1st RIOC - Page 7

The Postcolonial Bare Life: Reflections on Agamben and the Coronavirus

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300 views

Vincent Pacheco

University of Macau. ORCID id: 0000-0002-1812-5528. Email: vincent.pacheco@connect.um.edu.mo

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s21n4

Abstract

The ongoing pandemic has undeniably propagated an atmosphere of paranoia and discontent in both the West and the East, and it is in this context where Giorgio Agamben wrote a brief but controversial article where he argues that this pandemic enables governments to opportunistically decree a state of exception that will lead to tyranny. Critics have generally responded negatively to Agamben’s views, given that this is not the case in the West. It is becoming apparent, however, that the very thing Agamben feared is happening in post-colonial states. In this paper, I look at how the current pandemic enables a postcolonial state like the Philippines to define (or redefine) the notion of life through authoritarian measures as it claims a strong democratic mandate. My reflections on Agamben takes off from Rodrigo Duterte’s national speeches during the pandemic. I aim to show that his manifestly militarized response is a manifestation of the sovereign exception that politicizes and separates zo? (which is mere biological life) from bios (which is livable life that can participate politically), as Agamben might put it. Finally, I offer reflections on how the postcolonial legacy of the Philippines could potentially complicate how we might think about the notion of bare life—a figure that is neither zo? nor bios.

Keywords: Giorgio Agamben, Rodrigo Duterte, Populism, Coronavirus, Bare Life.

Hope Beyond Disappointment: A Reparative Reading of Charlson Ong’s Of That Other Country We Now Speak

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236 views

Miao Chi

University of Macau. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0511-6235. Email: yb97721@um.edu.mo

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s21n3

Abstract

The practice of depicting ancestral homeland as a mythical and ideal place where the diasporic subjects will eventually return has been problematized and contested in diasporic studies. Seemingly pioneering, such an approach perpetuates a paranoid reading of homecoming and return as an experience of disappointment, confusion, and conflict, which in turn bolsters the sense of alienation of diasporic subjects. Despite the contentions, the idea of home still has its hold on diasporic subjects. Considering the complexity and significance of the notion of home in diasporic studies, I argue that the homecoming journey could also create positive impacts on healing the wound inflicted by diasporic experience. Employing Eve Sedgwick’s theory of reparative reading, which empowers generative mode of analysis that explores alternatives through textual critique, I offer a reparative reading of the title story in Of that Other Country We Now Speak and Other Stories, a recent collection of short stories by the award-winning Chinese Filipino writer Charlson Ong. I focus especially on the experience of the protagonist Jeffrey and examine how his adversity is complicated by the diasporic experience, the symbolic meaning of his homecoming trip as well as how his narration of a mythological story parallels with and symbolizes his endeavors to heal the misfortune. In doing so, this essay hopes to provide an alternative perspective on the often negatively-perceived homecoming experience.

Keywords: diaspora; homecoming; reparative reading; Chinese Filipino; Charlson Ong

You are Cancelled: Virtual Collective Consciousness and the Emergence of Cancel Culture as Ideological Purging

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7.3K views

Joseph Ching Velasco

De La Salle University. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7098-8216. Email: josephchingvelasco@gmail.com

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s21n2

Abstract

Social networking platforms were originally conceived to enable individuals to engage in various forms of online interactions. As social networking sites robustly permeated different facets of society, they have been commonly grouped under the more generic term “social media.” Social media has become a powerful force in contemporary life, paving the way for the rise of digital participatory cultures and social movements. More recently, the culture of cancellation has entered the vernacular of digital culture, primarily targeted at public figures who break the loose norms of social acceptability. Specifically, cancel culture is a form of public shaming initiated on social media to deprive someone of their usual clout or attention with the aim of making public discourse more diffused and less monopolized by those in positions of privilege. Conversely, cancel culture has also been framed as a form of intolerance against opposing views. In this essay, I unpack the nuances and implications of cancel culture through Neil Alperstein’s concept of “virtual collective consciousness.” In Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, cancel culture has become more demonstrable on social media. I will use a case study of a public figure from the Philippines who has been subjected to cancel culture in order to examine the complexity of this social phenomenon.

Keywords: Cancel Culture, Social Media, Public Shaming, Cancelledt, Celebrity, woke, wokeism, influencer

Performing Refugee’s Body and Memory: Poetics of Diaspora in lê thi diem thúy’s Autoperformance

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219 views

Io Chun KONG

Assistant Professor, City University of Macau, E-mail: erickong@cityu.mo/ erickonghome@yahoo.com

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s21n1

Abstract

Despite the fact that substantial scholarship in Asian diasporic and refugee narratives has been developed in the post-Cold War era, critical refugee studies related to autoperformance have yet to be examined. Within this context of addressing autoperformance as an aesthetic genre, this paper explores the poetics of Vietnamese refugeehood as mediated in lê thi diem thúy’s ?Red Fiery Summer (1995) and the bodies between us (1996). While the former historicizes the Vietnam War from the diasporic perspective of a refugee, the latter articulates the counter master narratives by performing bodily memories of refugeehood. Informed by Marianne Hirsch’s “post-memory”, the paper demonstrates how body and memory could be inextricably and interdependently rendered as a poetics of diaspora in performance. This paper further argues that autoperforming these two aspects is critical to revisiting the history of the Vietnam War and calling the militarism of the U.S.A. into question.

Keywords: lê thi diem thúy, refugee, postmemory, poetics of diaspora, autoperformance

Effect of Visuo-Motor Behavior Rehearsal on enhancing Mental Toughness of Soccer Players

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240 views

Sorokhaibam Premananda Singh1 & Sanjib Kumar Bhowmik2

Assistant Professor, National Sports University (A Central University), Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India, jonaprem@gmail.com

Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Education, Tripura University (A Central University), Suryamaninagar, 799022, Tripura, India.

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s19n3

 Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of six weeks of Visuomotor Behavior Rehearsal on Enhancing Mental Toughness of Soccer Players. For the purpose of study forty (n=40) soccer players in the age groups of 17 to 21 years belong to Th. Birchandra Singh Football Academy (TBSFA), Imphal West, Manipur were selected. Subjects were divided into Treatment and controlled group (20 players in each group). The data was collected through the administration of the Psychological Performance Inventory (PPI) by James E. Loehr (1996) containing 42 items. To find out the significant effect of the Psychological Skills Training Program on Selected Psychological Variables of Soccer Players, MANOVA for psychological variables was used and the level of significance was set at 0.05. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant effect of soccer players on those who underwent the PST program as compared to the players in the controlled group.

Keywords: Visuo Motor Behavioural Rehearsal, Mental Toughness, self-confidence, negative energy control, attention control, Visual & imagery control, motivational level, positive energy control and attitude control.

CoVID-19 Pandemic as a Factor Revolutionizing the Industry of Higher Education

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336 views

Yuriy Borysovych Melnyk1, Iryna Sergiivna Pypenko2, Yuri Vsevolodovich Maslov3

1 PhD, Professor, National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine, Ukraine; y.b.melnyk@gmail.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8527-4638

2 PhD, Associate Professor, Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics, Ukraine; iryna.pypenko@hneu.net; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5083-540X

3 PhD, Associate Professor, Belarusian State Economic University, Belarus; maslove@tut.by; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5715-6546

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s19n2

 Abstract

Due to the CoVID-19 pandemic, the world has changed dramatically, and it will never be the same. Under the circumstances, a new type of specialist is in demand that possesses competency in information technologies and communication means, as well as in health culture. The problem of corporate health culture is becoming a serious issue in scientific discourse. The present paper deals with the results of the study aimed at the assessment of the higher education systems’ preparedness for an emergency such as the CoVID-19 pandemic that affects the health of the participants in the educational process. The results were obtained through expert evaluations. The paper contains the analysis of the anonymous questionnaire answers obtained from the participants of the International Academic Conference “Psychological and Pedagogical Problems of Modern Specialist Formation” held online in June 2020 (Zoom Video Communications platform). The conference hosted over 200 researchers and practitioners in the field of education, psychology, and medicine representing 78 institutions from 20 countries located on five continents. The conference framework included a roundtable discussion accompanied by a questionnaire related to the organizational problems university education faced during the CoVID-19 pandemic. The analysis of the answers and expert opinions was conducted using the Pearson method ?2, which produced statistically relevant results. The analysis revealed marked differences in the attitudes of faculty (including gender differences) to the pandemic in terms of the organization of teaching at universities, the effect of social distancing measures on health (both physical and mental), and the value systems.

Keywords: University, Education, Culture, Health, CoVID-19

Incorporation of “Human Values” in all Higher Education Curricula (Technical & Non-Technical) – An inevitable action to eradicate discriminations

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205 views

G. S. Suresh1 & C. GangaLakshmi2

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi, Tamilnadu. E-mail: suresh7english@gmail.com ORCID id: 0000-0002-5744-3633

Senior Assistant Professor, Department of English, Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi, Tamilnadu. E-mail: gangalakshmi.c@gmail.com, ORCID id: 0000-0003-0268-6555

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s19n1

Abstract

This paper argues that the current education system needs a rational and radical change from the objective of materialistic education to humanistic education. Hence, incorporation of human values education (AICTE, 2017) in the modern education system particularly in higher education including both technical and non-technical streams becomes the fulcrum point of this paper. A critical analysis on the Gen Z learners’ aversive mindset towards the current learning routines and education system is presented for discussion. As a remedial approach, a bunch of refreshing rough and ready but pragmatic learning strategies are advocated to nurture them both with human values and employability skills. Even in the scientific/digital era, it is noted with big concern that this civilized nation irrationally exercises discrimination and disparity across the globe. As a remedial action, the teaching fraternity should impart human values education without any compromises because the creation of a better world is only in the hands of rational teachers and compassionate Gen Z students. Finally, this paper places the following question for the perusal of the whole academia, “Which is essential to prepare the Gen Z to stand against all types of discrimination and live a harmonious life: a balanced curriculum inclusive of human values/moral values and competitive skills or a restricted curriculum imparting only technical knowledge and competitive skills excluding human values/moral values?”.

Keywords: human values education, Gen Z learners’ mindset, pros and cons of exams and grades, human values, discrimination and disparity, rational teachers, compassionate learners.

Donyi-Polo and Deep Ecology: A Select Reading of Mamang Dai’s Midsummer Survival Lyrics

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458 views

Sukla Singha

Research Scholar, Department of English, Tripura University, Tripura, India, ORCID ID:  0000-0003-4948-7297, Email:  shukla.singha85@gmail.com

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s18n2

Abstract

The Adis of Arunachal Pradesh consider everything coming from nature as sacred and living. As opposed to the Christian theological teachings that regard humans as the conqueror of everything else on earth, in the Adi worldview, human beings do not occupy the center stage. Instead, the Adis believe in the intrinsic worth of all beings – both human and nonhuman, which exist on earth, as reflected in the Adi philosophy of ‘Donyi-Polo.’This paper attempts to study select poems from Mamang Dai’s book of poems Midsummer Survival Lyrics (2014) in the light of the philosophy of Donyi Polo. It also attempts to link this Adi worldview to the ecosophy of Arne Naess popularly known as ‘Deep Ecology.’

Keywords: Donyi-Polo, Deep Ecology, Ecosophy, Human, Nonhuman

Authenticity v/s Glocalization as Represented in the Digital Platforms: A Study on the Food Culture with Special Reference to Tripura

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370 views

Gitanjali Roy

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Liberal Arts, ICFAI University, Tripura. E-mail: gitanjaliroy@iutriipura.edu.in

  Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n7

Abstract

Food habit articulates the local culture of a region. Tripura, a land-locked state of varied communities (the tribes and Bengalis of the soil) negotiates the countercultural exchange of cuisines. Traditional ethnic foods are markers of shared cultural values and identity. Preparation of traditional food involves the role of memory which involves passing down culinary skills, techniques, and ingredients from one generation to the next. The marketing industry and the restaurant culture have changed the taste of the consumers but again the ‘losses’ and the ‘need’ to preserve the traditional cuisines are archived in digital platforms. With the rise in YouTube food channels, Facebook pages, food delivery companies like Swiggy and Zomato; the local food met with the global consumer culture. On one hand, lost ethnic food habits are preserved by documenting the procedures of cooking traditional dishes. On the other, restaurants and bloggers are experimenting to prepare local food using global spices and techniques, resulting in a hybridized food identified by their hybridized name. This paper shall focus on how a new taste for food has developed in Tripura with the rise in digital participatory culture. The focus shall also be on the marketing signs and signifiers used in digital platforms to attract digital food readership. As e-readers, a survey of digital menu cards shall try to identify how the local food has evolved as glocalized cuisines.

Keywords: Local, Global, Glocal, Hybrid, Food, Tripura, Bengalis, Tribes, Cuisine, Authentic, Digital, Culture.

“There is No Home, Pig”: Examining the Dilemma of Northeast Queer in Time of Covid-19

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374 views

Lede E Miki Pohshna

Research Scholar, English Department, North-Eastern Hill University, Email- ledeemiki@gmail.com, ORCID- https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0434-9704

  Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n6

Abstract

While COVID-19 has unleashed waves of reverse-migration from the cities back to the hometowns due to economic and physical uncertainties that accompanied the pandemic, queer people from the North-Eastern Region of India choose to stay in the cities. Defying the reverse-migration trend, they choose the freedom that the city gives them over the prejudice of their hometown toward their sexuality. This paper will theorize how pandemic affects and at the same time affirms queer sexualities This paper will re-interpret metronormativity in the context of North-East queer people and will co-opt Judith Halberstam’s theory while at the same time reworking it to fit the local context of queer North-East. Unlike Halberstam’s theory that the metro offers a continuum of free existence to the queer people,  this paper will examine certain queer narratives both online and through  interviews in order to understand how the city offers not a “freer” existence ( in the sense that  freedom is given and implied upon) but rather a relatively anonymous existence which allows them to live freely in anonymity but never silent. It will problematize the concept of home and space and how queer subjectivities are (un)formed depending upon certain variables that the home offers which eventually affects queer existence. This existence will then juxtapose with Kosofsky’s “gesture of silence” of the home and the closet and in doing so, it will attempt to understand North East queer’s preference for the danger of COVID 19 and the “insecurities” of the city over the “security” of home.

 Keywords: Northeastern, Queer, Metronormativity, Reverse-Migration, COVID-19

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