Acknowledgements

I would like to sincerely thank Ed Huff, Brown’s multi-media genius. Before beginning this project, I was intimidated by all the technical aspects of video editing, creating subtitles, and putting it all up on the web. Ed explained the programs clearly and helped me through problems with patience. He always had coffee brewing and time for a story about his grandson or boat. It was wonderful listening to his stories and learning from his immense wealth of knowledge. Thank you, Ed!

I would also like to thank Ammar Shaikhouni. Ammar listened to the videos with me, some of them over and over and over again in order to help edit the translations and make them reflect the interviewees’ expressions as accurately as possible. The help of a native speaker in this work was invaluable.

A special thank you to Mirena Christoff, my Arabic professor from first semester of freshman year through last semester of senior year. Mirena’s love of this language, her skill and dedication as a teacher, and her genuine kindness have inspired me throughout these four years. Without her support and encouragement, I would never have made it from the days of stuttering through Alif Ba to conducting interviews entirely in Arabic. Alf shukran ya ustaazatee al azeeza.

Also thank you to Professor Colla for helping me to push the limits of my language abilities and for encouraging me to pursue Arabic studies after Brown. Shukran ikteer for your advice this semester and for serving as my lifeline to the Middle East Studies concentration.

I would also like to thank the interpreters that helped me with the interviews in Jordan. And finally, sincere thank you’s to all the interviewees for their eagerness to participate and for their thoughtful and sincere responses.