General Summary: Professor Rasha Diab discusses her research on peacemaking rhetoric in the Arab-Islamic tradition and her academic journey within the discipline. Undergraduate students in Dr. Longaker’s Fall 2019 RHE321 Principles of Rhetoric class share their impressions of Dr. Diab’s work, and their feelings toward the unfamiliar modes of peacemaking and conflict resolution that Diab’s work reveals.

Detailed Summary & Timestamps: Dr. Diab’s experience and work in peacemaking, the Arab-Islamic tradition in cultural rhetoric studies, and understanding violence (00:00-04:15); “Sulh” practices as modern peacemaking rhetoric and the Chancery in Al-Qalqashandi’s Encyclopedia (04:16-13:18); Punitive versus non-punitive justice and the tradition of “Dafn,” as well as classroom discussion featuring Dr. Mark Longaker and Rebecca Atwood (13:19-18:06); The asymmetry of power inherent in peacemaking and the example of “Ubuntu,” as well as classroom discussion featuring Dabya Alrafaei and Cason Hunwick (18:07-21:16); The Arabic vocabulary for peace and the art of apology (21:17-25:37); “Eye for an eye”: a tradition in justice (25:36-27:35); The challenges of learning and teaching peacemaking rhetoric (27:36-32:05); Scholarly Article informing this Production: Diab, Rasha. "Peacemaking and the Chancery in Medieval Cairo: Revisiting Medieval Arabic Rhetoric." Rhetoric Across Borders, Parlor Press, 2003, pp. 121-31.

Credits: This podcast was produced by Lillie Munoz, Dabya Alrafaei, and Rebecca Atwood, with resources and assistance provided by the Digital Writing and Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. It features the voices of Rasha Diab, Mark Longaker, Dabya Alrafaei, Rebecca Atwood, and Cason Hunwick. Music featured in this podcast, titled “commonGround,” was created by airtone and has been repurposed here under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license 3.0. Additionally, conversation.wav was adapted and incorporated under Creative Commons 1.0 license.