http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/what-is-the-what Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:03:05 -0400 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:03:05 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/945/spiritual-autobiography-and-dave-eggers-what-is-the-what By Johanna L. Beck - Spiritual autobiographies have a long and rich history as a form of memoir, beginning at about 397AD with the release of Saint Augustine’s Confessions. Since this time, many spiritual works have evolved out of this tradition and are still being produced today. Although not labeled as such, Dave Eggers’ What is the What is a modern version of the spiritual autobiography, following the form and contextual aspects of many of its predecessors as it traces the journey of a Lost Boy and Sudanese refugee to America. This paper serves to compare the traditionally accepted spiritual autobiography... Sat, 06 Dec 2014 08:45 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/945/spiritual-autobiography-and-dave-eggers-what-is-the-what http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/925/what-is-the-what-as-a-religious-memoir By James K. Aumack - Eggers provides Deng’s account of his experiences as a part of the Lost Boys of Sudan in the Second Sudanese Civil War. The civil war took place from 1983-2005, due in large part to the introduction of Sharia law. According to Robert W. Hefner (1992), “most activists making these appeals [for Sharia law] were mainstream Muslims intent on abiding by what they regarded as the commands of their faith” (p. 1). Although there are varying opinions on the main cause of the second civil war, Ole Frahm (2012) said that the motivating factor for the beginning of the war was, “the... Fri, 17 Oct 2014 11:02 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/925/what-is-the-what-as-a-religious-memoir