Book Name: Diaspora Theory and Transnationalism
Author: Himadri Lahiri
Genre: Scholarly
Publisher: Orient Black Swan
Year of Publication: 2019
ISBN: 9789352876143
Reviewed by
Suparno Banerjee
Associate Professor of English, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA. Email: sb67@txstate.edu
Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF
Amitayu Chakraborty
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Durgapur Women’s College, West Bengal, India. ORCID: 0000-0003-3999-448X. amitayuc@yahoo.com;
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.19
Abstract
The article problematises dominant discourses on ‘indigeneity’ (within the context of India) through an analysis of the novel The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey (2014) written by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (1983—). Those discourses are predicated on colonial and neocolonial ethnic stereotypes: at times ‘the indigenous’ denotes a reluctant subject of the nation-state, a primitive mindlessly opposing the ‘modernising’ corporate projects; at times, it constitutes a pristine innocence, an antithesis of the ‘corrupting’ urban life. Santhals, among various other indigenous communities in India, have been a victim of such reductivism. The article argues that Hansda’s novel offers a nuanced depiction of a Santhal community in India which is fraught with internal conflicts as well as external threats undercutting the grand narrative in which the adivasi is a cultural imaginary, either an embodiment of atavism and wildness to be curbed or vulnerable artefacts to be preserved. The tale of Rupi appears to be a critical departure from the monolithic images of adivasis as it blends the magical with the real.
Keywords: indigeneity, Santhal, adivasi, tribe, magical realism, subaltern, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar.
Reynaldo Thompson, Jorge A. Martinez-Puente, Diana Marañon, Jessica Andrea Sanchez
School of Digital Arts, Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico. Email: thompson@ugto.mx
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.18
Abstract
Political ideology is now made manifest and even palpable with a perverse articulation of digital technique, for once on its own, and without the need of any kind of narrative. Art by itself is enough. The ideologue is relegated to an unimportant location following a praxis that evades primordial dependence on the conventions of any discourse. Starting from a discussion of two important video installations by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, this article proposes how the critical use of technology in contemporary art establishes a space, in an interpretive manner. The first section of the paper deals with the notion of subversion of technological devices deriving partially from Lozano-Hemmer’s exploitation of technological praxis as a means of unmediated valorization of ideology. We analyze the metamorphosis of symbols into “fact” within the image, as a detonator of the simulacrum. The second section deals with Justicia Infinita of Alfredo Salomon, based in Puebla, Mexico and perhaps the most ingenious ideologue and artist of the digital era. In Salomon, just as in Lozano-Hemmer the process of subversion of technological devices and its bizarre yet comical inversion is still so powerfully visible. To conclude we shall turn to the implications of the critical use of technology in contemporary art and their ability to allow us to assume their ontological consequences.
Keywords: Contemporary art, metamorphic image, simulacrum, digital art, video installation, control societies, visibility, critical space, individuals, relational architecture.
Rakhi Gupta1 & Richa Arora2
1Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Manipal University Jaipur.
2Professor & Head, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Manipal University Jaipur. Email: Richa.arora@jaipur.manipal.edu
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.17
Abstract
The present study is an attempt to explore a mysterious voice: a voice which has been covered by multiple layers of darkness with excruciating pain, (the voice) which is fighting not for freedom but at least for a hope to live a common life again. Lord Audre, an African-American feminist writer and civil right activist, described her journey of breast cancer from the stage of ‘diagnosed to recovery’ and made her internal struggle visible to the reader by using the genre of interior monologue (William James) and ‘Confessionalism’ (Robert Lowell’s Life Studies) which help to reveal her thought process or internal experiences clearly about her struggle throughout her journey. Therefore, this paper aims to tell the story of a determinate black African-American woman who is suffering not only from identity crisis or trapped in the world of homophobia but also struggled from cancer and is ready to reveal her personal account that is packed with heart-wrenching pain, grief, anguish, strength, perseverance, and the importance of maintaining self-identity even in the face of grave adversity.
Keywords: Confessional Writing, Enlightenment, Stream of Consciousness, Memory, Phobic Disorder
Ritushmita Sharma
Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of English, Dibrugarh University, ritu92oct@gmail.com, Orchid id: 0000-0002-2979-6810
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.16
Abstract
Migration can be conceived as one of the strongest and remarkable signifiers in order to describe the distinguishing features of human beings in the present scenario. With the rapid increase in industrialisation and urbanisation, thousands and thousands of people from the third-world countries are seen to be migrating in search of a new life or opportunities. So, it can be said that the phenomena of migration appear to exert influence upon every nook and crannies of the world thereby becoming the crucial part of contemporary societies. However, the experience of migration brings forth the emergence of migrant identities that undergoes displacement and deracination not only in terms of geographical boundaries but also in terms of cultural bereavement. This as a result enables us to understand the intricacies of hyphenated and hybrid migrant identities that they become due to their realisation of cultural difference. It is on this ground that the present analysis aims to throw light to the case of Bangladeshi migrants in the German city as depicted by Ronny Noor in his novel Snake Dance in Berlin (2009) and thereby to identify the subtle nuances of immigrant psyche. While doing so, the research paper also attempts to observe the circumstances under which the Bangladeshi migrants lived or the strategies deployed by them in order to adjust with a socio-cultural environment which seems to be in sharp contrast to the country of their origin
Keywords: migration, immigrant, displacement, Bangladesh
Shaifali Arora1 & Nirmala Menon2
1PhD scholar, Discipline of English, Digital Humanities and Publishing Studies Research Group, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Indore. ORCID id: 0000-0002-3547-7162. Email: arora.shaifali16@gmail.com
2Associate Professor, Discipline of English, Digital Humanities and Publishing Studies Research Group, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Indore (nmenon@iiti.ac.in)
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.15
Abstract
The linguistic setup of Punjab was affected in 1947 partition and mass displacement, that changed the way people engaged with their spoken languages as linguistic identities were increasingly seen in political and national terms. It was mainly during the years of Punjabi Suba movement in the 1950s in India that was later followed by Indian Punjab’s trifurcation in 1966, that identities were projected into two rigid and contrasting categories as Hindi-Hindu and Punjabi-Sikh. Hindu migrants distanced from an ethnic-Punjabi identity towards a projection of an identity as Hindus that was followed by a language shift from native dialects to Hindi. The current generation of Hindu migrants in India, however, is interested in reviving an ethnic-linguistic identity, an identity that is linked to partition migrants’ lands and language of origin and one that illustrates an ethnic renewal. Through an analysis of non-fictional testimonies and ethnographic data, we demonstrate ethnic contexts of identity renewal among current generation Hindu migrants. We argue that a movement from ‘ethnic amnesia’ to ethnic renewal is one instance of a projection of identity that is currently revised to fulfil a collective identity void among partition affected families. The article presents a two-fold case study, one that engages with our respondent’s ethnic sentiments and second that engages with ethnic and language activism in community spaces. This paper, thus, elaborates a case of identity formations among current-generation partition migrants in India.
Keywords: language gap, project identity, cultural void, ethnic renewal, partition migrants.
Tapaswi H M
Assistant Professor, Dr. NSA Memorial First Grade College, Nitte, Karkala Taluk, Udupi District, 574110, tapaswi.hm@gmail.com, 0000-0002-6867-6088.
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.14
Abstract
In India the concept of “folk culture”, “folk literature”, “folk art form” and other forms of many indigenous folk cultures seem to be considered not aesthetic but quaint, due to the dominance of “classical” art forms which are valued more. One can witness the dearth of qualitative understanding of the experience of beauty in these actions and objects which are not considered as art objects or artistic performances in Indian context. A theoretical perspective which tries to understand these genres and even ritual forms is also rare. In the contemporary academics, many scholars both from the Indian tradition and non-Indian traditions are attempting to understand a different kind of aesthetics that the art forms of these people express. Thus, in this paper, I claim that understanding indigenous art is possible using theories of everyday aesthetics rather than through other special theories of aesthetics. While not arguing for a relative view of aesthetics, this paper uses the ideas of everyday aesthetics and beauty to understand art in folk and cultural contexts in India.
Keywords: Everyday Aesthetics, Symbolic Meaning, Rangoli, imagination, beauty
Jebamalar. E
Research Scholar, Dept. of English, Pondicherry University, jeba.litmsw@gmail.com , ORCID id: 0000-0001-8468-9535
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.13
Abstract
Viramma, Life of an Untouchable (1997) is a telling of Viramma’s own life recorded in print wherein her life’s response to different forms of vulnerabilities was one of resistance which revealed resilience. Belonging to an economically disadvantaged, and socially marginalized community, Viramma’s narrative reached far across seas only with the support received from the purposive use of the tool of translation aided by transcripts collected from ethnomusicological research (1997, p. v). The objective of the paper is to analyse the variables of vulnerability and resilience in the life narrative of Viramma viewed through the lens of sustainable livelihood framework. Situated within the life narrative of Viramma are a number of themes which give rise to significant queries in relation to vulnerability induced due to circumstances. It is from analysis of instances from within Viramma’s life with the theoretical backing of Brene Brown’s shame resilience theory, this research paper seeks to find an answer to the query, if Viramma’s response to vulnerability challenged or reinforced gendered subjectivities?
Keywords: life writing/narrative, vulnerability, resilience, responses, sustainable livelihood framework, shame resilience theory.
Ali Fallahzadeh1 & Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof2
1Visual Art Department, Cultural Center, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, University of Malaya, Malaysia. ORCID: 0000-0002-0414-8702. Email: alfall2001@yahoo.com
2(Corresponding author) Visual Art Department, Cultural Center, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, University of Malaya, Malaysia. ORCID: 0000-0003-3567-6812 Email: gsyousof@hotmail.com
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.12
Abstract
In spite of the prominent role of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) as a pure abstract painter and writer of his theories who developed the abstract art into what he called Neo-Plasticism, little has been written about him compared to other painters such as Picasso and Matisse. Examining the past and recent literature published about Mondrian, some scholars examined the aesthetic evolution of Mondrian’s vision toward his Neo-Plastic art and theory within a historical context by depending on the influences he received from circle of thinkers, artists, and friends during his life. While other scholars analyzed the components of Neo-Plastic theory through formal tenets of De Stijl or a metaphysical lens through premises of western philosophies such as Theosophy, Hegel, and Platonism. Nevertheless, despite the emphasis of the majority of scholars on close relation between Mondrian’s paintings and writings, researchers showed little tendency to examine the development of core formal theories of Neo-Plasticism through a parallel analysis of his Neo-Plastic paintings and his theoretical writings. Therefore, in this paper I aim to examine Mondrian’s early artistic ideas, through a coinciding analysis of his 1919-1920 paintings and his 1919-1923 theoretical essays. In this article, I have considered six principles of Neo-Plasticism published in 1926 by Mondrian, as my main point of departure. The main objective of this paper is to reveal the degrees of Mondrian’s awareness toward his refined, crystalized, aesthetic principles – he wrote in 1926 – by examining his early Neo-Plastic 1919-1920 compositions and his 1919-1923 theoretical essays. By conducting a context-independent research on Mondrian’s paintings and writings, I aim to propose a novel perspective looking through the very core theory of Neo-Plasticism and to motivate more scholars to examine Mondrian’s Neo-Plastic paintings and writings as integrated body of his Neo-Plasticism.
Keywords: Piet Mondrian, Neo-Plastic art, Neo-Plasticism, Six principles of Neo-Plasticism, Equilibrium, Rhythm.
Eqbal Ahmad & Ramendra Nath Verma
(SCADMS) Sharda University Greater Noida, U.P. Email: ramendranath12@gmail.com
Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.11
abstract
With the boom in media industry in India, News has become a product to be consumed by the readers and viewers and, thus, sold in terms of attracting revenue by boosting circulation and rating than providing pure information to aware the mass and empower people. In most cases, news is determined on the basis of public craze, not requirement. This fact of Indian journalism has led to over emphasis on Sensational, Political and Crime Reporting. Today, Crime reports have taken a major place in Newspapers. Because of the immense popularity of crime as a topic of news, there has been no shortage of research on how crime is covered by the media. The present study examines crime news coverage in the leading English Newspapers. The national dailies have been examined against the backcloth of Indian culture and social settings. Comparative analysis was followed to study the objectives and hypothesis. Some prominent facts came into light through this research like Hindustan Times had covered more number of stories by giving maximum coverage to the crime news than the other national dailies while in The Times of India, maximum stories related to terrorism were published. Overall the study tried to analyze the crime reporting in English newspapers through comparative analysis.
Keywords: Media, Newspaper, Crime news, national dailies
