In their award-winning book, AUC faculty chart the evolution of Arab graphic design.
Some of the more than 600 visuals featured in A History of Arab Graphic Design: the anatomy of a horse in crimson and azure, labeled in elegant Arabic calligraphy and preserved on paper for six centuries; tiles in shades of cerulean, turquoise and ultramarine adorning the half-moon entryway of Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran; an illustrated mermaid hugging a bouquet of paintbrushes on the first-ever Alexandria Biennale poster.
The first-of-its-kind textbook reminds us that for as long as humans have taken up space, we have insisted on decorating it. In doing so, Arab and Islamic artists have drawn, painted and etched a visual record of their history, whether they meant to or not. “Graphic design is part of a visual language that is itself the by-product and reflection of a culture and its society,” co-authors and Department of the Arts faculty Bahia Shehab (MA ’09), professor of practice, and Haytham Nawar, associate professor and chair, write. “We cannot discuss modern Arab graphic design and visual culture without understanding the region’s visual heritage.”
From pollution to illiteracy, graphic design graduation projects aim to educate, empower and make a difference.
Hessa fe Qessa (A Lesson in a Story) – Salma Elbarbary ’22
With Egypt’s illiteracy rate reaching 27% in 2020, Hessa fe Qessa is an educational app that teaches illiterate individuals how to read, employing an interactive story that discusses relevant social issues. The app includes an audio guide, exercises and an information bank.
Gowa El Hadota (Inside the Tale) – Salma Elbarbary ’22
We live in a visually abundant world where millions of visually impaired children are deprived of daily activities, simply because they were designed with the sighted consumer in mind. Opening the gates to worlds that can be seen through storytelling and sensory stimulating activities, Gowa Al Hadota is a multi-sensory playing experience for visually impaired children aged 6 to 12. The narrated game targets the child’s imagination to unlock a world that can empower them to play and explore their surroundings independently and safely.
Human-centered design thinking approach is a core part of the AUC educational experience.
By integrating design thinking into the curriculum, AUC is teaching students to approach complicated problems with a sense of empathy, creativity and resilience, explained Hoda Mostafa, professor of practice and director of the University’s Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT).
Design thinking is a methodology used by Fortune 500 companies, including Apple and J.P. Morgan, to transform their way of operating and develop innovative, customer-centric products and services. International development institutions, such as the World Food Programme and UNESCO, have employed it to create policies and programs that effectively address poverty, gender inequality and other complex global challenges.
Faculty uses AI and machine learning to create a universal pictographic human language.
Can humans communicate through a single unified language?
Yes, according to Haytham Nawar, associate professor and chair of the Department of the Arts, who is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop a universal pictographic language that could bridge divides and enhance cross-cultural understanding.
Why pictographic?
“The idea is that the machine creates a new language based on how humans in the past created pictographic languages, starting from hieroglyphics all the way to emojis,” said Nawar, who has long been interested in scripts and pictographic languages, such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform scripts used in the Near East and ancient Chinese writing systems. These image-based languages were humanity’s earliest communication systems, the precursors to the script-based languages we use today.
Dina Heshmat, John Meloy and Rasha Allam received tenure this year
AUC’s Board of Trustees has approved the tenure of three faculty members for their commitment to academic excellence and dedication to the proliferation of knowledge at all levels. The recipients are John Meloy (CASA ’85, ’87), dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and professor in the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations; Dina Heshmat, assistant professor in the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations; and Rasha Allam ’02, ’05, assistant professor and associate chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.
"The greatness of our University rests squarely on the talents and accomplishments of its faculty," said Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman. "At AUC, we are blessed with faculty members who engage in groundbreaking research, scholarship and creative work. I am delighted to congratulate this year's tenured faculty who are all prime examples of AUC's commitment to excellence. AUC continues to be fully committed to tenure excellent faculty, [who] together with the many distinguished faculty members, contribute to realize the University's vision of excellence in teaching, research and creativity."
Dina Heshmat
Heshmat’s journey at AUC began in September 2013 when she joined the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations as assistant professor of Arabic literature. For Heshmat, teaching garners its own special rewards, namely rich interactions with students and the ability to impact future generations. “One of the things I enjoy most is that by teaching at AUC and interacting with its students, I feel I can make a difference for the new generations,” she said, adding that she is “overjoyed” about receiving tenure.
Building upon the research she has done while working on her book titled Egypt 1919: The Revolution in Literature and Film, a project facilitated by a grant from AUC’s Office of the Associate Provost for Research, Innovation and Creativity, Heshmat is now undertaking an ambitious new research project, for which she was awarded a fellowship at the Nantes Institute for Advanced Study, which is part of the Some Institutes for Advanced Study consortium.
“The project is tentatively titled Gender, Narrative and Nationalist Movement: Auto/biographical Narratives of Women in Egypt 1919. This work aims at retrieving the autobiographical narratives of the nationalist and feminist militants who were active participants in the anti-colonial revolution of 1919 by looking at a wide range of texts they authored, including memoirs, articles, poems, short stories and unpublished letters. I plan to turn the research I am doing for this project into a new book,” Heshmat explained.
John Meloy
Meloy, who is a graduate of AUC’s Center for Arabic Study Abroad, expressed his gratitude for this recognition. “I’m honored to receive tenure. I appreciate the faculty and working with all my colleagues,” he said.
When he first joined AUC in July 2021 as HUSS dean, Meloy emphasized the importance of critical thinking: “The critical skills our students acquire from our various disciplines give them the means to continue learning after they graduate. It’s not so much teaching them what they need to know now, but rather teaching them how to figure out what they need to know and giving them the skills and traits to teach themselves: sharpening critical thinking, cultivating curiosity and creativity, fostering individual and social awareness, and strengthening effective communication.”
With his attention primarily on administrative work at this time, taking the lead in various capacities to strengthen the pillars of a strong liberal arts education, Meloy hopes to get back to pursuing research. “My recent research has been on economic crises in the Mamluk period, how they were understood and how the authorities dealt with them,” he said.
Rasha Allam
Allam joined the University full time in 2016 but has been part of AUC as adjunct faculty since 2005. “I was very happy to hear the news about tenure because it came after years of hard work, commitment and dedication,” reflected Allam, “I appreciate the high standards of education that AUC maintains throughout the years, the University environment as a whole that fosters education both personally and professionally, and certainly the liberal arts education that really distinguishes AUC from any other institution in Egypt.”
For Allam, receiving tenure is a reflection of her continuous efforts to tailor teaching methods that keep students invested in the material taught and encourages them to think critically through case studies from the industry and beyond the classroom, acting as an ambassador for the University while gaining ground in areas that will be significant for her career.
Outside AUC, Allam has served as a consultant to think tanks, media institutions, jounalists, international organizations, as well as public and private universities. These include Egypt’s Presidential Media Office, UNESCO, Supreme Council for Media Regulations, National Press Authority and Al-Masry Al-Youm news organization.
“Working with such well-reputed entities has helped me in creating a strong network with academics and professionals on the regional and international level, where the flag of AUC has always been raised, and it has definitely contributed to the development of my personality as a teacher and researcher,” Allam said.
Allam is currently focusing on expanding her research, especially in the field of media management, as the rapid pace of technological development shapes the media scene like never before. “It is vital to understand the new business and value creation models, as well as ways of adaptation to the consistently changing industry. I am also focusing on research that examines media policies and regulations, especially since we are now witnessing huge changes in the media legislative landscapes, whether in Egypt or the region,” she said.
Launched last week, AUC’s Climate Change Initiative capitalizes on AUC’s contributions to national and international efforts in tackling one of the greatest challenges of our time. The initiative includes research, student activities, teaching and learning, outreach, tracking and reducing our carbon footprint, writing school textbooks on climate change and providing climate change solutions in specific contexts within the country.
“Our aim in this initiative is to reinforce AUC’s role as an active academic hub on climate change and sustainable development in Egypt and the region, as well as an active contributor to global efforts addressing climate change challenges,” said President Ahmad Dallal. “Of course, COP27, hosted in Egypt in November, provides an incentive to catalyze AUC’s climate change initiative.”
Dallal outlined the initiative’s five main areas of focus that are fully aligned with national and regional climate change and sustainability priorities:
Water-related issues
Green architecture and sustainable urban development
Green finance
Global health
Energy transition
These areas of focus also overlap with a number of “cross-cutting issues” ––adaptation to climate change, resilience of communities, mitigation measures, education and a just transition –– that are relevant to Asia and the region. “We encourage a multidisciplinary approach in addressing challenges, including policy, regulatory frameworks, financing, scientific research and social science aspects,” said Dallal.
UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt and Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund Mahmoud Mohieldin, who was the keynote speaker at the event, highlighted five distinctive features of COP27, which AUC will participate in next fall:
A holistic approach to climate change
“We cannot ignore poverty, hunger, job creation and an inclusive approach to the whole [climate change] agenda, including the impact of climate change on children, youth and women."
Implementation of previous promises outlined in the climate change agenda and action plan
“We don’t need new frameworks; we just need to apply what we have. If there is a good idea, let’s projectize it. You [AUC] have good ideas, and you have been teaching about them, so [the focus now is] how to apply them on your scale, with the hope that this could be scaled up or replicated somewhere else.”
For the first time in the history of COPs, there is an alignment between the COP agenda, G13 and the rest of the SDGs [UN Sustainable Development Goals], with five major events to correlate the promise of finance coming from different institutions with the pipeline of projects, especially those focusing on mitigation, decarbonization and race to zero.
“This is a very practical approach based on a country-platform design, with five regional roundtables [across the world] – and I’m inviting you to participate in any capacity you wish. … It’s not just about Egypt and the local community. It’s about the region, Arab countries, the Mediterranean, Africa and beyond.”
Localization (bottom-up approach): For the first time, Egypt’s 27 governorates will be participating through their big, small and medium enterprises, startups, as well as women-led community development initiatives in a two-month competition to choose the project that offers the smartest and greenest solutions, after which a team of national winners will be selected.
“It’s not about the competition; it’s about [showcasing] the talents and skills in the governorates, and it’s a chance to demonstrate what they’re doing. … It is customary for rich countries to host big conferences to be attended by 30,000 plus participants, [including] heads of state, but ordinary people would always wonder, ‘What's in it for us? Why do we have this conference?’ And this is legitimate.”
Finance through partnerships, investments, international financial institutions, as well as public and private sector funding
“Without finance and investments, without the resources available to us –– not just financial resources, but technology and knowledge [as well] – nothing will really progress, and many of these ideas may end up with frustration. There will be some serious discussion about [funding] opportunities."
“Students come to my courses with assumptions about what the Islamic tradition is and is not, and they go away with a broader horizon about the intellectual diversity of the Islamic world; an awareness of its community of interpreters who, generation after generation, refined and reshaped Islamic traditions; and an appreciation for the richness and complexity of the great classics of Islam in the realms of poetry, law, theology, Sufism and ethics,” said Ahmad Khan, assistant professor in AUC’s Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations.
Khan has been awarded the Arcapita Visiting Professor at Columbia University for Spring 2022, hosted by the Middle East Institute and the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia, where he is currently teaching the graduate course, Islamic Thought in an Age of Print.
Ahmad Khan
“It is an honor to be awarded the visiting professorship,” Khan said. “The Arcapita Visiting Professorship has been a fantastic opportunity to think, research and write.”
Khan’s professorship is part of a long-standing and rich history between the two universities. Lisa Anderson, who served as AUC president from 2011 to 2016, and prior to that as AUC’s provost from 2008 to 2010, is currently dean emerita of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia. Furthermore, AUC’s current President, Ahmad Dallal, received his PhD in Islamic studies from Columbia.
“I hope to use my appointment at Columbia University to explore opportunities to strengthen the ties between these two universities,” Khan said.
Khan enjoys teaching at Columbia and AUC alike. In his classes, he introduces students to the great classics of Islamic civilization via texts in classical Arabic, exposing them to major thinkers of the Islamic world like Ibn Khaldun, al-Shafi'i, Rabi'a al-Adawiyya and Ibn al-Farid.
“The students at Columbia are in many ways like my students at AUC: bright, curious and dedicated to learning more,” said Khan. “Nowadays, much of my research is shaped by my teaching at AUC. The discussions we have are helping me examine important topics in the field of Islamic studies and civilizations.”
Delving into Islamic Studies
Khan’s research interests stemmed from the interdisciplinary training he received during his PhD at Oxford. There, Khan was able to take a variety of courses in history, literature, poetry, religious thought, and Arabic and Persian classical texts. This led to him having a holistic and diverse range of thoughts and approaches to Islamic studies, history, theology and literature.
This year, his monograph, Heresy and the Formation of Medieval Islamic Orthodoxy: The Making of Sunnism from the Eighth to the Eleventh Centuries, is the first major book in the field dedicated solely to the development of orthodoxy and heresy within Sunni Islam. The work examines conflicting efforts by Muslims during the eighth to 11th centuries, to define heresy and orthodoxy, finally giving way to a tolerant and diverse form of mainstream Sunnism. Khan looks at why and how Sunni Muslims, contrary to popular narratives, handled disputes over religious ideas often without recourse to violence. The book is expected to be published in December by Cambridge University Press.
“In this investigation of discourses of orthodoxy and heresy, we learn how medieval scholars and textual communities were engaged in constant and rapid efforts to develop an indigenous apparatus through which consensuses could be reached about orthodoxy and heresy; how orthodoxy was not a later ‘communal fiction’ but entailed stages and processes that can be identified and were identified by medieval Muslims,” said Khan.
“Above all, we gain insight into how a formidable medieval society and religion negotiated conflict and disagreement without giving birth to a widespread culture of imperial councils, inquisitors and persecutions,” he said.
By the 11th century, Abū Ḥanīfa, Mālik b. Anas, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal were regarded as representations, par excellence, of medieval Sunni orthodoxy. “As such, the legal schools that coalesced around them became markers of medieval Sunni orthodoxy, and they spawned a religious tradition that is almost unparalleled in its relevance and longevity throughout Islamic history,” said Khan. “The book shows how orthodoxy and heresy in the eighth to 11th centuries may best be understood as processes.”
Working on this book also led Khan to study an array of medieval texts in Arabic and Persian. Many of these texts were edited and printed in the 19th to 21stcenturies by modern scholars and editors in the Islamic world. He examined the processes by which these texts were transmitted in modern times, such as in Egypt, and how this helped shape the development of modern Islamic thought. This connection between his research on medieval Islam and Islamic thought in an age of print is explored further in the course Khan is currently teaching at Columbia.
The professor is also currently working on a book, Religion and Empire in Early Islamic Society, which discusses how Islamic law and its legal culture played a role in shaping early Islamic societies in regions like Iraq, Khorasan and Egypt, and is expected to be completed in 2023. Alongside these projects, Khan’s research includes the study of Quranic interpretation, the role of women in hadith learning, and Sufism.
The larger context of today’s society cannot be ignored when discussing Islamic studies. “The current sociopolitical context [of the global war on terror and sensitivities related to Islamic extremism] has resulted in major misrepresentations of Islamic traditions both from the inside and outside,” he said.
Years of research have led Mariam Ayad ‘94, associate professor in AUC’s Department of Sociology, Egyptology and Anthropology, down a trail of letters in Coptic dating back to the 6th-8th centuries AD [Byzantine Era up to the Arab conquest of Egypt], providing her a unique view into the everyday lives of women.
Reaching from Upper Egypt to the Delta and written on papyrus and broken pieces of pottery or stone, known as ostraka, these letters were written or dictated by women between the sixth and eighth centuries.
During a presentation on her research for the Yale Egyptology Lecture Series, Ayad explained that the letters are one of the largest corpora of surviving text from this time period.
“Unlike the monastic writings, liturgical texts and psalms from this period, these letters are unfiltered and authentic,” Ayad said, explaining that many historical and religious texts tend to be slanted or contain propaganda. She also noted that religious literature often portrays women in one of two ways — an “Eve” or a “Mary” — that is, a temptress or a virgin.
The letters, however, provide a more balanced picture of these women, with the content of each letter varying greatly. Some of the women request prayers from holy men for healing themselves or family members, Ayad explained. “Others were more assertive, demanding the resolution of a business dispute or the delivery of items such as grain, wine, shawls and even books.”
The broad subjects covered within letters make one thing clear, according to Ayad. “Women are different, and treating them as a monolithic group is a mistake.”
Ayad now focuses on the possible implications behind these messages. “The more I got into the letters, the more I became fascinated with how these women expressed themselves, not just by what they expressed,” she recalled.
She cites numerous rhetorical devices contained within the letters and great variance in verb tenses. In some letters, a strong case is built before the appearance of a request, while others use the imperative, or command form of a verb, to get their point across.
According to Ayad, these contrasting avenues of communication could point to differences in social status, literacy and even assertiveness among these women.
However, she stressed that drawing conclusions from these letters is often challenging, as the exact subject of a letter can be obscure and the letters themselves are often fragmented. Ayad likened the interpretation of these letters to reading a stranger’s text messages — some elements will surely be vague.
Additionally, “It's very hard to find good scholarship on aspects of social and daily life for the Coptic period in general, not just on women,” she said.
Despite the uncertainty, Ayad continues to meticulously piece together this puzzle with devotion and an open mind.
Time at AUC
The summer before her freshman year at AUC, Ayad had no idea what she wanted to study. On vacation at the beach, while flipping through the University’s course catalog, she found herself drawn to the courses on Ancient Egypt.
One year later, she was completely immersed in Egyptology at AUC, declaring it her major and dedicating herself to the rigorous program under the tutelage of Fayza Haikal, professor emerita of Egyptology.
Her success in her undergraduate work allotted her a fellowship while pursuing her master’s at the University of Toronto, as she could sight-read hieratic — a cursive ancient Egyptian script used on papyrus for literature, letters and other documentary texts — which was an uncommon skill among her fellow students.
“My time at AUC, and specifically my classes with Fayza, really benefited me in this regard,” she said.
Now the director of the MA program of Egyptology/Coptology at AUC, Ayad teaches courses on Egyptian religion, language (including hieroglyphs, hieratic, and Coptic), ancient Egyptian women and Egypt during the First Millennium BC, among others.
Some aspects of her research on women’s Coptic letters will appear in a volume to be published by AUC Press in 2023.
Mahmoud El Kady ‘21 and Tia Ashraf, anthropology graduating senior, won third place worldwide in the 2022 Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence competition.
This year, participants were asked to incorporate social science research into architecture and to outline the design process for a housing project within a disadvantaged local community.
The team’s essay — “Economic Architectonics: Local Initiatives for Live/Work Housing” — introduces Cairo’s Coptic Christian community of Hay el-Zabaleen (the garbage collectors’ neighborhood), elaborating on the area’s history and the challenges facing inhabitants today.
“Working on this essay was exciting and invigorating,” El Kady recalled. “It was liberating to write creatively and work toward a goal that I care about.”
Mahmoud El Kady
The duo’s proposal constructs a design process that is, above all, inclusive of the residents.
“Powered by the residents themselves, the local initiative will not only provide services to the community but will also facilitate and moderate the design surveys conducted to solicit the resident’s opinions,” the proposal reads.
El Kady, who majored in architectural engineering and minored in theatre and economics, was glad to translate his work into real-life impact.
“Writing this essay with Tia was the perfect opportunity to do firsthand research and to take the readings, discussions, and design projects that shaped me the most beyond the classroom,” El Kady said. “I am grateful to have started a transdisciplinary research project before graduating — which I have wanted to pursue for a long time.”
He is also grateful for his time at AUC, attributing his success to the skills he acquired during his undergraduate studies.
“Being able to ask questions and challenge assumptions are the best tools that AUC gave me,” El Kady added. “Through my work for student government, I was encouraged to be creative, take the initiative and be persistent — all of which are qualities we practiced throughout the writing process.”
A former professor of El Kady praised his “phenomenal” project for her Spring 2021 thesis studio.
“Mahmoud exemplified the best of which AUC's architecture program has to offer — socially conscious, liberal arts-informed, technically sound and ethically responsible design for the communities most in need,” said Magda Mostafa, associate professor of design in AUC’s Department of Architecture.
Reflecting on the prize’s impact on his current and future work, El Kady concluded, “Winning has encouraged me to pursue grassroots urban and architectural development as a long-term goal.”
With Egypt’s illiteracy rate reaching 27% in 2020, Hessa fe Qessa is an educational app that teaches illiterate individuals how to read, employing an interactive story that discusses relevant social issues. The app includes an audio guide, exercises and an information bank.
We live in a visually abundant world where millions of visually impaired children are deprived of daily activities, simply because they were designed with the sighted consumer in mind. Opening the gates to worlds that can be seen through storytelling and sensory stimulating activities, Gowa Al Hadota is a multi-sensory playing experience for visually impaired children aged 6 to 12. The narrated game targets the child’s imagination to unlock a world that can empower them to play and explore their surroundings independently and safely.
