Cultural Studies - Page 7

The Contemporary Dystopian Reality of Slavery and Modern Capitalism in Octavia Butler’s Parable Novels

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322 views

Cr Patricia Mary Hodge

Research Scholar, Department of English, NEHU. E-mail: patclhodge93@gmail.com, Orcid id: 0000-0002-3786-8060

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s6n5

 Abstract

Critical dystopia as an analytic category for historical enquiry explores contemporary reality and its specificities in time and space. It functions as anagnorisis or recognition of the dystopian realities in the present through its generic mode of familiarising the heightened dystopian elements of the text as possible evolutions of current oppressions. This paper suggests that this anagnorisis through comparison and extrapolation is limited and needs to consider how the text ironically reveals the absence of historical specificity through its comparison of the contemporary present and the imagined future. Instead, specificity is replaced with a linear historical trajectory where dystopia occurs cyclically in metamorphosed forms within a fixed, yet evolving power-structure. This projects the nature of the dystopia in the text part of an evolutionary process, not a product of its historically specific period. Through the interrogation of how the legally abolished system of slavery is historically shifted into the future hyper-capitalist market system in Octavia Butler’s Parable novels, this paper will reveal how the anagnorisis of the novels functions to locate dystopia as present and evolving in a historical trajectory of cyclical structural repetition. This familiarisation of the historical event of slavery in the novels posits the dystopian text’s anagnorisis as not simply the recognition of dystopian elements specifically in the present but broadens it to the recognition of the historical evolution of those same human atrocities that appear to ‘resurge’ in dystopia.

Keywords: Slavery, capitalism, dystopia, anagnorisis

Policing Immigration: A Study of Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander

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261 views

Aratrika Mandal

IIT Kharagpur, mandalaratrika@iitkgp.ac.in, ORCID id- 000-0003-0465-3642

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s5n1

Abstract

The present paper looks at the representation of inter-national mobility and immigrants in select works from Swedish author Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander series. Mankell’s works are set in Sweden,  a country where despite exceptionally inclusive foreign policies lies fault lines within its very social exceptionalism. This challenges the complete denouement that  is conventionally observed in the genre of detective fiction. Sweden’s geographical proximity with the Baltic countries makes its national boundaries porous, which enables the covert extremist factions to surface and function globally. Illegal human trafficking, followed by the absence of any restriction in compliance with the social welfare state allows one to blend in better, despite the rising anti-immigrant sentiments across the nation in the more recent years. This paper studies the underpinnings of geographical features in the constant run and chase, and how these boundaries are breached by the severity, rigidity, and interdependency of these morally fractured underground networks. Mankell’s Faceless Killers (1991) reveals nascent xenophobia provoked by the neo-Nazi remnants, which is supplemented by local projection of immigrants. These boundaries are further abused in The White Lioness (1993) which has Russian and African fugitives operating deeper networks of extremist groups that manifest an inexistent national security. The paper will reflect on the idea of an immigrant figure as potentially a victim, as a criminal. Finally, an engagement with the physical aspects of the represented urban spaces will facilitate a discussion on the (il)legality of immigration which punctures the welfare state now close to collapse.

Keywords: crime fiction, immigration, refugee, world literature, Swedish fiction

Identity, Indigeneity and Excluded Region: In the Quest for an Intellectual History of Modern Assam

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341 views

Suranjana Barua1 & L. David Lal2

1Assistant Professor in Linguistics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. Email: suranjana.barua@gmail.com

2Assistant Professor in Political Science, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. Email: davidkani21@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n3

Abstract

If Indian intellectual history focussed on the nature of the colonial and post-colonial state, its interaction with everyday politics, its emerging society and operation of its economy, then how much did/ does North-East appear in this process of doing intellectual history? North-East history in general and its intellectual history in particular is an unpeopled place. In Indian social science literature, North-East history for the last seventy years has mostly revolved around separatist movements, insurgencies, borderland issue and trans-national migration. However, it seldom focussed on the intellectuals who have articulated the voice of this place and constructed an intellectual history of this region. This paper attempts to explore the intellectual history of Assam through understanding the life history of three key socio-political figures – Gopinath Bordoloi, Bishnu Prasad Rabha and Chandraprabha Saikiani. Their engagement at the turn of the twentieth century with ideas for the future North-East region in general and Assam in partcular is parallel to the formation of the Indian nation state. Research on the writings and works of these socio-political figures is analysed to address what North-east history can contribute to the intellectual history of India and how essential is it in the field of indigenous studies?

Keywords: Intellectual History; Indigenous Studies; North-East India; Assam; Gopinath Bordoloi, Bishnu Prasad Rabha, Chandraprabha Saikiani

Negotiating Representation: The Self and Community in The Story of a Tribal: An Autobiography

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296 views

Badakynti Nylla Iangngap

PhD Research Scholar, Department of English, North-Eastern Hill University, E-mail: bnylla.iangngap23@gmail.com. ORCID: 0000-0001-8220-3431

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n1

Abstract

Literature as a means of representation and understanding selfhood and identity was oral based for the Khasis prior to colonialism but the coming of education via the proselytising efforts of the Welsh Mission led to the development of Khasi literature by the end of the 19th century. As mode of representation, literature for Khasis became a space of negotiation and of adaptation of foreign modes of expression and representation to reclaim an identity which has been suppressed by the colonial rulers via their discursive practices. This is clearly seen in the trend of the literary production of the community.  The 20th century saw a mushrooming of literary production by Khasi writers, with most of them preferring to write in their own language and about their oral tradition. Interestingly, despite this trend, the first autobiography by a Khasi, B. M. Pugh’s The Story of a Tribal (1976), was written in English. The title of the text itself alerts the readers of the highly politicised term ‘tribal’ as Pugh himself points out in his Preface and along with the fact that it is an autobiography the implication of issues of representation in terms of identity and selfhood cannot be missed. The text is also historically significant because of the author’s articulation of his understanding of identity making in the midst of the cultural and political forces of colonialism and later Indian nationalism especially because it provides a glimpse of the hill state movement that surged in the Northeast immediately after Independence. This text thus gives an eye-witness account of the struggle that the hill tribes of Northeast faced to maintain their political and cultural identity.

Keywords: postcolonialism, literature, representation, self, identity, literature, autobiography

The Mysteries of Food: Reading Select Detective Fiction by Kalpana Swaminathan and Madhumita Bhattacharyya

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371 views

Somjeeta Pandey1 & Somdatta Bhattacharya2

1Assistant Professor of English, Gobardanga Hindu College, E-mail: somjeeta072@gmail.com,https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8107-9686

2Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur, E-mail: somdatta@hss.iitkgp.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8332-7989

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s15n3

Abstract

Food studies, a new addition to the family of humanities, has experienced a rapid rise in the last twenty years and a number of scholars have devoted their time and energy in studying food culture as well as the patterns of eating (Albala, 2013). Food writing has slowly spread its branches into all literary genres including into crime fiction. In more recent crime mysteries, the main plot is supplemented by authentic recipes and descriptions of food and cooking and “gumshoes not only track killers” but also “grill sherry-flavoured tuna” or “bake” chocolate cookies (Carvajal, 1997). The sub-genre of crime fiction that brings together food and crime, has been termed as ‘culinary mystery’ and with the more recent academic interest in food in literature, it has received the critical attention it deserves. The present paper will analyze the role of food in the Reema Ray mysteries of Madhumita Bhattacharyya, The Masala Murder (2012) and Dead in a Mumbai Minute (2014) and the Lalli mysteries of Kalpana Swaminathan, The Secret Gardener (2013) and Page 3 Murders (2006). While for Lalli and her niece Sita, food becomes a luxury, an indulgenceafter a hard day’s grim investigative work; for Reema, baking is her sleuthing tool and stands for her intelligence and autonomy. This paper will thus argue how these novels, with female sleuths who use food/cooking as tools of detection, pose a challenge to the patriarchal roles assigned to women as caregivers and providers of nutrition, and attempt to show how “food mysteries are ultimately about female independence and sustaining the self” (Kalikoff, 2006, p. 75). In doing this, it will alsofocus on how women bridge the gap between the public and private spheres.

Keywords: detective fiction, food studies, crime fiction, Indian English women authors

The State of Turkological Science in China: Turkic Language and Turkic Writing Research

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Duken Masimkhanuly1, Ainur Abidenkyzy1, Dinara K. Nygmanova1, Akmaral A. Batayeva1 & Karakat Toibol1

1Department of Chinese Philology, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.30

Abstract

This article is devoted to the state of Turkic science in China, the study of the Turkic language and the Turkic script. The article highlights the major works of famous medieval research centers in China, which were engaged in the study of the Turkic science. Primary objective of the article is the study of contemporary Turkologists of China. Consequently, this article has an undeniable novelty, since the influence of such an empire as China with a long history on the Turkic civilization is well-known facts, but the influence of the Turkic civilization on the Chinese is really little studied aspect in science.

Keywords: Turkic language, Turkic writing, fundamental works, dynasties, monuments, research, expeditions.

The Idea of Eternal Country in the First Epic Poems of the Turkic People

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388 views

Aslan E. Alimbayev1, Laura N. Daurenbekova2, Kayrbek R. Kemenger1, Saule K. Imanberdiyeva3 & Nurbol K. Bashirov1

1Department of Kazakh Literature, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan

2Department of Kazakh and Russian Philology, Eurasian Humanities Institute, Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan

3Department of Kazakh and Russian Language, S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University, Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.29

 

Abstract

The inscriptions on the white stones have been evidence of the fact that Turkic people had their writing, culture, tradition, history and the path they made and in the V-VIII centuries. The article introduces with the data about Turkic people inhabited in Central Asia through Orkhon monuments and determines that the ancient Turks struggled to be “an eternal independent country” in the fifth century. Moreover, the article considers the importance of runic inscriptions in the Orkhon monuments in the systematization of Turkic studies by defining the historical-comparative direction of modern linguistics.

Keywords: Turkic, translation, transcript, stone inscription, epic poem, toponymy.

Echoes of the Turkic World and Folklore in the Holy Book Avesta

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270 views

Aktoty Nusipalikyzy1, Maulenov Almasbek1, Baigunakov Dosbol2, Toty I. Koshenova3 & Leila A. Mekebaeva1

1Department of Kazakh Literature and Theory of Literature, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan

2Department of Archeology, Ethnology and Museology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan

3Department of Kazakh Philology, Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, Turkestan, Republic of Kazakhstan

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.28

Abstract

The holy book “Avesta” is one of the magnificent creations of the world, which contains valuable information about religion, literature, culture, geography, history and mythology of the ancient peoples of Central Asia. For several centuries, many scholars of various specialties have been interested in “Avesta”. In numerous comments they discussed the history of the appearance of the book and its hymns, the personality of Zarathustra, his homeland, geographical objects, historical characters and mythological images, the ideological basis of the collection of holy books, etc. Many of the above mentioned questions are still being discussed among specialists, causing and over-colouring certain problems. In their work, the authors tried to find something in common between the “Avesta” and the Kazakh literature, exploring the spiritual relationship of the “Avesta” with the mythology of the people. As practice shows, various phenomena in the folklore of the peoples of the world are experiencing their birth, formation, flourishing, decay and death. Forms are modified, disappear, replaced by others. But sometimes the most ancient layer of folk art is preserved as a relic. Sometimes it is very difficult to see the traces of the most ancient representations in national folklore. Therefore, the authors of the article analyzed the works of Kazakhstani authors who studied some points in the “Avesta” and they made only an attempt to investigate the remains of the Kazakh archetype in this ancient literary monument. This article, without claiming to completely cover the available material, sees the main task in providing a holistic conceptual overview of the Kazakh literature on the above mentioned problem.

Keywords: Zarathustra, folklore, spiritual and moral parallels, zhyrau, spiritual heritage.

 

Review Article: Rewriting Tibet in The Tibetan Suitcase: A Novel (2019) by Tsering Namgyal Khortsa

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768 views

Publisher: Blackneck Books, (Under the Imprint: TibetWrites)

The First edition (November, 2019). Language: English. ISBN: 978-93-85578-12-0

Reviewed by

Koushik Goswami

PhD Research Scholar, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University. Email: koushikgoswami4@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.23

The Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet in 1950 compelled a sizable number of Tibetans to leave their homeland. They were relocated to India, Nepal, Bhutan and different parts of the world as refugees. These displaced people do not want to forget their own history. Tibetan authors have taken upon themselves the responsibility of keeping alive the memory of the great exodus in which Dalai Lama was a participant and of what happened after that. The flame of patriotism and the desire for a return to the homeland filter through their literary works. These authors writing in English nurture a free Tibet in their national imaginary. As the Tibetans lack political and military power to overwhelm the might of the Chinese colonisers, the works of these writers of Tibetan origin are of paramount importance. Combining the functions of both creative authors and activists, they help sustain the Tibetan struggle for freedom, draw global attention to the plight of Tibetan refugees scattered all over the world and put pressure on the repressive Chinese regime in Tibet. They address issues related not only to their longing for their distant homeland, its culture and the political situation there but also to their own lived experience in the diaspora…Full Text PDF

Book Review: A Primal Issue: Stories of Women by Subrata Basu

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225 views

Number of Pages: 144. Publication Year: 2020. Publisher: Orient Blackswan

ISBN: 9789352879045. Price: Rs. 295.00/-

Reviewed by 

Ms. Adishree Vats

Assistant Professor, Department of English Studies, Akal University, Talwandi Sabo, Punjab. Email: vatsadishree8@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.20

The book, “A Primal Issue: Stories of Women”, is a gripping, enthralling anthology of analytical stories, translated by Subrata Basu, and written originally in Bengali by Jagdish Gupta, a “trailblazer” (p. xv) of modernist movement in India. With its epicentric plunge on the word “primal”, the book very meticulously exhibits a valorous investigation of interdictions and anathemas existing in the splendid post-Tagore chapter of Bengali literature. This revelatory compendium stresses on Jagdish Gupta’s seven translated stories, all originally published between 1927 and 1959, with females as chief characters, scrutinizing the intense connotations of life at personal as well as societal levels.  Every chapter is dedicated to one story so as to undrape the aggregation of the dilemmas, quandaries, and predicaments of Bengalis in general and women in particular for whom the repugnance of conservatism continues to exist. The stories unsparingly underscore the barbarous realities of the society, such as polygamy, child-marriage, widow-remarriage, women’s oppression and marginalization..Full Text PDF

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