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Optimist vs Pessimist: Indulging and Contextualizing Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism in “Once Again” and “Trisanku” by C.S. Lakshmi

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M. Aarthi Priya  
PhD Research Scholar, PG & Research Department of English, Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous), Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. 

Rupkatha Journal, Special Issue on Poetics of Self-construal in Postcolonial Literature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.07
[Article History: Received: 12 October 2023. Revised: 20 December 2023. Accepted: 21 December 2023. Published: 25 December 2023]
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Abstract

Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, developed the idea of ‘learned optimism’ by embracing the idea that an optimistic outlook can be developed through learning. This article discusses the idea of learned optimism, its advantages, and how one may begin to transform their life and thinking. According to the analysis, optimistic personalities appear to have a greater success rate when it comes to reaching their intended goals, even when the pessimistic characters do amazing things in their lives. Both pessimists and optimists achieve things in their lives, but optimists are perceived as having accomplished more. Martin Seligman’s theory of learned optimism is analysed and contextualized in this paper, which aims to evaluate the optimistic and pessimistic personalities found in the characters in the selected short stories of C.S. Lakshmi. Seligman’s concept of learned optimism is well connected with the characters of Loki in “Once Again” and Anjana in “Trisanku”. The characters are also subjected to cognitive distortions of the three P’s: Personal, Pervasive and Permanent to develop themselves to be optimistic personalities through the concept of learned optimism. Seligman also proved that through learned optimism one can change from a pessimistic to an optimistic personality so that they can prevent themselves from depression and anxiety.

Keywords: Learned Optimism, Cognitive distortions, Three P’s, optimistic, pessimistic.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Priya, M.A. (2023). Optimist vs Pessimist: Indulging and Contextualizing Martin Seligman’s Learned Optimism in “Once Again” and “Trisanku” by C.S. Lakshmi. Rupkatha Journal 15:5. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.07 

Troping Identity in Arkady Martine’s Space Opera: From Historical Realism to Quantum Anthropomorphization

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222 views

Maria-Ana Tupan     
Alba Iulia University, Romania

Rupkatha Journal, Special Issue on Poetics of Self-construal in Postcolonial Literature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.13
[Article History: Received: 15 November 2023. Revised: 10 December 2023. Accepted: 11 December 2023. Published: 24 December 2023]
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Abstract

Rosi Braidotti’s theory of “nomadic subject” (2011) has shifted the focus from traveller in the literal sense of the word to subject as a process; becoming subject entails a denial of universals in the construction of identity which is redefined as situated embodiment in the world, open to the heteronormativity of changing social codes and accepted modes of living or of conceiving otherness. Nevertheless, travel has always been associated with an explicit ethos, whether as a pious pilgrimage, educational world tour or the grand narrative of civilizing mission. Located on various maps, real or imaginary, civilizations are brought into contact by the huge number of migrants, the problems they raise including the relationship between third worlds and metropolitan cities/ countries, the migrants’ othering by mainstream populations, the migrants’ desire to be naturalised and the estrangement from their true selves as a result. By building simulation models, speculative fiction probes deeply into underground concerns which well up to the surface in postcolonial literature, being expected to produce cognitive enlightenment. Relieved from the material deprivations of the colonial past, the postcolonial subject is now caught in the process of identitarian reconstruction.

Keywords: self-construal, deconstruction of presence, world-building,  cultural narratives, multiculturalism.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Tupan, M. (2023). Troping Identity in Arkady Martine’s Space Opera: From Historical Realism to Quantum Anthropomorphization. Rupkatha Journal 15:5. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.13 

Colonialism, Diasporic Politics and Alternate History in Shauna Singh Baldwin’s What the Body Remembers and Anita Rau Badami’s Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?

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Tania Bansal     
Assistant Professor, UILAH, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab.

Rupkatha Journal, Special Issue on Poetics of Self-construal in Postcolonial Literature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.09
[Article History: Received: 13 November 2023. Revised: 20 December 2023. Accepted: 21 December 2023. Published: 24 December 2023]
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 Abstract

Shauna Singh Baldwin in her novel What the Body Remembers (1999) and Anita Rau Badami in Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? (2006) take up diverse treatises which are advantageous in the construction of subjectivity of a postcolonial subject. The present article deals with Baldwin’s representation of the nation and Badami’s depiction of politics, which trespass borders and affect diaspora Sikhs and members of other communities. Colonialism has been one of the causes of communalism which resulted in distortions in the historical representations of the events. Both the novelists amidst religious and historical landscapes of India also make political statements in their distinctive ways. It is interesting to analyze these statements from the perspective of postcolonial discourse as both authors belong to a period when literary texts and histories are being re-examined with a counter-narrativistic assessment. Both the authors bring out the Sikh perspective on the colonial and racist policies of the British in India and the colonial/postcolonial racist attitude of majority communities in foreign lands towards ethnic minorities through the characters taken in the novels under study. Politics of extremism and fundamentalism is the crux of both the novels. The English language has been shown to have been given a special status in the colonial regime. How language becomes a tool of both subversion and oppression is an important theme in both novels. The novels interrogate written history from alternate perspectives through the turmoil of time and space in which the novels are written. Both Badami and Baldwin conceive their characters presenting them as products of their time, place and environment.

Keywords: colonialism, diasporic politics, alternate history.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Bansal, T. (2023). Colonialism, Diasporic Politics and Alternate History in Shauna Singh Baldwin’s What the Body Remembers and Anita Rau Badami’s Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? Rupkatha Journal 15:5. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n5.09 

Rupkatha Translation Project (RTP 2024)

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Rupkatha Translation Project (RTP 2024)

In collaboration with
Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Université d’Artois, France
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Odisha, India
Belarusian State Economic University

[Download the Brochure in PDF]

About the Project

Introduction

Rupkatha is launching Project Translation, a collaborative global initiative to address several issues in the field of translation and contribute to the growing body of literature in translation. In our time, translation has gained importance because of instant access to the vast bodies of literature in various languages. Contrary to the fears expressed once, the internet has not promoted a single language, rather initiatives were taken globally to make other languages available on the digital media. Post Web 2.0 phase, vast bodies of content have been generated in different languages. This period has also proved that spontaneous expressions are best expressed in one’s mother tongue. At the same time, there exist numerous cultural texts in other languages and they demand translation in other languages because of their cultural significance.

Translation promotes intercultural communication and contributes to understanding other cultures subtly and comprehensively. More than anything else, there is an urgent to preserve and promote regional indigenous knowledge systems that came into being after a long cultural interaction with environmental factors. Sometimes, the principle of aesthetics is derived from the complex intermixing of cultural and environmental factors. The Project seeks to explore the possibility of finding aesthetic values, appropriate for our times, embedded in some distant literary pieces.

Aims and objectives

  • Preservation of languages, culture, and indigenous knowledge system
  • Promotion of mother tongues
  • Bridging the cultures, equity, and equilibrium
  • Promoting the aesthetic values

Scope

Any cultural text with significant literary value.

Types

  • Oral cultural and/or literary texts
  • Written cultural and/or literary texts

Project Types and Publication

3-Month Projects To be published in a single issue

6-Month Projects To be published serially in two/three issues

9-Month Projects To be published serially in three/four issues issues

Translation Methodology
Translators can opt for a single-translator project or a group-translator project.

  1. Types of Contents: Any form of literature—written or oral.
  2. Languages: We accept translations from any language into English
  3. Word limit for a single publication: Around 5000-7000 words per issue of the journal

Copyrights Terms

  • Trans of copyrighted and non-copyrighted works are allowed.
  • For copyrighted works, the translators need to secure permission themselves. Rupkatha will not
    be involved in the process.
  • The copyright of the translated works will rest exclusively with the publisher of the Rupkatha Journal.

Payment Conditions

  • The Rupkatha Journal will bear all the costs of publication. Translators will not have to pay
    anything.
  • Translators will not be paid anything for publication in the Rupkatha Journal. However, if in any
    way, any revenue is generated from the works, 20% of the royalty will go to the translator and
    another 20% will go to the original author/s.

Peer Review

All the submissions will be subject to editorial review and peer review.

Plagiarism Check

All the translations must be the translator’s endeavour. Translations done through Google
Translate, AI and other tools will not be considered for publication.

DOI Assignment

All the published translations will be assigned DOI for the sake of record and referencing.

Submission Process

Stage 1: Initial Sample Submission

Translators need to submit initial sample submissions. Based on this, the projects will be approved.
The initial submission should include the following:

  • A Cover Letter that briefly informs the project. Download the format here>>
  • A translator may submit samples of more than one translation but not more than three.
  • A sample translation of 400-500 words along with the original text in PDF.
  • Copyright permission from the original author. If the permission is not available at this stage, it
    may be submitted during Stage 2.

Submit your proposals to submission@rupkatha.com.

Submission Deadline: June 30, 2024.

Stage 2: Project Approval

The Board will consider and approve the projects. The translators will have to complete the projects
and submit their work in due time.

Stage 3: Publication

After the completion of translation, all works will go through a peer review process. The final works
will be published in the Rupkatha Journal.

Stage 4: Certification

Translators will get certificates for the completion of the projects issued jointly by the collaborating
universities and the journal.

Stage 5: Post-publication

We will consider publishing print versions of the translated works in collaboration with other
publishing agencies.

Collaborations

The Board


Media Partners

Hallucinations in ChatGPT: An Unreliable Tool for Learning

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676 views

Zakia Ahmad1* , Wahid Kaiser2 & Sifatur Rahim3  
1,2,3 Department of English, University of Asia Pacific – UAP, Dhaka, Bangladesh. *Corresponding author.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 4, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.17
[Article History: Received: 30 October 2023. Revised: 17 December 2023. Accepted: 18 December 2023. Published: 19 December 2023]
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Abstract

Recently, ChatGPT has been upgraded to its newer version for its unsubscribed users – ChatGPT 3.5. Though ChatGPT has become an astonishing phenomenon all over the world for creating realistic texts within seconds, it can disseminate wrong information and misconceptions. Technical experts have identified this problem as hallucination. This paper has examined ChatGPT’s ability to differentiate between correct and incorrect relations in the questions that are set to it. It has also explored the efficacy of ChatGPT in helping students acquire linguistic and literary proficiency. The study took the form of exploratory interpretive research. The participants of the research study were students studying English at the undergraduate level. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, FGDs, and input provided to ChatGPT. All data were analyzed qualitatively. The findings of this research indicate that ChatGPT tends to provide inconsistent information when a series of contextual questions are asked. Because of this hallucination, ChatGPT becomes an unreliable source for language and literature learning.

Keywords: ChatGPT, hallucination, language learning, literature learning, reliability.

Sustainable Development Goals: Better Education
Citation: Ahmad, Z., Kaiser, W. & Rahim, S. (2023) Hallucinations in ChatGPT: An Unreliable Tool for Learning. Rupkatha Journal 15:4. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.17 

Why do Words with Negative Connotations Still Exist? A Corpus-Based Analysis of the Words ‘Handicapped’, ‘Diffable’, and ‘Disability’

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281 views

Yoga Yolanda1*  & Budi Setyono2    
1 Study Program of Indonesian Language and Literature Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Jember, Jember, East Java, Indonesia. *Corresponding author.
2Study Program of English Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Jember, Jember, East Java, Indonesia.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 4, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.15
[Article History: Received: 15 September 2023. Revised: 08 December 2023. Accepted: 18 December 2023. Published: 19 December 2023]
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Abstract

This corpus-based study examines the persistence of negatively connoted words in the Indonesian, particularly focusing on cacat (handicapped). Cacat is compared to its synonyms, namely difabel (difable) and disabilitas (disability). The study employs a mixed-methods approach, using data from Indonesian corpora, specifically ‘ind_mixed_2013’ and ‘Korpus Indonesia.’ The analysis results indicate a gradual transition from the use of the word cacat to disabilitas in discussions about human conditions, while cacat still retains important metaphorical meanings in specific contexts and is irreplaceable. Recommendations encompass a review of language term absorption rules in Indonesian, stipulating that new words must be euphemistic and free from negative connotations, to be undertaken by the government.

Keywords: handicapped, difable, disability, synonyms, negative connotations

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Yolanda, Y. & Setyono, B. (2023 Why do Words with Negative Connotations Still Exist? A Corpus-Based Analysis of the Words ‘Handicapped’, ‘Diffable’, and ‘Disability’. Rupkatha Journal 15:4. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.15 

Architectural Space and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Arkady Martine’s Rose House: Reading Spatiality and AI/Human Dichotomies

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319 views

Ritu Ranjan Gogoi  
Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva Viswavidyalaya (MSSV).

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 4, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.16
[Article History: Received: 30 October 2023. Revised: 17 December 2023. Accepted: 18 December 2023. Published: 18 December 2023]
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Abstract

Sci-fi literature has become an important genre that explores and reflects on the societal anxieties, ethical quandaries, and existential threats concerning the trajectory of AI advancements, possibilities, and consequences of AI technologies. The objective of this article is to highlight the intersection of architectural space and artificial intelligence in Arkady Martine’s sci-fi novella Rose House (2023). A critical reading of Martine’s text reveals the poetics of space juxtaposed with the issues and complexities of artificial intelligence that unfolds new paradigms in which the relationship between people and place, space and being, the binaries of human and the non-human (AI) can be contemplated within a posthumanist framework of Rosi Braidotti and Heidegger’s notion of being. Moreover, the article utilizes the ideas of space syntax theory, and Henri Lefebvre’s ideas of space to analyze how spatial configurations (real and imagined) have an impact on human behaviour and actions in shaping space while interacting with artificial intelligence within the spatial dimensions of a house.

Keywords: Sci-fi, Artificial intelligence, architectural space, house, human, posthuman, spatial, being.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Gogoi, R. R. (2023). Architectural Space and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Arkady Martine’s Rose House: Reading Spatiality and AI/Human Dichotomies. Rupkatha Journal 15:4. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.16 

Artificial Intelligence (AF) in Human Fantasy: The Birth of a New Subject in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun

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336 views

Sharifa Akter1*    & Niger Afroz Islam 2  
1,2 Department of English, University of Asia Pacific. *Corresponding author.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 4, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.14
[Article History: Received: 29 October 2023. Revised: 17 December 2023. Accepted: 18 December 2023. Published: 18 December 2023.]
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Abstract

In Klara and the Sun (2021), the Nobel Prize-winning Japanese-British writer Kazuo Ishiguro fantasizes about an unspecified future world of possibilities for life with Artificial Intelligence. This novel raises complex questions about the notion of intelligent life, the fantasy of transcending the limits of nature, the future of the social bond, and the constitution of human emotions. This study portrays the unconscious fears, fantasies, and fascination created in the novel’s plot, centred on the solar-powered AF (Artificial Friend). The novelty of this paper is to show how Klara, the Artificial Friend, the humanoid, traverses the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real and becomes a new Lacanian subject. The careful explanation of the study attempts to chart the impact of a new subject on human fantasy in society and culture from Zizek’s concept of Ideological Fantasy. It explores how subjects lose their internal being when their lives are entirely commodified and exploited as a component of capitalism. Finally, Ishiguro ends his novel where the being (nature) owns over the thing (commodity). This paper will also attempt to enlist the impact of dystopian fiction on society and culture. Hence, in conclusion, this study explores a constructive approach to understanding human fantasy and acknowledges the text as a scope that meets interdisciplinary promises.

Keywords: Artificial Friend (AF), Lacanian Subjectivity Formation, Ideological Fantasy, Desire.

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Akter, S. & Islam, N.A. (2023). Artificial Intelligence (AF) in Human Fantasy: The Birth of a New Subject in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. Rupkatha Journal 15:4. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.14 

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Large Language Model-based Tools in Language Teaching to Develop Critical Thinking and Sustainable Cognitive Structures

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321 views

Sindhu Joseph1  
1Research Scholar Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 4, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.13
[Article History: Received: 07 October 2023. Revised: 05 December 2023. Accepted: 07 December 2023. Published: 18 December 2023]
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Abstract

Experts assert that Large Language Model (LLM) based tools like ChatGPT are the next generation in the evolution of Artificial Intelligence and will permeate all walks of human life including education. The current narrative is that we need to embed the LLM-based tools into the system taking advantage of their personalised, dynamic, adaptive nature while being mindful of their limitations. One of the greatest limitations so far identified is that these pre-trained transformer-based encoder models fine-tuned on Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks do not reveal verifiable reasoning ability. As a result, the information generated by these tools is subject to ethical and factual errors that need human oversight. This paper uses the integrative literature review to identify and synthesize Critical Digital Literacy frameworks in language teaching in the light of the essential competencies and learning domains identified by the UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development directives. The Critical AI Literacy framework proposed in this paper would enable language teachers to adopt LLM-based tools to enhance their instructional strategies. The cognitive, affective and conative competencies developed through the new CAIL framework would empower learners to understand the manipulative nature of language and use language to build a sustainable future.

Keywords: Critical AI Literacy, English, Language Teaching, Education for Sustainable Development.

Sustainable Development Goals: Better Education
Citation: Joseph, S. (2023). Large Language Model-based Tools in Language Teaching to Develop Critical Thinking and Sustainable Cognitive Structures. Rupkatha Journal 15:4. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.13 

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AI Take-Over in Literature and Culture: Truth, Post-Truth, and Simulation

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387 views

Sumanta Pramanik1*  & Shri Krishan Rai2  
1,2 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, India.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 4, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.12
[Article History: Received: 30 October 2023. Revised: 09 December 2023. Accepted: 10 December 2023. Published: 18 December 2023]
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Abstract

In a world that is increasingly lost to narrative building, deep fakes, simulation of realities and dissemination of fake news generated by artificial intelligence (AI), we are moving towards a post-truth era. Our thoughts are being manipulated and twisted with (mis)information for the benefit of people in power; thus, our consent is being manufactured with the aid of AI, resulting in ideological imperialism. In such a scenario, when AI is slowly taking control over the planet and creating our digital replicas by cloning our consciousness, what will our future look like? Humans’ creative pursuits have already predicted such futures in various movies, comics, novels and web series depicting the myriad complications associated with an impending AI takeover. Thus, contextualising today’s scenario within the scope of the future, the paper aims to dissect some popular speculative narratives offered through various tissues of culture, including movies, comics, novels and web series, to comprehend the consequences those narratives generate to grasp the changing relationalities between real and unreal, and truth and post-truth in a world run in codes and simulation.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence (AI), post-truth, simulation, surveillance, ideological imperialism, speculative narratives.

Sustainable Development Goals: Better Education
Citation: Pramanik, S. & Rai, S.K. (2023). AI Take-Over in Literature and Culture: Truth, Post-Truth, and Simulation. Rupkatha Journal 15:4. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n4.12 

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