Samar Zahrawi, Ph.D.

Dr. Samar Zahrawi earned her doctorate from the University of Leeds, U. K. in 1992. She taught English literature and translation studies for two decades in Syrian and Saudi universities before joining Sam Houston State University in 2013.

Currently, she is an assistant professor of Arabic language and culture and the coordinator of the Arabic program at SHSU. She teaches ARAB 1411 (Elementary Arabic I),   ARAB 1412 (Elementary Arabic II),  ARAB 2311 (Elementary Arabic I), ARAB 2312 (Elementary Arabic II) and ARAB 3380 (Contemporary Arab World). Furthermore, she contributes, in teaching, to Honors College dialogue seminar under the title of “Islamophobia”.  She is also the advisor of the Department’s  Arabic language and Culture Club.

Her research interests include Arabic drama, Arabic film, Middle Eastern cultural studies, translation studies and Arabic language pedagogy. She published several articles on the work of the pioneering Syrian dramatist Sadallah Wannous. She is also interested studying  translation strategies that can best maintain the cultural identity of literary texts. Her articles can be accessed in the following  link http://ssrn.com/author=2576766 . She is also serving on the editorial board of Arab World English Journal.  She presents at national and local conferences such as the South Central Modern Language Association conference where she organizes a panel on Middle Eastern Studies. She also presents at the Universality of Global Education Conference at SHSU.

She is active in  numerous committees at WOLC, CHSS and across SHSU at large, where she partakes in organizing conferences and cultural events. 

Selected publications

"The Images of Women in the Plays of Sa'dallah Wannous". Journal of Middle Eastern and North African Intellectual and Cultural Studies.( Binghamton: State University of New York) 2002.

“Syrian Drama Escaping Censorship: Sa’dallah Wannous’s The King’s Elephant and The King is King”. Arab World English Journal, vol. 6. No.2. 2015.

“The Rise of the Underdog: The Figure of the Anti-hero in two Plays by Sadallah Wannous". Arab World English Journal, vol. 7 June, 2016

Courses Taught at SHSU

ARAB 1411 Elementary Arabic I

ARAB 1412 Elementary Arabic II

ARAB 2311 Intermediate Arabic I

ARAB 2312 Intermediate Arabic II