Professor at UoB Investigates Representations of “Iram of the Pillars” in the Arab Cultural Imaginary

University of Bahrain – Sakhir
July 13, 2022

Dr. Dheya Abdullah Al-Kaabi, Associate Professor of Narrative and Modern Literary Criticism, Head of the Department of Arabic Language and Islamic Studies at UoB, investigated the representations of “Iram of the Pillars” in the Arab cultural imaginary, and its extensions from ancient to modern times as a “heritage” subjected to interpretation.

Dr. Al-Kaabi discussed this issue in a peer-reviewed paper entitled “The Imaginary Heritage and Interpretation: Iram of the Pillars in the Arabic Literary Discourse as a Model.” The research was published in the first issue of the semi-annual peer-reviewed Journal published by Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with the Brill House, which is regarded as the most prestigious international publishing house.

Dr. Al-Kaabi pointed out that the representations of Iram of the Pillars in the Arab cultural imaginary, subjected to interpretation, fall into multiple and contradictory contexts, including the city of curse and divine punishment, the legendary city of wandering, the narrative of the invisible city, the utopia, and other cultural representations associated therewith.

The Advisory Board of the Arab Studies Journal consists of a constellation of the most distinguished academic critics in the fields of literary, critical and linguistic studies, including professors Salah Fadl from Ain Shams University, Egypt, Muhsin Jassim al-Musawi from Columbia University, the United States of America, Abdullah Al-Ghathami from King Saud University, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Hanada Taha from Zayed University, the United Arab Emirates, Vitaly Naumkin from the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, Russia, and Philip Kennedy from New York University Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

The first issue of the Journal contained distinguished research papers by a group of the most prominent Arab and international critics. All research of the first issue focused on a primary theme; “Heritage from History: The Concept of Heritage in the Arab Literary Discourse”.

Dr. Al-Kaabi, one of the most prominent critics in cultural narrative at the Arab level, holds a PhD in Arabic language and literature from the School of Graduate Studies, the University of Jordan (Major of Modern Literary Criticism – Narrative), for her thesis titled, “Transformations of the Ancient Arab Narrative, a Study in Cultural Patterns and Issues of Interpretation”.

Dr. Al-Kaabi published several peer-reviewed scientific research in the field of narrative and modern literary criticism and has participated in several international and regional conferences.

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