Volume 12 Number 6 2020 - Page 2

Costume as a Form of Visualization of Ethnicity: From Tradition to Modernity

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485 views

Daria Yurievna Ermilova

Russian State University of Tourism and Service. Email: id311@yandex.ru

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.20

Abstract

The article traces the transformation of visualization of a person’s ethnicity through costumes – from traditional to modern. The object of the study is to understand the costume as an informational and sign structure. The topic of the study is the visualization of ethnicity through costumes from a historical perspective. The study aims to identify the specific characteristics of visualization of ethnicity in traditional and modern costumes. The study hypothesis is that, unlike traditional costumes that demonstrated regional and national affiliation, modern “Western” clothing has mostly lost these functions. Although in some regions costumes are still relevant as a “living” tradition, national clothing is disappearing from everyday life. Ethnic style using regional and national traditions as a source of stylization does not present an indicator of a person’s nationality. Nevertheless, some examples of modern clothing visualizing ethnicity can be found. The functional and semiotic approaches to the analysis of costumes serve as the basis of the study. Since the late Middle Ages, the development of urban dress in Western Europe has been determined by fashion rather than tradition. In Russia, the process of an urban costume losing the function of visualization of ethnicity began with the reforms of Peter the Great and for peasants’ costumes, this process did not start until the middle of the 20th century. At the beginning of the 21st century, traditional costumes were mostly worn by ethnic minorities as a symbol of national identity and self-affirmation. Referring to others’ traditions as a source of fashion innovations led to the emergence of ethnic style. Ethnic style is characterized by a superficial attitude towards the source. Ethnodesign, on the other hand, follows the principle of deep and thoughtful care about the tradition which gains relevance due to the rise of glocalization manifesting in the intensification of regional differences. Although the proponents of ethnodesign insist on the ability of design to integrate traditional ethnic symbols into modern culture, the question is about the ability of modern people to understand the meanings contained in traditional forms remains. The present article identifies the cases of a costume serving the function of visualization of ethnicity in modern society.

Keywords: visualization, ethnicity, traditional costume, ethnodesign, modern costume, functions of a costume.

The Role of Media in Consumption under “Attention Economies”: A Study Based on the Interviews of Chinese Postgraduates towards the M&M’s Advertisements

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396 views

Yuting Xie1, Megat Al Imran Bin Yasin2, Syed Agil Alsagoff3, Lay Hoon Ang4

1Department of Communication, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Email: shirley_xieyt@hotmail.com

2Department of Communication, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Email: megat@upm.edu.my

3Department of Communication, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Email: s_agil@upm.edu.my

4Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Email: hlang@upm.edu.my

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.19

Abstract

The rapid development of media in the world promote the prosperity of the economy to a certain degree. Advertisement, as one of communication form of mass media, gradually becoming one of an important part in the attention economy. In view of these, the research chooses M&M’s advertisements as examples to discover what factors attract audiences’ attention and then lead to consumption, and how they play their role during the process. Three methods are employed in this research: in-depth interview, observation and textual analysis. Five Chinese postgraduate students are selected as objects, and they answer the questions by the researcher after they watched two types of M&M’s advertisements (celebrity-based advertisement and content-based advertisement). Through the combination of interview, it can be found that both celebrities, memory and social media platform can exert their role in the attention economy. This article also expects to offer a reference for advertisers and product manufacturers, helping them adjust their marketing strategies rationally by using celebrities and other elements.

Keywords: Attention Economy, Advertisement, Media, Celebrities, Memory.

Memory Anchored by Place Attachment and Cognitive Maps in Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight and The Cat’s Table

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298 views

Justy Joseph1 & Dr. Nirmala Menon2

1PhD Research Scholar, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, India. ORCID id: 0000-0002-7182-0108. Email id: phd1901261006@iiti.ac.in

2Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Indore. Email id: nmenon@iiti.ac.in

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.18

Abstract

Recollection is a gangplank between an obsolete past, indisputable present and an unidentified future, but human memory is convoluted as the compendium of a landscape.  Perceptions, values and experiences fastened to a landscape can anchor memories, shift perceptions and can alter the aboriginal integrity and cognitive capabilities of an individual. This research article studies the Canadian Nobel Prize winning author Michael Ondaatje’s novels The Cat’s Table (2012) and Warlight (2018) venturing to understand how characters and their identities are created with the aid of memory. This study examines how place attachment and understanding of environmental configurations through generation of cognitive maps distorts or ascends recollection.

Keywords: place attachment, cognitive geography, cognitive maps, memory, landscape

Creating Transcriptions and Adaptations for Viola in Kazakhstan: Retrospection, Theory and Practice

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329 views

Aizhan S. Bekenova1, Gulnar B. Abdirakhman2, Diana Ye. Mahmood3, Arita B. Baisakalova4 & Alma A. Abatova5

1Doctoral Student, Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan.

Email: aizhans.bekenova@mail.ru

2Candidate of Arts, Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan.

3Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.d), Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan.

4Professor, Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan.

5Associate Professor, Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan.

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.17

Abstract

Starting from the past century, viola began to draw much interest of musicians, performers and musicologists, as it gradually acquired a new role of a solo instrument. Although these days more compositions appear written especially for this instrument, the independent role of viola was always accompanied more with transcriptions and adaptations of works composed for other related instruments, mostly violin, cello, etc. This article looks into the history and perspectives of making transcriptions for the viola in the Kazakh musical culture. The study also involves the analysis of Kazakh viola schools with a focus on their founders. Questions of the history and theory of viola transcriptions are still waiting for detailed scientific understanding. The work of musicians who successfully applied to transcriptions and adaptations in their practice and formed the technology of this creative process has not been sufficiently studied. It requires more in?depth study and can be used as a practical guide for the work of other musicians. This determines the relevance of this article.

Keywords: transcriptional work, musical arrangement, Fudiman, viola school, folk music, repertoire.

Nautanki: Evolution, Issues and Challenges

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409 views

Siddhartha Singh

Associate Professor, Department of English, Sri JNMPG College, Lucknow, India. Email: siddhartha.singh8@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.16

Abstract

A major form of folk theatre, Nautanki, still holds an important place in the collective consciousness of the rural mass of the north India. The storyline of this musical folk theatre, exceptional in preserving the written texts, is derived from multiple sources ranging from mythology, history, romances, and folklores to contemporary icons. With its emphasis on music, both vocal and instrumental, accompanied by its most important companion Nakkara or Nagara, the highly intensified operative theatre can hold the nerves of thousands of people for the whole night. Due to the pressure of Bollywood and new sources of entertainment, Nautanki started losing its distinctive character, yet its survival has kept the hope alive. The present paper will not only introduce the form in detail, but will also shed light on some of the important issues and challenges in Nautanki today.

Keywords: Nakkara, Sangit, Swang, Bhagat, Music, folk, Virangana, Patriarchy, Indian Feminism.

Transformation of Catuspatha in Bali Indonesia: Alteration Ideas from Empty Space to Aesthetic Element of City

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305 views

Ngakan Ketut Acwin Dwijendra1*, Frysa Wiriantari2, Desak Made Sukma Widiyani3, Anak Agung Ayu Sri Ratih Yulianasari4

1Faculty of Engineering, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia. ORCID id: 0000-0003-0070-4254. E-mail: acwin@unud.ac.id

2 3 4Faculty of Engineering, Dwijendra University, Bali, Indonesia

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.15

Abstract

Catuspatha in Bali is interpreted not merely as a junction or crossroad but a crossroads that have their own sacred values ??and meanings and are equated with the great crossroads. At the time of the kingdom in Bali catuspatha was the center of the royal capital and meant the center of the country. Meanwhile, since the Dutch occupation in Bali, there has been a tendency to place aesthetic elements as the focal points or landmarks of a city at the center of a catuspatha and this trend was continued by the republican government during independence. The purpose of this study is to uncover the concept of catuspatha, the transformation of concepts, changes in the expression of catuspatha from the kingdom to independence and the impact of the changes. To achieve this goal, an observation was carried out on nine catuspathas of royal heritage in the Bali region with document research and reconstruction through interviews with priests of Shiva, Buddhism, Bachelors, and other elements as well as textual observations in the form of literature, research results, and ancient chronicles. The results obtained from this study indicate a change in the idea where the view of the center of the catuspatha as an empty space turned into an aesthetic element of the city that acts as a traffic sign and also as a city orientation. In the political context, there is an impact on the integrity of traditional values ??in the catuspatha where the symbols of royal power were expressed in the castle’s structure. The central facilities of the kingdom, are transformed into a mayor’s office with subordinate units. In the context of transportation technology, traffic lights are also expressed to regulate the flow of traffic on the catuspatha.

Keywords: catuspatha, transform, space, city, element

 

Mapping the Evolution of Crime Fiction as a Genre: Eighteenth Century to the Contemporary Times

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573 views

Shrija Srinivasan1, Dr Sushila Shekhawat2 & Dr Somdatta Bhattacharya3

1Doctoral Candidate, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Pilani Campus, Vidyavihar, Pilani, Rajasthan: 333031, India. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5517-0088. Email: p2016411@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in

2Associate Professor, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Pilani Campus, Vidyavihar, Pilani, Rajasthan: 333031, India. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3101-0784. Email: sula@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in

3Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal: 721302, India. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0074-4793Email: somdatta@hss.iitkgp.ac.in

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.13

Abstract

A mystery story which focuses on a crime and the investigation of that crime is commonly understood as a crime fiction narrative. Its ability to excite the readers, challenge their rational abilities and involve them in the gradual unravelling of the mystery is what makes crime fiction a huge success. With innumerable critical works, scholarly study and continued relevance, crime fiction has entered the canon of literature. A genre that closely reflects the socio-political, historical and cultural aspects of the society, it has gradually acquired a significant role both in critiquing the social order and at the same time for documenting history through its gradual evolution and development. This paper attempts to map the evolution of crime fiction from the eighteenth century to the contemporary times. In doing so, the paper aims to study how social changes impact literary traditions. This study also aims to establish the relevance of crime fiction as a literary genre as it evolves into multiple sub-genres, structures itself into specific rules and regulations and metamorphosises into extra-literary forms.

Keywords: crime fiction, society, history, evolution, literature

Nineteenth-Century Eurasians and Spatiality in Emma Roberts’ Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan, with Sketches of Anglo-Indian Society (1835)

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288 views

Divya A
Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. ORCID: 0000-0002-4516-6763. Email id divya@iitm.ac.in

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.12

Abstract

In this article, through a spatial reading of Roberts’ Scenes and Characteristics I illustrate how the stringent regulations of the East Indian Company disempowering the Eurasians are manifested through the spatial strictures, and how notions of cultural purity and hierarchy are realized through the politics of space in colonial India. Spatial concepts of lived space, third space, and hybridity— drawn from the theories of Homi Bhabha, Edward Soja and Henry Lefebvre—are useful in mapping the spatial politics in nineteenth-century India, especially in relation to the Government-house in Calcutta, the seat of the highest authority in colonial India, and the marginalized orphanages/schools run by the East India Company primarily for the benefit of Eurasian children. Discrimination through spatially segregation was practiced by the British East India Company in order to preserve the racial purity of the European upper class at the helm of the Indian colony.  My paper illustrates how the fortunes of the male and female “half-castes” of empire were variously charted, and how spatial homogeneity was subverted through the subtext of marital relations. The “third space” that some of the fortunately-marked interracial men and women occupy constantly pulled at the seams of apparently inviolable concepts of homogeneity and purity to expose and challenge the cultural dominion of the British Empire.

Keywords: Eurasian, spatiality, Bhabha, Soja, Government-house, Lefebvre, third space, colonialism, East India Company, orphan.

The Ethnomental Components of F.M. Dostoevsky’s Works

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236 views

Maksim Proskuriakov1, Li Lanlan2

1,2Shandong University, School of Foreign Languages and Literature, China

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.11

 Abstract

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to identify the originality and ideological functional status of the ethnomental component in the works of F. Dostoevsky.

Methods: The work integrates a complex of modern approaches and methods, mainly focusing on the ideas and principles of the traditional, cultural and historical method, which demonstrates the general cultural, sociological, and psychological aspects of the study of Dostoevsky’s literary heritage. The typological method has contributed to the literary clarification of the ethnomental components in fiction and journalism of the writer. The narratological approach is used to analyze the narrative structure of Dostoevsky’s works, the correlation of the writer’s and other people’s speech, to identify various points of views on the problem, and to establish the ambiguity of the writer’s position. The contextual analysis allowed analyzing the images of characters, first, within the local context and, second, within the macrocontext, which includes other literary sources, appropriate comparisons and build a verification model of the study.

Main results: The analysis of the writer’s life, his philosophy of life, sacrifices, social ambivalence, predisposition to reflection, etc. suggests the presence of certain mental foundations. The main ideas, attitudes, spiritual discoveries of the artistic worlds created by the writer are determined by the ethnomental basis of his worldview. This makes it possible to determine and understand the originality and uniqueness of Dostoevsky in the context of Russian literature.

Application of the study: The conclusions of the study can serve as the basis for an accurate idea of the correlation of the writer’s worldview and his work. The materials and conclusions of the study can be used in university courses on the history of Russian literature, in special courses and special seminars on the works of Dostoevsky, for term papers, graduation papers, and dissertations. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the ethnic component in the ideological and artistic system of Dostoevsky who was a Pochvennik writer (i. e. belonged to the Pochvennichestvo movement) was first considered in the context and through the prism of both the life experience of the writer himself and the general anthropological orientation of the writer as well as his understanding of human nature. This study provides not only the opportunity to analyze the ethnic identity of Russian literature but also to trace the influence of the ethnic mentality of Dostoevsky on his worldview embodied in his fiction.

Key words: Orthodoxy, religious devotedness, archetype, anthropocentrism, fantastic realism, mythologeme.

Using Parallel Texts to Teach Literary Appreciation and Academic Writing Skills of M.A. Students

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231 views

Anand Mahanand

EFL University, Hyderabad, India, anand@efluniversity.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6069-097X

 Volume 12, Number 6, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n6.10

 

Abstract

In this paper I would like to report a study I have undertaken to understand whether   using parallel texts would be  helpful in developing  literary appreciation  and writing skills  of M.A students. I  would like to  report how I got the idea  to use the parallel texts, the way I collected materials and taught them for literary appreciation and    writing skills following a bilingual approach. I would also like to share the outcome of my study.  A group of ten students participated in the study.   The students not only developed in writing skills and literary appreciation but   the use of a bilingual approach gave them a sense of pride and confidence that they could use the resources  available in their first language  in the class and  for academic set up at the university level. They were able to write  good academic essays with appropriate format and structure. It also  prompted them to  explore more  on the resources they  have in  their first languages. The paper suggests that such a bilingual approach helps  students from  rural areas and non-English medium background and who initially experience  handicap in their class to cope with their studies.

Keywords: parallel texts, bilingual approach, literary appreciation, academic writing skills, M.A. Students