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Memory, Insidious trauma, and Refugee crisis in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer (2015)

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Rashi Shrivastava1 , Avishek Parui2 , Merin Simi Raj3
1,2,3 IIT Madras, India

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.30
[Article History: Received: 03 March 2023. Revised: 11 Sept 2023. Accepted: 15 Sept 2023. Published: 28 Sept 2023.]
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 Abstract

This article argues that refugee crises include complex forms of insidious and latent trauma, insufficiently engaged in dominant discourses of trauma studies which largely draw on Western models and cultural experiences, often overlooking various aspects of postcolonial trauma, trauma due to casual violence and racism, and other forms of everyday marginalization which are interstitial, experiential, and quotidian in quality. Through a historical examination of the America-Vietnam War and its subsequent diasporic subject-formations, we aim to offer an original reading of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer (2015) using a complex framework of memory studies that highlights an interplay of nostalgia, spectrality, and posttraumatic stress manifestations. The study argues how trauma may be examined as a quotidian and experiential phenomenon of slow disintegration emerging from a profoundly political context, and how the medium of fiction offers a unique cognitive, affective, and focal framework to articulate and empathize with the same.

Keywords: Memory; PTSD; Refugee Crisis; Trauma; Vietnam War fiction; Postmemory

Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Shrivastava, Rashi, Avishek Parui, Merin Simi Raj. 2023. Memory, Insidious trauma, and Refugee crisis in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer (2015). Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.30 

Book Review: The Third Eye and Other Works: Mahatma Phule’s Writings on Education by Rohini Mokashi-Punekar

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Orient Blackswan, 2023, New Delhi, Rs.855, ISBN-978-93-5442-380-2.

Reviewed by
Kumuda Chandra Panigrahi
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, West Bengal

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.r02
[First published: 23 Sept 2023.]
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The Third Eye and Other Works: Mahatma Phule’s Writings on Education by Rohini Mokashi-Punekar begins with a forward, written by Bhalchandra Nemade, which claims that Phule was a rebel who fought against Brahminical hegemony and their self-made Hindu social order.  This book is divided into seven sections, although there are no chapter numbers or an introduction or conclusion, as are typically found in academic texts. The book offers a critical examination of Phule’s original writings and social reform activism in order to comprehend the current educational system and social structure from India’s subaltern class perspective. Historically ingrained social and educational inequality is still persistent in India, which hinders the state’s educational growth of women and lower castes. This book gives a historical analysis of the dilemma of pervasive educational inequality and its effect on society. Punekar (2023) has been chosen as a case study amongst all historical figures in Indian history and discovered that due to his unconventional ideas, real-world actions, first-hand knowledge, and efforts to achieve comprehensive education for all, which makes him unique. The author has presented a critical analysis of the socio-political situation of ‘Shudratishudra’, women, and Muslims based on an analysis of Phule’s original writings. The analysis reveals Brahminical exploitation of these groups as well as how British Administrative policies enabled the Brahmin elites to maintain their hegemony. The book has shed light on the struggles and hardships endured in order to construct his ideal society, known as ‘Balistan’ (p.4-11), which is free from oppression and exploitation but founded on science, reason, equality, and freedom. Keep Reading

Somdev Chatterjee’s Why Stories Work: The Evolutionary and Cognitive Roots of the Power of Narrative: A Review

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T. Mangaiyarkarasi
P.G & Research Department of English, Holy Cross College (Autonomous), Bharathidasan University, India.
Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.r01
[First published: 23 Sept 2023.]
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Stories are universal and storytelling is essential to the creation of meaning in human life.  The story is “central to meaning-making and sense-making” (Peterson, 2).  Our minds construct and analyse our truths and beliefs, as well as determine how they relate to other people’s truths and beliefs, through the use of stories. We develop fresh viewpoints and a deeper comprehension of the world by listening to stories. By examining how others perceive the world and how they comprehend it, we are pushed to question and broaden our perspectives. Ken Liu a fantasy novelist states that “The planet is at the mercy of our history, our story, our spell.” Furthermore, he adds that “Out of stories, we construct our identity, at the individual as well as the collective level. Our stories tell the world how to be” (Liu,2022). Somdev Chatterjee in his book Why Stories Work (2023) claims that the importance of stories is often overlooked and we are losing control of the narratives that shape our lives. Keep Reading

Predictors of audience engagement among Nigerian journalists

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Ogemdi Uchenna Eze , Kenechukwu Josemaria Ugwu & Alphonsus Chukwuma Ugwu
1,2,3Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
2Corresponding author

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.29
[Article History: Received: 07 July 2023. Revised: 15 Sept 2023. Accepted: 18 Sept 2023. Published: 20 Sept 2023.]
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Abstract

This paper examined the factors that predicted audience engagement in Nigeria. We surveyed 308 Nigerian journalists. Using the questionnaire as our research instrument, data gathered were analysed using frequency and percentage as well as linear and multiple regression analyses. The study was grounded in Bourdieu’s field theory. The results indicated a moderate relationship between the attitude of Nigerian journalists and audience engagement while a high correlation between Nigerian journalists’ role conception and audience engagement on social media was observed. The three hypotheses (the degree to which journalists’ attitude; role conception; and perceived audience rationality, and perceived audience interaction quality predicted audience engagement was significant) raised in the study were supported by our findings. Implications of this study were discussed in light of the objective of audience engagement.

Keywords: Nigeria, journalists; audience engagement, perceived audience rationality; role conception.
Citation: Eze, Ogemdi Uchenna, Kenechukwu Josemaria Ugwu & Alphonsus Chukwuma Ugwu. 2023. Predictors of audience engagement among Nigerian journalists. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.29 

Ecotopia: Ecological Concerns and Alternate Womanspace in Select Novels of Ursula K. Le Guin

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Asish Kr. Charan & Tanu Gupta
1,2Chandigarh University, Punjab, India. 

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.28
[Article History: Received 10 June 2023. Revised: 17 Sept 2023. Accepted: 18 Sept 2023. Published: 20 Sept 2023.]
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Abstract:

The term ecotopia draws attention to the etymological link between utopia and ecologism, which emphasizes the importance of maintaining a sustainable relationship with the natural world in the context of an ideal egalitarian society. Literary utopias aim to evoke a longing for a society that differs from the present, playing a crucial role in breaking free from conventional thinking and envisioning alternatives to oppressive social institutions. The concept of green utopias is unthinkable without radical social reforms and changes in culture and lifestyle. Feminist ecotopia proposes a gendered deconstruction and reconstruction of a green utopian society. In her ecotopian novels Always Coming Home and Tehanu, Ursula K. Le Guin explores the relationship between ecologism and utopia. The structure of these novels frequently exhibits an ecotopian sensibility, while their content emphasizes the process of creating a better society. Le Guin’s transgressive concept of utopia and ecology seeks to challenge and subvert the ideological frameworks that support materialist and dominant patriarchal conceptions. It provides feminist writers with a distinct space to imagine transgressive and oppositional ecotopian alternatives, where mothering-related myths and femininized characteristics are valued. This paper delves into how Le Guin’s utopian novels interrogate and deconstruct powerful patriarchal structures, creating a cultural space for women to imagine transgressive and oppositional ecotopian alternatives.

Keywords: Ecotopia, Utopia, Ecology, Feminist Utopia, Terraforming, Yin-Yang, Daoism   

Sustainable Development Goals: Gender Equality, Life on Land
Citation: Charan. Asish Kr. & Tanu Gupta. 2023. Ecotopia: Ecological Concerns and Alternate Womanspace in Select Novels of Ursula K. Le Guin. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.28 

Keeping Myth Memory Alive: The Usual and the Unusual in Sudha Murty’s Unusual Tales Series

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Susan Lobo
Associate Professor, Department of English, St. Andrew’s College of Arts, Science, and Commerce

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.27
[Article History: Received: 12 June 2023. Revised: 10 Sept 2023. Accepted: 11 Sept 2023. Published: 12 Sept 2023]
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Abstract  
If myth is vital to a community, its memory must be kept alive. But how, is the question? Is it always prudent to remain faithful to the ‘original’ version of the received myth, or is it desirable to tamper with, or destabilize, the source myth? In India, mainstream versions of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have long been disrupted by folk, feminist, and queer adaptations. Reversions of these oral, transhistorical master narratives of Hinduism have made a resurgence in a post-independence India that is precariously perched between tradition and modernity, and hence more acutely desirous that its children veer closer to their roots, or so the flourishing market for myth retellings for children suggests. Amongst this incandescent body of literature is Sudha Murty’s series of five books that revisits popular stories about the gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon — The Serpent’s Revenge: Unusual Tales from the Mahabharata (2016), The Man from the Egg: Unusual Tales about the Trinity (2017), The Upside Down King: Unusual Tales about Rama and Krishna (2018), The Daughter from a Wishing Tree: Unusual Tales about Women in Mythology (2019), and The Sage with Two Horns: Unusual Tales from Mythology (2021). This paper explores how these tales of antiquity, refracted and reconstructed through the author’s own personal memory, intersect with the more public and collective myth memory of the community. In reviewing Murty’s retrieval of myths by reimagining and re-situating the ‘evidentiary traces’ of myth in the here and now for the children of today, it interrogates how, if at all, the retold myths counter the metanarratives of gender, religion, culture and perhaps, history too. Finally, it argues that the genre of myth retelling must go beyond simply reviving myth memory to destabilizing myth by ‘fiddling ‘with the sacred, especially when adapted for children.

Keywords: destabilization, evidentiary traces, myth memory, myth retelling
Sustainable Development Goals: Gender Equality
Citation: Lobo, Susan, 2023. Keeping Myth Memory Alive: The Usual and the Unusual in Sudha Murty’s Unusual Tales Series. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.27

The Historical Revolution of Vatican II and the Vision of a Post-Western Christianity in India

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312 views

Enrico Beltramini
Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, California, USA. 0000-0001-9704-3960

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.26
[Article History: Received: 28 August 2023. Revised: 10 Sept 2023. Accepted: 11 Sept 2023. Published: 12 Sept 2023]
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Abstract

The vision of a post-western Christianity in India is traditionally linked to a distinct theological interpretation of Vatican II. According to such an interpretation, Vatican II was a theological revolution that favoured the openness of the Church to the world. In this article, I explore that vision through a historical, rather than a theological, interpretation of Vatican II. In Europe, Vatican II was a historical revolution that promoted the exit of Catholicism from Christendom and the establishment of a new Christian order with no links with Christendom. In India, this post-Christendom order has taken the form of a post-western order.

Keywords: Vatican II; revolution; reception; India; theology; Church; Roman Catholicism
Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Beltramini, Enrico. 2023. The Historical Revolution of Vatican II and the Vision of a Post-Western Christianity in India. Rupkatha Journal, 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.26 

 

Mondrian’s rendition of Schopenhauer’s metaphysics of will and disinterested aesthetic experience

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310 views

Ali Fallahzadeh 1 & Zahra Rahbarnia 2
1,2Department of Research of Art, Faculty of Art, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.25
[Article History: Received: 10 August 2023. Revised: 5 September 2023. Accepted: 7 Sept 2023. Published: 12 Sept 2023]
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Abstract

Despite the pivotal role of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) in the sophistication of Modern aesthetics and art theories in the 20th century and his special attention to aesthetic experience, considerably little is known about the impacts of his aesthetic theory, particularly pertaining his account on conception disinterested aesthetic experience formed based on his metaphysics of will, on some of the most enriched Modern art theories like Piet Mondrian’s Neo-Plasticism. On the other side of the spectrum, Mondrian’s Neo-Plastic paintings, his universal pure abstract style, have been well examined through historical approaches and Modernist theories, especially about the Greenbergian account and Modern styles like De Stijl art movement in the last few decades. Moreover, his quasi-philosophical writings have been vastly scrutinized in the light of their impacts on Theosophic, Platonic, and Hegelian doctrines. Interestingly, Mondrian, in his theoretical writings, explicitly refers to the Schopenhauerian conception of disinterested contemplation and the requirements for having a universal aesthetic experience. Yet, Mondrian’s account of Schopenhauer’s notion of disinterested contemplation, namely for notions like individual will, Will, intellect, cessation of subserviency of intellect to the will, and so on, has not been scrutinized through an aesthetic lens.

Hence, this article first aims to investigate Mondrian’s rendition of Schopenhauer’s metaphysics of will and his account of disinterested aesthetic experience. Indeed, this article proposes this hypothesis that Mondrian, who always sought to unveil the Platonic Idea of an objective manifestation of a universal equilibrium (harmony) or pure beauty as truth through his universal Neo-Plastic art, was heavily influenced by Schopenhauer’s metaphysics of will and his attitude toward aesthetic contemplation which is disinterested and objective. At the end of this article, it becomes clear that Mondrian’s conception of pure intuition and his contemplative approach to aesthetic experience intimately conform to Schopenhauer’s view on the notion of disinterested aesthetic attention or contemplation narrated within his metaphysics of will.

Keywords: Arthur Schopenhauer, aesthetic experience, disinterestedness, metaphysics of will, Piet Mondrian, Neo-Plasticism, intuition.

Citation: Fallahzadeh, Ali, Zahra Rahbarnia. 2023. Mondrian’s rendition of Schopenhauer’s metaphysics of will and disinterested aesthetic experience. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.25 

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A Critical Analysis of Honorification in Human Relations

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Tanima Bagchi 1 & Rajesh Kumar 2
1IIM Indore, Indore. 
2IIT Madras, Chennai.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.24
[Article History: Received: 3 July 2023. Revised: 2 September 2023. Accepted: 2 September 2023. Published: 4 September 2023]
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Abstract

This paper discusses the concept of honorification with a focus on the essential correlation between human relations and society. While the structural aspect of honorification, in the form of honorifics, has been discussed extensively the functional aspect of honorification as a research question requires equal consideration. It has often been claimed that obligation is one of the primary motivations behind honorification owing to its ubiquitous influence on social interactions due to differences in status, social distance, and power. However, a closer look will reveal how such social factors are a reflection of not the obligation but the underlying acknowledgement of this obligation leading to the social recognition of honorification and, thus, shifting the perspective from necessity to choice. In other words, this paper explores honorification as a synthesis of society, culture, and human nature.

 Keywords: Honorification, Deference, Prohibition, Volition, Respect.

Citation: Bagchi, Tanima, Rajesh Kumar. 2023. A Critical Analysis of Honorification in Human Relations. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.24 

A Saga of Cosmopolitan Friendship in Time of the Breaking of Nations: A Study of Ali Smith’s Autumn

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337 views

Mousumi Chowdhury
Department of English, Raja Rammohun Roy Mahavidyalaya, Nangulpara, Hooghly, West Bengal, India

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.23
[Article History: Received: 13 June 2023. Revised: 27 August 2023. Accepted: 1 September 2023. Published: 4 September 2023]
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Abstract

Brexit, Britain’s exit from the supranational polity of the European Union has unsettled the vision of European unity. Rather than nourishing an “and/ both” cosmopolitan view even in the limited context of continental relationship, Britain inculcates an “either/ or” jingoistic nationalism fed on Euroscepticism. English literature has a long tradition of invoking political issues and Brexit has inaugurated a new sub-genre, ‘BrexLit’. The paper seeks to attempt a detailed study of Scottish writer Ali Smith’s novel Autumn (2016), designated by The New York Times as “the first great Brexit novel”. The first of the seasonal quartet, this novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017 and bagged the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Embedded in the Brexit Britain, the novel raises questions of citizenship, particularly in relation to immigration, and mirrors the loss of cultural conviviality. The paper discusses anti-immigrant toxicity, the upsurge of nostalgic appetite for national heritage, and the territorial social ontology of the contemporary English national outlook. The paper studies, in the context of the narrative, how the media resorts to post-truth politics and right-wing nationalistic propaganda in media resulting in the death of democracy and the end of dialogue. The paper explores how the novel advocates an inclusive, realistic cosmopolitanism through Elisabeth-Daniel friendship.

Keywords: BrexLit, nationalism, Anti-immigrant toxicity, post-truth politics, Euroscepticism
Sustainable Development Goals: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation: Chowdhury, Mousumi. 2023. A Saga of Cosmopolitan Friendship in Time of the Breaking of Nations: A Study of Ali Smith’s Brexit Novel Autumn. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.23

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