Mayssa Hashaad, doctoral candidate in the Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Program at the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has received one of the 2025 James J. Hudson Doctoral Awards in the Humanities from the Graduate School and International Education.

Each award is for $1,500 and given to a department-nominated graduate student in comparative literature and cultural studies, English, history or philosophy, who has only their dissertation left to write and defend and who plans to graduate in the coming year. The award was established in 1986 in memory of James J. Hudson, a longtime professor of history and former dean of the U of A Graduate School.

Hashaad's dissertation, titled Trauma and Subversive Resistance in Context: Gender-Based Violence, Victimhood, and Agency in Egyptian Women's Prison Narratives, examines the representation of trauma, incarceration and resistance in modern Egyptian women's prison narratives. Through an analysis of literary and dramatic works — including Salwa Bakr's The Golden Chariot, Nawal El Sa'adawi's Memoirs from the Women's Prison, Fathia al-Assal's Sijn al-Nisa'a and Mariam Naoum's adaptation Segn el-Nessa — her study explores how these texts depict gender-based violence, systemic oppression and the strategies women employ to navigate and resist incarceration. Situating these narratives within trauma theory, Hashaad's research engages with Egypt's socio-political and cultural landscape to examine the complex intersection between victimhood and agency. In doing so, her dissertation contributes both to the study of modern Egyptian literature and to trauma studies by offering a culturally specific perspective on resilience and resistance. 

CLCS Director Erika Almenara further noted that Hashaad "has the intelligence, work ethic and passion to not only make a significant contribution to the world of trauma studies but also to foment the wider dissemination of this important body of Egyptian literature."

The Comparative Literature & Cultural Studies Program provides advanced-level research training in comparative literature and cultural studies for students with previous education in various languages and cultures, national literatures or literary genres to earn either a master's or doctoral degree. The program prepares students to perform critical analysis, cross-cultural communication and international understanding so they can become workers able to be adaptable and excel in multicultural and intercultural competence. This preparation allows students to communicate difficult ideas clearly and be at ease working and engaging with people in multiple cultural and linguistic contexts.