Volume 12 Number 2 2020 - Page 2

Eco-psychology and The Role of Animals to Heal Trauma in Life of Pi

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Diren Ashok Khandhar1, Hardev Kaur Jujar Singh2, Rosli Talif3, Zainor Izat Zainal4

Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Corresponding author: ORCID: 0000-0002-0526-2435. Email diren.msa@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.14

 

Abstract

Psychological trauma brings about adverse effects on affected victims and the manifestations vary from an individual to another. Some of the more common traits identified in trauma victims include extreme anxiety, nightmares, hallucinations and flashbacks; in which there is no specific reference of time on when a victim may start to exhibit these characteristics. In addition, the mode and duration taken for recovery of psychological trauma may also differ depending on the severity of the initial trauma and assistance available to trauma victims for recovery to transpire. As such, this present article intends to study the varied manifestations of trauma in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi (2001) and to identify how trauma was negotiated through the human-animal relationship formed in the literary text. Besides employing concepts under Trauma theory, this article would also elucidate the concept of ecological unconscious under the lens of Eco-psychology to identify how the incorporation of nature, animals specifically, plays an integral part in the recovery process of a trauma victim.

Keywords: Animals, Eco-psychology, Recovery, Trauma.

 

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Bioterrorism & Biodefense: An Environmental and Public Health Preparedness

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Saira Gori1 & Anjani Singh Tomar2

1Gujarat National Law University. Email: sgori@gnlu.ac.in

2Associate Professor of Law, Gujarat National Law University, Gujarat

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.13

Abstract

Humans, plants and animals have always been susceptible to the threat of pathogenic microorganisms and their toxins which are present in the nature. Although these microorganisms occur naturally in the environment but they are unnaturally inflicted upon the society in the form of biological weapons. Bioterrorism is defined as the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria or other agents used to cause illness or death in people, and also in animals or plants. Biological weapons have often been referred to as the “poor man’s atomic bomb. Biological attacks are more likely to be covert. A covert attack is most disturbing because the event itself might be completely unnoticed until numerous victims fell ill and their common illness has been diagnosed. The spread of biological agent does not have an instantaneous effect because there is a delay between exposure and onset of the illness. Further, it is often very difficult for historians and microbiologists to differentiate natural epidemics from alleged biological attacks. The current concerns regarding the use of biological weapons result from the increasing number of countries that are engaged in the proliferation of such weapons and their acquisition by the terrorist organizations. The purpose of the present study is to analyse the growing threat of the bioterrorism in the world. It further entails to delineate the sub-sets of bioterrorism, which are agro-terrorism, environmental-terrorism. Further, the impact of bioterrorism on public health, environment is correctly spelled out. Major focus is also given on the current threat of bioterrorism on India and the legal framework which India possesses to counter such threat.

Keywords: Bioterrorism, public health, environment.

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An Obituary for Innocence: Revisiting the Trauma during the Khmer Rouge Years in Cambodia through Children’s Narratives

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Srestha Kar

PhD Research Scholar, Dept. of English,North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. ORCID: 0000-0003-4054-3213 Email: sreshtha.kar@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.12

Abstract

The totalitarian regime of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia under the dictatorship of Pol Pot initiated a saga of brutal mass genocide that exterminated millions and completely upended the social and political machinery of the country with its repressive policies. One of the most atrocious aspects of the regime was the deployment of tens of thousands of children as child soldiers through the indoctrination of the ideologies of the state as well as through coercion and intimidation. This paper intends to study the impact of child soldiering on child psyche through an analysis of two texts- Luong Ung’s First They Killed My Father and Patricia McCormick’s Never Fall Down. The paper shall explore how militarization and authoritarian rule dismantles commonly held perceptions about childhood as a period of dependency and vulnerability, where instead, children become unwitting perpetrators of horrible crimes that ultimately triggers trauma and disillusionment. In its analysis of the texts, the paper shall attempt to use Hannah Arendt’s concept of the ‘banality of evil’ in the context of the child soldiers whose conformation to the propaganda of the Khmer Rouge lacked any ideological conviction.

Keywords: Cambodia, Khmer Rouge, child soldiers, trauma, banality of evil, children’s narratives, agency.

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Indian Women at Crossroads: a Tale of Conflict, Trauma and Survival

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Sanghamitra Choudhury1 & Shailendra Kumar2

1Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Sikkim University, India. Email: schoudhuryassam@gmail.com

2Department of Management, Sikkim University, India

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.11

Abstract:

Armed conflict across and between communities results in massive levels of destruction to the people- physically, culturally, economically and psychologically. The genesis of most of the conflicts that has engulfed the north-eastern states of India is either to preserve the unique identity or due to lack of economic development and opportunities for the large majority of the people or both. Women as heterogeneous group of social actors are arguably more affected than their male counterparts in conflict situations. Armed conflict exacerbates inequalities in gender relations that already exist in society. In an ethnically divided society in Assam, women bodies are generally used as ‘ethnic markers’ thereby have more specific manifestations. The paper aims to analyze the multiple roles that women are subjected to and play in armed conflict in the state of Assam. The paper is going to highlight that woman in NE India with a special reference to Assam cannot be categorized just as ‘victims’ of conflict. Even when they are victims; they exercise their agency and survival techniques despite adverse conditions. Beyond judicial measures, how women grapple with the problem of the ‘truths’ of the past in post conflict scenario will also be highlighted.

Keywords: Armed conflict, Assam, Ethnicity, Northeast India, Trauma.

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Analyzing Indira Parthasarathy’s High Noon in Light of G.H. Mead’s Theory of Self and Society

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Jesintha Princy.J1 & Sarika Gupta2

1Research Scholar, School of Social Science and Languages,VIT. ORCID: 0000-0001-7304-5726. Email:  jesinthaprincy@gmail.com

2Associate Professor, School of Social Science and Languages,VIT. Email: tyagisarika27@gmail.com.

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.10

 Abstract

The concept of self is the individual’s configuration of beliefs and opinions that have the primary association to his/her own behavior, “especially those ideas considered most central and enduring in the individual’s behavior” (Pasricha, 206). This organization of one’s own thoughts and beliefs relatively provides a continual experience in different social situations. The exchange, evolution, participation in the social process organizes the behavior of the individual that results in the emergence of a better self. George Herbert Mead’s analysis of self and society emphasizes that the existence of self without the experience in the social process is absolutely impossible. Indira Parthasarathy’s penmanship is often a social criticism that is embellished with an individual’s participation and response to the social setting. Analyzing the novella High Noon through the viewpoint of Mead’s theory of self and society, the process of emergence of self in the individual makes our understanding of the issues better. The development and emergence of self of the two main characters Ambi and Vembu Ayyar are observed through their reflexes in the social process they are involved in.

Keywords: self, society, social setting, behavior, socio-psychology, development, emergence.

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The Natyashastra-based analysis of Mahesh Dattani’s Where Did I Leave My Purdah

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Mrunal Chavda

Assistant Professor, Institute of Language Studies and Applied Social Sciences. ORCID:  0000-0002-3817-4124. Email: mrunalchavdaiima@gmail.com,

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.09

 Abstract

This article uses the Natyashastra, an Indian treatise on performing arts, to develop an overlooked method of theatrical analysis. This treatise offers useful insights on how gestures are produced during the performance, which has been practiced by performers across the world. While scholars research the Natyashastra in the contexts such as theatre, rasa theory, and its bodymind connection, this treatise has been employed to analyze gestures produced by contemporary Indian theatre performers in Mahesh Dattani’s Where Did I Leave My Purdah. The outlined exercise through an examination of a case study advocates a method of theatrical analysis.

Keywords: production analysis, Mahesh Dattani, Indian theatre in English, Natyashastra.

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Carnivalesque and its All-Pervasive Influence in Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine

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Hassan Abootalebi & Alireza Kargar

PhD student of  English Language and Literature, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran. Email: abootalebi2010@gmail.com

M.A in English Language and Literature, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran. Email: alirezakargar1984@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.08

 Abstract

The current paper is an attempt to scrutinize and shed some light on Caryl Churchill’s play Cloud Nine (1979) with the application of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of carnival and carnivalesque explicated in his celebrated book Rabelais and His World (1984) which presupposes a world in which the flouting of, and challenging authority along with disrespect for, and disregard of, what is deemed sacred and valued are vital and instrumental, where individuals are liberated from any restrictions imposed on them outside carnival, and are permitted to pursue what pleases them without the least fear of being castigated, oppressed or interrupted by authorities. The selected work, as argued in the subsequent sections of the present article, presents a world where authority and social constructs as well as  conventions are all undermined and mocked. What is thought of as truth is, therefore, mocked, and the characters are no longer restricted by imposed rules and regulations. It, however, celebrates the subversion and calling into question of gender roles and demonstrates how restrictive and oppressive these roles can be, and what it is like when one is not circumscribed by societal constructions and expectations, and is given the opportunity to enjoy themselves in an unlimited way. In the first act, everyone stands in an already pre-defined position, as expected by the authorities, where no transgression is tenable, and no one seems inclined to go beyond them. The second act, however, is set in London in 1979 and women are no longer restrained by rules, and the characters as a result grow. In what follows, the words carnival and carnivalesque will be first fully defined and elaborated on, and then applied to Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine to illustrate the above-mentioned claim.

Keywords: Mikhail Bakhtin, carnival, carnivalesque, Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine

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Women and Cultural Transformation: The Politics of Representation in the Novels of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay

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Sudip Roy Choudhury

Ph.D Research Scholar, Raiganj University, West Bengal, India. Orcid: 0000-0003-4833-7975. Email id: sudiproychoudhury60@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.07

 Abstract

This paper begins by arguing that Bankimchandra, a pioneering novelist and nationalist thinker of India, sought to contain the nineteenth century ‘woman question’ within his nationalist project of ‘cultural transformation’. But this nationalist ideal is based on a gendered differentiation of the nation-culture into spiritual and material which has a far reaching implication in terms of his novelistic re-presentation of the nineteenth century ‘woman question’ and the ‘hierarchical inclusion’ of women in the political space of the nation. Hence, by contextualizing the works of Bankimchandra in a time of colonial encounter the present paper aims to bring out the complexities and paradoxes inherent in Bankimchandra’s formation of the strategy of re-presentation of women and reform in several of his novels.

Keywords: Colonial encounter, cultural transformation, nationalist consciousness, gender, social reform.

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Mythical Motifs in the Furniture of Elamite Civilization

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Neshat Madadi,1 Hassan Ali Pourmand2 & Seyyedeh  Motahareh  Mousavi3

1Department of Public, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran.

2Associate Professor, Faculty of art & architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran. Email: motaharehmousavi@yahoo.com

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.06

Abstract

Elamites the first founders of the kingdom in Iranian territory were the pioneers of the use of animal motifs in the design of Iranian furniture. Since their very inception up to their decline, they made use of such motifs as snake, lion, wild goat and duck in designing their furniture. The current essay aims at the identification of the causes of the application, culmination, and decline of these motifs in designing furniture, particularly ancient Elamite thrones. The present study is fundamental research given its objective and is qualitative and exploratory in view of its essence. Data collection is based on library studies. The results show that in Elamite civilization due to the sacredness of snake, this mythic creature is the most popular motif in designing furniture. Elamites in addition to snake used such alternative motifs as lion, wild goat, and duck which enjoyed religious and social acceptability. Such motifs were used by Elamite gods, kings or officials in religious rituals or ceremonies and the reflection of Elamite ideas in relation to these creatures is visible in the design of their furniture.

Keywords: Iranian Furniture, Motif, Elamite Civilization.

Realms of the Dead and the Living: George II’s Allegorical Presence, Politics of Nonsense and Ignorance in Henry Fielding’s The Author’s Farce

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Samia AL-Shayban

Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, College of Arts, King Saud University. ORCID ID:  0000-0003-3229-0834. Email: samia700@hotmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.05

Abstract

Ideologically, Fielding’s Author’s Farce is read as an attack on Sir Robert Walpole and his corrupt government.  Dramatically, it is perceived as a play with two separate plots, a factor that denies it any literary merits. This paper attempt to read Fielding’s play as a disguised multifaceted attack against King George II of England who is accused of deliberately corrupting London’ s literary scene to secure the Hanoverian hegemony. Fielding achieves his design through complex dramatization of the Realms of the dead and living. At the center of both realism stand George II who is metaphorically presented by the poor poet Luckless who resides in the land of the living and Nonsense the underworld goddess. The comparison between George Augustus who later became Prince of Wales and crowned as George II is based on detailed biographical and ideological similarities. The biographical and ideological affinities lead to the conclusion that King George II is the originator and protector of literary corruption. To strengthen the attack against the king, the court of Goddess Nonsense which appeared in Luckless’ play that depicts the land of the dead is connected to George II’s court through the prominent presence of opera and ignorance. Thus, Fielding’s literary dramatization is used as a medium to expose the role of the King in devaluing the English literary scene and turns it into a circus that makes the public ignorant with no literary taste and resigns authors to poverty. The scene is the result a deliberate tactics designed to disempower authors and public as a way to spread the Hanoverian hegemony and silence criticism of the corrupt political system.

 Keywords: Patriarchy, Margin, Center, George II, Power, Hobbes, Machiavelli.

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