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The Arabist and the State: Arabic Language Instruction and the Professionalisation of the Governmental Expertise in the Middle Eastern affairs
Lochovský, Jan ; Malečková, Jitka (advisor) ; Daniel, Jan (referee) ; Kraus, Josef (referee)
The dissertation focuses on a phenomenon of "state-Arabists", i.e., a group of state employees, both civil servants and members of armed forces, who have been systematically directed towards careers requiring proficiency in the Arabic language. The author observes this specific group in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel between the end of the Second World War and the so-called Arab Spring. The focus of the analysis is twofold. The first is a comparative history of institutions tasked with the Arabic language instruction established directly by the three countries. The second theme are the instructional programmes conducted by these institutions. The author focuses mainly on the ideological factors in their presentation of the Arabic language, the "Otherness" of the Arabic speaking world, and, in most extreme cases, the sentiment of Arabic as a "language of the enemy". Both lines of inquiry are anchored within the context of "critical junctures", thus reflecting the impact of the general history on such a specific instance of exertion of state power as the instruction of a language. The analytical focus on the concurrence of large-scale events of the 20th and early 21st centuries eventually reveals noticeable differences between the civilian and military institutions. The diplomatic...
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