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April 1, 2025

Defending and celebrating scholarship

Dear Friends,

I had the honor of serving on a master’s thesis committee for a student in Translation Studies at the Arab American University of Palestine (AAUP). Many thanks to Dr. Anastasia Khawaja for the invitation to provide feedback on the student’s work, and to participate in this very special event.

A woman on stage at a podium with a large screen showing a title slide:  Arab American University Faculty of Graduate Studies, Linguistic Insecurity of Palestinian Interpreters from Arabic to English, Submitted by Hadil Hmoud Ibrahim Abu Settah, Supervised by Dr. Anastasia Khawaja
Hadil Abu Settah, an English teacher at an UNWRA school, defending her master’s thesis at the Arab American University of Palestine (AAUP)

Hadil Abu Settah works as an English teacher at an UNWRA school in Jericho. Hadil defended her master’s thesis, “Linguistic Insecurity of Palestinian Interpreters from Arabic to English”. As is the custom in some countries (for example, The Netherlands), faculty and students wear academic regalia to the thesis defense.

The political context of Palestine means that interpreters are often called on to translate sensitive, ideologically loaded terms, adding to the complexity and stress of the interpreter’s job. These cultural factors contribute to the insecurity that interpreters experience and their confidence in their own work. For example, referring to the Israeli army as the IDF, an acronym for ‘Israeli Defense Forces’, communicates a particular political stance, as does the name IOF, which is an acronym for ‘Israeli Occupation Forces’ or ‘Israeli Offensive Forces’. (The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC), which strives for neutrality in its reporting, refers instead to the ‘Israeli military’ or ‘army’.)

Three women standing in red academic regalia; the woman on the right holds a laptop with an image of a fourth woman via videoconference
Hadil and her committee, including Dr. Anastasia Khawaja (supervisor) and committee member Dr. Lana Shehada (via videoconference). I served as the external committee member

7 people standing in front of a large screen; four adults (one man and three women) and three children standing in front of the adults. A Palestinian flag is in the background
With Hadil’s family

The Arab American University of Palestine (AAUP) was founded in 2000, in a collaboration with California State University (CSU) in Stanislaus and Utah State University (USU) in Logan. The university serves more than 11,300 students across two campuses: one in Ramallah, and the other in Jenin.

An aerial view of rolling hills and a sky filled with clouds
The view of Ramallah (Al Rayhan area) from the office of the AAUP’s Dean of Graduate Studies

A woman in red academic regalia, next to a Palestinian flag. The hood of the regalia is in the colors of the flag
The AAUP doctoral hood includes the colors of the Palestinian flag

Congratulations to Hadil, and to her mentor, Dr. Anastasia, who Hadil described as “the best guide and teacher for me with her kind heart and bright mind”.

Salaam,

Nancy

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