Volume 12 Number 1 2020

Gender Gap among the BPL Households of Tea Gardens and Villages of Dibrugarh District of Assam

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Bidisha Mahanta

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, DoomDooma College. Email: sonmoni_mahanta@yahoo.co.in

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.26

Abstract

The present paper aims to analyse the status of gender gap among the BPL households of Panitola Block of Dibrugarh District of Assam. The target households are divided into two groups –village and tea gardens and then compared the gender gap status of the two groups using indicators like education, employment, political participation, household decision making and attitude towards unequal gender role. The study reveals that gender gap exists in areas like education and employment. However gaps in educational attainment and employment are more in village households as compared to tea garden households. In household decision making also gender gap exists and it is more prominent in tea garden. However in regard of political empowerment, not a single person of the study area is a member of even the Gaon Panchayat. So their political empowerment is analyzed through their participation in political process merely by casting vote. All the respondents from the study area show negative attitude towards unequal gender role and reported that they do not support wife beating and  treat both male and female child equally. From the study we have found that tea garden women are more empowered than village women as less gender gap prevails in tea garden as compared to village.

Keywords: BPL, Village, tea garden, Gender gap, Gender disparity

Metaphors of Igbo Worldviews on Ghosts as Mystical Realities: Interpretations of Filmic Portrayals as Archetypal and Imaginative Visual Aesthetics in Two Nollywood Films

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Emeka Aniago1, Chukwuemeka V. Okpara2 & Uche-Chinemere Nwaozuzu3

1 Senior Lecturer in Department of Theatre & Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. ORCID id 0000-0003-3194-1463. Email Id:  emekaaniago@gmail.com   

2 Senior Lecturer in Department of Fine & Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukkka, Nigeria

3Associate Professor in Department of Theatre & Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria  

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.43

Abstract
This study examines the aesthetics and shades of portrayals of ghosts as supernatural and metaphysical realities in two Nollywood films Heart of a Ghost and A Ghost Story as representations of Igbo worldviews on ghosts’ realities. Our aim is to present an analytical explanation of the filmic attributions in relation to historical as well as the subsisting socio-cultural worldviews of the Igbo people regarding ghosts. Therefore to extrapolate on the subsumed Igbo worldviews and philosophies about ghosts in the selected films, this study adopts theoretical purviews on magical realism and Charles Peirce’s inclination on interpretive community theory as the preferred conceptual praxis. Furthermore, this study applies critical interpretive analysis as the adopted analytical approach. Thus, the relevance of these portrayals to the subsisting socio-cultural worldviews about ghosts among the Igbo forms part of our thematic purview. Essentially this study sufficiently provides plausible answers to questions bothering on whether ghosts exist in the manner portrayed in the two films, as well as plausible analysis of the significations of ghosts’ appearances in clothing and whether ghosts do change their clothing like humans from time to time.

Keywords: actual, archetypal, ghost, Igbo, imaginative visual aesthetics, magical realism, worldview

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Research Engagement of Foreign Language Teachers among Select Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia

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Sanil S Hishan1, Suresh Ramakrishnan1,Nur Naha binti Abu Mansor1

1Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia. Corresponding Author: hishanssanil@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.42

Abstract

This paper aims to add to established awareness on the extent of research capacity, theoretical ideas, and views on the challenges to their study involvement in Malaysia’s select universities.  It used a hybrid system of concise quantitative and qualitative projects for 62 foreign language students. Data gathering methodologies such as questionnaires, individual and group interviews were used.  Results from the quantitative portion of the paper showed that international teachers displayed a modest degree of research ability while they hold optimistic views on the principles of study as a method to offer answers to educational challenges transcending teacher subject awareness, pedagogical and instructional abilities, and optimistic student learning outcomes. Similarly, qualitative findings found that the barriers to international teachers ‘ participation in research are embodied in lack of time to do work and lack of study writing skills. Moreover, networking incentive and career growth are driving factors for international teachers in Malaysia. The research poses implications on instructional management among curriculum designers, scholars, and school administrators among universities in Malaysia to improve academic culture and professional development opportunities among international teachers in terms of research capability and participation.

Keywords – Research Capabilities, Foreign Teachers, Knowledge generation, Research, Educational Management, Research Productivity

Shakespeare’s Influence on Pre-Independence Assamese Tragedy: a Historical Perspective

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Mohammad Rezaul Karim1 & Soleman Ali Mondal2

1Assistant Professor of English, College of Business Administration Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ORCID: 0000-0002-8178-8260. Email: karimrezaul318@gmail.com

2Associate Professor, Department of English, B.N. College, Dhubri, Assam, India

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5576-1139. Email: drsolemanmondal@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.41

Abstract

In Assamese, the tradition of writing and production of plays on the model of Sankardeva, Madhavdeva and their contemporaries fell into decadence with the arrival of a new type of plays under the influence of Shakespearean dramas. The presence of Shakespeare is deeply felt as close translations of his texts are being done and his style and technique being freely adopted. Some of these Assamese plays have nothing authentically Shakespearean about them but they could not have been written in the first place but for Shakespeare’s influence on their writers. Shakespeare is thus the main creative force behind this entire body of dramatic literature in Assamese. Since the late 19th century productions of Shakespearean plays by different writers and his influence on Assamese drama has continued unabated even to this day. In this article, an attempt has been made to selectively focus on pre-Independence Assamese tragedy. It discusses how Assamese drama in general and tragedy in particular, has developed in the light of Shakespeare’s tragic vision.

 

Keywords: Shakespeare, Assamese drama, tragedy, translation, adaptation

A Walk through Malegalalli Madumagalu – Lines that Uncover New Ontologies

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Deepta Sateesh

Doctoral Candidate, Manipal Academy of Higher Education. ORCID: 0000-0003-3357-474. Email: 0deeptasateesh@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.39

Abstract

The Western Ghats is a contentious landscape described in the familiar language of disciplines and boundaries, a language that has influenced the way in which development and environmental projects have been designed. It is possible the contentions arise from a particular ontology, created by a way of seeing the Ghats that divides nature from culture, relying on a view from above that distances one from place, an outsider’s view. This way of seeing differs from an understanding that emerges when engaging in the Ghats on foot. This paper grapples with this difference through a literary engagement with one of Kuvempu’s epic novels, Malegalalli Madumagalu. The novel reveals two different ontologies through an unraveling of text and imaging: one that privileges the colonial eye requiring skies and eyes to be clear, and another that privileges a local experience structured by the everyday practice of walking in a monsoon terrain.

Keywords: Ontology, Western Ghats, Literature, Image & Text, Visual Literacy.

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Inputs from Philosophy to Cognitive Science: the Example of L-concepts and the Suppression Task

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Miguel López-Astorga

Institute of Humanistic Studies “Juan Ignacio Molina”, University of Talca, Chile. Email address: milopez@utalca.cl

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.38

Scopus

Abstract

Although it is many times said that progress can be observed in none of the different subfields that are part of philosophy, this paper is intended to show otherwise by means of an example. That example is based upon the L-concepts that are introduced by Carnap in his method of extension and intension, and it refers to the idea that the underlying machinery of this last method is able to solve problems such as those that reasoning exercises such as the suppression task raise in the cognitive science field nowadays. As it is accounted for, the key is to assume that the human mind is somehow linked to state-descriptions akin to those proposed by Carnap.

Keywords: Carnap; method of extension and intension; semantics; state-descriptions; suppression task

The MasterChef Journey to Brain through Stomach: Food as Transnational Capital

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Diganta Bhattacharya

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sundarvan Mahavidyalaya, West Bengal & Research Scholar, Presidency University. Email: diganta.bhat@gmail.com                

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.37

Abstract

The notion of ‘capital’ being fluid, it comfortably lends itself to a multiplicity of interpretive-analytical frameworks that involve anything that can be ‘cashed in’. The significance of food in its myriad manifestations and reimagining-s can barely be overstated as it not only is irreplaceable due to biological-gustatory function but also due to the way people connect with it culturally, domestically, ethnically and personally. A 1990 show created by Franc Roddam in UK was essentially resuscitated, reconceived and re-developed in Australia in 2009 and the rest, literally, is history. Masterchef has become a culinary phenomenon like no other, has got its iterations across several continents and has essentially reimagined how ‘food’ is approached as well as conceptualized. A steep competitive framework and the time-tested format of a reality show can be argued to be two of the most significant reasons of its immense success which is apparent from its extensive viewership.  This essay seeks to interrogate a format that, admittedly competitive and eclectic, has successfully found out a method of manipulating consumer choices through a sort of strategic representation. By no means a straightforward Marxist critique of capital-flows as operative in such sites that are determined by different modalities of choice-based resource-utilization in an age of unprecedented interpenetration of the public and the private life, this study also strives to be a close ‘reading’ of the reality show ‘Masterchef Australia’ and the subtle ways it has continued to impact food culture around the world including India since 2009.

Keywords: Food, MasterChef, Australia, Culture, Capital, Pluralistic Democracy, Transnational, Body, Individual, choice, Economy, Reality show, Digital Behaviour

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Jim Corbett’s My India: A Study of Ideological Otherness

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Parul Rani1 & Nagendra Kumar2

1 Research Scholar in English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India.Email Id: parulnet.e@gmail.com, ORCID Id: 0000-0002-9934-3585

2 Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India. Email Id: naguk20@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.36

 Abstract

The present article draws on the ideological “othering” of the colonized subjects in Jim Corbett’s story collection My India. The text assimilates the non-fictional stories of the Indian people at a time when Corbett operates as an influential colonial hunter, and as a fuel inspector in the different parts of the colonized India. By and large, the stories advocate the proximity between a colonial master (Corbett) and the colonized people (Indians). However, this paper argues these narratives fall into the space of colonial discourse where the erection and dismantling of the racial overtones are happening simultaneously. As a mode of representation, the repeated articulations: “the poor of India,” “Indians are fatalists,” and “superstitious” function a differencing category “other.” The development of the discussion leads to the ironic reconstruction of caste through its subversion at the imperial hands. Precisely, this study probes into what Homi K. Bhabha says “mode of representation of otherness” and argues that Corbett’s discourse loses to the ideological otherness against his experiential closeness to the Indians.

Keywords: colonial discourse, difference, Jim Corbett, My India, othering.

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The Orient: Villains in the plays of Marlow and Shakespeare

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Shouket Ahmad Tilwani

Assistant Professor, Department of English, College of Science and Humanities, Al-Kharj, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, 11942, Saudi Arabia. ORCID: 0000-0002-8608-5134. Email: s.tilwani@psau.edu.sa

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.35

Abstract

The paper attempts to underline how, in view of the 16th century British socio-cultural and economic scenario, that held a remarkable efficacy in shaping the characters in literature, the Oriental Muslim characters were portrayed, particularly, penned by the two prominent playwrights of the time- Shakespeare in Titus Andronicus and Othello, and Marlowe in Tamburlaine the Great I and II. As the plays are taught in almost all the universities at the higher levels, the paper is particularly relevant to underline how it does predispose students through the misrepresentation of the Orient. At the same breadth, it also aims to analyse how at certain instances in their works, the two playwrights explore the ambiguities and conflicting notions that the Elizabethan England harboured about the Islamic world of the East. The paper, particularly, focusses on the idea of justifying violence through polemical stereotyping and negative image which culminates with the ending of Tamburlaine the Great.

Keywords: Colonialism, Hegemony, Islam, Orientalism, Ottoman, Polemics.

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The Effectiveness of Interactive Multimedia in Learning Indonesian Language Skills in Higher Education

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Biya Ebi Praheto, Andayani, Muhammad Rohmadi, Nugraheni Eko Wardani

Sebelas Maret University of Surakarta, Indonesia. Email: biya.ebi@ustjogja.ac.id

 Volume 12, Number 1, January-March, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n1.34

Abstract

Computer-based media such as interactive multimedia plays an important role in learning Indonesian language skills. The objective of this research is to determine the effectiveness of interactive multimedia in learning Indonesian language skills in higher education. This experimental research used the port-test along with a control group design. The population of this research was the second semester students of the Elementary School Education Study Program at four higher education institutions. To determine the experimental class, the random sampling technique was used considerably. IKIP PGRI Wates is an experimental class through which interactive multimedia is compared to three control groups namely Slamet Riyadi University of Surakarta using video subscription media, Tunas Pembangunan Surakarta University applying media prize, and Ahmad Dahlan University of  Yogyakarta using the powerpoint media. The data on Indonesian language skills tests include tests of listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities. The data were then analyzed using the one-way ANOVA. The results show that the application of interactive multimedia is effectively used in learning language language skills compared to learning using other media. In addition, interactive multimedia can also be applied to study independently outside the classroom.

Keywords: Interactive Multimedia, Indonesian Language Skills, Listening Skills, Speaking Skills, Reading Skills, Writing Skills

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