Title of the Dissertation

The Evolution of Jihad in Arabic Literature: From the Afghan War to the Arab Spring

Summary of the project

My dissertation explores the semantic and discursive transformations of key political concepts—jihad, thawra (revolution), and muqawama (resistance)—in Arabic sociopolitical thought from the Iranian Revolution and Afghan War to the formation of ISIS. Drawing on Foucault’s theory of discourse and power and Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony, the study analyzes how these terms were redefined in response to major historical ruptures, including the collapse of the Soviet Union, 9/11, and the Arab Spring. It investigates how these concepts have been mobilized to legitimize or resist political projects within evolving global and regional power structures.

Okba Elamoud is part of the Einstein Visiting Fellowship project directed by Mohammed A. Bamyeh (University of Pittsburgh) together with Florian Zemmin (Freie Universität Berlin). The project, hosted at BGSMCS, explores the historical trajectories and global entanglements of sociological concepts, producing a comparative lexicon of 60 core terms in Arabic, English, and French.