to the reader’s experience of literature. It is the still point around which a literary text revolves. In examining the function of ambiguity in literary texts, I will show how ambiguity both defines a text as literary and allows it to live and grow through time. The notion of a text is meaningless apart from the reading of it, and, ambiguity, in the unchanging presence of the words, allows for the meaning of the text to evolve with every reading of it. Discussions of Aristotle, Saint Augustine, and Wolfgang Iser bring together the historical and modern understanding of literary texts. Through the examples of Sophocles’s drama, Oedipus the King, T. S. Eliot’s poem, Burnt Norton in Four Quartets and Henry James’s short novella, The Turn of the Screw, I demonstrate how the reading of a text allows literature to become an evolving experience into which the reader breathes life, so that literature can unfold as an unending history of meanings. Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10526/3607 2013-06-16T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10526/3606 Self-extending symbiosis in symbiodinium microadriaticum and the effect of endosymbiotic / horizontal gene transfer on dinoflagellates and the tree of life Fathy, Maha Kadry Ahmed Symbiodinium microadriaticum is a dinoflagellate that lives in a mutualistic relationship with the coral Stylophora pistillata in the Red Sea. Symbiodinium microadriaticum is divided into several clades and the A1 clade of Symbiodinium microadriaticum lives in shallow waters and is resilient to thermal stress. The association between Symbiodinium microadriaticum A1 and Stylophora pistillata enables Stylophora pistillata to tolerate the rise in the sea surface temperature caused by global warming and climate change. Here, the first completely sequenced dinoflagellate genome is explored to answer two questions: The first question is whether self-extending symbiosis has a role in the ability of Symbiodinium microadriaticum A1 to adapt to thermal stress and other environmental perturbations. The second question is how endosymbiotic / horizontal gene transfer (E/HGT) affects dinoflagellates and the Tree of life (TOL). Using a large scale comparative and phylogenomic analysis, here I am addressing the extent of horizontal and endosymbiotic gene transfer in Symbiodinium microadriaticum A1 and in dinoflagellates in general. Two model organisms that do not live in mutualistic relationships with other organisms were used as controls for Stylophora pistillata and Symbiodinium microadriaticum. These two organisms are Nematostella vectensis and Alexandrium tamarense, respectively. Furthermore, because the monophyly of the chromalveolate, the eukaryotic supergroup the dinoflagellates belong to, is in controversy, this key relationship in the Tree of life is investigated in the second part of the thesis. The sequencing of the genome of Symbiodinium microadriaticum A1 (CCMP2467) provides a great opportunity to conduct a genome-wide analysis of the phylogenetic affiliation on a gene-by-gene basis. Trees that show monophyly of the stramenopile-alveolate-Rhizaria (SAR) clade were sorted out and the positions of cryptophytes and haptophytes in relation to the SAR clade were manually reviewed. In addition, trees were further sorted to address which clades are more highly involved in E/HGT to dinoflagellates and how E/HGT from these clades affects dinoflagellates. Results showed that most genes obtained from other unicellular eukaryotes encoded proteins that take part in: response to oxidative stress, signal transduction, cell adhesion, and arginine and proline metabolic pathway, besides other proteins that take part in other metabolic pathways. On the other hand, HGT genes from bacteria encoded proteins involved in signal transduction pathways such as the MepB permease, cyclic nucleotide binding domain. In addition, genes transferred to/from Symbiodiniummicroadriaticum A1and either Acropora digitifera or Stylophora pistillata mainly encoded transporters and proteins involved in cell adhesion and in peroxisome synthesis. Moreover, results showed that enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of essential amino Acids such as L-glutamate, glycine and threonine were missing from Stylophora pistillata although they are available, as expected, in Nematostella vectensis and other Metazoa species. Furthermore, contradicting the long-accepted chromalveolate hypothesis and the well-established monophyly of chromalveolates, my results suggest that cryptophytes and haptophytes are not in monophyly with the rest of the chromalveolate clade in most of the analyzed trees. Results also showed that E/HGT from bacteria to dinoflagellates transferred several methyltransferase genes, besides the RuBisCO encoding gene from proteobacteia and the Histone acetyltransferase HPA2 encoding gene that was also transferred from bacteria. To sum up, results identified the proteins that are putatively involved in adapting to environmental stress and where they have evolved from. Further studies can be done to understand their mechanisms of action and hence investigate if their actions can be enhanced to prevent the loss of the symbiont-host mutualistic relationship and to prevent coral bleaching. Also, this thesis challenges the monophyly of the chromalveolate clade and the position of cryptophytes and haptophytes in relation to this clade. . Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10526/3606 2013-06-12T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10526/3605 Patriarchy and khul': women's struggle for equal rights in pre and post revolution Egypt Elafify, Nada Societal perceptions and the patriarchal structure dictated by our culture has manifested itself though the implementation and interpretations of the laws, which undermine the theoretical benefits of khul’. Prior to 2000, women were only allowed to obtain a divorce based on limited grounds and the judge’s consent. The ongoing resistance to the khul’ law of 2000 highlights the inadequate ability of legal reform to have a transformative effect on women’s position in society. This thesis examines the challenges that the khul’ law no.1/2000 continues to confront from early opposition to the renewed scrutiny in post Mubarak Egypt. The legal and social hurdles put forth by the state as well as rise of Islamists and women’s right’s slow advancement in society are examined, highlighting that the resistance is based on patriarchal beliefs and societal perceptions of women. This paper further examines the role of legal reform in providing revolutionary change in Egypt and whether adopting law has, in fact, advanced women’s position in society. Over a decade after its enactment, khul’ is still resisted and even threatened in post revolutionary Egypt. I argue that the patriarchal beliefs embedded in our society and manifested through state imposed barriers and interpretations of the law directly undermine the purpose of legal reform and the ability of the law to achieve the desired change. Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10526/3605 2013-06-11T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10526/3604 Embodying the everyday practices of urban water: the discourse of water scarcity and women's subjectivities in Amman, Jordan Masharqa, Katrin This thesis investigates the intricate links and interactions between women, water, and government in the Amman, Jordan context. The exploration showed that government water policies of intermittent water supply and strong water discourse are highly gendered. This exploration utilizes feminist political ecology and the Foucaultian framework concerned with governance, subjectivity, discourse, and power. A mix of quantitative and qualitative methods were used, and the bulk of the data was generated through interviews with several women living in East and West Amman, water experts, and government officials to contextualize the water stress in Jordan. Water in Jordan is of high political significance given its growing issue of shortages due to exploitation of available water resources. Therefore, a strong water discourse of scarcity is visible in the media and an instated governmental policy of intermittent water supply. Water scarcity in Jordan is presented as ‘common sense’ and supported by various storylines that justify government policies of extreme rationing. However, one must recognize that water scarcity discourse in Jordan is also covering up a massive inefficiency in managing water supply. The government is managing demand versus expanding supply, which results in placing a huge responsibility on citizens, especially women in households. Through policy and discourse, the government is exercising its power in formulating a type of subject and modifying women’s behavior to follow the hegemonic discourse of what this study calls “gendered water management”. Also, women formulate a subject position of “water managers” with the responsibility of water conservation in households. Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10526/3604 2013-06-09T00:00:00Z