Vocal Empowerment for Young Egyptian Women: Increasing Contributions to Sustainable Development

Sarah Fahmy B.A., Theatre, University of Kentucky, 2017 B.A., Arts Administration, University of Kentucky, 2017

A Thesis submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts In Theatre and Performance Studies

University of Colorado, Boulder 2019

This thesis entitled: Vocal Empowerment for Young Egyptian Women: Increasing Contributions to Sustainable Development written by Sarah Fahmy has been approved for the Department of Theatre & Dance

Beth Osnes, PhD

Marcos Steuernagel, PhD

Date:______

The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline.

IRB protocol # 16-0261

iii

Abstract:

Fahmy, Sarah (M.A. Theatre & Performance Studies, Department of Theatre & Dance)

Vocal Empowerment for Young Egyptian Women: Increasing Contributions to Sustainable

Development

Thesis Advisor: Beth Osnes, Ph.D., Associate Professor

This study assesses the impact theatre based vocal empowerment activities can have on young Egyptian women’s self-perception of their ability to contribute to sustainable development. Through the presentation and analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data collected from 55 participants from conducting the SPEAK: Vocal Empowerment curriculum in

Alexandria and Aswan, Egypt between June - July 2018. This study depicts how the change in perceived self efficacy, voice quality and content of participants’ speech in English and in Arabic impacts self-authorship. The intensive 12-session curriculum engages young women in a series of theatre activities and vocal exercises including self-authored skits, devised songs and personal declarations, developed by applied theatre practitioners and speech, language pathologists to target multiple aspects of vocal empowerment—physical, emotional, psychological, and ethical—enabling young women to achieve a greater sense of ownership of their voices and confidence in their bodies. Vocal empowerment is the belief that what you say is worthwhile, your voice belongs to you, and that you have the right for self-authorship.

This data reflects how vocal empowerment can assist young Egyptian women decolonize their minds, help reduce their disidenitification from their native culture, and reinstate their self- perception in their ability to contribute effectively to sustainable development in their communities. The study dismantles the perception in Egypt by the young women in this study

iv that proficiency in the English language is a necessary tool for effective contribution to sustainable development. It emphasises how increased vocal efficacy is one useful step for young

Egyptian women to reclaim their suppressed voices within a postcolonial community and increase their desire to sustainably develop the country.

KEY WORDS: Postcolonialism, Identity, Egypt, Young Women, Vocal Empowerment,

Sustainable Development

Dedications:

I dedicate this thesis to my toughest critic and biggest cheerleader, my mother. I am eternally grateful for your years of sacrifices and your persistent commitment to my education. You continue to inspire me every day to follow my dreams. I couldn’t do any of this without you.

I would like to express my gratitude to my mentor and advisor, Dr. Beth Osnes, whose nurturing support and guidance enabled me to discover this path, and for continuously motivating me to break interdisciplinary barriers. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Marcos Steuernagel and Dr. Oliver Gerland for continuing to challenge me, and for their endless support guiding me during my numerous existential crises over the past two years.

I would also like to thank AASTMT for supporting all logistical support and flexibility to implement this study. I would especially like to thank the phenomenal young women of Aswan and Alexandria. My journey as an applied theatre facilitator in Egypt would not be possible without their insightful creativity and participation. Thank you for enriching my passion for performance, and allowing me to rediscover myself, reclaim my postcolonial voice, and empower me to believe I’m capable of teaching in Arabic.

Last but not least, thank you to all my friends and family members, especially Kelsey Bauer and Amanda Rose Villarreal, who listened, supported and encouraged me to keep going.

Table of Contents Introduction: ...... 1 Theoretical Background: ...... 7 a. Introduction to Egyptian Postcolonialism: ...... 7 b. Egyptian Feminism: ...... 14 c. Voice: ...... 19 d. Sustainable Development: ...... 21 The Need for Study: ...... 24 Vocal Empowerment through Applied Theatre: ...... 27 Methodology: ...... 30 a. Site Description: ...... 30 b. Adaptation of SPEAK for Egyptian Participants: ...... 31 c. Data and Analysis: ...... 33 Findings: ...... 38 a. Qualitative Data: ...... 38 b. Quantitative Data: ...... 60 Conclusion: ...... 62 Bibliography: ...... 70 Supporting Documents: ...... 73 Appendix 1: Daily Journal ...... 73 Appendix 2: Affirmational Songs ...... 86 Appendix 3: Group Skits ...... 87 Appendix 4: Key for Data Analysis ...... 87 Appendix 5: Cumulative Code Book ...... 90

vii

Tables

Table 1: Participant Demographics ...... 31 Table 2: Cumulative code application for indicating participants’ voice breaks and interruptions ...... 46 Table 3: Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “My voice is important to me because” ...... 50 Table 4: Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “My greatest community concern is" ...... 54 Table 5: Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “One idea I have to improve my community is to” ...... 56 Table 6: Most Frequent code application for participants ability to continue their thoughts ...... 59 Table 7: Cumulative participants responses to baseline and final Vocal Efficacy surveys Questions one to twelve...... 60 Table 8: Cumulative participants responses to baseline and final vocal efficacy surveys Questions thirteen (a), thirteen (b),thirteen (c)...... 61 Table 9: Participants language choice in responding to the survey (no change noted from baseline to final) ...... 61 Table 10: Cumulative Code Book ...... 90

viii

Figures

Figure 1 Vocal Efficacy Scale Survey. Questions one to twelve ...... 35 Figure 2: Vocal Efficacy Scale Survey. Question thirteen a, b, c...... 36 Figure 3: Example of codes in Dedoose ...... 37

Introduction: “My English is awful, I can’t contribute anything to our society until I’m fluent, so

why do keep asking about our thoughts to improve our community? There’s no use

of it” Sonya1, Age: 15, Aswan, Egypt.

She had barely finished her sentence, when the entire 20-person room of young women on the Arab Academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) campus in

Aswan, Egypt, erupted in approval. A couple of attendees chuckled, fully aware of how low they stood on the English fluency spectrum, and others nodded in response to this seemingly well- established fact. One of them called me out directly by saying, “we’re not like you, no one ever thinks girls from Sa’id Masr2 will amount to anything”.

It was only the second day of the curriculum in Aswan, when I was confronted with my urban, British and US educated positionality within the residual impact of coloniality in the community. Aswan, one of Egypt’s largest tourist attractions, is a small city, with a relatively low-income factor in southern Egypt. Its inhabitants speak Sai’di Arabic, a dialect of Egyptian

Arabic that has little prestige in the country, but remains popular amongst the non-urbanized regions, therefore they are often looked down upon by the more urbanized in the bigger cities of

Cairo and Alexandria. Even though I’m Egyptian, they knew I was Alexandrian and could tell from my accent and choice of clothing, I was probably raised abroad. They were under the impression that I was going to be yet another Egyptian expat, member of the urbanized elite that

1 For disidentification purposes, all the participants names mentioned in this study are pseudonyms. 2 Sa'id Masr is a geographical location which spans from southern Cairo to the Sudanese border.

2 was ready to impose my Western bias on them and tell them how backwards and uncivilized their “conservative” community was.

After a few years in England with my mother we moved back to Egypt. I grew up attending the British School of Alexandria, a British nonprofit organization, associated with the

British Consulate in Egypt.

My academically rigorous schooling encouraged me to explore my artistic voice and develop as a leader from a young age by training me to engage in critical discourse. Yet, the emphasis on western literature and schools of thought overshadowed Egyptian historical narratives and my sense of cultural identity. My education led me to believe that development, modernization and feminism were Western concepts, and that Egypt’s contribution to the global society ended with the Ancient Egyptians. I spent most of my life resenting speaking or writing in Arabic and longing to study abroad.

Simultaneously, I was raised by unapologetically vocal, financially independent female role models in the workforce, within a highly academic, well-travelled family from the Egyptian upper class. I knew my family didn’t fall within the binary of what my education taught me

Egypt was. However being raised within the realities of the hegemonic Western imposed binaries in the Egyptian community, led to my unintentional disidenitification from my native Egyptian culture, out of fear of being labeled backwards, not intelligent or uncivilized. According to

Cuban American performance studies theorist, José Esteban Muñoz, disidentification is to view yourself within a fragment of your identity as it is imposed by the normative majority. He articulates that native populations must conform to the majority or risk losing an identity, they identify with certain elements of their identity in order to fit in and disassociate with negative connotations (Muñoz 1999).

Given the increased internationalization of the educational system, and the growing desire for “westernization” and immigration amongst Egyptian youth, Egyptians expats or those who speak multiple languages are elevated and praised in society. Subsequently it is increasingly common for the urbanized, internationally educated elite to disidentity from their native culture, and belittle members of the Sa’id Masr community by trying to guide the development of their community through the enforcement of their newfound models for development and education.

During the first semester of my graduate studies in the United States, I learnt for the first time in my life that Egypt is a postcolonial country. I had never had a platform to critique

Western society before then, an awakening that helped guide my research interests in applied theatre and young Egyptian women’s vocal empowerment for sustainable development.

While recognizing my privilege and Western education, my intention for implementing a vocal empowerment curriculum in Egypt was to assist in dismantling the elevation of Western ideals on pedestals in Egyptian society that may prohibit young women in fully expressing themselves. I hoped that this could be a potential first step to help reinstate a belief in Egyptian identity, not to impose my own Western bias upon them. I was there to invite their self- authorship, learn from them, and walk beside them in a vocal empowerment journey.

During this encounter, I realized that it was internalized oppression, the process in which an oppressed group uses the methods of the oppressor against itself, to elevate different societal groups (Thiong’o 1986) that led these young, witty, overly exuberant women to abandon their belief in themselves that they can offer meaningful insight on the development of their communities. This curriculum, as the participants expressed to me, was the first time any of them had been asked about their perspectives on how to contribute to sustainable development. In neither city, Aswan nor Alexandria, were any of these young women offered a space to discuss

4 these issues. In Aswan they believed this conversation was only permissible in Alexandria and

Cairo; and in Alexandria, they believed they couldn’t be offered a seat at the table till they studied abroad.

Why did the belief in your ability to enact meaningful social change and desire for sustainable development equate to proficiency in the English language? How do citizens of postcolonial countries subconsciously silence themselves in the attempt to develop and advance their communities? What is the future of a country when its young women have lost faith in their self-authorship and identification with the power of their voices? And what effective strategies can be used to regain that?

Over the course of 12 consecutive days in each city, I facilitated the SPEAK: Vocal

Empowerment curriculum, with a total of 55 participants, between the ages of 11-17 in Aswan and Alexandria. I engaged these young women in critical discussions on how they can envision and actively participate in the sustainable development of their respective postcolonial communities, as well as their relationship to perceived language biases. The SPEAK curriculum, originally developed by Dr. Beth Osnes and Dr. Chelsea Hackett in partnership with Guatemalan non-profit, MAIA Impact (formally Starfish Impact) engages young women in a series of theatre- based exercises, developed by applied theatre practitioners and speech, language pathologists to target multiple aspects of vocal empowerment—physical, emotional, psychological, and ethical—enabling young women to achieve a greater sense of ownership of their voices and confidence in their bodies.

Vocal empowerment is the belief that what you say is worthwhile, your voice belongs to you, and that you have the right for self-authorship (Osnes and Hackett 2017). SPEAK guides young women on how to effectively use their voices to identify obstacles and collaborate on

5 creating solutions to civic issues, supporting them in empowering themselves to become active agents of social change at school, home and in public settings. It is grounded in the belief that no one can empower another’s voice; only a woman can empower her own voice (Osnes and

Hackett 2017). To be vocally empowered is to have the comfort and ability to express your intended content, with a clear audible voice. This approach is grounded in the belief that your voice can be used responsibly to enact positive social change within a community. The ten characteristics of an empowered voice outlined in the SPEAK curriculum, that serves as guiding principles are:

1. People can easily hear and understand my voice.

2. I use various parts of my body when I express myself with my voice (example: the direct

gaze, posture, my body, my hands).

3. I understand basic mechanism for how my physical voice works.

4. Shame is not an obstacle to using my voice.

5. I think my voice is mine and belongs to me.

6. I feel safe as the author of my own feelings and ideas.

7. I recognize the importance of my voice for me and my community.

8. My voice has the power to make a positive impact for my life and for others.

9. I use my voice to speak my truth.

10. I use my voice with responsibility and courage (Osnes and Hackett 2017)

I recognize that the SPEAK curriculum was developed by American women in the States, however it is rooted in Brazilian applied theatre pioneer, Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the

Oppressed. He focuses on reversing the oppressive Western paradigm through active engagement of participants as spect-actors, using theatre as a tool to discuss social issues (Boal

1985). During the workshops, he serves as a facilitator, not inserting his opinion, but rather fostering an environment for participants to lead the conversation. As I prepared to facilitate the curriculum in Egypt, I anticipated that there would be times where we would veer away from the scripted curriculum, and I was excited to see how it the activities would be modified by the participants in Aswan and Alexandria.

In this study I focus on cultural decolonization of the mind, and how decades of orientalist perspectives have led to young women’s disidenitifcation from their Egyptian identity especially in regard to their voices and self-authorship. Through qualitative and quantitative data analysis of 55 participants in two geographically and socio-economically contrasting Egyptian cities this study aims to assess the impact of vocal efficacy on levels of self-perception. This study seeks to answer the question: How does vocal empowerment impact young Egyptian women’s self-perception of their ability to contribute to sustainable development? Secondary questions include: How, if at all did participation in this curriculum impact participants responses to how they could improve their community? And, can increased vocal efficacy reduce the preconceived perception that proficiency in the English language is a necessary tool for someone to effectively contribute to sustainable development?

Theoretical Background: a. Introduction to Egyptian Postcolonialism: Throughout this study the unhyphenated term of “postcolonialism” will be used instead of “post-colonialism”. The latter indicates a period after the colonization has ended, focusing solely on politics and economics, which alludes to a negative connotation, and views countries within their retrospective subordinate relationship to European history timeline (Sharp 2009).

Postcolonialism, however, challenges the ambiguity of the situation, suggesting that the physical decolonization of a space, doesn’t rid it of its colonial influences. It focuses on the cultural products of colonialism to understand how the world was shaped and how people living in these places view themselves. “Western” thought and perspectives continue to infiltrate postcolonial countries’ governmental and educational structures as well as the media (Sharp 2009). Thus the oppressive system of values, initially utilized by the colonizers to diminish culture and identity in the colonies, manifests itself through internalized oppression. It continues to be enforced by the ruling class from the urbanized cities, heightening the national desire for disidentification. This further estranges the binaries between socio-economic classes and geographical regions, resulting in the elevation of a subset of Egyptian identity - the Westernized wealthy minority; at the expense of the rest of the population. This disidentification is at the root of young Egyptian women’s self-perception of their identities and their voices; particularly those in rural communities, such as Aswan.

Through Michel Foucault’s concept of the panopticon, the colonizers3 engrained their philosophies and discipline strategies on Egypt, and ensured that by elevating a select set of educated elite, who adhered to British thought, to continue surveilling and disciplining Egyptians

3 I will specifically be focusing on Egypt’s last colonizer - Britain. The term “colonizers” unless otherwise noted, will refer to the British colonial period.

8 today - hence the perceived elevation of the English language (Foucault 1975). This decolonization of thought and mindset is a lot harder to achieve than the physical removal of an army and declaration of independence.

According to postcolonial theorist, N’gugi wa Thiongo, imperialism, with its economic, political, cultural and psychological consequences, is still at the root of all of Africa's problems.

It is maintained through the “culture bomb” as it gradually eliminates people’s belief in their names, languages, environment and heritage, by “the international bourgeoise using the multinational and of course the flag waving native ruling classes” (Thiong’o 1986). This colonization of the mind, along with the continuity of Palestinian cultural critic, Edward Said’s foundational concept of orientalism, where he critiques the artificial cultural binary between the

Western world (the Occident) and the Eastern world, anyone from the Middle East and Asia (the

Orient) (Said 1978), established by the 18th and 19th century European travelers and artists.

Orientalism assesses how the superiority of the West, and colonialism is justified through the exoticizing and racialization of people of the Orient (Said 1978). The discrimination and subordination enforced through the West-East dichotomy have led to what Egyptian economist,

Samir Amin describes as Eurocentric thought (Amin 2009). The dominant historical narrative of the progression of civilization, from a European perspective, starting with the classical Greek and Roman world to that of Christianity, and the colonial economic system (Amin 2009). The

“West” has utilized it’s colonial knowledge and power to redefine and homogenize the perspective on the “East” thereby establishing a binary of which the East is always depicted as backwards, uncultured and uncivilized (Sharp 2009). This reduction to the subaltern perspective, as defined by Indian Feminist critic, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, conforms people’s ways of knowing, thought and language to Western based methods. It enforces the belief that there is no

9 other way of thinking, and so as a minority you must not voice your opinion (Spivak 1993), rapidly increasing the ingrained sense of José Esteban Muñoz’s concept of disidenitification amongst Egyptian youth.

The British Empire, Egypt’s last colonizer, occupied the country while it was still an

Ottoman Empire colony. The period of British rule, 1882-1952 (independence was granted in

1922, but the British occupation remained till the exile of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952)

(Laguerta n.d.) This period of colonization also marked the height of the Arab Nahda

(Renaissance), a period typically attributed to Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798, which marked a historical awakening of the Arab world, and its "reintroduction" to cultural and technological advancements. In the 1820s, Muhammed Ali Pasha, who’s dynasty ruled Egypt from 1805 till the independence of 1952, initiated a series of exchanges by sending students-- predominantly young men--to study in France (El Ariss 2018).

Among the key figures of this "awakening" was Rifa'a Rafi al-Tahtawi. Upon his return to Egypt after 5 years studying in Paris, al-Tahtawi, originally an imam at Cairo's center for

Islamic Learning, al-Azhar, laid the foundations for some of the first modern educational institutions in Egypt. His work on culture, translation and education resonated throughout 19th century Ottoman Empire. Specifically, because he focused on re-reading Arab-Islamic culture through a European modernity lens, by which he emphasized the compatibility of Islam with progress, and the religion's stances on community with European nationalism and liberalism. He framed the Nahda as the end of the Arab Dark Ages, an era where patriotism would lead thought and cultural productivity (El Ariss 2018).

However, it is important to note that although this narrative continues to lead the way

Arabs perceive themselves in the world today, the Nahda shouldn't be simplified to the East vs.

West binary. The Nahda wasn't a homogenous narrative that revolved around the blind imitation of the West and the incorporation of European socio-economic and political structures. Rather it was a period that engaged in critical discourse and questioning of European modernity, analysing it's benefits and drawbacks, as well as reassessing older models of learning and community from the Arab world, through interactions with Europe, Russia and India. Careful examination of The

Nahda literature and texts links the progress and civilization that emerges from the "awakening" is actually rooted in older Arab-Islamic heritage, that embraces the perspectives of Jewish,

Christian and Muslim Arabs alike, across the region.

The Nahda scholars raised questions at the core of postcolonial studies in Arab countries today. How do you balance cultural exchange and embrace European modernity while maintaining Arab culture and identity? Arabic was introduced to Egypt in the 7th century with the Arab conquest of the region; eventually replacing Coptic Egyptian as the native language of the country. When addressing the process of decolonizing the mind, Nugugi wa Thiongo even identifies Arabic as a native language of Africa (Thiong’o 1986). Philosopher-poet, Khalil

Gibran, another pioneer of the renaissance, questions the implications of identity in his essay The

Future of the Arabic Language in 1920. He attributes a nation’s language to its ingenuity, if collective ingenuity were to diminish, its language would cease to exist. Therefore, unlike many other scholars at the time, he articulated the importance of personal activism, innovation and desire to improve the community. Since the tables have turned and the East now follows the

West, their civilization has increasingly influenced Eastern thought, language and morals, turning Easterners into “quasi-Westerners” who simply absorb information, rather than adapting it to suit their culture (Gibran 2018).

Gibran stresses the importance of the unity of belonging to one nation, not one with your mind and the other with your body, and therefore the need to establish a solid identity and not blindly accept European models of education and societal structure, he mentions: “This will not happen until we replace the bread of charity with the bread made in our own homes, because the needy beggar cannot impose conditions on his wealthy benefactor” (Gibran 2018).

He further emphasises that identity is built through education, and just like wa Thiong’o, he highlights the power of the colonial mind:

There were times when that bread brought us back to life, and in reviving us, killed

us. It revived us because it stirred our senses and stimulated our minds a little. It

killed us because it divided our popular will, weakened our unity, severed our ties,

and estranged our sects from one another. (Gibran 2018)

The fractured identity crises that Gibran alludes to, continues to shape postcolonial Arab identities. Muhammed Ali’s series of exchanges to Europe were accentuated in 1952 with

Egypt’s declaration of independence from the British Empire, with the national desire for industrial advancement, and an increased need for formal training to catch up to the global industrial economy (Mehrez 2008). The educational system, similarly to the rest of the public sector was subject to the open market economy, attracting numerous global interests, including the attraction to British, European and American educational systems (Mehrez 2008). In the

1970s, as the Egyptian national government abilities to fund the increasing demand for education decreased, international schools consequently increased in popularity. English replaced French as the language of the “educated elite”. Today, nearly all of the Egyptian educational system is

Western in comparison to the pre-colonial Al-Kutub system of memorizing classical Arabic texts

(Peterson 2011). The more international languages and skills a school can offer, the higher its

12 status in Egypt. The more Westernized the system the more desirable it is in the community, and consequently the increased likelihood for its students to enroll at the best universities and hired in the top jobs (Peterson 2011). It is important to note that Egypt is a diglossic country, with two forms of Arabic. The first, al-fuṣḥá which translates to ‘the most eloquent’, has Classical Arabic

(CA) which is Quranic Arabic, and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) used today across the region for writing and formal speaking (Sabbah 2015). The second form is modern spoken

Arabic, which presents itself in a variety of colloquialisms and dialects (Sabbah 2015). Therefore being a native Egyptian Arabic speaker doesn’t automatically imply proficiency in CA or MSA, since they are both indicative of literacy rates.

Most people recognise that excellence in learning MSA will not provide them with an adequate job, and that it is incredibly strenuous for public school students to enter or succeed in universities or the workforce. The Egyptian government’s efforts to attract foreign investment post-independence has resulted in a contradictory reality where English has become an increasingly powerful tool in society, to the point that a mere British or American accent can result in a pay raise (Peterson 2011). Ultimately, the more languages you know, the higher your chances of succeeding.

Today Egyptian public schools are largely run down, poorly funded, and lack sufficient education or a healthy educational environment for educators or students (Peterson 2011). The schools are drenched with restrictions and censored curriculums that are unappealing to students and educators. They emphasize strategies such as rote learning to maintain loyalty and obedience, producing students who are nearly incapable of thinking creatively, but are rather cookie-cutter versions of each other. Whereas the exclusive private and international schools appear to allow for innovation as well as a higher quality education. This shift in increased

13 privatization of the primary and secondary educational systems, along with the increased desire to study in the West, continues to perpetuate the assumption that liberalization and innovation may only exist through Western models of education. Egyptians have an accelerated desire to adhere to Western thought and internally--through classism--promote the belief that in order to be "civilized" or "educated" you need to abandon your Egyptian affiliations and adhere to

Western ways of life and education (Peterson 2011).

The English language and imitation of the West continue to be presumed signs of intellect, superior education, as well as indicative of the upper class. Code-switching between

English and Arabic have become increasingly popular amongst youth, and in the workplace as well as in social gatherings. It is rare to hear anyone complete a full sentence in only Arabic, and this has become a sign of upper class and prestige (Sabbah 2015).

Over the last decade, with the spike in social media and texting platforms, Egyptians have also adopted the English keyboard to write Arabic words, this is known as Franco-Arabic text.

This is a direct implication of Englishization, which is the conversion of text from the local language, in this case Arabic, into English (Sabbah 2015). This effect of globalization contributes directly to language loss and fracture in identity. Studies show that youth find this easier, faster and more efficient than trying to write in Arabic. The popularity of the Franco-

Arabic texting emerged in the 1990s with the development of computers, as they lacked Arabic keyboards. Since the youth and educators at numerous levels were eager to learn the new technology, their familiarity with the English keyboard grew, it became easier to use the English script over the Arabic one (Al Fawaz 2015).

Code-switching along with Englishization of Arabic in conjunction with the accepted educational platform all contribute to the societal erasure of identity. If Egyptian youth,

14 particularly members of the upper class who may one day be the future leaders of the country, don’t speak Arabic, have the colonizers truly ever left? What will a future of a country, whose native language is Arabic be, if the upper class is consistently choosing to speak in English over

Arabic, mandating that it is the signifier of advancement or development? b. Egyptian Feminism: The Nahda was incredibly influential in shaping contemporary Egyptian feminism as it

encouraged the critical evaluation of women’s places and their rights within Egyptian society.

The Egyptian feminist movement was developed over five phases. The Intellectual Debate

Phase (1899- pre-World War one); the Nationalist Phase (1919-1924); the Social Activism

phase (1924-1950s); the Statist Social Phase (1952-1970s); the Infitah Phase (1970s-present).

The Intellectual debate phase was led by and for the upper-class, it involved initiations by

upper class men, most of whom had studied abroad and were directed at upper class women,

known as Harem women. Recognized around the region as the “Emancipator of Women” ,

Egyptian Lawyer, Quasim Amin’s published The Liberation of Women, and The

Emancipation of Women both in 1899, identifying him as the first Egyptian Arab Feminist

(Abd El Kader 1987). His feminist perspectives forged the path for feminist debate across the

entire Arab region. Amin’s work was supported by numerous upper-class women who were

highly educated and invested in philanthropy, among them was prominent feminist writer,

Malak Hifni Nasif. Highly educated herself, she was committed to gender equity, and

education. Nasif adopted the pen name, Bahithat al-Badiya (the Inquiring Desert Woman),

consequent to her ill-fated marriage, upon discovering that she was her husband’s second

wife. Her writing critiqued marriage customs in the country, notions of polygamy, a woman’s

domestic role, and was incredibly active in politics. In 1911, she famously delivered a speech

15 to the Legislative Assembly demanding a ten-point action plan to improve the positionality of women in Egypt, five of which centered around education particularly religious education, and the other five were about improving morality and marriage culture. Though the work of

Amin and Nasif were revolutionary, there was lacking state support for feminist initiatives and so little overall change was possible. Especially when Egypt was declared a British protectorate at the beginning of World War One, shifting everyone’s attention to independence.

The Nationalist Phase (1919-1924) on the other hand immersed women in the political scene as Egypt’s plight for independence preserved. A member of the harem and Egyptian elite, Huda Shaarawi, was a prominent figure in this phase of feminism, that laid the foundation to modern day Egyptian feminism. Passionate about the importance of education, she established the first secular philanthropic society run by women in 1908, offering services to impoverished women and children, in order to challenge the societal expectation that

Hareem women were only created for male sexual pleasure (Engel 2012).

She was among the women who rose to high political activist roles in the country, working alongside revolutionary men, in pursuit of independence and the establishment of an

Egyptian identity. In 1919, she organized the largest all women anti-British demonstration in in the country marking the peak of Egyptian women’s political activism; a historical contribution she remains thanked for today. In 1920 became the president of the Wafdist

Women’s Central Committee, the leading nationalist party’s committee for women. In 1923, she became the first woman to identity as a feminist, when she founded the Egyptian Feminist

Union—a non-profit organization that remains active in Egypt today—seeking women’s suffrage, equitable societal standings and fought for increased educational opportunities for

16 girls, demanding that the government makes primary education compulsory for girls and boys alike (Jaffer 2015). Shaarawi was joined by equally prolific Egyptian women who were dedicated to girls education, and correcting the skewed image of Egyptian women abroad.

Among these were activist Ceza Nabrawi, and university professor Nabawiyya Musa, who in

1907 became the first Egyptian woman to graduate from high school.

As members of the upper-class Harem, Shaarawi, Nabrawi and Musa were required to cover their faces in public and in the presence of men. An elitist symbol that wasn’t enforced on the middle and lower classes. In 1923, they became the first three women to publicly remove their face veils, upon arriving at the train station in Cairo, following their attendance at the International Women Suffrage Alliance in Rome. This event was a public spectacle, wildly reported by international media, causing a controversial outcry in the entire country, and encouraging other women to do the same (Jaffer 2015). The Nationalist phase focused on women’s increased self-authorship and their contributions to the country’s overall nationalist initiatives.

The Social Activism phase (1924-1950s); was a more specific movement that emerged out of the Nationalist phase. It included three types of feminists; the agitators, the social reformers, and the pioneers (Abd El Kader 1987). The agitators, like Shaarawi, actively worked in pursuit of women’s agitation. There was increased support for the Egyptian

Feminist Union continuing to work on women’s suffrage, martial law and educational reform.

The social reformers, like Hidaya Afifi, were women involved with philanthropic organizations dedicated to setting an example for what women can do in response to social welfare issues, such as healthcare. Afifi was a leading figure in the creation of Mabarrat

Muhammad Ali, the largest and most active women’s organization in the country, which by

1961, had created twelve hospitals that were frequently the only ones in their location (Abd El

Kader 1987). The pioneers, like Sohair al-Qalamawy, were women who didn’t belong to the political or philanthropic organizations, but inspired women based on the personal struggles that changed the course of their lives. Al-Qalamawy, was one of the five first women to be admitted to Fouad 1 University (later named Cairo University). Despite her academic excellence she was denied entry into the medical school, as they refused to admit women, and so her only choice was Arabic Literature (Abd El Kader 1987). A member of the upper class, her mother didn’t support her choice for work as it indicated she needed the money, however she managed to pursue publishing, becoming the first woman to win the state prize in

Literature and the Arts in 1977. She also became a full professor at Cairo University, and engaged in the revolutionary concept of a woman’s ability to teach males students, becoming one of few women to join this trajectory. Upon retiring, she became a member of parliament.

The Statist Social Phase (1952-1970s); emerged with Gamal Abd El Nasser’s coup d’etat abolishing the monarchy. This phase focused on women’s issues within State Laws. During

1960-66, the government established “Socialist laws” which included, the expansion of the public sector; the allocation of 50% of seats in popularly elected bodies to workers and peasants; the requirement that 25% of any company’s profits to go to employees; as well as the employment of all university and trade school graduates by the public sector. This drive for social equality, led to the explicit mention for women’s emancipation in the National

Charter of 1962 stating:

Woman must be regarded as equal to man and she must therefore shed the remaining

shackles that impede her free movement, so that she may play a constructive and

profoundly important part in shaping the life of the country (Abd El Kader 1987).

This phase was centered around developing a sense of identity in order to advance the country. Free and compulsory education laws were established aiming to Egyptianize and unify the country’s education system. This involved the creation of co-gender education, which eliminated the need for “feminine skills” classes and though girls literacy rates were still lower than boys’, there was a growth in the STEM fields. However mandatory education was restricted to members of the lower class who couldn’t afford the additional costs of education, like books and uniforms. They also couldn’t afford to lose the domestic support of girls around the house. Labor laws secured minimum wage rates and working hours. They encouraged women’s involvement in the workforce by increasing the number of daycare facilities for children and the availability of part-time jobs. Although women only made up

8% of the labor, 15% of them had university degrees, meaning that the educational level of working men was higher than men’s. Political Laws gave women the right to vote in 1956, seeking to increase their political efficacy. However, since women’s participation wasn’t mandatory, many didn’t partake. Finally, this phase emphasized the importance of family planning. The National Family Planning Program launched in 1966 with the Supreme Court conducted activities in 3,000 health facilities. The program provided cheap contraceptives, mainly birth control pills and intrauterine devices (Abd El Kader 1987). .

These laws aimed to increase the levels of women’s education. As educated women with financial security from their own jobs were less likely to be concerned with marrying at a young age and other domestic requirements.

The final phase of feminism, the Infitah Phase (1970s - present), Infitah, meaning opening, is in reference to Sadat’s open-door economic policies, and the subsequent desire for increased Westernization. This phase was a 180-degree shift from the earlier phases.

Paradoxically, this increase in westernization of the upper class was paralleled with increased

ethnocentrism and xenophobia among the middle and lower classes as the struggled to sustain

themselves. The growing divide between classes and the increasing lack of plans to address

socio-economic prospects for the middle and lower classes, resulted in the rise of Islamist

thought in an attempt to protect national identity.

The desire for increased westernization and development also resulted in the suppression

of local industries and the agricultural sector, which employ the majority of women in the

middle and lower classes, thus suppressing their income (Abd El Kader 1987). The open-door

policy increased the number of foreigners in the country for investment, as well as the number

of Egyptians leaving the country for jobs. While the upper-class members migrated to Europe

and the United States, the surge in migration to Arab oil countries, predominantly by the men

of the middle class, led to the rapid increase in single parent households at home. However, it

also increased women’s financial independence and ability for vertical and horizontal job

mobility.

With the increased westernization and loss in Egyptian identity, Islam became a tool for

grasping onto Egyptian culture, since it is regarded as the most important single element that

defines Egyptian cultural heritage (Abd El Kader 1987). Unlike in 1922, the veil and Islamist

dress served as an egalitarian representation of equity between classes. c. Voice: The voice is the primary method for communicating effectively and expressing your opinions. The voice is informed by listening, hearing, and how people react to, accept, or reject the things you say. The ability to claim your voice, and have agency over it, is somewhat contingent upon and goes hand in hand with representation within the socio-political cultural

20 narrative (Lawry 2017). Within epistemic violence, subaltern women, as Gayatri Spivak explains, are always caught in the middle of translating their thoughts when they speak, never truly permitted to express themselves, since they don’t adhere to Western ways of perceiving the world (Spivak 1993). In doing so, women’s messages may be altered, dismissed or silenced as they are deemed unacceptable. Age, ethnicity, gender, religion are all indicative signifiers of who may be respectfully listened to and given the opportunity to speak powerfully, versus who is dismissed.

Voice is more than just what is said but is also about the way in which a speaker presents themselves, and puts themselves in a position to be heard. Therefore, the voice alone is not indicative of an empowered identity, it must be followed up with actions in order to impact your sense of self-authorship and empowered identity. Maurice Merleau-Ponty highlighted that spoken words also consist of expressive gestures that make up meaning of what we say. Facial gestures, accents, volume, intonation etc. are all fundamental to our performance of speech, and thus how we generate voice (Lawry 2017). What is said, how it is said and when it is said, as well as the body and gestures used to disseminate the information are what makes a voice

“hearable” and acceptable within the normative culture.

What happens to the voice once it leaves the body? Whose identity does it reflect and who is in control of it? The speaker or the listener? Given the historical suppression of women’s voices, and the objectification of their bodies, it is viable to note the work of philosopher and cultural theorist, Mladen Dolar who views the voice as an object, rather than a vehicle or a source for meaningful information. He argues that the voice is an object that although not fully defined by the body, emerges from it and detaches to exist between the intersection of language and the body (Dolar 2006). If the voice is viewed as a separate object for manipulation, while

21 simultaneously is essential to the speaker’s identity, vocal empowerment may give young

Egyptian women a chance to reclaim their voices. The SPEAK curriculum engages participants to learn about the fundamental mechanics of a voice - the power (lungs, diaphragm), source

(vocal chords) and filter (jaw, teeth, tongue, lips). Gaining an understanding of the physical production of voice, will increase a person’s sense of self-authorship and identity. They will have a grasp of the physical and emotional elements required to produce voice and will ensure that when their voice stands alone as an object, it adequately reflects their opinions, ensuring that their voice presents a fully formed idea that can’t be manipulated by others.

Actor and vocal trainer, Kristin Linklater focuses on the physical embodiment of vocal production to “liberate the natural voice” and expand humans’ expressive vocal ranges (Linklater

2006). The complexities in human emotion and the environmental stressors which they are subjected to all impact humans’ self-perception of their voice. Through a series of vocal exercises to develop range and resonance, Linklater challenges the notion of a natural vs a familiar voice. Psychological, aural and life experiences blocks may all prevent the exploration of someone’s natural voice (Linklater 2006). However, when the natural voice is freed, a person is liberated and thus capable of disseminating their articulated thoughts and successfully delivering their message, regardless of who their listener is.

While this study cannot guarantee the full achievement of these desired ideal characteristics, SPEAK provides participants with a foundational platform to start exploring what a liberated, free, reclaimed voice mean within vocal empowerment. d. Sustainable Development: The international concept of development emerged post World War 2, as a global effort lead by assistance from the industrialized world for “backward” countries to “catch up” with

22 them (Black 2007). However, decades of international assistance has failed to alleviate the burdens on impoverished communities. It has only increased the binary between North and

South, East and West, and resulted in the homogenous degradation of those deemed underdeveloped. Subsequently forcing underdeveloped communities to develop an increased desire to imitate the Western models, which involves over consumption of natural resources and leading to environmental degradation (Black 2007). While Gross Domestic Product (GDP) became a leading indicator of a country’s wealth and advancement, the UN Environment

Conference in 1972 linked the global understanding of development with the rate of depletion of natural resource wealth (Osnes 2015).

Therefore, sustainable development, aims to serve as development that meets the needs of the current population without eradicating the ability for future generations to do the same

(Osnes 2015). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all member states of the United Nations (UN) in 2015, emphasises a call to action by all countries to target 17

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the next 15 years. The agenda provides a blueprint, that encompasses the efforts of all previous UN sustainable development and climate issues, dating back to the 1992 Rio De Janeiro Earth Summit and the 2000 Millennium Goals with ranked the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women was third out of the eight goals (United Nations 2015). The agenda emphasises the importance of global partnerships, recognizing that the elimination of poverty is contingent upon improving education and healthcare access while simultaneously tackling climate change and working on preserving our natural habitats (United Nations 2015). The agenda highlights quality education as fourth and gender equality as fifth overall, stressing the necessity for young women’s active participation in sustainable development (United Nations 2015).

Sustainable development works towards eliminating the concept of development as a social construct that homogenizes of diminishes the roles of certain groups of people. Further echoing Spivak’s perspectives on women’s participation within the subaltern binary, feminist

Emma Perez emphasizes that women of color, particularly those in the underdeveloped world, have never had the chance to voice their own opinions (Osnes 2015). Throughout the history of development, they have been spoken about, written about, but rarely listened to or spoken with.

Looking at Perez’s perspectives, along with the international attention regarding quality education and elevating gender equality, it is imperative to focus on individual contributions and the feasibility of engaging marginalized populations in the sustainable development conversations. Inclusive grassroot efforts are the key to obtaining sustainable development.

These efforts must be led by the people who are most impacted by poverty, rather than through a

Western lens that mandates what may or may not be labeled as developed, or who is permitted to speak up and contribute to the efforts.

The Need for Study: The colonial mindset maintained by the Egyptian elite continues to lead the country’s initiatives and suppress the population’s expression of Egyptian cultural identity. Egyptian youth sense of disidenitifcation from their Egyptian culture and heritage continues to increase with the association of the English language with an empowered or intellectual identity.

This study examines in part the English-Arabic discrepancy, as to assert that young

Egyptian women’s vocal empowerment can reinvigorate their postcolonial identities, by focusing on the content of their thoughts rather than the language the speak and not vice versa.

Specifically emphasising that English proficiency is not a requirement for vocal empowerment or an increased self-perception of their ability to contribute to sustainable development. This study hopes to prove that the use of voice to contribute effectively to social change and sustainable development within their community is not contingent upon the English language, but rather on personal confidence and belief in one’s power to enact change. Addressing the self-imposed linguistic limitations and the suppression of language choice to indicate intellectualism in Egypt is one of the factors that contribute to one’s ability to enact social change in their community.

This study contributes to national and international initiatives for young women’s empowerment set forth by the United Nations, Egyptian government and Paul Hawken’s plan to reverse global warming and advance sustainable development. In Egypt, 52.03% of the population is under the age of 24, of which 51.42% is female. According to UNESCO, more females are enrolled in primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutes in Egypt (UNESCO

2017). However, there is no readily available data to support evidence that young women are sufficiently contributing to sustainable development measures in the country today.

In order to envision a sustainable future, young women, who have historically been ignored from the international sustainable development conversation, must be included in the

25 narrative (Osnes 2015). By engaging with them and supporting them to stand up for their rights to play an active role, the international community will be able to achieve peace, security, justice, climate resilience and sustainable development for all (United Nations 2018). Given the

Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook data that 13 years of primary and secondary education are compulsory in Egypt, and the mean age for women in Egypt to bear their first child is 22.7 years (Central Intelligence Agency 2019), it is of the utmost importance to enhance young women’s sense of self-authorship and vocal efficacy before the age of 17.

Furthermore, Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed To Reverse

Global Warming, an organization which started by noted environmentalist Paul Hawken, brought together a team of over 100 researchers to generate a list of top solutions for reversing global warming (Hawken 2017). If solutions number six (educate girls) and seven (family planning) are added together, since both are directly related to women, they are the number one solution for stabilizing our climate. Solutions six and seven are each projected to reduce 51.48 GT of atmospheric CO2-equivalent reduction of greenhouse gases. Added together that is 102.96 GT, which is greater than solution number one, refrigerant management, expected to reduce 89.74

GT.(Hawken 2017).

Vocal empowerment is essential for girls’ education as it is for women’s ability to initiate spousal communication and advocacy on family planning. The return on investment environmentally and socially is incalculable. Educated young women often grow up to work in various fields and are primary homemakers and mothers, can elevate their entire communities out of poverty, spearheading sustainable development and advancing literacy rates in communities for future generations (Hawken 2017).

Both national and local ministries within the Egyptian government acknowledge the need for youth’s contributions in order to advance the country and have thus outlined it in the

Egyptian Government’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030. Inspired by the innovation, and creativity of the ancient Egyptian civilization to move the country into the future, this strategic plan cultivates an inclusive development plan to address economic, social, and environmental concerns of the country (The Cabinet of Ministers 2017). These include; education and gender issues - specifically the role of women in Egypt’s future. In 2018, Egypt’s

Ministry of Local Development also announced its intention to eliminate illiteracy in Egypt in the next three years. They aim to seek youth’s contribution in devising best practices and peer- based education (Egypt Today 2018). In an effort to regain scholars lost as a result of Egypt’s brain drain and highlight the power to advance via native efforts, the Ministry of Expatriate

Affairs launched a conference series titled “Egypt Can”, inviting expat Egyptian researchers and scholars to present their work and devise strategies to advance the country. I participated in the fourth conference - focusing on education in 2018, discussing the importance of utilising theatre exercises to advance young women’s contributions to the country’s sustainable development. It was incredibly well received, indicating the receptiveness of the country’s powerheads to this field of work. I was invited to further collaborate with the Aswan governorate ministry of education to continue reforming the system.

Vocal Empowerment through Applied Theatre: Young women’s vocal activism is crucial for Egypt’s future. I correlate vocal empowerment and postcolonial Egyptian identity with sustainable development, because in order to advance a community, especially as it pertains to the initiatives put forth by the Egyptian government and Hawken’s climate strategies, it is imperative to galvanise young women and seek their collaboration. In order for young women to be active agents of sustainable development, they must first gain a sense of confidence in themselves, and trust that despite their age and gender, that their voices are vital for their community’s advancement. The SPEAK curriculum aims to increase all of these elements, as well as increase the young women’s sense of belonging to their local and national community--a feeling of disidentification many young

Egyptians suffer from. Therefore, by supporting their journey to activate their voices, young women can start to see the beauty and power that both they possess personally, and what they can offer their community.

Pursuing vocal empowerment through applied theatre makes it accessible and engaging, as it is the practice of theatre and performance in untraditional theatrical settings, with non-actors to address challenging societal issues (Jackson, n.d.). There is no pressure on participants to have an artistic or performance background, making it accessible for all. A forefather of applied theatre, Augusto Boal, influenced by the pedagogy of Paulo Freire founded the Theatre of the

Oppressed to emphasize the vitality of community-based approaches to engage in social change.

Focusing on the fact that one can only empower themselves, he develops the idea that people can become “spect-actors” engaging in and critiquing normative socio-political culture, as opposed to being passive spectators and absorbing the oppressive colonial based structure (Boal 1985).

The use of applied theatre as a tool for vocal empowerment with young women, enables them to express themselves creatively, establish a sense of community and belonging as well as

28 increase their desire for self-advocacy and civic participation. It ultimately supports them in reinvigorating a sense of postcolonial Egyptian identity that will galvanize their participation in national and international sustainable development initiatives. Research has shown that when women lead the way in sustainable development, the entire community is often lifted out of poverty as resources are pumped back into the community and there is an increased likelihood of educating future generations (Osnes and Hackett 2017).

Focusing specifically on voice as a tool for young women’s empowerment is essential as their voices are unique and individual to them. Through voices, young women are able to communicate effectively with others, offer their perspectives and convey our feelings. Effective voice allows for effective sharing of successes, connections and collaborations with like-minded individuals, to create a supportive community. SPEAK focuses on young women between the ages of 11-17, as they are crucial for the future of any community (Osnes and Hackett 2017).

Through the facilitation of SPEAK and the assessment of vocal efficacy as it relates to language and belief in one’s ability to contribute to sustainable development and social change within their community, I introduce accessible methods young Egyptian women to work towards the decolonization of their own minds in order to impact their greater community.

This study seeks to articulate how vocal empowerment for young Egyptian women support their reinvigoration of an Egyptian postcolonial identity. Vocal empowerment is the belief that what you say is worthwhile, your voice belongs to you, and that you have the right for self-authorship (Osnes and Hackett 2017). It is characterized as someone developing a sense of individual comfort, confidence and ability to vocally express themselves in public, that enables them to believe that they are entitled to make decisions and to begin to undo internalized oppression (Osnes and Hackett 2017).

Vocal empowerment is a necessary tool for the reinvigoration of a postcolonial identity amongst young women. The desire for a postcolonial identity amongst Egyptians is not unheard of, it has been at the core of activist work throughout the 20th century as Egypt was gaining its independence. Therefore, what I propose isn’t a new concept, but rather one that is rooted in postcolonial Egyptian feminism, which needs to be renewed and re-strengthened within Egyptian society, specifically amongst young women who largely lack this experience and disidenitify with their culture.

Explicitly stating the need for a “postcolonial identity” instead of just an identity, is to articulate the need for an identity beyond the colonial binary that continues to be enforced in contemporary Egypt. We cannot completely undo colonialism or its impacts on our societies internationally all at once, however we can modify the way we talk about it and how we perceive ourselves within its structure. Sustainable development and social change will not be achieved in postcolonial countries if its youth continue disidentifying from their native culture in an attempt to blindly mimic the West. Productive cultural exchange only works if you are aware of your own culture first, before choosing to adopt alternative ideas. Striving to achieve a postcolonial identity works towards Thiong’o’s theories on decolonization of the mind.

Methodology: a. Site Description: In this qualitative and quantitative case study, I obtained Institutional review Board (IRB) approval and facilitated SPEAK with three groups of young women in Egypt between the months of June - July 2018.

I co-facilitated the SPEAK curriculum in Colorado with Osnes and witnessed first-hand the evidence on increased young women’s vocal efficacy. Considering the minimal evidence of applied theatre in Egypt, I was interested in implementing it with young women there. As I was drawn to the socio political and economic variables that impact young women’s self-perception of their vocal efficacy, I wanted to engage a variety of participants. Hence, I knew the value in collaborating with a strong local partner.

In 1971 the United Nations development Fund (UNDP) funded the Arab League’s

Transportation Committee to create a regional center for maritime transport training. This became the Arab Academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT). With headquarters in Alexandria, Egypt, the university has branches all around the Middle East and numerous connections with private and public universities as well as the Egyptian government.

Despite the irony (given my aims of decolonizing the minds of young women), I collaborated with the Cambridge English Testing Centre at AASTMT, as they were the university’s sole center with a dedicated summer curriculum for youth, with offices on multiple AASTMT campuses, including Alexandria and Aswan.

The Centre was responsible for recruiting the 55 participants across both cities. There was no English language proficiency requirement, fee for participation, or previous performance

31 experience requirements. I met with two groups in Aswan and one in Alexandria, for 90 minutes every day over 12 consecutive days, in each city, on the AASTMT campuses.

I specifically chose to conduct the curriculum in Alexandria and Aswan given their contrasting geographical locations, levels of socio-economic statuses, and exposure to

Westernization. Although both are coastal tourist cities, Alexandria is the more cosmopolitan and densely populated of the two. Aswan is part of Sa’id Masr, a location which spans from southern

Cairo all the way to the Sudanese border. They speak Sai’di Arabic, a dialect of colloquial

Egyptian Arabic, which is largely looked down upon by Egyptians, since it is associated with rural non-urbanized communities (Little et al. 2019).

Table 1: Participant Demographics

Group Location Total Number of Age School Type participants (N) (Average years) (Mode)

X Aswan 15 12.8 National

Y Aswan 21 15.3 National

Z Alexandria 19 13.5 Private

b. Adaptation of SPEAK for Egyptian Participants: Although I assumed most of the participants would be fluent or have a working knowledge in English, I wanted to lessen the preconceived elitism association with English- based education. I aimed to ensure the accessibility of the curriculum and to avoid the misconception that vocal empowerment and addressing sustainable development are equivalent to Western thought and the English language, or are restricted for the upper class. I wondered to what extent the geographical location and exposure to international education and globalization impacted young women’s vocal efficacy in the different languages. Would language knowledge

32 have an impact on participants’ vocal efficacy and self-authorship levels, as well as their feelings on how they can impact their community?

Prior to arriving in Egypt, I translated the assessment materials, the exercises, as well as the supplementary materials used during the curriculum. I modified some of the exercises, such as the daily meditative visualization, given its abstract nature. I also added sustained sounds warm ups to incorporate Arabic letters. These documents have now become incorporated in the

SPEAK organization. Given my international education, attending primary and secondary British schools and pursuing tertiary education in the United States, I have always identified as having a much greater sense of vocal efficacy and proficiency in English over Arabic. This was the first time in my life to disseminate my work in Arabic. Despite being fluent in Egyptian Arabic, I refrained from using it academically, specifically Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), beyond my mandatory classes in school.

Therefore, I documented the process of translation and facilitation of the curriculum as part of my field notes. I was quick to realize that there were several words--integral to vocal empowerment and reinvigoration of a postcolonial identity--that I didn’t know how to say in

Arabic. These were: empowerment, global warming, postcolonial. During the translation process, I had to decide whether I would use MSA or colloquial Egyptian Arabic to write. I decided to use MSA since I was facilitating this curriculum in an educational capacity and this is the standard written form of Arabic, and the real indicator of reading fluency, since colloquial

Egyptian Arabic is meant to be only spoken. I realized that this could present a challenge to my participants, where they wouldn’t know which language form to respond in, however I decided that based on their response and Arabic of choice, or their ability to code switch between the

33 two, that would be an additional indicator of their vocal empowerment and ability to present their thoughts in their native language.

Since many phrases have no direct translation when changed from English to Arabic, or the direct translation depicts a different message, I utilized a four-step translation process. First, I would translate the text directly from English to Arabic, restructuring the sentence for grammatical sense. Secondly, I would ask three other native Arabic speakers to read the sentence, and I would ask them to explain to me how they interpreted it. I consulted three family members, fluent in both Arabic and English, at different times so they couldn’t hear each other’s responses. Three people would allow me to verify the best, most understandable translation.

Thirdly, I would read them the original English statement and ask for their interpretation, to check if it matched the Arabic translation. The fourth step varied depending on the outcome of the third. If the interpretation was different, I consulted them on identifying synonyms for certain words and collaborating on creating the most accurate translation, while maintaining the simplicity of the language. c. Data and Analysis: All of the participants were asked for their permission to participate in the study, and their names and identity have been protected by codes and pseudonyms. I recorded four recordings for each participant as baseline and final assessments in both English and Arabic, using the Voice Analyst app on my iPad. Since I was curious about the correlation of vocal efficacy on bilingualism, each participant read a short paragraph. As well as recording a spontaneous speech segment by responding to the following prompts:

1. Hello my name is:

2. My voice is important to me because:

3. My greatest community concern is:

4. One idea I have to improve my community is to:

I recorded both Arabic recordings first, followed by the English. The iPad was placed vertically facing the participants, 30cm away from them. Each participant was recorded separately, and none of them were given the prompts or the reading passages in advance. I would start the recording then hold up the A4 sheets of paper with each of the texts up at eye level for the participants. I explained to them that I will not speak during the entirety of the recording, and that this was not a test, so they shouldn’t worry if they can’t answer a prompt and to just try their best. All of the recordings took place in the same classroom in each city, where each participant was recorded separately. The rooms were not soundproof, and given the density of noise pollution in Egypt, the recordings have minimal background noise that leaked through the walls and closed windows. However, the quality of the recordings has not been majorly impacted. These recordings were analyzed for voice characteristics, such as pitch, frequency, volume using PRAAT, a software for the scientific analysis of speech in phonetics; and their content was analyzed by Dedoose, a computer assistive qualitative data analysis software

(SocioCultural Research Consultants 2016).

As part of their baseline and final assessments, the participants also completed personal vocal efficacy surveys with questions asking them how they perceived their voice, by ticking boxes labelled in both languages: Always true; Mostly true; Don’t know; Sometimes true; Never true. In the original SPEAK curriculum, the “don’t know” category wasn’t included. I decided to add it in my adaptation, as a measurement for vocal efficacy and empowerment is in part related to seeing whether they understand that part of their voice or not.

They also indicated to what extent they felt they were heard and understood at home, school and in public, on a scale of one to ten accompanied with a frowning face for ten, the lowest level, and a smiling face for one, the greatest level. The participants completed their surveys individually, and then indicated their comfort speaking and levels of perceived efficacy on a group chart, that was discussed collectively. The surveys were in written with English on the left-hand side and Arabic on the right. I deliberately didn’t provide them with any instructions regarding which language to use as I was curious to see which they would gravitate towards.

Figure 1 Vocal Efficacy Scale Survey. Questions one to twelve

Figure 2: Vocal Efficacy Scale Survey. Question thirteen a, b, c.

During the curriculum the participants completed daily journals which were also in

Arabic and English and made a personal declaration or one idea they have to personally help their community. Throughout the 12 sessions of the curriculum they also worked in groups of 4-

5 to generate skits that portrayed the current state with the community problem, the desired future solution, and the transition of how to get from the current state to the future one. They were given the option to present in English or in Arabic for all of these.

After transcribing and de-identifying the data, I used Dedoose to code all of the transcribed baseline and final spontaneous speech recordings in both languages, and Grounded theory methodology to subsequently analyse the data. This coding procedure allowed me to make constructive comparisons between content for their perception of their voices, community concerns and ideas for community improvement in their baseline and final assessments. I was able to compare participants individually as well as geographically and across languages to determine levels of their vocal efficacy. I began the coding process manually, by reading the participants answers and summarizing their thoughts. Grounded theory ensures that the data drives the results as much as possible, and so I refrained from imposing my bias or interpretation on what they were saying. After reviewing what each participant said, I started to see if any

37 patterns were emerging, and subsequently created themes to codify these patterns. I created

“parent”/main codes in Dedoose for each of the prompts, followed by specific “child”/secondary codes to specify details related to each code. For example: ‘Education’ would be the parent code, and ‘corruption in education’, ‘studying’, ‘illiteracy’ would be examples of child codes. I then analyzed the code application and presence to indicate frequency and prevalence in the passages to evaluate vocal efficacy prior to and post the curriculum.

I used the same codes for the baseline and final recordings in both languages, however I added more child codes when coding the final excerpts, since the participants indicated that they were more guided in their articulation of specific thoughts. The codes are titled and described in

English, to make it accessible for my readers and the analysis process. I translated and interpreted all of the material myself, any Arabic text written in the description was for the purposes of guiding me to code easily when working with the Arabic recordings and therefore doesn’t abide by transliteration rules. All the codes and descriptions are outlined in my code book (refer to Appendix 1. for the complete code book).

Figure 3: Example of codes in Dedoose

Findings: a. Qualitative Data: This study sought to investigate how vocal empowerment impacts young Egyptian women’s self-perception of their ability to contribute to sustainable development.

SPEAK aspires to achieve vocal empowerment by focusing on multiple aspects of the voice. Singing being one of them. I translated the affirmational song, which intended to be performed at the final public sharing to reaffirm participants grasp of the importance of their voices. However, none of the groups approved of my translation or the original rhythm of the song and decided that they could compose a much better one. I presented Group Y, the translation Group X had composed earlier that day, however they didn’t like it either and proceeded to create their own version. Upon agreeing on new lyrics, rhythm, and deliberating over adding and removing clapping, dancing and drumming; they decided to translate the song into English as well. The final versions of the songs started with and Arabic verse, followed by an English verse, then a repeated chorus in Arabic. Following suit, in Alexandria, Group Z, didn’t like either of the versions from Aswan and decided to compose their own song. Unlike

Groups X and Y, they decided to start with an English song, as opposed to an Arabic one. Their song only had one Arabic verse. Devising the song, the young women took turns to listen to each other, openly expressing their opinions and voicing their likes and dislikes. Reaching a consensus wasn’t easy in any of the groups, but they collaborated and reached an agreement to satisfy all participants.

Demonstrating leadership can also result in increased vocal empowerment and self- authorship. Over the course of the curriculum, I encouraged different members of the group to lead the different daily exercises, a series of vocal warm ups that we conducted every day at the

39 beginning of the session to expand the vocal range. None of the participants in any of the groups had any theatre background and had never participated in exercises of this nature before. So, some were uncomfortable or self-conscious at the beginning. Participants in Groups X and Y were better acquainted with one another, but Group Z participants developed a sense of comfort in their bodies faster. This was an opportunity for self-motivation and peer guidance. After the fourth session, I started asking if there were any volunteers that would like to lead the exercises.

At the beginning they were nervous, but by the seventh session they were arguing over who would lead which exercise. This allowed participants to speak up and share their knowledge regarding the skills that they know. It was also an opportunity for self-assessment that was extracted from judgement within a hegemonic binary. As they lead the activities, they started realizing the importance of knowledge sharing and that despite the fact that I was the adult facilitator, I was not the sole educator and knowledge bearer, and they should feel comfortable taking ownership of their actions. A couple of participants from Group X told me they were teaching their parents and siblings the exercises as well.

Another instance of creative thinking was exhibited in the final moment of one of the sessions. We ended every session with a closing ritual, that would involve standing in a circle with your arms crossed, right over left. We would recap the lessons learnt for the day, and sometimes pass a gentle squeeze around the circle, resembling how we are all connected in our community and how the actions of someone who isn’t directly next to you, may still impact you.

Once we were done we would collectively say: “we have empowered voices and we’re taking them out into the world!” upon saying the second half of the phrase, we would turn out, unravelling the circle. Halfway through the curriculum, the participants in Group Y decided to change the phrase to: “we are going to achieve our dreams, and no one is going to stop us!”

These three instances enabled the young women to feel a sense of empowerment and accomplishment and reasserted their belief in their ability to be leaders within their communities, their abilities to come up with new ideas and ability to respectfully critique established rules and other people’s opinions.

In this study I will focus specifically on the qualitative data collected and analyzed from the participants’ spontaneous speech baseline and final recordings in both languages. Since I am interested in evaluating their abilities to voice their opinions and generate ideas, I have chosen to not include data collected from the reading segments recordings, as this shows their ability to read text. Similarly, I will not be using their daily journals or their personal declarations as I want to emphasize the spoken word and how they express themselves vocally, not in writing.

In order to evaluate how participation in this curriculum impacted participants’ responses to how they may contribute to sustainable development; and, identifying if increased vocal efficacy can reduce the perception that the knowledge of the English language is necessary for one’s ability to contribute effectively to society, I will be analyzing specific segments from the recordings. This study will compare how the participants responded to the prompts in each language: 1. assessing the content - why is their voice important? What is their greatest community concern? What is one idea they have to improve their community? As well as how many times they couldn’t answer or responded with “I don’t know”; 2. Voice breaks - assessing speech flow; 3. Ability to continue their thoughts by responding to the prompts.

I coded the content of the participants’ responses based on themes in a series of codes, outlined below:

● Table 2: Voice breaks and interruptions

○ Total voice breaks: Interruptions in continuous speech. Participant may have

stuttered, laughed or hesitated before continuing on with their sentence, for

example hesitating in the form of: Uhh, um, eh, ahh; or stuttering; or pausing for a

long period of time before finishing the word or sentence. Voice breaks also

include if a participant mumbled; or didn’t respond to the prompt, by only reading

the prompt and not adding anything; as well as if they repeated a word twice or

more in a row.

○ Grammatical errors: Incorrect pronunciation and/or sentence structure in Arabic

and English (eg. wrong masculine/feminine/plural word/tense)

○ English words: English words used in the Arabic transcripts, such as replacing an

Arabic word with an English word or saying it in English followed by Arabic

○ Arabic words: Participant spoke in Arabic in the middle of English recording,

such as replacing an English word with an Arabic word, including saying “I don’t

know”4

● Table 3: Most frequency responses to: “my voice is important to me because”:

○ Expression: My voice is important to me because I express myself with it.

Including child codes: I can deliver my message; I express myself without fear; I

speak with confidence; I am in control of my voice; I can stand up for myself and

my rights; I use it to speak in public; I can voice my opinions

○ My feelings: my voice is important to me because it expresses my feelings

4 Saying “I don’t know” is a child code of “ Arabic words” for the purposes of this study they will be combined.

○ My personality & myself5: My voice expresses my personality and allows me to

represent myself

○ Voice - I don’t know: I don't know why my voice is important to me. Participants

responded by saying the phrase "I don't know"

○ Concern - I don’t know: I don't know what my greatest community concern is.

Participants responded by saying the phrase "I don't know"

● Table 4: Most frequency responses to: “my greatest concern for my community is”:

○ Education: including curriculums, access, or the act of learning and people's

literacy rates, how they think and how hard they work

○ Environment: including pollution, global warming, cleanliness of the streets,

water levels rising and air quality

● Table 5: Most frequency responses to: “one idea I have to improve my community is to”:

○ Don’t pollute: making sure people don't pollute the environment, including

“child” codes: not throwing rubbish in the street or in the water; increasing

rubbish bins in the streets; reducing water usage; enforcing street laws to penalise

polluters.

○ Education: ideas about improving education, including “child” codes: eliminating

illiteracy; equal access and girls education; the addition of international

languages; I can teach others; I can study, or conduct research; and invent new

ideas

○ I can help: ideas relating to helping the community, when coded as only “I can

help” participant was vague. This label includes “child” codes: encourage my

5 “Myself” is a child code of “my personality”, for the purposes of this study they will be combined.

peers to speak up, to work hard, or fight for their rights etc.; help those around me

in my "small community" like my friends and family; or I can help the poor by

fundraising, volunteering with NGOs to reduce homelessness and shanty towns; I

can lead by example; I can start by focusing on myself; I can raise awareness to

issues I care about via social media platforms such as Facebook; I can write to the

government; and a belief that my actions matter.

○ Idea - I don’t know: I don't know how I can improve my community. Participants

responded by saying the phrase "I don't know"

● Table 6: Thought (Label code used to identify participant's ability to continue a thought.

Was the thought continued or completely changed from the two prompts: "my greatest

community concern is...." to "one idea I have to improve my community is to.."):

○ Continued thought: The participant continued her thought. The community

concern lead to/matched the idea for improvement

○ Discontinued thought: The participant didn't continue her thought. The

community concern was different from the idea for improvement, one didn't lead

to/match the other, they addressed different things

○ N/A thought: The participant didn't know answer (by either not responding or

saying I don't know) to one or both of the prompts, and so the thought doesn't

exit.

All tables represent participants responses as points. Points refer to the number of times

the following theme emerged in the participants recordings. Since the tables only

represent the highest frequency responses, the numbers may not add up from baseline to

final. The desired change levels (+/-) between the baseline and final recordings are

indicated by plus and minus signs. The plus and minus are not meant to represent a

positive or negative change, but rather an increase or decrease, based on the kind of the

code. The analysis of each table will antecede the table.

Table 2: “Cumulative code application for indicating participants’ voice breaks and interruptions” Analysis:

Language was a leading factor in this study. During the baseline recording session, all of the participants often expressed worry about me judging their responses, that they wouldn’t sound smart. In Aswan, they communicated their extreme worry about speaking in English. They all studied English at school, but they struggled to read words properly, especially with words that contained the same letter but different sound, like “concern”, or words with similar sounding letters like “community”. Even if they could pronounce the words properly, many failed to respond to the prompt in full sentences, or at all. I reassured them that this was not a language test, and that they didn’t need to panic, especially when most of them were able to respond in

Arabic. Many of them had the ability to form an idea, but lacked English proficiency, which led them to believe that they aren’t capable of sharing new ideas. Group X indicated both the lowest and highest baseline numbers for the “didn’t answer” code. All participants could respond to any prompt in Arabic, whereas there were 23 participants who couldn’t answer in English. During the final recordings, many of them still couldn’t respond in English, however their pronunciation of letters had improved. This is consequent to the various vocal exercises we conducted that focused on the shape of the mouth and location of the tongue, teeth, lips and jap when we say certain letters.

Whereas in Alexandria, I faced the opposite issue. Upon presenting them with the Arabic text, I was met with frowns and complaints from several participants, individually, about how poor their Arabic is. They requested to only read the English. I asked them if they didn’t study

Arabic as school, they simply said that they didn’t like reading in Arabic. This observation was prevalent in the data as Group Z had the highest rate of inability to answer a prompt in Arabic at

8 instances, in comparison to Group X’s 0, and Group Y’s 2. Their increased proficiency in

English also resulted in them having the lowest number of grammatical errors in the English recordings, with nine occurrences, and subsequently the highest number of grammatical errors

(incorrect use of pronouns or sentence structure) in the Arabic recordings, with 14 in their baseline recordings. Reflecting on the commonality of code-switching between Arabic and

English, Groups X and Y didn’t add or replace any Arabic words with English ones, whereas

Group Z did. In the final recordings, Group Y saw an increase in usage of English words while responding to the Arabic prompts, as they were specifically referencing how they will help their community by raising awareness to issues on social media platforms such as Facebook.

Therefore, overall, there was a 26-point reduction in grammatical errors in Arabic, while a 6 point increase the use of English.

Overall there was a significant reduction of voice breaks and interruptions in all the groups and in both languages. Total voice breaks (including uhh, um, eh) reduced by 148 points and there was 191 less instances of long pauses. These indicate that participants were more confident in voicing their opinions and were less hesitant. Participants also appeared to be more cohesive and articulate with their thoughts as there was a 52-point reduction in repetitions in both languages. The rates of stuttering and mumbling also exemplified similar patterns.

Stuttering decreased by 24 points overall but increased by 13 points in Group Z’s Arabic recording.

Table 2: Cumulative code application for indicating participants’ voice breaks and interruptions

Group Language Descriptor Baseline Final Change Desired (n) (n) (n) Change (+/-)

X Arabic Total voice 29 18 -11 - breaks

Didn’t answer 0 0 0 -

Long pause 16 0 -16 -

Stutter 5 3 -2 -

Repetitions 8 1 -7 -

Mumbled 2 0 -2 -

Grammatical 11 1 -10 - Errors English words 1 0 -1 -

English Total voice 45 23 -22 - breaks

Didn’t answer 23 32 +9 -

Long pause 50 22 -28 -

Stutter 29 16 -13 -

Repetitions 11 6 -5 -

Mumbled 2 0 -2 -

Grammatical 37 35 -2 - Errors

Arabic words 6 0 -6 -

Y Arabic Total voice 53 17 -36 - breaks

Didn’t answer 2 0 -2 -

Long pause 30 0 -30 -

Stutter 9 8 -1 -

Repetitions 21 4 -17 -

Mumbled 14 0 -14 -

Grammatical 10 0 -10 - Errors

English words 0 4 +4 -

English Total voice 78 45 -33 - breaks

Didn’t answer 20 19 -1 -

Long pause 60 8 -52 -

Stutter 19 15 -4 -

Repetitions 20 12 -8 -

Mumbled 1 0 -1 -

Grammatical 33 38 +5 - Errors

Arabic words 13 5 -8 -

Z Arabic Total voice 41 12 -29 - breaks

Didn’t answer 8 0 -8 -

Long pause 25 2 -23 -

Stutter 5 18 +13 -

Repetitions 14 10 -4 -

Mumbled 0 0 0 -

Grammatical 14 8 -6 - Errors

English words 4 10 +6 -

English Total voice 43 26 -17 - breaks

Didn’t answer 13 0 -13 -

Long pause 48 6 -42 -

Stutter 6 2 -4 -

Repetitions 15 4 -11 -

Mumbled 2 0 -2 -

Grammatical 9 5 -4 - Errors

Arabic words 1 1 0 -

Table 3: Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “My voice is important to me because” Analysis:

One of the first steps to claim agency over your voice, to rise from within the subjugation of having a subaltern voice, is to recognize its importance for you and your community.

Overall in all three groups, in the baseline data many of the participants didn’t know why their voice was important to them or what community concern they cared about. From their baseline recordings and from what they revealed over the course of curriculum, most of them

49 couldn’t link how their voice can impact their community. It was tough to envision abstract thoughts and focusing specifically on how each individual can help, not depending on the government, not waiting to study abroad, but them right now as young women in their communities.

Consequent to their completion of the curriculum, participants in all three groups had a much better understanding of why their voice is important. There was a 44-point increase in expression, indicating that participants were capable of identifying more specific instances of how their voice is important. In conjunction with identifying that their voice expresses their opinions and allows them to speak easily, they also identified that their voices are important to them because they are in control of it, enabling them to confidently deliver their messages and speak in public. The most increase was in Group Z, English recordings with an 18 point increase, indicating they felt the most agency and sense of belonging to their voice, and that they found it easier to articulate their self-perceptions in English rather than in Arabic, which only indicated a

4 point increase. Prior to participating in the curriculum, at least one young woman from every group identified that she didn’t know why her voice was important to her. The overall final recordings indicate that there wasn’t a single participant that couldn’t respond to this prompt, indicating an overall 9-point reduction.

Participants in all three groups also showed an increase ability to connect the importance of their voice to represent them as individuals and express their personalities, thus a greater sense of vocal empowerment. This equates to a greater sense of self-authorship, as they have an increased recognition of the importance of their individuality. This could lead to a greater sense of unique identity and recognition that your voice can differentiate you from others around you, acknowledging that you are entitled to have different perspectives that don’t adhere to the

50 majority. Achieving an increased sense of vocal empowerment will support young Egyptian women reinvigorate a sense of their postcolonial identity which is inseparable from their self- perceptions regarding how they contribute to sustainable development.

Table 3: Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “My voice is important to me because”

Group Language Descriptor Baseline Final Change Desired (n) (n) level Change (n) (+/-)

X Arabic Expression 8 17 +9 +

My feelings 1 3 +2 +

My personality & myself 1 6 +5 +

Voice - I don’t know 2 0 -2 -

English Expression 4 6 +2 +

My feelings 1 0 -1 +

My personality & myself 0 0 0 +

Voice - I don’t know 0 0 0 -

Y Arabic Expression 14 12 -2 +

My feelings 4 2 -2 +

My personality & myself 8 16 +8 +

Voice - I don’t know 3 0 -3 -

English Expression 4 7 +3 +

My feelings 1 2 +1 +

My personality & myself 3 7 +4 +

Voice - I don’t know 2 0 -2 -

Z Arabic Expression 16 20 +4 +

My feelings 3 8 +5 +

My personality & myself 5 10 +5 +

Voice - I don’t know 1 0 -1 -

English Expression 14 32 +18 +

My feelings 6 13 +7 +

My personality & myself 6 4 -2 +

Voice - I don’t know 1 0 -1 -

Table 4: “Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “My greatest community concern is”” Analysis:

This study aims to give some evidence to debunk the presumption that proficiency in the

English language is a requirement for vocal empowerment and one’s ability to contribute effectively to sustainable development. One of the crucial elements that has enabled the Egyptian elite to continue exercising the colonial based socio-economic and political structure is through the educational system. Participants in all three groups identified that education was their greatest community concern. Group X’s Arabic recording showed the highest baseline occurrence with 7 points, while Group Y’s Arabic recording indicated the highest final count with 9 points, and thus the highest indicated increase with 11 points. Overall, there were 26 more instances where participants thought education was their greatest concern.

The second greatest concern was environmentally focused, where participants specifically indicated that people should not pollute the streets and water. There was an overall increase in 19 points upon concluding the curriculum. This community concern saw a significant increase from the baseline to the final recordings, suggesting that an increased connection with your voice may lead to more directed thoughts about sustainable environments. The highest baseline count was Group A’s 3 points mentioned in the Arabic recording. The highest final count was Group Z’s 10 points in the Arabic recording, subsequently Group Z also indicated the most increase with 8 in each of the English and Arabic recordings. In the final recordings, there was more succinct reference to international environmental concerns, such as global warming, or the decreasing levels of the Nile river.

Group Z also had the highest number of participants, 4 points, who said they didn’t know what their greatest community concern is. However, after participating in the curriculum, there wasn’t a single participant who wasn’t capable of identifying and giving specific examples of her greatest community concern.

Other concerns addressed included socio-economic equality, improving the healthcare system and helping the community advance. There were only a handful of participants who explicitly stated the importance of girls’ education, women’s rights, and sexual harassment. They were predominantly in Group Z.

Even though significant mentions of gender issues weren’t present in the voice recordings, this was one of the major areas highlighted by participants in all three groups during the curriculum. Gender issues were addressed during the group activities, and the individual public declarations (each participant’s statement about her self-authorship), as well as the group

53 image theatre skits presented at the public sharing6. They were galvanized to discuss how to achieve gender equality in education, at home and in public; engaging in critical conversations on the objectification of women’s bodies and victim blaming, as well as double standards enforced within societal expectations of gender. For example, they mentioned allowing siblings to both come home at the same time at night, not restricting a curfew for the girl. A sense of disidentification, as well as the acknowledgement of the subaltern perspective were at the core of these discussions. This was the first time that most of these young women had a space to engage in discussions about gender equality in an educational setting, and so they were enraged. Group

Y engaged in a heated debate on their perceived ideal age for marriage, which led to further conversations about pursuing tertiary education, the number of women in leadership positions and the hypocritical double standards enforced on women in the workplace and at home, regarding being a mother or a working woman.

The most striking observation, that may be linked to decades of living within the homogenous Western patriarchal societal perspective that defines what it means to be an Arab woman, is the young women’s belief that they didn’t have gender equality because they are a

“backwards” community. In Aswan, the participants were adamant about the fact that young women in larger cities like Cairo or Alexandria enjoyed a greater sense of equality, that they weren’t objectified or restricted to live within particular gender expectations and parameters. For example, they noted that parents in the larger cities are less reluctant to send their daughters to study abroad. Interestingly, the participants in Alexandria expressed their frustrations with the exact same issues, accept that their direct comparison was to other countries that they had visited or heard off. All the participants were baffled when I revealed that they are not unique in their

6 For a complete list of the group skits presented by each group, please refer to the Supporting Documents section at the end of this thesis.

54 struggles and that young women all around the world suffer from different kinds of prohibitive measures.

Table 4: Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “My greatest community concern is"

Group Language Descriptor Baseline (n) Final Change Desired (n) level Change (+/- (n) )

X Arabic Education 7 9 +2 +

Environment 3 4 +1 +

I don’t know 0 0 0 -

English Education 1 1 0 +

Environment 0 2 +2 +

I don’t know 0 0 0 -

Y Arabic Education 2 13 +11 +

Environment 0 5 +5 +

I don’t know 3 0 -3 -

English Education 1 7 +6 +

Environment 1 1 0 +

I don’t know 0 0 0 -

Z Arabic Education 2 5 +3 +

Environment 2 10 +8 +

I don’t know 4 0 -4 -

English Education 3 7 +4 +

Environment 1 9 +8 +

I don’t know 2 0 -2 -

Table 5: “Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “One idea I have to improve my community is to”” Analysis:

All of the participants displayed a greater sense of articulation in the dissemination of their ideas for improving their community during their final recording. At the beginning, many of them were unsure of how they can help, given their age. They were constantly resorting to thinking of how the government can fix things, but by the end of the curriculum, they realized that they possess the power to enact sustainable change to their communities today. Therefore, the most frequent idea for improving their community was simply identifying that they can help, indicating an overall 76-point increase. Identifying this, and acknowledging the fact that as a young woman, you are capable of helping out, is a large signifier of vocal empowerment and increased sense of self perceived ability to contribute to society and sustainable development.

There was an indicated 28-point increase in the amount of time a participant said she could help.

Group Y indicated the most instances of baseline data in their Arabic recordings and were tied in the final recordings with Group Z’s English recordings for the highest mention of I can help with

29 points. Participants across all three groups also specifically mentioned how they can individually raise awareness on social media platforms, such as Facebook, impacting their small communities, and serve as leaders to encourage people around them to partake in sustainable development. This implies that increased vocal empowerment supports young Egyptian women’s self-perception on their ability to effectively contribute to sustainable development.

There was also explicit mention to improving education, by increasing accessibility and teaching younger or impoverished populations. This had an overall 25-point increase. With

Groups X and Z stating the most examples of how they can improve education. The highest overall frequencies were noted in Group X’s baseline and final Arabic recordings, starting at 7 points and concluding with 9 points. This proves that geographical location and proficiency in the English language are not prohibitive factors of a young woman’s ability to express how she may actively assist in improving the educational structure of the community.

The second highest idea for improving the community was related to the environment.

Participants explicitly mentioned fighting pollution to ensure the cleanliness of the streets and water. Group Z had the highest increase with 21 points out of the 25 total points.

Similarly to the responses on the first two prompts regarding voice importance and greatest community concern, there wasn’t a single participant who responded by saying “ I don’t know how to improve my community.

Table 5: Most frequent code application for participants response to the prompt: “One idea I have to improve my community is to”

Group Language Descriptor Baseline Final Change Desired (n) (n) level Change (n) (+/-)

X Arabic Don’t pollute 1 2 +1 +

Education 7 9 +2 +

I can help 8 19 +11 +

Idea - I don’t know 0 0 0 -

English Don’t pollute 1 2 +1 +

Education 1 1 0 +

I can help 2 2 0 +

Idea - I don’t know 2 0 -2 -

Group Language Descriptor Baseline (n) Final Change Desired (n) level Change (n) (+/-)

Y Arabic Don’t pollute 2 3 +1 +

Education 3 6 +3 +

I can help 9 29 +10 +

Idea - I don’t know 2 0 -2 -

English Don’t pollute 0 1 +1 +

Education 0 7 +7 +

I can help 6 9 +3 +

Idea - I don’t know 1 0 -1 -

Z Arabic Don’t pollute 2 9 +7 +

Education 3 9 +6 +

I can help 1 24 +23 +

Idea - I don’t know 4 0 -4 -

English Don’t pollute 1 15 +14 +

Education 2 9 +7 +

I can help 1 29 +28 +

Idea - I don’t know 3 0 -3 -

Table 6: “Most Frequent code application for participants ability to continue their thoughts.”

Analysis:

My final evaluator of increased vocal empowerment in regard to language and ideas, was a participant’s ability to continue a thought. If a young woman can articulate exactly what she desires, there is a higher probability she will be able to speak up for herself in the future, defend her rights, and voice her concerns in an accessible way to those around her.

All participants indicated an overall 44-point increase with all participants in group X and

Z succeeding in completing their thought in their final recordings in one language or the other.

This was represented in Arabic for Group X, and in English for Group Z. Although beyond the scope of this study, this further raises the question of, does proficiency in one language have to hinder proficiency in another?

It is also interesting to note that while Group Y had the highest frequency of N/A thoughts in their baseline English recording, at 16 points, this is only 2 points higher than the number indicated by Group Z’s English baseline recordings. Considering the rest of the data in this study lead to the understanding that Group Z is not only the most proficient in the English language than the other two groups, but it is also more proficient in English than it is in Arabic, based on the participants initial self-perception of language, this figure is surprising. Can increased vocal efficacy as presented by this data contribute towards the reduction in young

Egyptian women’s desires to favor English above their native Arabic in pursuit of contributing to sustainable development? The findings above suggest that language is not a key to contributing to sustainable development.

Table 6: Most Frequent code application for participants ability to continue their thoughts

Group Language Descriptor Baseline Final Change Desired (n) (n) Level Change (n) (+/-)

X Arabic Continued Thought 7 15 +8 +

Discontinued Thought 8 0 -8 -

N/A Thought 0 0 0 -

English Continued Thought 3 4 +1 +

Discontinued Thought 1 0 -1 -

N/A Thought 11 11 0 -

Y Arabic Continued Thought 9 17 +6 +

Discontinued Thought 3 4 +1 -

N/A Thought 5 0 -5 -

English Continued Thought 4 8 +4 +

Discontinued Thought 1 3 +2 -

N/A Thought 16 10 -6 -

Z Arabic Continued Thought 6 16 +10 +

Discontinued Thought 3 2 -1 -

N/A Thought 11 0 -11 -

English Continued Thought 4 19 +15 +

Discontinued Thought 1 0 -1 -

N/A Thought 14 0 -14 -

60 b. Quantitative Data:

In conjunction with the data coded from the participants baseline and final spontaneous speech recordings, it was also necessary to evaluate the participants self-perceptions about their voices. As stated in the methodology section above, the participants responded to a vocal efficacy survey that consisted of twelve questions on a scale of one to five, with five being

“always true” and one being “never true”, and a question thirteen that indicated their comfort level with how they felt they were heard and understood at home, school and public. Their self assessments match their voice recordings, they have an increased sense of vocal efficacy, as all of the group’s mean scores increased by at least a 0.52 point increase. There was also considerable improvement in the question thirteen answers. Since the one indicated the most satisfied and ten indicated the least satisfied, all of the data decreased, indicating improvement.

The baseline and final data across all three groups shared similar results in representing how they perceived their voices were heard and understood at each of these locations. All of the participants indicated that they felt the most comfortable at home, followed by their school, followed by being in public.

Table 7: Cumulative participants responses to baseline and final Vocal Efficacy surveys Questions one to twelve.

Group Participants Baseline (mean) Final (mean) Change (n) (n)

X 15 3.29 4.01 0.72

Y 21 3.58 4.10 0.52

Z 19 3.39 4.25 0.86

Total 55 3.43 4.12 0.69

Table 8: Cumulative participants responses to baseline and final vocal efficacy surveys Questions thirteen (a), thirteen (b),thirteen (c).

Q 13a (Home) Q 13b (School) Q 13c (Public)

Groups N Baseline Final Baseline Final Baseline Final

X 15 3.13 2.13 3.53 3.67 5.13 4.27

Y 21 3.24 2.90 4.81 3.24 5.29 4.57

Z 19 2.37 1.63 3.63 2.58 5.84 4.79

Total 55 2.91 2.25 4.05 3.13 5.44 4.56

Table 9: Participants language choice in responding to the survey (no change noted from baseline to final)

Group Arabic (n) English (n)

X 13 2

Y 19 2

Z 1 18

Conclusion: In this study I presented evidence to support how through vocal empowerment, young

Egyptian women may start to restore their sense of postcolonial Egyptian identity and increase their contributions to sustainable development. Through the facilitation of the SPEAK curriculum with 55 young women in Aswan and Alexandria Egypt, my study focuses on how applied theatre can serve as a tool for vocal empowerment, increased self-authorship and start a pathway for young Egyptian women to decolonize their minds.

In order to answer the primary question of my study: How does vocal empowerment impact young Egyptian women’s self-perception of their ability to contribute to sustainable development? As well as the secondary questions: How, if at all did participation in this curriculum impact participants responses to how they could improve their community? And, can increased vocal efficacy reduce the preconceived perception that proficiency in the English language is a necessary tool for someone to effectively contribute to sustainable development? I engaged participants in a series of discussions and applied theatre activities from the SPEAK curriculum to address social issues, offering a platform to contribute to sustainable development.

I hoped that this would restore their sense of belonging and community, thus starting to dismantle the sense of disidentification to Egyptian culture as identified by my participants.

Through applied theatre and vocal empowerment, I endeavored to start unpacking how decades of orientalism, subordination to subaltern perspectives and Eurocentric views that control modern Egyptian society may be dismantled. I strove to use my positionality as a young

Egyptian woman to start a process for young women to reclaim their subaltern voices. By working towards vocal empowerment, young women can realize that the power for activism and vocal efficacy comes from within them, and that it is not “Western” based nor is it contingent upon their knowledge of foreign languages or Western cultures. Although the SPEAK

63 curriculum was initially created in the West, it is rooted in Augusto Boal’s social action techniques to galvanize communities and oppressed communities. It is a community-based approach that encourages input from all participants. Prior to arriving in Egypt, I translated the curriculum and assessment materials into Arabic, to ensure that language wasn’t a barrier for certain participants. During the facilitation of the curriculum in Aswan and Alexandria I encouraged the participants to modify the exercises to best suit the group. Therefore, the SPEAK curriculum offered a platform for interactive critical discourse, free of Western conformity, where the language spoken doesn’t dictate your level of intelligence. It was the first time that these young women were offered a space to express their opinions on social issues in the country and their thoughts on sustainable development.

At the beginning of the curriculum, several participants were uncomfortable with certain exercises and were unsure about voicing their opinions, in fear that I may think it’s the “wrong answer”. However halfway through the curriculum, participants in all three groups were volunteering to lead the exercises, challenged my perspectives and took agency to devise an affirmational song of their choosing to share publicly. Although the purpose of the curriculum was not to discourage the use of one language over the other, Sonya’s concerns about her limited

English knowledge, guided me to not speak a single work of English during my time in Aswan. I hoped to serve as an example of an Egyptian member of the upper class with a Western education who hadn’t abandoned her culture and native language in an effort to disidentify from

Egyptian Arabs. I was transparent about the fact that this was the first time in my life I had facilitated or discussed my work publicly in Arabic, and that I was nervous about giving unclear directions. My vulnerability with groups X and Y encouraged them to take agency in expressing their thoughts, because they could see first-hand that as the “teacher” I didn’t possess all the

64 knowledge and that there were times when I’d need their help - for example, writing certain words on the whiteboard, or saying the Arabic words for “feminism”, “global warming”,

“diaphragm”, “vocal chords”. By the end of the program, none of the participants were expressing their concerns about their desire to live abroad or being held down by their knowledge of English. This is not to say that this curriculum dismantled Eurocentric thought that guides the Egyptian education, and economic structures today, but it shows that vocal empowerment may be a useful tool to start this process.

The young women were able to recognize their abilities of being future torch bearers of their communities, were not mandated by their age, gender or geographical location, but rather it is knowledge that they possess within them. At the culmination of the curriculum, all the participants were able to articulate the ten characteristics of an empowered voice and understood how their voices can assist them in becoming active agents of social change and allow them to contribute to sustainable development. Greater self-authorship through vocal empowerment encourages young women to speak up for themselves, and those around them. This process subsequently increases their sense of belonging to the community and revitalization of their sense of Egyptian postcolonial identity. The ability to identify with an Egyptian postcolonial identity is vital for achieving sustainable development of the country, since sustainable development relies on active participation from all members of society. However, without a sense of belonging, young women will not feel included or have a desire to contribute.

Throughout the history of development, women, particularly women of color have been spoken about, written about, but rarely listened to or spoken with. Sustainable development works towards eliminating the concept of development as a social construct that homogenizes of diminishes the roles of certain groups of people, it aims to serve as development that meets the

65 needs of the current population without eradicating the ability for future generations to do the same by including women’s perspectives in the narrative.

According to the data that I collected, the young women in both cities expressed interest in the same community concerns as well as their solutions for how to overcome them, and shared similar vocal efficacy results.

All of their final voice recordings showed a reduction in voice breaks - interruptions in continuous speech, grammatical errors, and the usage of English words in the Arabic recordings or vice versa. Even though the participants in Aswan and Alexandria expressed to me that they feel different from one another, they all expressed similar responses to the three prompts in the recordings. The highest frequency responses to “my voice is important to me because” were that it assists in self-expression, expresses their feelings, and personality. For the prompt “my greatest concern for my community is” the highest frequency of issues mentioned were related to education and the environment. Responses to the prompt “one idea I have to improve my community is to”, saw the greatest change from baseline to final recordings. All participants had an idea on how they may contribute to society, by either expressing that they can help, or more specifically addressing how to improve the educational system or reducing pollution.

In the final recordings, all of the participants in groups X, Y, Z, were able to respond to all of the prompts, and most were able to continue their thought between their community concern and one idea they have to improve it. Unlike in the baseline recordings when numerous participants responded that they didn’t know the answer to one of the prompts, or didn’t answer the prompt, by the final recordings every single participant was able to express her thoughts.

The qualitative data analyzed from the participants baseline and final recordings is indicative of their ability to express their thoughts and perspectives. This data shows that despite

66 differences in the economic, geographical and Westernization of participants in Aswan vs

Alexandria, the young women shared similar perspectives. However due to the continual propagation and elevation of Western ideals, young Egyptian women around the country are subjected to the same internalized oppression that suppresses their self-authorship and increases their desire to disidentify from their country. This study shows that language proficiency is not a factor in the participants’ ability to express their perspectives and desire to enact sustainable change to their communities.

This study presents one method to continue the efforts of identity and vocal empowerment established during the five phases of Egyptian feminism. It asserts that the claims and mission of this study are not merely Western-based, but rather a tool to revitalize and invite young Egyptian women to reconnect with native sources of inspiration. Egypt has a long history of women who have effectively used their voices for social change.

This curriculum and this study is only the start of a lifelong journey for these young women and for Egypt. Consequent to the success of the curriculum, I was invited to present on this work at the Ministry of Immigration’s Egypt Can: Education conference to support the country’s initiatives towards sustainable development and educational reform in the country. I have also started conversations with the Aswan governate’s ministry of education on how to incorporate more performance based postcolonial engaged pedagogy across the governate.

I am not arguing about abandoning the English language or international education, for I am a product of the system, who has benefited from this double-edged sword, and so to attempt to erase it in its entirely would be hypocritical of me. I am however arguing that regardless of what language you learn to speak first, it is imperative to believe you can contribute to the sustainable development of your community.

Facilitating the SPEAK curriculum in Aswan and Alexandria inspired me to continue exploring performance-based tools for young women’s vocal empowerment. Facilitating this curriculum with participants with no theatrical or performance backgrounds, and whose entire education is prescribed to fit Western models, proved challenging, yet rewarding. If I repeat this curriculum or facilitate a similar one in the future, I will focus on a couple of elements to assist in the validity of the study.

First, I will introduce a control group, that isn’t exposed to the curriculum, in order to produce stronger evidence that performance-based exercises can directly increase vocal efficacy.

This will help compare and support the outcomes, as well as provide further feedback for future development.

Second, I will create a more stringent application process for participating. Although I believe in giving all young women an opportunity to participate in a curriculum like this, and that vocal empowerment should not be limited to certain individuals, it is beneficial if the participants want to participate and desire to empower their voices, which is necessary to foster a productive environment for learning. Some participants were unsure of what the curriculum entailed. A couple of participants were disruptive and unwilling to participate in the activities, which sometimes resulted in a domino effect and negatively impacted participating members of the group, or even prohibited some members from speaking up. After giving numerous warnings,

I had to ask a total of four young women from both cities to leave the sessions. If the curriculum was facilitated over a longer period, perhaps I wouldn’t have had to resort to that, however given the constraint on time, there was no room for negative dominating personalities. I want to ensure that the young women present are all ones who are committed to being a part of this process and have an understanding of what this curriculum entails.

Third, in order to solidify an argument that type of schooling--public, private or international education--is not necessary for a young woman’s ability to voice her concerns and actively participate in sustainable development, it is preferable to work with participants who all attend the same type of school, in the same region, and have the same language proficiency skills.

Fourth, I should remember to accommodate different learners, and that the facilitation of this curriculum is not something most participants will have experienced before. In order to ensure that participants don’t just think that applied theatre is meaningless silly games, there needs to be a more established process for recapping the benefits and objectives at the end of every day. During this study, we recapped at the end of every session, however it is important to accommodate different learners to ensure that everyone is reaping the full benefits. Although the curriculum focuses on learning through embodiment, visuals, writing and hearing; the recapping session at the end of each day is only audible. Therefore, even though we used the daily journals to recap at the end of every session, participants who prefer to write things down in their own way and take it home with them are not accommodated. I had several incidents across all three groups when either the participants, or in some cases the parents would directly contact me expressing their frustration with not understanding the benefits for these exercises and how voice links to community concerns. For the future, I may write out the objectives on the whiteboard at the beginning of the session, facilitate a recap after every exercise, by reflecting on today’s objective, as well as doing it at the end. It may also be beneficial to provide participants with a hand out at the end of every day to serve as a reminder and guide.

We can’t reverse the realities of the postcolonial world we live in, or entirely dismantle the elevation of Western ideals, and the emphasis on international education in Egypt overnight

69 or with one curriculum. However, acknowledging the implications of the West-East binary and the residual impact of colonialism that continues to be enforced by Egyptian elite is the first step in supporting Egyptians in decolonizing their minds to encourage the proclamation of unique postcolonial Egyptian identities.

Bibliography: Abd El Kader, Soha. 1987. Egyptian Women in a Changing Society, 1899-1987. Boulder, CO:

Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc.

Al Fawaz, Nadia. 2015. “Purists Alarmed at Increasing Popularity of Franco-Arabic.” January

2015. http://www.arabnews.com/art-culture/news/679926.

Black, Maggie. 2007. The No-Nonsense Guide to International Development. 2nd ed. Oxford,

UK: New Internationalist.

Boal, Augusto. 1985. Theatre of the Oppressed. Translated by Maria-Odilia Leal McBride and

Charles A. McBride. 1st ed. New York: Theatre Communications Group.

Central Intelligence Agency. 2019. “Africa :: Egypt — The World Factbook.” 2019.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/print_eg.html.

Dolar, Mladen. 2006. A Voice and Nothing Else. Short Circuits Series. Cambridge

Massachusetts: MIT Press.

El Ariss, Tarek, ed. 2018. The Arab Renaissance: A Bilingual Anthology of the Nahda. New

York: The Modern Language Association of America.

Engel, Keri Lynn. 2012. “Huda Shaarawi, Egyptian Feminist & Activist.” Amazing Women In

History (blog). November 12, 2012. http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/huda-

shaarawi-egyptian-feminist/.

Foucault, Michel. 1975. “Part 3: Discipline.” In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison,

translated by Alan Sheridan, 133–228.

Gibran, Khalil. 2018. “Khalil Gibran (1883 -1931): ‘The Future of the Arabic Language.’” In

The Arab Renaissance: A Bilingual Anthology of the Nahda, translated by Angela

Giordani, 50–60. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.

Hawken, Paul. 2017. “Women and Girls.” In Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever

Made to Reverse Global Warming, 76–82. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Jackson, Adrian. n.d. Augusto Boal: Games for Actors and Non-Actors.

Jaffer, Jennifer. 2015. “Huda Sharawi | Egyptian Feminist and Nationalist.” Encyclopedia

Britannica. October 20, 2015. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Huda-Sharawi.

Laguerta, Dianne. n.d. “British Imperialism in Egypt & Why, How and When Did They Leave?”

Classroom. Accessed December 17, 2017. https://classroom.synonym.com/british-

imperialism-egypt-why-did-leave-21799.html.

Lawry, Jennifer. 2017. “Theorizing Voice: Performativity, Politcs and Listening.”

Anthropological Theory 17 (2): 192–215. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463499617713138.

Linklater, Kristin. 2006. Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice

and Language. Hollywood, California: Drama Publishers.

Little, Donald P., Peter M. Holt, Arthur Eduard Goldschmidt, Charles Gordon Smith, Derek

Hopwood, and Raymond William Baker. 2019. “Egypt - Languages.” Encyclopedia

Britannica. January 25, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt.

Mehrez, Samia. 2008. “5. Lost in Globalizaton: Education and the Stranded Egyptian Elite.” In

Egypt’s Culture Wars: Politics and Practice, 91–106. Routledge Advances in Middle

East and Islamic Studies.

Osnes, Beth. 2015. Theatre for Womens Participation in Sustainable Development. New York,

NY: Routledge.

Osnes, Beth, and Chelsea Hackett. 2017. “SPEAK.”

Peterson, Mark Allen. 2011. Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Middle East.

Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Sabbah, Sabah Salman. 2015. “Is Standard Arabic Dying?” Arab World English Journal 6 (2):

54–65.

Said, Edward. 1978. Orientalism. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books.

Sharp, Joanne P. 2009. Geographies of Postcolonialism. Great Britain: SAGE Publications.

SocioCultural Research Consultants. 2016. Dedoose (version 7.0.23). Web application for

managing, analyzing, and presenting qualitative and mixed method research data. Los

Angles, CA: SocioCultural Research Consultants. https://www.dedoose.com/.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1993. “4. Can the Subaltern Speak?” In Colonial Discourse and

Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader, 66–111. New York: Columbia University Press.

Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. 1986. “Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African

Literature.” In , 1–62. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers KLLtd.

UNESCO. 2017. “Egypt- Education and Literacy.” 2017. http://uis.unesco.org/country/EG.

United Nations. 2015. “Sustainable Development Goals: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development.” 2015. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300.

Supporting Documents:

Appendix 1: Daily Journal Translated SPEAK curriculum for Egyptian participants

رﻛذﻣ تا ﯾﻣوﯾ ﺔ وﺻﻟ ﺗ ﻲ

A Journal for My Voice

رﻛذﻣ تا ﺎﮭﻣدﺧﺗﺳا ﻲﻌﻣ ﻲﻓ ﻠﺣر ﺔ نﯾﻛﻣﺗ ﻲﺗوﺻ

A journal to accompany me on my journey towards Vocal Empowerment

______مﺳﻻا / Name

1st Day: My voice when I was born. ﻟا وﯾ م :لوﻷا ﻲﺗوﺻ دﻧﻋ ا ةدﻻوﻟ دﻋﻲو لﻷ When I was born, my voice was free and strong. I could use it to express my needs ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ و ﻟ ،تد ﻲﺗوﺻ ﻛ نﺎ رﺣ .يوﻗو ﻛ تﻧ .and my joy. That voice is still inside of me نﻛﻣﺗأ نﻣ ﮫﻣادﺧﺗﺳا رﯾﺑﻌﺗﻠﻟ نﻋ ﺗﺎﺟﺎﯾﺗﺣا ﻲ Write a description of your voice when و ﺎﻌﺳ .ﻲﺗد هذھ ا توﺻﻟ لازﺎﻣ ﺑ د .ﻲﻠﺧا .you were a baby اﻛﺗﺑﻲ وﺻﻔﺎً ﻟﺻوﺗك ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ ﻛ ﻧ ﻲﺗ ﻔط ﻠ .ﺔﻠﻔ ﺗﻧﻛ دﻧ

اﻟ موﯾ :ﻲﻧﺎﺛﻟا فرﺎﻌﺗﻟا ﻲﻧﯾﺑ و نﯾﺑ ﻲﺗوﺻ نوﻟ ةروﺻﻟا ﻲﺗﻟا رﺑﻌﺗ كﻧﻋ و نﻋ كﺗوﺻ

nd 2 Day: Introducing myself to my own voice—

Color in you and your voice

ﻲﻧﻣﺗا نا نوﻛﯾ ﻲﺗوﺻ ...... My wish for my voice is

يروﻌﺷ ﺎﺟﺗ ه ﻲﺗوﺻ وھ ...... How I feel about my voice is

ﺎﻣ ﻲﻧﺑﺟﻌﯾ ﻲﻓ وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ وھ ...... What I like about my voice is

بﻏرا ﻲﻓ هدﻋﺎﺳﻣ ﻲﺗوﺻ نﻣ لﻼﺧ ...... What I’d like to help my voice with is

موﯾﻟا ثﻟﺎﺛﻟا : سﺎﻧﻟا ﯾطﺗﺳﺗ ﻊ ﻣﺳ ﺎ ع مﮭﻓو وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ ﻲﺑﺗﻛا فﯾﻛ يرﻌﺷﺗ نا وﺻ ﺗ ك موﮭﻔﻣ و عوﻣﺳﻣ ﻲﻓ ذھ ه نﻛﺎﻣﻷا ﺔﺛﻼﺛﻟا :

3rd Day: People can easily hear and understand my voice.

Write about how you feel your voice is heard and understood in these three places:

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْومَ ﻊﺑارﻟا : مدﺧﺗﺳا ءازﺟا دﻋ ﯾ د ه نﻣ ﻣﺳﺟ ﻲ ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ رﺑﻋا نﻋ ﻲﺳﻔﻧ وﺻﺑ ﺗ ﻲ

4th Day: I use various parts of my body when I express myself with my voice. ا رظﻧ ﻲﻟا سﺎﻧﻟا ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ ثدﺣﺗا

ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ ثدﺣﺗا ﻊﻓرا ﻲﺳار ﻋﻷ ﻠ ﻲﻠﻋ

مدﺧﺗﺳا يدﯾ

فﻗأ ﺔﻘﺛﺑ ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ مﻠﻛﺗأ

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْومَ سﻣﺎﺧﻟا : ﺎﻧأ مﮭﻓا فﯾﻛ مﻠﻛﺗأ 5th Day: I understand how my physical voice works.

ﻲﻧوﻟ ﺔﺛﻼﺛﻟا ءازﺟا ﺔﻧوﻛﻣﻟا وﺻﻟ ﺗ ك Color these three parts of your physical voice. أ هوﻘﻟ : نوﻠﻟﺎﺑ رﻣﺣﻷا ( ؛نﯾﺗﺋرﻟا بﺎﺟﺣﻟا Power for your voice red (lungs زﺟﺎﺣﻟا ) (diaphragm

ردﺻﻣﻟا : نوﻠﻟﺎﺑ فوﻣﻟا ( ﺑﺣﻷا لﺎ Source for your voice in purple ﺔﯾﺗوﺻﻟا ) (vocal chords)

ﺔﯾﻘﻧﺗﻟا : نوﻠﻟﺎﺑ رﺿﺧﻷا ( ؛نﺎﺳﻠﻟا ؛نﯾﺗﻔﺷﻟا Filter for your voice in green (tongue, lips, teeth, jaw) ﻧﺳﻷا ؛نﺎ كﻔﻟا )

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْومَ سدﺎﺳﻟا : لﺟﺧﻟا ﻻ ﯾ دﻌ ﺎﻋ ﺋ ﻘ ﺎ ﻧﻋ د دﺧﺗﺳا ا م 6th Day: Shame is not an وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ .obstacle to using my voice

... رﻌﺷا" ﺔﻘﺛﻟﺎﺑ نا مﻠﻛﺗأ ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ " ” رﻌﺷا لﺟﺧﻟﺎﺑ نا مﻠﻛﺗأ ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ ... " “I feel ashamed to speak when...” “I feel confident speaking when...”

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْو َم ﻊﺑﺎﺳﻟا رﻌﺷا نا وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ ﻲﻛﻠﻣ و ﻲﻧﺻﺧﯾ نوﻟ ةروﺻﻟا ﮫﯾﻟا رﯾﺑﻌﺗﻠﻟ نﻋ وﺻ ﺗ ك

7th Day: I think my voice is mine and belongs to me.

This voice inside of me is mine. Decorate and color this drawing below.

لھ ﻧھ كﺎ ﻗوأ تﺎ ثدﺣﺗﯾ كﻧﻋ نﯾرﺧﻵا ﻻدﺑ نﻣ نا نﯾﺛدﺣﺗﺗ تﻧا نﻋ ؟كﺳﻔﻧ ﻲﺗﻣ ؟

Have there been times that others have spoken for you instead of you getting to speak for yourself? When does that happen?

ﺎﻣ وھ كروﻌﺷ ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ نﯾﺛدﺣﺗﺗ نﻋ ؟كﺳﻔﻧ ?How does it feel to speak for yourself

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْومَ نﻣﺎﺛﻟا : رﻌﺷا نﺎﻣﻷﺎﺑ ﻧﻋ ﻣد ﺎ 8th Day: I feel safe as the author رﺑﻋا نﻋ ﺷﻣ ﺎ يرﻋ و يرﺎﻛﻓا .of my own feelings and ideas

Color your voice coming from inside نوﻟ توﺻﻟا جرﺎﺧﻟا نﻣ كﻠﺧاد .of you and going out into the world

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْومَ ﻊﺳﺎﺗﻟا : كردا ﻣھا ﮫﯾ وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ 9th Day: I recognize the ﻲﺳﻔﻧﻟ و ﻲﻌﻣﺗﺟﻣﻟ importance of my voice for me and for my community.

نوﻟ فﯾﻛ نﺎﻛﻣﺈﺑ وﺻ ﺗ ك نا كﻌﻓرﯾ تﻧا Color this drawing of you and the و مﻟﺎﻌﻟا world getting lifted up by your

voice.

يﺎﺑ اُﺳﻠوب وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ مﮭﻣ ﺑﻘﺗﺳﻣﻟ ؟ﻲﻠ ?In what way is my voice important for my own future

يﺎﺑ اُﺳﻠوب وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ مﮭﻣ ؟ﻲﻌﻣﺗﺟﻣﻟ ?In what way is my voice important for my community

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْومَ رﺷﺎﻌﻟا : وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ ﮫﻟ هوﻘﻟا رﯾﺛﺄﺗﻠﻟ ﺎﯾﺑﺎﺟﯾإ ﻲﻠﻋ ﯾﺣ ﺎ ﻲﺗ و ﯾﺣ ﺎ ه نﯾرﺧﻵا

. ﻲﺑﺗﻛا لﺧادﺑ قاروأ ةدروﻟا قرطﻟا ﻲﺗﻟا نﻛﻣﯾ وﺻﻟ ﺗ ك دﺧﺗﺳا ا ﺎﮭﻣ هدﻋﺎﺳﻣﻟ نﯾرﺧﻵا

10th Day: My voice has the power to make a positive impact on my life and others.

Write inside each flower petal ways you could use your voice to help others.

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْومَ يدﺎﺣﻟا رﺷﻋ : ﺗﺳا لﻣﻌ وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ رﯾﺑﻌﺗﻠﻟ نﻋ ﻲﺳﻔﻧ

ا ﻲﻣﺳر و ﻲﺑﺗﻛا ءﻲﺷ دﺣاو ﺗﻌﺗ نﯾدﻘ ﮫﻧا ﻘﺣ ﯾ ﻘ ﮫ 11th Week: I use my voice to speak my truth.

Draw and write one thing you think is true.

ْ اﻟﯾَ ْومَ ﻲﻧﺎﺛﻟا رﺷﻋ : مدﺧﺗﺳا وﺻ ﺗ ﻲ 12th Day: I use my voice ﺋﺳﻣﺑ ﻟو ﺔﯾ و ﺟﺷ ﺎ ﻋ ﺔ with responsibility and courage.

ﻲﻣدﺧﺗﺳا ذھ ه ﺔﺣﻔﺻﻟا ﮫﺋﻧﮭﺗﻟ مﻛﺿﻌﺑ Use this page to sign each other’s books and congratulate ضﻌﺑﻟا ! each other!

Appendix 2: Affirmational Songs Group X (devised song with added movements) ﺎﺟﻮﺑ ه ﻲﻣﻮﯾ ﻦﻣ ﻏ ﯿ ﺮ فﻮﺧ و ﺐﻠﻐﺘﺑ ﻐﺘﺑ ﺐﻠ ﻋ ﻲﻠ ا ﻟ ﻌﺼ ﻮ ﺑ ﺎ تﺎﺑﻮﻌ ﻨﻋ يﺪ ﯾﺮﻋ ﻤ ﺎ ﺮ ﺪﻨ ﻮﺟ ا ﯾ ﺎ ا ر ﺔﺿارا ﺎﯾاﻮ و ﻊﻓﺮﺑ ﻲﺗﻮﺻ ﻊﻓﺮﺑ ﻲﺗﻮﺻ ﻲﺗﻮﺻ ﻊﻓﺮﺑ ﻲﺗﻮﺻ ﻊﻓﺮﺑ و ﻦﻣ ﻏ ﯿ ﺮ فﻮﺧ ﺮﯿﻏ ﻦ I face the day Without fear I overcome Any obstacles I am perseverant I am perseverant I lift up my voice I lift up my voiec

Group Y (devised song with added movements)

ﮫﺣاﻮﺑ ﻲﻣﻮﯾ ﺎﻤﺋاد ﻦﻣو ﺮﯿﻏ فﻮﺧ و ﻤﻛ نﺎ ﺑ مﺰﮭ ﻞﻛ تﺎﺑﻮﻌﺼﻟا ﺎﻧا يﺪﻨﻋ ﺔﻤﯾﺰﻋ و ﻤﻛ نﺎ راﺮﺳا ﻊﻓﺮﺑو ﻮﺻ ﺗ ﻲ ﻮﺻ ﺗ ﻲ ﻟ ﻔ ﻮ ق I always face my day without any fear I overcome any obstacles I am persistent and also strong And I lift my voice up high! ﯿﻌﯾو ﻲﻨ ﺎﯾ ﺎﯾ ﺎﯾ يﺪﺴﯾ ﻰﻠﻋ راﺮﺻﻻا ﺎﻤﻟ نﻮﻜﯾ ﻲﺗﻮﺼﻟ راﺮﻗ ﻲﺗﻮﺼﻟ نﻮﻜﯾ ﻓﺠ ﺎﺌ ﺑ ﻖﻘﺤ ﻠﺣ ﻲﻤ ﻤﻛ نﺎ ! (x2)

Group Z (song adapted from Sia’s Unstoppable. Added claps)

I put my armor on, show you how strong I am I put I armor on I’ll show you that I am I’m unstoppable I’m a Porsche with no breaks I’m invincible Yeah I’m invincible today

I’m so confident There’s a difference I can make I’m important, proud and brave My voice is powerful I can use it for my sake

Appendix 3: Group Skits Participants worked in small groups to present Image Theatre skits of the following topics:

Aswan – Groups X and Y Alexandria – Group Z River Nile pollution – poisoned fish Water pollution – sea turtles Illiteracy Girls equal access to education Gender equity between siblings Gender equity between siblings Bribery in the healthcare system Homelessness

Internet addiction

Gender equity in the workplace

Private tutoring

Appendix 4: Key for Data Analysis

1. Demographics

Groups: (Group label based on location) X = Aswan Group 1

Y = Aswan Group 2 Z = Alexandria

Participants: (Identifying number for each participant in each group) X = 1 – 15 (Total 15 participants) Y = 16 – 36 (Total 21 participants) Z = 37 – 55 (Total 19 participants)

Age: (Ages of participants) 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 School: (type of school attended by each participant) 1 = Public School – National curriculum, Government operation 2 = Private School – National curriculum, Private operation 3 = Private School – International curriculum, Private operation

Language: (Language participant chose to respond to Vocal Efficacy survey) 1 = Arabic 2 = English

2. Vocal Efficacy (VE) Survey

Questions: (Labeling format of the 12 questions) VE = Vocal efficacy B = Baseline F = Final # = Number of the question (1 – 12)

Example: B_VE 1

Scale for Questions 1 - 12: (weighted scale indicating participants responses to questions 1 – 12 on VE Survey) 1 = Never True 2 = Sometimes True 3 = I Don’t Know 4 = Mostly True 5 = Always True

Example: BVE_01

Scale for Questions 13a, 13b, 13c: (weighted scale indicating participants responses to questions 13a, 13b, 13c on VE Survey) 1 = Extremely Satisfied 5 = Neutral 10 = Extremely Unsatisfied

Example: BVE_13a

3 . Voice Characteristics Analysis

Language of Recording: (Language used by each participant.) A = Arabic E = English

Recording: (label indicating baseline and final recordings for each participant) 1 = Baseline 2 = Final

Type of Recording: READ = reading SPEECH = spontaneous speech

Voice Characteristics: SEC = duration (end time – start time) F0 = mean pitch SD = standard deviation MIN = minimum pitch

MAX = maximum pitch

Appendix 5: Cumulative Code Book Codes used to identity themes in participants Spontaneous Speech recordings in Dedoose, computer assistive qualitative data analysis software

Id = The code’s identifying number in Dedoose Parent Id = This refers to whether the code was a “parent”/main code, vs. whether it was a “child”/secondary code Depth = An indication of how many “child” codes are contained within each “parent” code Title = Name of the code used to tag excerpts in the recordings Description = Description of what each code means

Table 10: Cumulative Code Book

Parent Id Id Depth Title Description

Participant spoke in Arabic in the 1 0 Arabic words middle of English recording

Participant said "I don't know" - 2 1 1 I Don't Know (A in E) "ma3rafsh" in English recording

Participant said "I don't remember I don't remember it in how to say this word in English" - 3 2 2 English said in Arabic

Participant said "this means" - 4 1 1 Ya3ni "ya3ni" in English sentence

Colloquial Egyptian Speaking in Colloquial Egyptian 5 0 Arabic Arabic

Participant's ability to code switch classical to colloquial from MSA to Colloquial Egyptian 6 5 1 switch Arabic as they read the prompt

Label code used to group all of the community concerns the 7 0 Community Concerns participants identified

My greatest community concern is 8 7 1 Advanced community having an advanced community

My greatest community concern is that people should be nice to each Caring/Respectful other and respect one another - " سﺎﻨﻟا نﻮﻜﺗ ﺔﺴﯾﻮﻛ ﻊﻣ ﺾﻌﺑ " Community 1 7 9

My greatest community concern is that we must help each other or the community - examples aren't 10 9 2 Helping specified in excerpts

My greatest community concern is 11 9 2 Honesty that honesty is important

My greatest community concern is that integrity and holding people accountable is important ﺮﯿﻤﻀﻟا - Integrity 2 9 12

My greatest community concern is 13 9 2 Love our country that we must love our country

My greatest community concern is to have order and organization مﺎﻈﻨﻟا - Order 2 9 14

My greatest community concern is 15 9 2 Peaceful Community having a peaceful community

My greatest community concern is 16 15 3 Stability that I want a stable community

My greatest community concern is the people in a community, as they 17 9 2 People are important

My greatest community concern is 18 17 3 Friends being surrounded by my friends

My greatest community concern is our care/attention given to the importance of religion in the 19 9 2 Religion community

My greatest community concern is that we must take care of our 20 9 2 Take care of it community

My greatest community concern is helping "fix" the community - no 21 20 3 Fix it specific examples outlined

My greatest community concern is to "protect her" one participant specifically 22 20 3 Protect her gendered the community as HER

My greatest community concern is appreciating that our community's 23 9 2 Traditions traditions are important

My greatest community concern is education - including curriculums, access, or the act of learning and people's literacy rates ﻢﯿﻠﻌﺘﻟا - Education 1 7 24

My greatest community concern is corrupt educational systems and ethical education/equal access 25 24 2 Corruption in Education education for all.

My greatest community concern is having cultural awareness within 26 24 2 Cultural awareness our community and beyond

My greatest community concern is 27 24 2 Illiteracy eliminating illiteracy

My greatest community concern is people's general knowledge and " ﻢﻠﻌﻟا " - Knowledge awareness 2 24 28

My greatest community concern is studying and people's willingness to learn or receive an education - " ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا " Studying 2 24 29

My greatest community concern is how people think ﺮﯿﻜﻔﺘﻟا - Thinking 2 24 30

My greatest community concern is people's work ethic and dexterity to achieve goals ﺎﮭﺘﺟﻻا د - work ethic 2 24 31

My greatest community concern is the natural environment - no 32 7 1 Environment specific examples mentioned

My greatest community concern is 33 32 2 Air air quality, the wind

My greatest community concern is the cleanliness of the streets. No rubbish or pollutants in public - overflowing rubbish bins, dirty 34 32 2 Cleanliness streets etc.

My greatest community concern is the River Nile water level 35 32 2 Decreasing Nile levels dropping

My greatest community concern is Global Warming and it's 36 32 2 Global Warming international impacts

My greatest community concern is 37 32 2 Pollution pollution - air, water, visual

My greatest community concern is equality and or justice between 38 7 1 Equality socio economic classes

My greatest community concern is achieving gender equality. Eg. there shouldn't be a difference 39 38 2 Gender equality between girls and boys

My greatest community concern is 40 38 2 Women's Rights women's rights

My greatest community concern is helping other women in my community achieve their goals, support their initiatives, help them 41 40 3 Help other women speak up

My greatest community concern is 42 40 3 Sexual harassment dealing with sexual harassment

My greatest community concern is that everyone should be capable of speaking up and saying what they want to say openly and without 43 7 1 Freedom of Speech fear of judgement

My greatest community concern is being courageous in the 44 43 2 Courage community

My greatest community concern is caring about the things people say in my community or the way that 45 43 2 What people say they speak

My greatest community concern is accessibility to listening to different perspectives and how can Effective people talk to each other without 46 45 3 Communication obstacles

My greatest community concern is how people think and their 47 45 3 Thinking opinions

My greatest community concern is happiness and eliminating 48 7 1 Happiness depression in my community

My greatest community concern is Be with friends/loved surrounding myself with loved 49 48 2 ones ones or my friends

My greatest community concern is the healthcare system - people's health in general or access to 50 7 1 Healthcare healthcare

My greatest community concern is 51 50 2 clean hospitals clean hospitals

My greatest community concern is healthcare access to impoverished communities - we need to help 52 50 2 Medical Treatment treat all of the poor people

My greatest community concern is my self worth in my community - participants indicate that they are important or that they matter in 53 7 1 I am important society

My greatest community concern is to believe in myself and let others 54 53 2 Believe in myself believe in me

My greatest community concern is my appearance in community and 55 53 2 My appearance how I present myself

My greatest community concern is 56 53 2 My self expression how I express myself

My greatest community concern is that my voice is important/ I care 57 53 2 My voice about my voice

My greatest community concern is making sure people hear my 58 57 3 People need to hear me perspectives

My greatest community concern is being able to use my knowledge in 59 53 2 Use my knowledge my community

I don't know what my greatest community concern is. Participants responded by saying 60 7 1 I Don't Know the phrase "I don't know"

Participant told me to skip that 61 60 2 "skip" question

My greatest community concern is 62 7 1 Increasing poverty the increasing poverty rates

My greatest community concern is 63 62 2 Homelessness homelessness

My greatest community concern is 64 62 2 Unemployment unemployment rates

Participant started responding with an idea then says that this idea 65 7 1 It doesn't matter doesn't matter, and stops talking

My greatest community concern is that people are selfish and don't think of others around them in the 66 7 1 Selfishness community

My greatest community concern is that people only think about money and personal gain, not the wellbeing of everyone around 67 66 2 Greed them

Label code used to identify participant's ability to continue a thought. Was the thought continued or completely changed from the two prompts: "my greatest community concern Concern/Improvement is...." to "one idea I have to 68 0 Thought improve my community is to.."

The participant continued her thought. The community concern lead to/matched the idea for 69 68 1 Continued Thought improvement

The participant didn't continue her thought. The community concern was different from the idea for improvement, one didn't lead to/match the other, they addressed 70 68 1 Discontinued Thought different things

The participant didn't know answer (by either not responding or saying I don't know) to one or both of the prompts, and so the 71 68 1 N/A Thought thought doesn't exit.

English words used in the Arabic transcripts, such as replacing an 72 0 English words Arabic word with an English word

or saying it in English followed by Arabic

Incorrect pronunciation and/or sentence structure in Arabic and English (eg. wrong masculine/feminine/plural 73 0 Grammatical Errors word/tense)

Participant left out a word in the 74 73 1 Skipped Word prompt

Label code used to group all of the ideas for improving the Ideas for Community community that the participants 75 0 Improvement identified

One idea I have to improve my community is to increase people's desire to read or engage with " ﺔﻓﺎﻘﺜﻟا " - Culture and literature culture and literature 1 75 76

One idea I have to improve my community is to make sure people don't pollute the environment - throw things in the street, or in the 77 75 1 Don't pollute water

One idea I have to improve my community is to clean the 78 77 2 Clean it environment

One idea I have to improve my community is to increase rubbish bins in the streets for people to 79 77 2 Increase rubbish bins access

One idea I have to improve my community is to reduce water 80 77 2 Reduce water use usage

One idea I have to improve my community is to put street rules 81 77 2 Street laws penalizing polluting the streets

One idea I have to improve my community is to improve 82 75 1 Education education

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can help 83 82 2 Eliminate illiteracy eliminate illiteracy

One idea I have to improve my community is to focus on 84 82 2 Girls education educating girls

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can invent new methods for education, I can invent new technology, healthcare etc. to help 85 82 2 methods my community advance

One idea I have to improve my community is to study so that I can 86 82 2 I can study help others

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can conduct research to understand more about my community concern and help 87 86 3 I can research solve it

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can help teach 88 82 2 I can teach others others

100

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can help allocate teachers in my community to help educate people with limited access to education/ are financially 89 88 3 Find teachers to help challenged

One idea I have to improve my community is to work hard ﺎﮭﺘﺟﻻا د - I can work hard 2 82 90

One idea I have to improve my community is to increase Increase international international languages taught at 91 82 2 languages schools

One idea I have to improve my community is to encourage the establishment of more private 92 82 2 Private Education schools

One idea I have to improve my community is to advocate for 93 75 1 Equality socio-economic equality

One idea I have to improve my community is to encouraging equal access to education - eliminating social class barriers for 94 93 2 Education equality education

One idea I have to improve my community is to promote equality between boys and girls at home, 95 93 2 Gender equality public and school

One idea I have to improve my community is to highlight the The importance of importance of women's voices in 96 95 3 women's voices my community

101

One idea I have to improve my community is helping to increase happiness and satisfaction in my 97 75 1 Happiness community

One idea I have to improve my community is to make sure we find meaning in life or set 98 97 2 Life objectives objectives for our lives

One idea I have to improve my community is to remember that need to love each other, and I need 99 97 2 Love everyone everyone to love me equally

One idea I have to improve my community is to help spread kindness and make people 100 97 2 Make people kind kindhearted

One idea I have to improve my community is to improve the 101 75 1 Healthcare healthcare system

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can help clean 102 101 2 Clean hospitals hospitals and healthcare facilities

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can help increase medical supplies in Increase medical poorly funded or under-resourced 103 101 2 supplies public hospitals

One idea I have to improve my community is to advocate for the elimination of private medical schools that perpetuate admission 104 101 2 No private med schools scandals

102

One idea I have to improve my community is to help it advance - no specific method for "advancement" was mentioned, 105 75 1 Help it advance just that it needs to happen

One idea I have to improve my community is to work on advancing myself though education, hard work, research etc. 106 105 2 I can advance myself in order to enact positive change

One idea I have to improve my community is making sure we have honesty and truth in our 107 75 1 Honesty community

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can help it somehow. No specific methods are outlined, just the desire to help - " وﺪﯿﻓا " I can help 1 75 108

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can encourage my peers to speak up, to work 109 108 2 I can encourage others hard, or fight for their rights etc.

One idea I have to improve my community is to help those around I can help my friends me in my "small community" like 110 108 2 and family my friends and family

One idea I have to improve my community is to help the poor. No 111 108 2 I can help the poor specific methods were outlined

One idea I have to improve my community is to help fundraise or I can fundraise/ donate donate money to assist those in 112 111 3 money need

103

One idea I have to improve my community is to volunteer with Non-Governmental Agencies I can volunteer with (NGOs) in my community that are 113 111 3 NGOs helping impoverished populations

One idea I have to improve my community is to help reduce 114 111 3 Reduce homelessness homelessness

One idea I have to improve my community is to help eliminate shanty settlements and find more 115 111 3 Shanty settlements durable housing options

One idea I have to improve my community is to lead by example 116 108 2 I can lead by example and be a role model

One idea I have to improve my community is to participate in school extra-curricular activities to I can participate in enhance my skills beyond 117 108 2 school activities textbook learning

One idea I have to improve my community is to focus on starting with myself first and not waiting I can start with myself for other people to make a change. 118 108 2 first We must all contribute

One idea I have to improve my community is to focus on my actions because they matter - How 119 108 2 My actions matter I act, my work ethic, my opinion

104

One idea I have to improve my community is to raise awareness about my community concern through disseminating posters on social media platforms, such as 120 108 2 Raise Awareness Facebook

One idea I have to improve my community is to write letters to the government asking them to pay attention to my community 121 108 2 Write to the gov. concerns

One idea I have to improve my community is by talking in the 122 75 1 I can talk community

One idea I have to improve my Change people's community is to work towards 123 122 2 opinions changing people's opinions

One idea I have to improve my community is to ensure that people 124 123 3 Open-mindness are open minded

One idea I have to improve my community is to be confident and 125 122 2 I can be confident believe in myself

One idea I have to improve my I can have a strong community is to have a strong 126 122 2 personality personality and voice my opinions

One idea I have to improve my community is to voice my opinion 127 122 2 I can speak in public publicly in front of people

One idea I have to improve my community is that I can speak up 128 122 2 I can speak up about things that concern me

105

One idea I have to improve my community is to share my ideas 129 122 2 Share my ideas and thoughts

I don't know how I can improve my community. Participants responded by saying the phrase "I 130 75 1 I Don't Know don't know"

One idea I have to improve my community is to focus on 131 75 1 Respect Others respecting others

One idea I have to improve my community is to respect other respecting other people's people's opinions, even if they 132 131 2 opinions differ from mine

One idea I have to improve my community is to spread peace and 133 75 1 Spread peace and safety safety in my community

One idea I have to improve my community is to help. Participant provides vague description saying they want things that can help, but not mentioning what they are, or 134 75 1 Things that help who will enact them

One idea I have to improve my community is to think of others and how our actions will impact 135 75 1 Think of others them - don't think selfishly

One idea I have to improve my community is to focus on integrity and accountability especially as they pertain to work ethic ﺮﯿﻤﻀﻟا - Integrity 2 135 136

106

One idea I have to improve my community is to think of the importance of time - don't waste 137 136 3 Time management time, don't show up late

One idea I have to improve my community is to collaborate for the common good. We can work 138 135 2 We can work together together to achieve our goals

Participant questioned the pronunciation of a word or asked 139 0 Posed question about it

Participant said "okay" at the end of her sentence in the English 140 139 1 "okay" recordings

Participant asked a question about 141 0 Questions the prompt

Label for coding voice breaks or interruptions in continuous speech. Participant may have stuttered, laughed or hesitated before 142 0 Voice Breaks continuing on with their sentence

Ellipses indicating participant didn't answer this question. She 143 142 1 ....didn't answer only read the prompt

Participant said "ahh" breaking up 144 142 1 Ahh continuous speech

Participant said "eh" breaking up 145 142 1 Eh continuous speech

146 142 1 Haha Participant laughed

107

Participant paused for a long time before completing the sentence, 147 142 1 Long Pause indicating hesitation

148 142 1 Mumbled Participant mumbled

Participant repeated the same word 149 142 1 Repetitions 2 or more times in a row

Participant stuttered when pronouncing a word, either by starting it incorrectly or hesitating 150 142 1 Stutter when speaking

Participant started answering the prompt, but stuttered and couldn't 151 142 1 Tried to answer finish the thought

Participant said "Uhh" breaking up 152 142 1 Uhh continuous speech

Participant said "Umm" breaking 153 142 1 Um up continuous speech

Label code used to group all the ideas about why a participant's 154 0 Voice Feelings voice is important to her

My voice is important to me 155 154 1 Belongs to me because it is mine/belongs to me

My voice is important to me 156 155 2 it is part of me because it is a part of me

My voice is important to me because I can express myself with 157 154 1 Expression it

108

Participant is vague and doesn't explicitly mention how they feel about their voice: ﻞﻛ ا ﻟ تﺎﺠﺤ يد All of these things 2 157 158

My voice is important to me I can deliver my because I use it to tell people what 159 157 2 message I think and explain my perspective

My voice is important to me I express myself without because I can express myself 160 157 2 fear without fear

My voice is important to me because it allows me to speak 161 157 2 I speak with confidence confidently

My voice is important to me 162 161 3 I am in control of it because I can control it

My voice is important to me I can stand up for because I use it to stand up for 163 161 3 myself/ my rights myself and defend my rights

My voice is important to me 164 157 2 I use it to speak because I use it to speak

My voice is important to me because it allows me to share things that I know in my 165 164 3 I say what I know community

My voice is important to me because it allows me to speak with 166 164 3 I speak easily ease

My voice is important to me 167 157 2 My feelings because it expresses my feelings

My voice is important to me because it helps me express my أر ﻲﯾ - my opinion 2 157 168

109

opinions

My voice is important to me because it helps me speak in 169 157 2 Speaking in Public public in front of people

My voice is important to me because it helps me in my daily life - in my community - 170 154 1 Helps me personally, at home, at work etc.

My voice is important to me because it is capable of helping 171 170 2 Helps others others

I don't know why my voice is important to me. Participants responded by saying the phrase "I 172 154 1 I don't know don't know"

Participants express that they love their voice or like the way it 173 154 1 I love my voice sounds

My voice is important to me 174 173 2 I love to sing because I love to sing

My voice is important to me 175 173 2 It is beautiful because I think it is beautiful

My voice is important to me It is the essence of my because it is the essence of my 176 173 2 being being

My voice is important to me 177 173 2 It makes me happy because it makes me happy

110

My voice is important to me because it is valuable to me and/or 178 173 2 It's dear to me it is dear to my heart

Participant didn't complete reading the prompt and said that her voice 179 154 1 Important to me is important for to her

My voice is important to me because it has an impact on society/ it can make a difference for me or those around me - " ﻮﺻ ﺗ ﻲ قﺮﻔﯿﺑ " Makes a difference 1 154 180

My voice is important to me because it can help me change the 181 180 2 It can change my future course of my future

My voice is important to me It plays a part in my because it can directly contribute 182 180 2 community to my community

Participant doesn't specify who her voice can help, but indicates that 183 180 2 My voice can help her voice can be helpful

My voice is important to me 184 154 1 My voice is calm because it is calm

My voice is important to me 185 184 2 My voice is quiet because it is quiet

My voice is important to me because it expresses my personality - ﺮﺒﻌﯿﺑ ﻦﻋ ﻲﺘﯿﺼﺨﺷ ﯿﺼﺨﺷ ﺘ ﻲ - Personality 1 154 186

111

My voice is important to me because it represents me or allows me to expresses myself ﺮﺒﻌﯾ ﻦﻋ ﻧ ﻲﺴﻔ ﻋﺮﻌ ﺮﺒﻌﯾ ﻲﻨﻋ ﻲﺴﻔﻧ - Myself 2 186 187

My voice is important to me Presents the society I because it helps represent me and 188 187 3 live in the society I live in

My voice is important to me because it expresses my thoughts ﺮﺒﻌﯾ ﻦﻋ أ يرﺎﻜﻓ يرﺎﻜﻓأ - Thoughts 1 154 189

Participant said: "whatever" about why her voice is important - in 190 154 1 Whatever English recordings