Cultural Studies - Page 5

The Resonance of Music Across Cultures

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645 views

Rolf J. Goebel, Ph.D.

Distinguished Prof. of German, Emeritus, University of Alabama in Huntsville. Email: Goebelr@uah.edu

 Volume 13, Number 3, 2021 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n3.00

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Abstract

What predestines music to be able to transgress geo-cultural boundaries? I argue that music’s sensuous, bodily-affective immediacy requires a mode of cross-cultural translation via what I call auditory resonance—the spontaneous attunement of listeners with the sonic presence of music through media-technological transmission despite vestiges of cultural colonialism and other sociopolitical barriers. I trace such resonance effects from German Romanticism through our global present, focusing especially on the conversations between two Japanese cultural figures, the conductor Seiji Ozawa and the novelist Haruki Murakami. These texts show that the category of auditory resonance is more suitable for addressing European music’s global significance than its traditional claims to transcultural universality.

Keywords: Music, resonance, immediacy, presence, media technologies, cultural translation, Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, Walter Benjamin, Seiji Ozawa, Haruki Murakami

Spatializing the Musicking Of an Expressive Urban Imagination: A Trans-Cultural Evaluation of the Early-Modern Rock Music of Bengal

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246 views

Shankhadeep Chattopadhyay

Research Scholar, Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India, shankhamanu@gmail.com, ORCID id – 000-0003-4678-3031.

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.51

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Abstract

The technological reproduction of the imaginary has always reflected a polarization in urban consciousness, considering the city as the urban ‘body’—which retains a space for contemporary imaginations. Rock music of the American 60s radiates exactly such urban consciousness by constantly experimenting with lyrics, sounds, images and celebrations, which continually harmonize with the changing industrial and technocratic city structures. This paper explores a progressive cultural synthesis between the American and the early-modern rock music of Bengal. The city of Kolkata in West Bengal has always been repleted with a vibrant ‘representational space’ with a high rate of western-music consumption since the late 1970s, thus reflecting western urban ethos into the Indian urban imagination through modern Bengali rock music. Lefebvre (1974) suggests that the potential for genuine social change is possible only through the city as practised rather than the city as planned; on this note, this paper analyzes how the Indian urban imagination negotiated with the everyday urban experience of distant musical and cultural behaviours through ‘musicking’ by producing a musically reflective space where thought, feelings and different moods are crafted and performed. Further, how, in the age of technical reproduction, rock music produces a ‘counter-space’ by projecting urban ethos, which acts as an exegetic tool for the symptomatic reading of any expressive culture, and makes the city claim its spatial identity.

Keywords: representational space, counterculture, rock music, urban ethos, musicking.

The Processes of Dehumanization in the Encounter with the Other: An Exploratory Study During the Lynching of African Americans in the United States, 1882 – 1968

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207 views

Giovanni B. Corvino

University of Turin. Email: giovanni.corvino@edu.unito.it

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.39

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Abstract:

The dehumanization processes represent a failure in the attribution of thinking skills to other human beings. Based on ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, and nationality, social prejudices are reinforced in basic neurocognitive structures. Still, their manifestation is conveyed by personal goals and normative beliefs, which develop in an environment of a dyadic relationship or intergroup contexts. Therefore, this paper aims to peruse the perspectives for a theory of dehumanization, supporting them with neuroscientific research on the neural basis, and exploring the forms of dehumanization that African Americans suffered when they were victims of lynching in the United States.

Keywords: dehumanization, lynching, cognitive bias

Chachnama Discourse: The Dichotomy of Islamic Origins in South Asia

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253 views

Priyanka Chaudhary1, Sara Rathore2

1Professor and Head, Department of Languages, Manipal University Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Email: priyanka.chaudhary@jaipur.manipal.edu

2Department of Languages, Manipal University Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Email: sara.181102019@muj.manipal.edu

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.36A

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Abstract

The common narrative of the arrival of Islam in South Asia is shaping contemporary discourse on religious nationalism in the subcontinent. However, this common narrative tends to marginalise the origins of Shias in the region. The study employs the critical theory of New Historicism to trace the historiography of the text in context to the schism among Muslims and discusses the ways in which it participates with only the Sunni origins in the region which are in stark contrast to the Shia origins. Therefore, the paper introspects upon whether Chachnama exclusively a Sunni perspective of the conquest. The findings indicate the marginalisation of Shias in the collective narrative of Muslim origins in South Asia.

Keywords- Sindh, Alids, Chachnama, Indo-Persian Relation, discourse, Umayyad Caliphate

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The Bidayuh People of Sarawak Borneo: Ritual and Ceremonies

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423 views

Awang Azman Awang Pawi1 & Chali Ungang2

1Associate Professor of Academy of Malay Studies, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Email Id: awangazman@um.edu.my, awangazman@gmail.com. ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4939-2706

2 Research Scholar of Academy of Malay Studies, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Email Id: charlieungang@yahoo.com

 Volume 13, Number 2, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n2.26

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 Abstract

This study aims to analyse the role of rituals and ceremonies of the Bidayuh tribes in Sarawak Borneo as a way of life of the Bidayuh people. Therefore, the cultural history of the Bidayuh people as well as the function and influence to the entire community which becomes the pride and identity is analysed. The data were taken from the Bajo asal (traditional songs), girite Bidayuh damba (stories and legendary), and the exploration and preview of the authenticity of the role in the manifestation of the Bidayuh culture and tradition in the numerous villagers through dynamic modernization.  The content analysis was used to identify the rituals and ceremonies of the ethnic group. With this regard, emic perspective approach was applied to the study of the description of Bidayuh ritual, focussing on the internal elements and their functions in the Bidayuh society area in Bau, Padawan, and Serian division of Sarawak. Among the findings of this community is how important it is to preserve their beliefs to make sure the management of paddy fields are always cared for and preserve abundant harvests, apart from the ‘guardians’ to safe keep the peace of the village. The function and preservation through the ritual and ceremonies as their weltanschauung, influences the peasant society in that area. The study is highlighted to ensure people that the existence of the ritual and ceremonies is still implemented in the modern era as a part of the ancient heritage in Borneo Island- Sarawak.

.Keywords: ritual and ceremonial process, customs and traditions, Bidayuh culture, Sarawak Borneo

The Image of the Goddess Umay in the Contemporary Fine Art Culture of Kazakhstan

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297 views

Malik F. Mukanov1, Gulfiya T. Meldesh2 & Ayaulym M. Hurbekova1

1Department of Fine Arts, T.K. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan

2Department of the Fine Arts and Drawing, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan. E-mail: mmukanov@tanu.pro

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.46

The Image of the Goddess Umay in the Contemporary Fine Art Culture of Kazakhstan

Abstract

The article examines the ethnographic and art-history aspects of the reflection of the artistic image of the ancient Turkic goddess Umay in the modern visual culture of Kazakhstan. The image of this goddess is one of the most widespread in the work of modern Kazakhstani artists, who refer to the symbolism of Tengrian culture in their works. Each of the masters, due to their individual worldview and creative style, interprets it in their own way, thereby enriching the modern visual culture of independent Kazakhstan. It is also necessary to mention that the embodiment of symbols and artistic images of the ancient Turkic Tengrian culture by contemporary artists of Kazakhstan in the visual arts reflects the desire to preserve and rethink the national identity in the context of globalisation processes. The study is an attempt at art criticism analysis based on the application of the hermeneutic methodology of numerous author’s interpretations of the artistic image of the goddess in the fine arts of modern Kazakhstan. The study of the problem of finding and embodying artistic images of the Goddess Umay, reflecting the sacred and mythological aspects of the Tengrian worldview, traditional for the nomadic peoples of the Great Steppe, in the visual culture of modern Kazakhstan, has an important theoretical and educational and methodological value. The conclusions of this study can be used and continued not only in the historical and theoretical works of art historians, cultural experts but also in research and educational-methodical works, when creating courses on the history and theory of fine and applied arts, scientific projects of the teaching staff, students, undergraduates and doctoral students, as well as in the artistic practice and creative activity of contemporary artists.

Keywords: Turkology, Tengrianism, Tengrian worldview, author’s painting of Kazakhstan.

Carmen and Salome: the theme of “femme fatale” in the ballets of Mukaram Avakhri

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284 views

Dilara Shomayeva

Kazakh National Academy of Choreography, 9 Uly dala avenue, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan. Email: dilara.shomayeva@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.41

Carmen and Salome: the theme of “femme fatale” in the ballets of Mukaram Avakhri

Abstract

The article deals with the image of the so-called femme fatale in Kazakh choreographic art in the case study of two ballets by Mukaram Avakhri: “Carmen” and “Salome”. The author analyzes the artist’s interpretation of the images of the two title characters as canonical cultural texts in the discourse on the history of female representation. At present, the choreographic theory is at the junction of feminist thought and choreographic interdisciplinary practice that strives to view the dancing female body through alternative means of cognition. The stereotype of femininity in dominant conceptions of the Western culture can be deconstructed through the new experience of female authors that influences the performer and the viewer in a new way. The directing and plastique-based approaches that help the young female Kazakh choreographer to achieve this are of interest to the authors.

Keywords: art history, ballet, female image, female choreographer, canon.

The Cultural Expressions and Representation of National Identity- A Study of the Indian Singing Reality Television Show “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa”

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292 views

Taranjeet Kaur Chawla1 Shiv Shankar Sharma2 Rayaz Hassan3

1Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Manipal University Jaipur, Rajasthan-India. ORCID id: 0000-0002-5336-1964. Email id: ms.kaur011@gmail.com

2Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Manipal University Jaipur, Rajasthan-India. Email id: shiv.sharma6969@gmail.com   

3Associate Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Manipal University Jaipur, Rajasthan-India. Email id: rayaz.hassan@jaipur.manipal.edu              

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.40

The Cultural Expressions and Representation of National Identity- A Study of the Indian Singing Reality Television Show “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa”

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the narrative structure of Indian singing reality television show to identify the representation of national identity. By focusing on the “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” show format, this paper has followed the work of Vladimir Propp to examine the cultural expressions with the sequential development of the narrative plot. The convergent parallel mixed method has been using to collect quantitative and qualitative data. While using the Likert scale, the reliability of the questionnaire has been calculated and reported Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for internal consistency reliability. The quantitative data has gathered from 205 respondents and 99 episodes aired from 2017 to 2019 have analysed in qualitative data, which is followed by data analysis through IBM SPSS Statistics.  By analysing the quantitative and qualitative data this paper finds that the cultural expressions reveal the notion of national identity through the representation of ‘ordinary’ people and emphasis on performances by focusing on the structured format of Indian reality television. The paper indicates the ways where the viewers of the society can connect with cultural expressions through the genre of reality television.

Keywords: Cultural expressions, Indian reality television, Narrative analysis, National identity, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Vladimir Propp.

Linguocultural Anatomical Code: Concept of Sacredness

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256 views

Moldir A. Alshynbaeva1, Shara Mazhitayeva2, Bektursyn Kaliyev3,  Nurgul Nygmetova4, Gulbaram S. Khamzina5

1 Graduate Student, Buketov Karaganda University, Kazakhstan. E-mail: a_moon86@mail.ru

2Doctor in Philology, Professor, Buketov Karaganda University, Kazakhstan. Orcid: 0000-0002-0557-5423. E-mail: s_mazhit@mail.ru. 

3Candidate of Philology, Buketov Karaganda University, Kazakhstan. E-mail: Kaliev-69@mail.ru

4Candidate of Philology, Karaganda State Technical University, Kazakhstan. Orcid: 0000-0002-6421-8231. E-mail: nurgul_tursynovna@mai.ru  

5PhD, M.Kozybaev North Kazakhstan State University, Kazakhstan. Orcid: 0000-0002-7329-6258. E-mail: Gulzada_76@mail.ru 

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.31

Linguocultural Anatomical Code: Concept of Sacredness

Abstract

The article examines the Kazakh people’s linguocultural anatomical code, which has developed due to nomadic culture over the centuries and reflected their beliefs, rituals, rites, and traditions. The linguocultural code is viewed as a secondary modeling semiotic system, or as a connotative semiotics. Certain anatomical concepts, i.e. body parts, bones, and internal organs serve as the cultural code’s elements. Culturally conditioned sacral significance, tracing to pagan magic, myths, and legends, is revealed in their lexical and phraseological representations in the connotative meaning. Thus, the article analyzes such concepts as 12 (on eki) múshe, jauyryn, ókpe.  12 (on eki) múshe serves as the basic concept of the Kazakh anatomical code, defining views on human and animals’ anatomy, the role and functions of certain anatomical concepts in spiritual, religious, and ritual-rite culture. A high degree of sacredness of the named concepts, depending on the level of linguistic unit total number and cultural sacred meaning units, was identified as well. Thus, the purpose of our article is to identify the specifics of the Kazakh anatomical linguocultural code by analyzing certain sacred concepts, verbalized in the names of skeleton, bones, some inner organs, as well as to define the degree of their sacredness, preserved in the modern Kazakh language. We have developed the methodology for studying these concepts, based on the secondary semiotic sign analysis, i.e. lexical and phraseological verbal units and their semantics: denotative and connotative, and defined certain concepts’ sacredness degree.

Keywords: concept sacredness, a symbolic animal, anatomical linguocultural code

Aesthetics of Excess: The Singing and Dancing of Pey in the Folktales from Karisial Kadu

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270 views

Swathi Sudhakaran1 & Milind Brahme2

1Ph.D. candidate, Humanities and Social Sciences Department, IIT Madras. ORCID id: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9599-0881. Email id: ammusswathi@gmail.com

2Associate Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences department, IIT Madras

ORCHID id: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5427-4611. Email id: brahme@iitm.ac.in

 Volume 13, Number 1, 2021 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n1.26

Aesthetics of Excess: The Singing and Dancing of Pey in the Folktales from Ka?isial Kadu

Abstract

The article explores the singing and dancing of pey, a dual spirit (benevolent and malevolent) found in the folktales from Ka?isial K?du (the area around Tuticorin district in southern Tamil Nadu, India) as embodying aesthetics of excess. The tales have been collected by Ki. Rajanarayanan in Na?upu?a Katai Kalañiya? (repository of folktales). Although a dual spirit, pey belongs to the sacred in Ka?isial K?du. The divine world of Ka?isial K?du populated by folk deities conceptualizes sacred differently from the scriptural religion and its pantheon of pan-Indian deities. This divide in the divine world becomes apparent in an aesthetic that characterizes the singing and dancing of the pey in these stories. As a response to and a manifestation of an excess it disturbs composure and does not fit into the controlled and transcendental aesthetics of N??ya??stra. The paper studies this deviant aesthetics associated with the singing and dancing of pey and its function in Ka?isial K?du through the lens of the Nietzchean category of the Dionysian.

Keywords: aesthetics, aesthetics of excess, folk deities, dionysian, Ka?isial K?du

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