Cultural Studies - Page 2

Childbirth and Pollution: Exploring the politics of Prasava Raksha through food practices in Kerala

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Alicia Jacob
Department of English and Cultural Studies at Christ University, Bangalore.
Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.12
[Article History: Received: 11 July 2023. Revised: 24 August 2023. Accepted: 25 August 2023. Published: 26 August 2023]
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Abstract

Women’s body has been the site of patriarchal control and the formation of gendered ideologies, often subjecting it to multiple cultural interventions, especially while experiencing pregnancy and childbirth. Childbirth is considered a state of ritual pollution for a woman that starts from the day of birth and lasts up to several weeks or months, depending on regional and religious contexts. Prasava Raksha is a traditional practice in Kerala where massages, herbal baths, and a specific diet are prescribed for the health and well-being of the mother and child. Prasava Raksha can be considered the culturally appropriated version of the practice of pollution, practised by women belonging to Hindu, Christian and Muslim religious sects in Kerala. The purpose of this qualitative ethnographic study is to investigate the cultural context of how women’s body has been subjected to patriarchal control, particularly during pregnancy and childbirth, with food at the centre of analysis. This article aims to explore the practice of Prasava Raksha, its process and dietary prescriptions, to identify and analyse the cultural politics behind this practice that normalises the patriarchal exploitation of reproductive women. The study uses in-depth semi-structured interviews of 12 women from Kerala who have experienced childbirth and practised Prasava Raksha during the postnatal period, in addition to the interviews of a Prasava Raksha helper and an OB-GYN.

Keywords: Prasava Raksha, Childbirth, Pollution Postnatal care, Food practices.
[Sustainable Development Goals: Gender Equality]
Citation: Jacob, Alicia. 2023. Childbirth and Pollution: Exploring the politics of Prasava Raksha through food practices in Kerala. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.12 

Colour as Symbols in the Select Works of Yann Martel

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M. Arul Darwin 1 & Arul Anand 2
1,2Department of English, Annamalai University, Chidambaram. Tamil Nadu, India.
Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.09
[Article History: Received: 11 June 2023. Revised: 08 August 2023. Accepted: 10 August 2023. Published: 20 August 2023.]
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Abstract

Colours can draw an identity to all living things. Natural colours can either calm down or disturb a person’s inner Self. At the times of crisis, it tends to give the individual soul wit and hope. Colours also have alchemical significance and can impact every man’s mind in certain ways. Colour representations have been used by many symbolists throughout literary history from the past to the present. Symbolists point out the importance of symbols in the poems of symbolist poetry. Moreover, the use of colour symbolism in literature contributes to the treasure of literary forms. In Canadian literature, Yann Martel holds a prominent position for his adaption of symbols and uses them to portray the inner quest of his characters. Frequently, his symbolism embodies a deep search for a spiritual quest with a religious component. Colour is one of the most important aspects in deciphering the psyche of his heroes. He has constructed various symbolic interpretations that exhibit the spiritual longing of individuals. Many colours like red, black, white, green, orange, etc have been used as symbolic representations to decode the mind set and religious beliefs. Among them, black and white colours play a vital role in an in-depth portrayal of the leading characters. The religious quest of the characters has been satisfied through the identification of colour representations and ancient relics. They were satisfied at the end. Hence, his works depict that colours have symbolic dramatic elements that naturally novelize the central theme of the search for Self. It also emphasizes the development of the Self with the supremacy of faith in the Almighty God. This paper deciphers the black and white colour symbols in the novels, “Self”, “Life of Pi”, “Beatrice and Virgil”, and “The High Mountains of Portugal” of Yann Martel.

Keywords: Colours, Symbols, Black and White, Yann Martel.
[Sustainable Development Goals: Life on Land]
Citation: Darwin, M. Arul & Arul Anand. 2023. Colour as Symbols in the Select Works of Yann Martel. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.09 

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Phonological idiosyncrasies of the Southern Sorsogon dialect in Bulan, Philippines

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Dominic Bryan S. San Jose 1 & John Gerald A. Pilar 2
1,2University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, Philippines
Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.05
[Article History: Received: 15 June 2023. Revised: 04 August 2023. Accepted: 09 August 2023. Published: 20 August 2023.]
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Abstract

This research sought to examine the Southern Sorsogon (Sso) dialect’s distinctive phonetic features in Bulan, Philippines. In the urban and rural communities of Bulan in the province of Sorsogon, six native speakers were specifically selected based on the selection criteria. The qualitative text analysis approach used in this study was based on the transcripts of in-person interviews and other contacts between the researchers and native speakers. The Sso dialect’s segmental sounds and phonological characteristics were examined to unravel its phonetic characteristics. Read more>>

Keywords: Bikol, Bikolano, segmental sound, phonological idiosyncrasy, Southern Sorsogon dialect
[Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education]
Citation: Jose, Dominic Bryan S. San, John Gerald A. Pilar. 2023. Phonological idiosyncrasies of the Southern Sorsogon dialect in Bulan, Philippines. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.05 

Religious Heritage: Reconciliation between Spirituality and Cultural Concerns

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Óscar Fernández-Álvarez1, Miguel González-González2, Sara Ouali-Fernández3
1Department of Social Anthropology, University of León (Spain). ORCID: 0000-0002-5254-6908. Email: oscar.fernandez@unileon.es
2Department of Social Anthropology, University of León (Spain). ORCID: 0000-0003-2577-5753. Email: migog@unileon.es
3Department of Social Anthropology, University of León (Spain). ORCID: 0000-0002-4184-0298. Email: sara_o_f@hotmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 4, December, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n4.29
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Abstract

Religious heritage has a dual cultural and religious meaning and importance in society. It has a cultural value because it symbolises the history and art of a community, and a religious value because it represents a spiritual hub and home for a community of believers. This article analyses the challenges posed by this association between religious heritage —as both an economic and tourism resource— and cultural heritage. Methodologically, an observation, reflection and analysis of the challenges that are faced are proposed. The results reveal various initiatives for development, protection and enhancement. The discussion revolves around the importance of community involvement and the benefits this brings to various sectors, including economic activity, from the perspective of religious tourism as an aspect of tourism per se, in which a faith and its believers are elements that merit heritage conservation.

Keywords: Anthropology, Heritage, Religion, Religious tourism

‘Healing the World with Comedy’: Anxiety and Sublimation in Bo Burnham’s Inside

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662 views

Ann Christina Pereira1 & Dr Sarika Tyagi2
1Research scholar, Department of English, Vellore Institute of Technology-Vellore. ORCID: 0000-0002-2555-4910. Email: ann.pereira9213@gmail.com;
2Professor, Department of English, Vellore Institute of Technology-Vellore. ORCID: 0000-0001-5144-9981. Email: tyagisarika27@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 4, December, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n4.12 
Abstract Full-Text PDF Issue Access

Abstract

Bo Burnham is a critically acclaimed American stand-up comedian and filmmaker. The usual themes in his works are the hypocrisy of artists, the commercialisation of art, and the role of social media in erasing the boundary between the public and the private. However, during the pandemic, he chose to focus on the theme of anxiety, a minor theme in his earlier works. Anxiety has been considered an integral part of modernity as discussed by Anthony Giddens and Zygmunt Bauman. In psychoanalysis, anxiety has been explained in a number of different ways. In current psychological discourse, anxiety is described as an unpleasant state of mind that can cause significant bodily and mental stress. The anxiety that Burnham experienced prior to the pandemic appears to have amplified during the pandemic. Two main types of anxiety are observable in the shows of Burnham—performance anxiety and existential anxiety. This paper seeks to understand Burnham’s show Inside (2021) using Anna Segal’s contribution to the concept of ‘sublimation’. We argue that in doing the show Inside, Burnham discovers a new way to acknowledge and channel his ‘depressive’ symptoms towards contemporary times, and he achieves sublimation in the process.

Keywords: Comedy, sublimation, anxiety, existential anxiety, modernity

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Narratives of Plague in Arab Societies through the Lens of Select Western Travelers

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Mashhoor Abdu Al-Moghales1, Abdel-Fattah M. Adel2, Suhail Ahmad3, Monir A Choudhury4, Abdul R. JanMohamed5
1Department of English, College of Arts, University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia. ORCID: 0000-0001-7984-5388. Email: mamohammad@ub.edu.sa
2Department of English, College of Arts, University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia.  ORCID: 0000-0001-7968-8167. Email: aadeal@ub.edu.sa
3Department of English, College of Arts, University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia.  ORCID: 0000-0001-6611-2484. Email: suhailahmed@ub.edu.sa
4Department of English, College of Arts, University of Bisha, Bisha, Saudi Arabia. Email: monirchy@ub.edu.sa.
5Department of English, University of California, Berkeley, USA. Email: abduljm@berkeley.edu

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 4, December, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n4.11 
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Abstract

To examine the narratives of plagues in Arab societies, the paper, along with the postcolonial perspectives, uses the concepts like ‘empathy’ or ‘detached concern’ to bring fresh and new understanding of the travel texts. It selected John Antes’ Observations on the Manners and Customs of the Egyptians, the Overflowing of the Nile and its Effects (1800) and Richard F. Burton’s Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah (1857) for the study. The paper analyses their narratives to understand their approaches in describing the ‘native’ Arab societies. The key findings show that while Burton tends to construct the people and their culture as ‘the Other’ although his mode of presentation tends to follow a mode of ‘detached concern’, Antes is, on the other hand, more objective but stood by the plague-infected people in empathy. The findings show that these Western travellers considered the concept of predestination, lack of quarantine, lack of sanitation, mass gatherings during the plague, and the unscientific local treatments as the root causes of the spread of the plagues among the ‘natives’.

Keywords: Plague, Orientalism, Travelogues, Arab Land, Empathy, detached concern

We Are Cancelled: Exploring Victims’ Experiences of Cancel Culture on Social Media in the Philippines

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Joseph Leonard A. Jusay1, Jeremiah Armelin S. Lababit2, Lemuel Oliver M. Moralina3 & Jeffrey Rosario Ancheta4
1Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines. ORCID: 0000-0001-5770-0129. Email: josephleonard.jusay@yahoo.com
2Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines. ORCID: 0000-0001-8225-866X. Email: jeremiahlababit0000@gmail.com
3Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines. ORCID: 0000-0001-7065-5772. Email: rhyleemoralina26@gmail.com
4Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines. ORCID: 0000-0001-5831-8204. Email: jrancheta@pup.edu.ph

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 4, December, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n4.04 
Abstract Full-Text PDF Issue Access

Abstract

The continuous advancement of modern technology enables its users to engage in various interactions in the online public sphere, including conversations about multiple ideas and perspectives. It has now played a significant role in our modern society, paving the door for several participatory cultures and social movements such as the so-called cancel culture. Even if this movement aims to call out individuals or businesses, it has undoubtedly encouraged mob mentality and damaged civil dialogue, ultimately driving them out of the community. Thus, this study looked at the diverse experiences of victims of cancel culture and how it influenced their social and personal lives. It reveals that the victims suffered a backlash, public humiliation, and cyberbullying that harmed their mental health. This study has established that cancel culture is an example of online abuse and has become more commonplace in the online public realm, rendering social media sites less of a safe haven.

Keywords: Cancel culture, social media, mental health, cyberbullying, public humiliation

Imagining India / Hinduism from Chile

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570 views

Felipe Luarte Correa
Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Chile. Email id: fluarte@uc.cl

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–7. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.18

First published: October 17, 2022 | Area: Latin America | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the themed issue “Across Cultures: Ibero-America and India”)
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Imagining India / Hinduism from Chile

Abstract

Indian culture expresses itself in Chile’s daily life that, until recently, would have been unthinkable both for its real and mental remoteness. Undoubtedly, this is a consequence of globalization and the rapid flow of ideas and practices of the last decades, but it is also due to the sustained increase in the presence of the Indian community in Chile from the mid-’80s onwards, with the economic opening during that time creating favorable conditions for the increased number of Indian immigration in Chilean society. India’s cultural identity is marked by its religious way of life and in general, Hindu immigrants – as a result of the characteristics of Hinduism – have tended to reproduce their culture and religion while having to adjust to local circumstances. Consequently, both are renegotiated. This process implies an enormous effort of adaptability, which is necessary to be able to develop themselves in the new country without having to abandon the cultural baggage they bring with them, creating new strategies of action that at the same time imply and generate new ways of relating and redefining their identity referents.

Keywords: Chile, identity, Immigrant, India, Partial Scope Agreement

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Inundating Cultural Diversity: A Critical Study of Oral Narratives of Kurichyas and Guarani in the Structuralist Perspective

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Haseena Naji

Research Scholar, Department of English Studies, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: haseenanaji@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–21. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.13

First published: October 8, 2022 | Area: Latin America | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the themed issue “Across Cultures: Ibero-America and India”)
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Inundating Cultural Diversity: A Critical Study of Oral Narratives of Kurichyas and Guarani in the Structuralist Perspective

Abstract

The paper seeks to explore the practicability of using Vladimir Propp’s framework to study the oral narratives of the Kurichyan tribe of Wayanad, Kerala, India and of the Guarani tribe of Paraguay, South America. For this purpose, Narippaattu (Wolf Song) of Kurichyar and The Beginning Life of the Hummingbird of Guarani are chosen. Out of the 27 functional events identified in the former, six of them do not fit into the Proppian framework and of the 13 identified in the latter, three of them do not conform to the Proppian structure. The events which are matched with Proppian events are tediously paralleled and do not correspond to each other entirely in the Proppian sense. None of the events identified in both tales show any linear or causal progression. Through this, I argue that an attempt to study narratives that originate from communities with multiple subtle diversities in terms of a universal structure will be problematic and mostly futile. We will lose the culturally distinct, subtle manifestations in the narratives in the endeavour to make them fit into any universal framework.

Keywords: structural analysis, Kurichya, Guarani, Propp, narrative analysis, poststructuralism

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Subverting Narratives of Nationalism: A Cross-National Study of Borges and Muktibodh

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Akansha Singh

Assistant Professor, NALSAR University of Law. Email: akansha.s@outlook.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–15. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.11

First published: October 8, 2022 | Area: Latin America | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the themed issue “Across Cultures: Ibero-America and India”)
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Subverting Narratives of Nationalism: A Cross-National Study of Borges and Muktibodh

Abstract

The mid-twentieth century Argentina and India witnessed a discursive construction and circulation of national identity closely entwined with literary production. This caused a surge in nationalistic sentiments, often culminating in socially discriminatory consequences. This paper shall analyse the role Jorge Luis Borges and Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh played in subverting nationalism, as members on the ideological margins of their respective countries. The study involves two interconnected inquiries in the authors’ works. First, a study of reasons behind their rejection of nationalistic writing— their personal lives as affected by it, their discontent with literary movements they were part of, literary censorships, and loss of jobs on account of their ideological differences. Second, a study of the alternatives the two writers offered against nationalism— literary forms, styles, and techniques. Placing the two inquiries together, the paper will study their works as writings of resistance that surface through a fusion of political opinion and social critique. It will further argue how resistance through writing conditions guides their existence.

Keywords: Nationalism, Borges, Muktibodh, Modernism, Post- Colonial

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