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University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
History, Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures
History, Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures
In the process of graduating with two Bachelore's Degrees.
Classes
Classes
America in the Middle East | HIS-103M
The Middle East From the 18th Century to the Present | HIS-109C
Discourses of Colonialism and Postcoloniality: Alienation and the Discourse of the Human | RHETOR-155
Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars
Serves as Director of Public Relations for the Phi Alpha Theta (National History Honors Society), Chi chapter. Student ambassador for the Arts & Humanities Dean's Office. Editor for the Comparative Literature Undergraduate Journal. Dean's Honors List for the College of Letters & Sciences (Fall 2025).
Honors and Awards
Honors and Awards
U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens Scholarship, Center for Middle Eastern Studies: University of California, Berkeley - April 2026.
Details: This scholarship was created by the family and friends of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens to honor the memory of Ambassador Stevens who was killed in Libya. The fund is dedicated to deepening and extending knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa, primarily in the areas of culture and language. Devin was awarded the maximum amount this scholarship had to offer for continuing his studies in Arabic and assisting in his research on the phenomena of Arabic nightclubs in the West Coast and Midwest of the United States from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Best Arabic-Language Short Film, Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures Department, Arabic Program: University of California, Berkeley - May 2026.
Details: This award is granted to the groups which created the best Arabic-language short films in their Arabic classes at UC Berkeley. The film, titled "The Broken Camera," was about a man struggling to find happiness after the death of his wife and was voted the best film in Section 2 of Arabic-1B.
NORCO COLLEGE
NORCO COLLEGE
IGETC, ASSOCIATE'S FOR TRANSFER
IGETC, ASSOCIATE'S FOR TRANSFER
Graduated with associate degrees emphasizing history, political science, the arts, humanities, philosophy, along with other aspects of the social and behavioral sciences. Elements of study largely focused on post-colonial societies, and U.S. imperialism. Granted the Honors Program Excellence Award in addition to graduating with Honors from the college.
Graduated with associate degrees emphasizing history, political science, the arts, humanities, philosophy, along with other aspects of the social and behavioral sciences. Elements of study largely focused on post-colonial societies, and U.S. imperialism. Granted the Honors Program Excellence Award in addition to graduating with Honors from the college.
Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars
Served as the Honors Society President and Vice President organizing panels on pertinent topics, recruited, and mentored fellow students. Presented original research at the HTCC Conference (2024-25) and the RCCD Student Research Conference (2023-24). First-ever Norco College student to be awarded the RCCD Chancellor's Award. Won the HTCC Exemplary Achievement Award. Nominated 2024 Student of Distinction in Humanities. Placed on 2022-25 Dean's List for academic excellence.
Honors and Awards
Honors and Awards
Student of Distinction, Humanities: Norco College, Norco, California, April 2024.
Details: Nominated a Student of Distinction in the field of the Humanities at Norco College. Prof. Michael Bobo writes in reference to this nomination, "Devin Dadah has been an active member in Norco College Honors Program as a student leader and participant in Research Conferences hosted by RCCD and Honors Transfer Council of California. His passion for history and humanities is inspiring to me as his professor and mentor. In many conversations during office hours, we've explored the gamut of world cultures and issues facing our shared humanity. Mr. Dadah represents the interdisciplinary focus of Humanities research with his exploration of history, literature, media, and politics in his Honors essays. Topics like Utopianism during the Renaissance, Voodoo and Marxist impacts upon the Haitian Revolution, and Star Wars as a critique of Iraq War demonstrate his ability to critique contexts over the past 500 years. Mr. Dadah's research is the mark of a Humanities Student of Distinction."
Chancellor’s Award, 17th Annual RCCD Student Research Conference: Riverside Community College District, Riverside California, November 2024.
Details: The award is given to individuals who presented the most outstanding abstract at the conference. Devin Dadah was the first student from Norco College to win the Chancellor's Award in the 17 years of the Riverside Community College District Honors Program putting on their conference.
Exemplary Achievement Award, 25th Annual Building Bridges Research Conference: Honors Transfer Council of California, Riverside, California, April 2025.
Details: This award is granted to students recognized for their academic success, personal growth, and their involvement in their community college's Honors Program.
Honors Program Excellence Award and Honors Graduate Certificate
Details: This award is granted to students who have displayed a level of excellence in participation with the Honors Program. This included being the only student to take 7 Honors courses, serving the Honors Society as a President, writing the Honors Society founding constitution, starting the Honors Society living document, presenting at several conferences, securing the RCCD Conference Chancellor's Award for the first time in Norco College history, winning the HTCC Conference Exemplary Achievement Award, and mentoring fellow Honors students. Honors Coordinator Cameron Young says in relation to this award that "Devin helped to establish a framework that we not only continue to operate within, but also serves as a continued guidepost for future leadership and future Honors Program considerations."
Eldorado Emerson Private School
Eldorado Emerson Private School
Valedictorian, Summa CUM LAUDE
Valedictorian, Summa CUM LAUDE
Eldorado Emerson was a K-12 private school with a majority international student population located in Orange, California.
Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars
Team Captain of Soccer Team, Master of Ceremonies, Student Marketing Team Supervisor, Yearbook Copy Editor Lead, Treasurer of Associated Student Body (ASB), Sustainability Club President, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) Club Leader.
Honors and Awards
Honors and Awards
Valedictorian, Summa Cum Laude: Eldorado Emerson Private School, Orange, California, June 2019.
Details: Valedictorian graduate of senior high school class at Eldorado Emerson.
Arabic Language Study
Arabic Language Study
QASID, UCLA, BYU, and UIUC
QASID, UCLA, BYU, and UIUC
A list of places where Devin has studied Modern Standard Arabic.
Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae
2017 — 2017 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign–Urbana, Illinois – Arabic Language Study
Took the Summer Institute for Languages of the Muslim World (SILMW) Arabic Program directed by Dr. Eman Saadah and taught by Dr. Abdulkafi Albirini, who are both linguistic professors specializing in the Arabic language.
Activities and societies: Engaged in intensive Arabic study for MSA, participated in cultural events, and produced a video skit to demonstrate our proficiency in the Arabic language.
2018 — 2019 Brigham Young University
Online Format – Arabic Language and Literature
2019 — 2021 UC Los Angeles Extension
Online Format – Academic Credits
2026 — Now Qasid Arabic Language Insitute
Online Format – Arabic Language and Literature
Gifted Students Academy
Gifted Students Academy
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
Attended the UCI Gifted Students Academy (GSA) Programs every summer in elementary and middle school.
Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars
Animal Dissection, Public Presentations, Biology, Archeology, Paleontology, Physics, Chemistry, Forensics, Robotics and International Student Ambassador.
Projects AND PRESENTATIONS
Projects AND PRESENTATIONS
The following is a list of Devin's projects and presentations from over the years. This includes conference lectures, public speeches, and school projects.
Research included the cannibalistic events that took place in the cities of Antioch, Ma'arra, and broader Syria during the First Crusade. It analyzes the Western European self-embrace of anthropophagi through the cultivation of foundational myths that romanticize consumption of Arab peoples.
Research included how the U.S. processes of dehumanization during the Vietnam War led to a systemic prevalence of war crimes carried out by U.S. troops. It unveiled how certain U.S. military policies cultivated dehumanization and rewarded killing.
Research includes how Star Wars could be used as a critical lens to view the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the role Americans play in U.S. imperialism.
Devin giving the graduate speech at Norco College for the 2025 End of Year Banquet for students graduating with Honors. It is an event where Honors students ritualistically say their goodbyes, reminisce about their time in Honors, celebrate each other and revieve their graduate certificates.
INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEWS
Academic Publications
Academic Publications
Coming Soon......
CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS
1. Devin Dadah. 2023. “You Are Needed Here As Well:” Class Struggle in Marvel’s The Vision. Abs. 16th Annual RCCD Student Research Conference.
2. Devin Dadah. 2024. The Iraq War in Star Wars: Invasion, Occupation and Resistance. Abs. Honors Transfer Council of California Conference.
3. Devin Dadah. 2024. “Napalm Sticks to Kids:” The U.S. Process of Dehumanization During the Vietnam War. Abs. 17th Annual RCCD Student Research Conference.
4. Devin Dadah. 2025. The First Crusades: An Anthropophagic Desire to Devour the Arab World. Abs. Honors Transfer Council of California Conference.
ABSTRACT SAMPLE
This is a copy of Devin Dadah’s abstract that was submitted and accepted into the annual Honors Transfer Council of California Conference in 2025.
Presenter: Devin Dadah
Mentor: Professor Michael Bobo
Title: The First Crusades: An Anthropophagic Desire to Devour the Arab World
Word Count: 250
Traditional narratives in the West obfuscate the anthropophagic character of the First Crusades. These narratives ignore the cannibalistic events which took place in the city of Antioch, Ma’arra, and throughout Syria. Analysis of these events reveals a Western European self-embrace of anthropophagi through the cultivation of foundational myths that romanticize consumption of Arab peoples.
After capturing Antioch, Frankish Crusaders marched on the city of Ma’arra. It was there that Crusaders ate thousands of its inhabitants. In the words of Frankish chronicler Radulph of Caen: “our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking-pots; they impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled” (Maalouf 39). Crusader methods of dehumanization were reliant on a theology which glorified the redefining of Roman imperial borders. This religious fanaticism benefited from the emergence of new cultural identities during the turn of the millennium. In this transition, syncretism between Norse paganism and Roman Catholicism facilitated a cultural convergence which propelled anthropophagic desires. Rituals like the Catholic Eucharist, and Norman remembrance of their Eddas, solidified metaphysical transference through the consumption of human flesh.
Medieval European cultural connotations surrounding the inhuman nature of foreigners, combined by volatile interactions with Turkic and Arab peoples, identified cannibalism as a just act (Sturluson and Saemund). This use of anthropophagi was immortalized into modern European cultural practices by which certain foods, like the croissant, symbolize the devouring of the crescent, and thus, the Arab world. Identifying the ideas which facilitated a cannibalistic desire to consume Arab peoples becomes necessary when examining modern societal implications.
Works Cited
Maalouf, Amin. The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. Schocken, 1984.
Rainer, Franz. “Sur l'origine de croissant et autres viennoiseries.” Revue de Linguistique Romane, vol. 71, 2007, pp. 467-482.
Sturluson, Snorre, and Saemund Sigfusson. “The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson.” Project Gutenberg, 2005.
Sümer, Faruk, et al., editors. The Book of Dede Korkut: A Turkish Epic. Translated by Faruk Sümer, et al., University of Texas Press, 1972.
Washington, Julie. “The Magical Power of Cannibalism.” Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of History, Philosophy, Religion, and Classics, vol. 4, no. 1, 2012, pp. 46-57.
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