PhD Degree Awarded to Ms. Safaa Al-Qubati in English Literature

Ms. Safaa Tawfiq Abdulrashid Al-Qubati was awarded a PhD degree in English Literature for her dissertation titled: Hearing the Missing Voice in Yaa Gyasi Novels Transcendent Kingdom and Homegoing through the Lens of Feminism, which was submitted to the Department of English, Faculty of Languages – Sana’a University. The dissertation defense was held on Saturday, September 13, 2025.

The PhD Viva-Voce Committee, which was formed based on a resolution issued by the Graduate Studies and Scientific Research Council, consisted of the following:

#	Committee Members	Designation	University	Position
1	Prof. Muneer Ahmed Al-Aghbari	External Examiner	Albaydha University	Chair
2	Prof. Iman Abdullah Al-Mahdi	Main Supervisor	Sana’a University	Member
3	Assoc. Prof. Ibraheem N.A. Tagaddeen	Internal Examiner	Sana’a University	Member

The dissertation aimed to analyze the experiences of oppression and resistance among Black women as portrayed by African-American author Yaa Gyasi in her two novels Transcendent Kingdom (2020) and Homegoing (2016), employing the framework of Black Feminist Theory.

The study concluded that Black women have endured exploitation, dehumanization, and marginalization in a world shaped by systemic racism and gender bias. However, Gyasi depicts these women not only as victims of structural oppression but also as agents of change, resisting these violations through self-development and spiritual endurance.

In light of these findings, the researcher proposed several key recommendations for future research, including:

Examining the works of other African-American feminist writers, such as Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, using Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought as a theoretical framework.
Applying alternative theoretical frameworks to Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom and Homegoing, such as bell hooks’ theory as presented in her work Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center.
Conducting comparative analytical studies between Gyasi’s writings and those of other contemporary African-American women writers.

The dissertation defense was attended by a number of academics, researchers, specialists, students, colleagues, and the researcher’s family.