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TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVIETY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH ABSTRACT Thesis Title: TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVITY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH This comparative study aims to explore how different cultures understand and represent environment and nature in their respective discourse. Four texts are selected for the study: Moth Smoke, Trespassing, White Noise and A Thousand Acres for an in-depth analysis. Examining the material and discursive areas of environmental exploitation and injustice across different regions, the selected Pakistani and American texts in this study are interpreted in a transgeographical context. It is argued, the difference in perception of environmentalism in different fictions, originate in large-scale political and economic processes that give rise to most social and environmental problems in regions that are in the global south like Pakistan. American environmentalism on the contrary, that is originally founded on deep ecology and nature conservationist paradigm, saw a fundamental shift in the late twentieth century and deviated at a mystifying pace and emerged with a new paradigm with radical environmental criticism of capitalist consumerism and ecological toxic contamination which is manifested in American novels like White Noise and A Thousand Acres. By creating a dialogue between ecocritical and postcolonial theory, the study seeks to address how the selected fictions are interweaved with human and environmental history, thus subtly alluding to ecological and cultural sensibilities and underscore a very different vision of human relationships to the environment in Pakistani and American English fiction. In doing so, the selected texts also foreground that there are significant discrepant political, historical and social features across the variety of environmentalist perspectives. These varying perceptions emphasize a sense of place as a basic prerequisite for environmental awareness. Furthermore, by paying attention to the style, linguistic and visual topographies of the selected texts this comparative study also establishes how environmental degradation manifested as pollution, chemicals toxins, contamination and unbound consumption disrupts the human – ecology, alters the environment, and complicates human and nonlife life forms. I draw upon Lawrence Buell’s notion on “Toxic Discourse” in Moth Smoke and White Noise which are examined to show how enviornmental degradation represent a toxic and fractured world due to consumption and neoliberal capitalism. On the other hand, a planetary and cosmopolitan vision is also explored by focusing on texts like Trespassing and A Thousand Acres which are significant to trace “cultural imagination from a sense of place to a less territorial and more systematic sense of planet” (Hesie 56). Both novels reflect how different communities and individuals negotiate the relationship between what Heise terms as local and global networks of economics and culture while also considering their exposure to risk scenarios. An explication of these various environmental scenarios underscore that the multiple varieties of ecosystems from the global North and the global South in their respective socio-cultural spheres are by no means holistic, utopian or harmonious in any sense, but each, on the contrary, emphasises the possibility of rapidly growing environmental risks affecting the ecology as well those inhabiting that environment. While their similarities are tied together by a thematic unity as manifestations of various environmental visions that communicate a planetary heightened environmental awareness in the contemporary society, their differences accentuate that within each of these competing discourses there exists a fundamental difference that is specific to their historical, cultural and material conditions and require attention when exploring environmentalism in a transgeographical context.
TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVIETY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH ABSTRACT Thesis Title: TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVITY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH This comparative study aims to explore how different cultures understand and represent environment and nature in their respective discourse. Four texts are selected for the study: Moth Smoke, Trespassing, White Noise and A Thousand Acres for an in-depth analysis. Examining the material and discursive areas of environmental exploitation and injustice across different regions, the selected Pakistani and American texts in this study are interpreted in a transgeographical context. It is argued, the difference in perception of environmentalism in different fictions, originate in large-scale political and economic processes that give rise to most social and environmental problems in regions that are in the global south like Pakistan. American environmentalism on the contrary, that is originally founded on deep ecology and nature conservationist paradigm, saw a fundamental shift in the late twentieth century and deviated at a mystifying pace and emerged with a new paradigm with radical environmental criticism of capitalist consumerism and ecological toxic contamination which is manifested in American novels like White Noise and A Thousand Acres. By creating a dialogue between ecocritical and postcolonial theory, the study seeks to address how the selected fictions are interweaved with human and environmental history, thus subtly alluding to ecological and cultural sensibilities and underscore a very different vision of human relationships to the environment in Pakistani and American English fiction. In doing so, the selected texts also foreground that there are significant discrepant political, historical and social features across the variety of environmentalist perspectives. These varying perceptions emphasize a sense of place as a basic prerequisite for environmental awareness. Furthermore, by paying attention to the style, linguistic and visual topographies of the selected texts this comparative study also establishes how environmental degradation manifested as pollution, chemicals toxins, contamination and unbound consumption disrupts the human – ecology, alters the environment, and complicates human and nonlife life forms. I draw upon Lawrence Buell’s notion on “Toxic Discourse” in Moth Smoke and White Noise which are examined to show how enviornmental degradation represent a toxic and fractured world due to consumption and neoliberal capitalism. On the other hand, a planetary and cosmopolitan vision is also explored by focusing on texts like Trespassing and A Thousand Acres which are significant to trace “cultural imagination from a sense of place to a less territorial and more systematic sense of planet” (Hesie 56). Both novels reflect how different communities and individuals negotiate the relationship between what Heise terms as local and global networks of economics and culture while also considering their exposure to risk scenarios. An explication of these various environmental scenarios underscore that the multiple varieties of ecosystems from the global North and the global South in their respective socio-cultural spheres are by no means holistic, utopian or harmonious in any sense, but each, on the contrary, emphasises the possibility of rapidly growing environmental risks affecting the ecology as well those inhabiting that environment. While their similarities are tied together by a thematic unity as manifestations of various environmental visions that communicate a planetary heightened environmental awareness in the contemporary society, their differences accentuate that within each of these competing discourses there exists a fundamental difference that is specific to their historical, cultural and material conditions and require attention when exploring environmentalism in a transgeographical context.
TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVIETY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH ABSTRACT Thesis Title: TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVITY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH This comparative study aims to explore how different cultures understand and represent environment and nature in their respective discourse. Four texts are selected for the study: Moth Smoke, Trespassing, White Noise and A Thousand Acres for an in-depth analysis. Examining the material and discursive areas of environmental exploitation and injustice across different regions, the selected Pakistani and American texts in this study are interpreted in a transgeographical context. It is argued, the difference in perception of environmentalism in different fictions, originate in large-scale political and economic processes that give rise to most social and environmental problems in regions that are in the global south like Pakistan. American environmentalism on the contrary, that is originally founded on deep ecology and nature conservationist paradigm, saw a fundamental shift in the late twentieth century and deviated at a mystifying pace and emerged with a new paradigm with radical environmental criticism of capitalist consumerism and ecological toxic contamination which is manifested in American novels like White Noise and A Thousand Acres. By creating a dialogue between ecocritical and postcolonial theory, the study seeks to address how the selected fictions are interweaved with human and environmental history, thus subtly alluding to ecological and cultural sensibilities and underscore a very different vision of human relationships to the environment in Pakistani and American English fiction. In doing so, the selected texts also foreground that there are significant discrepant political, historical and social features across the variety of environmentalist perspectives. These varying perceptions emphasize a sense of place as a basic prerequisite for environmental awareness. Furthermore, by paying attention to the style, linguistic and visual topographies of the selected texts this comparative study also establishes how environmental degradation manifested as pollution, chemicals toxins, contamination and unbound consumption disrupts the human – ecology, alters the environment, and complicates human and nonlife life forms. I draw upon Lawrence Buell’s notion on “Toxic Discourse” in Moth Smoke and White Noise which are examined to show how enviornmental degradation represent a toxic and fractured world due to consumption and neoliberal capitalism. On the other hand, a planetary and cosmopolitan vision is also explored by focusing on texts like Trespassing and A Thousand Acres which are significant to trace “cultural imagination from a sense of place to a less territorial and more systematic sense of planet” (Hesie 56). Both novels reflect how different communities and individuals negotiate the relationship between what Heise terms as local and global networks of economics and culture while also considering their exposure to risk scenarios. An explication of these various environmental scenarios underscore that the multiple varieties of ecosystems from the global North and the global South in their respective socio-cultural spheres are by no means holistic, utopian or harmonious in any sense, but each, on the contrary, emphasises the possibility of rapidly growing environmental risks affecting the ecology as well those inhabiting that environment. While their similarities are tied together by a thematic unity as manifestations of various environmental visions that communicate a planetary heightened environmental awareness in the contemporary society, their differences accentuate that within each of these competing discourses there exists a fundamental difference that is specific to their historical, cultural and material conditions and require attention when exploring environmentalism in a transgeographical context.
TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVIETY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH ABSTRACT Thesis Title: TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVITY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH This comparative study aims to explore how different cultures understand and represent environment and nature in their respective discourse. Four texts are selected for the study: Moth Smoke, Trespassing, White Noise and A Thousand Acres for an in-depth analysis. Examining the material and discursive areas of environmental exploitation and injustice across different regions, the selected Pakistani and American texts in this study are interpreted in a transgeographical context. It is argued, the difference in perception of environmentalism in different fictions, originate in large-scale political and economic processes that give rise to most social and environmental problems in regions that are in the global south like Pakistan. American environmentalism on the contrary, that is originally founded on deep ecology and nature conservationist paradigm, saw a fundamental shift in the late twentieth century and deviated at a mystifying pace and emerged with a new paradigm with radical environmental criticism of capitalist consumerism and ecological toxic contamination which is manifested in American novels like White Noise and A Thousand Acres. By creating a dialogue between ecocritical and postcolonial theory, the study seeks to address how the selected fictions are interweaved with human and environmental history, thus subtly alluding to ecological and cultural sensibilities and underscore a very different vision of human relationships to the environment in Pakistani and American English fiction. In doing so, the selected texts also foreground that there are significant discrepant political, historical and social features across the variety of environmentalist perspectives. These varying perceptions emphasize a sense of place as a basic prerequisite for environmental awareness. Furthermore, by paying attention to the style, linguistic and visual topographies of the selected texts this comparative study also establishes how environmental degradation manifested as pollution, chemicals toxins, contamination and unbound consumption disrupts the human – ecology, alters the environment, and complicates human and nonlife life forms. I draw upon Lawrence Buell’s notion on “Toxic Discourse” in Moth Smoke and White Noise which are examined to show how enviornmental degradation represent a toxic and fractured world due to consumption and neoliberal capitalism. On the other hand, a planetary and cosmopolitan vision is also explored by focusing on texts like Trespassing and A Thousand Acres which are significant to trace “cultural imagination from a sense of place to a less territorial and more systematic sense of planet” (Hesie 56). Both novels reflect how different communities and individuals negotiate the relationship between what Heise terms as local and global networks of economics and culture while also considering their exposure to risk scenarios. An explication of these various environmental scenarios underscore that the multiple varieties of ecosystems from the global North and the global South in their respective socio-cultural spheres are by no means holistic, utopian or harmonious in any sense, but each, on the contrary, emphasises the possibility of rapidly growing environmental risks affecting the ecology as well those inhabiting that environment. While their similarities are tied together by a thematic unity as manifestations of various environmental visions that communicate a planetary heightened environmental awareness in the contemporary society, their differences accentuate that within each of these competing discourses there exists a fundamental difference that is specific to their historical, cultural and material conditions and require attention when exploring environmentalism in a transgeographical context.
TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVIETY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH ABSTRACT Thesis Title: TRANSGEOGRAPHICAL ECOSENSITIVITY: A COMPARATIVE ECOCRITICAL STUDY OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH This comparative study aims to explore how different cultures understand and represent environment and nature in their respective discourse. Four texts are selected for the study: Moth Smoke, Trespassing, White Noise and A Thousand Acres for an in-depth analysis. Examining the material and discursive areas of environmental exploitation and injustice across different regions, the selected Pakistani and American texts in this study are interpreted in a transgeographical context. It is argued, the difference in perception of environmentalism in different fictions, originate in large-scale political and economic processes that give rise to most social and environmental problems in regions that are in the global south like Pakistan. American environmentalism on the contrary, that is originally founded on deep ecology and nature conservationist paradigm, saw a fundamental shift in the late twentieth century and deviated at a mystifying pace and emerged with a new paradigm with radical environmental criticism of capitalist consumerism and ecological toxic contamination which is manifested in American novels like White Noise and A Thousand Acres. By creating a dialogue between ecocritical and postcolonial theory, the study seeks to address how the selected fictions are interweaved with human and environmental history, thus subtly alluding to ecological and cultural sensibilities and underscore a very different vision of human relationships to the environment in Pakistani and American English fiction. In doing so, the selected texts also foreground that there are significant discrepant political, historical and social features across the variety of environmentalist perspectives. These varying perceptions emphasize a sense of place as a basic prerequisite for environmental awareness. Furthermore, by paying attention to the style, linguistic and visual topographies of the selected texts this comparative study also establishes how environmental degradation manifested as pollution, chemicals toxins, contamination and unbound consumption disrupts the human – ecology, alters the environment, and complicates human and nonlife life forms. I draw upon Lawrence Buell’s notion on “Toxic Discourse” in Moth Smoke and White Noise which are examined to show how enviornmental degradation represent a toxic and fractured world due to consumption and neoliberal capitalism. On the other hand, a planetary and cosmopolitan vision is also explored by focusing on texts like Trespassing and A Thousand Acres which are significant to trace “cultural imagination from a sense of place to a less territorial and more systematic sense of planet” (Hesie 56). Both novels reflect how different communities and individuals negotiate the relationship between what Heise terms as local and global networks of economics and culture while also considering their exposure to risk scenarios. An explication of these various environmental scenarios underscore that the multiple varieties of ecosystems from the global North and the global South in their respective socio-cultural spheres are by no means holistic, utopian or harmonious in any sense, but each, on the contrary, emphasises the possibility of rapidly growing environmental risks affecting the ecology as well those inhabiting that environment. While their similarities are tied together by a thematic unity as manifestations of various environmental visions that communicate a planetary heightened environmental awareness in the contemporary society, their differences accentuate that within each of these competing discourses there exists a fundamental difference that is specific to their historical, cultural and material conditions and require attention when exploring environmentalism in a transgeographical context.
A GENRE ANALYSIS OF PAKISTANI AND INDIAN MATRIMONIAL ADVERTISEMENTS IN ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS The research aims to examine the lexicogrammatical and prototypical features of Pakistani and Indian matrimonials in English newspapers; (i) Dawn and (ii) Hindustan Times in order to establish these matrimonial ads as a genre. The corpus of 170 matrimonial ads is taken from the selected newspapers over a period of four months, i.e. from November, 2017 to February, 2018.The theoretical model of Genre analysis proposed by V. J. Bhatia (1993) based on seven moves is adapted in this work to find out the socio-cognitive, socio-cultural, and socio-religious features. This research is qualitative in terms of exploring matrimonials with genre analytical perspective and quantitative in terms of applying AntConc software to validate the data of the corpus under investigation. The sample of this research is purposively selected from the ads of Sunday newspapers. Prototypical features of the matrimonials of both the newspapers are discussed according to third move of Bhatia’s model of genre analysis in the form of situational /contextual perspectives first. Then, linguistic structural pattern is described according to sixth step of the same model. At third level, themes are discussed according to the frequency of occurrences of theme-specific words through AntConc. In the last part of analysis of this study, overall similarities and dissimilarities are mentioned structurally, stylistically, thematically, and socio-cognitively. The communicative events are displayed in the discourse of matrimonial ads with specific kind of style, order, form or content with variation. Furthermore, various moves are identified where each move reflects discursive practices of both the societies through the organizational, structural and discoursal pattern created by the publishers and those seeking a spouse. The result shows that besides, religion, caste and sect, people of Pakistan and India prefer some other socio-cultural aspects like family, class, language, income, residence, job, age, qualification in search of suitable perfect match for prosperous life. The preferences of the masses of these two neighboring countries are more or less the same with a slight difference and that is because of their own religiously or culturally known purposes.
PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES IN SPEECHES OF PAKISTANI AND AMERICAN POLITICIANS WITH REFERENCE TO NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING Persuasive language has been an essential tool in the speeches of the politicians. They use certain persuasive techniques in order to tap into the raw emotions of their potential voters and convince them to vote for them. This study was conducted to find out the persuasive techniques in the pre-election speeches of both American and Pakistani politicians with reference to Neuro-linguistic Programming.For the purpose of this study, the researcher selected pre-election speeches of both American and Pakistani politicians from the important constituencies from election’s point of view. Pre-election speeches were selected for analysis because it is believed that in pre-election speeches, the politicians use persuasive techniques more frequently than in their general speeches. In pre-election speeches the politicians try their best to persuade the audiences, change their views and get votes from the audiences The researcher utilized Milton Erickson’s hypnotic model in order to find out the persuasive techniques in the speeches. This study is unique because no one has ever applied Milton Erickson’s model of hypnotic language on speeches in order to find out persuasive elements in the speeches of the politicians. The results of the current study showed that almost all of the political leaders, whether they are American or Pakistani did use persuasive language in their speeches. Furthermore, the results showed that Pakistani politicians utilized more NLP techniques in their speeches in order to persuade the voters to vote for them. Finally, the research suggested that there is a need to analysis the political speeches with respect to NLP as no commendable work has been done in this aspect. Moreover, the researchers can also take help from this research in applying Milton’s hypnotic model to the political speeches.
ANALYSIS OF CHINOY’S DOCUMENTARY SUBTITLES BASED ON GOTTLIEB’S SUBTITLING STRATEGIES This research focuses on the strategies of subtitling used by the translators of four documentaries produced by Ms. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. This research also examines the appropriateness of the subtitles of these documentaries. The purpose of the research is to examine the application of the subtitling strategies defined by Henrik Gottlieb (1992) and to check the appropriateness of the subtitles of the documentaries. The sources of the data are the subtitles of four selected documentaries produced by Ms. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy which are: Hou Yaqeen, Humaira: The Game Changer, If You Believe and Saving Face. The findings of the research illustrate that in total there are 759 subtitling frames and in these frames total number of strategies identified are 1121. The researcher finds that almost all the ten strategies laid down by Henrik Gottlieb are found in the documentaries. The frequency of use and the percentage of each strategy are: (1)Paraphrase 395 times [35%], (2)Imitation 197 times [18%], (3)Transfer 123 times [11%], (4)Transcription 93 times [8%], (5)Condensation 78 times [7%], (6)Expansion 64 times [6%], (7)Decimation 60 times [5%], (8)Dislocation 56 times [5%], (9)Deletion 32 times [3%] and (10)Resignation 23 times [2%]. Three benchmarks have been set by the researcher to assess the translation of the documentary subtitles and they are: Appropriate, Less Appropriate and Inappropriate, subtitles on the base of the use of strategies. The percentage of Appropriate subtitles is 69%, the percentage of Less Appropriate subtitles is17%, and the percentage of Inappropriate subtitles is14%. Key words: Documentary, strategies, subtitling, appropriateness, Henrik Gottlieb, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.
FROM HOMELAND TO HOPELAND”: A DIASPORIC MARXIST PERSPECTIVE ON KHALED HOSSEINI’S THE KITE RUNNER AND AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED This research examines Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and And The Mountains Echoed by employing Georg Lukacs’ concept of “transcendental homelessness.” Moreover, I have employed Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of “ambivalence” as a minor lens to trace the association of immigrants with their host nations as represented in the selected novels. Most of the characters in the selected texts have to go through hardships and are forced to leave their homes and hearths. They migrate to the countries where they find solace and can find better prospects of life. While searching for a better life, these characters become indifferent to their homeland and forget the blood relations and affiliations that were associated with it. The western metropolitan cities have become dream destinations of most of the people in the global south who look towards the “Center” for fulfillment of their needs. This research discusses the socio-economic issues related to the migrants. It also talks about the contemporary diaspora writers and the trend in their inclinations towards western lands. Since this research is qualitative in nature, I have taken textual analysis as a tool to read my primary texts.
“Cosmopolitanism and Cultural Assimilation: A Study of Postmodern Fluid’ Self’ in South Asian Fiction” ABSTRACT Thesis Title: Cosmopolitanism and Cultural Assimilation: A Study of Postmodern Fluid ‘Self’ in South Asian Fiction. The prime rationale of the present dissertation is to scrutinize the notion of cosmopolitanism and cultural assimilation, and the postmodern fluidity in selected South Asian novels. This research employs the theoretical framework propounded by Kwame Anthony Appiah to evaluate the contribution and representation of literary globalization in the making of ‘universal citizen’ whose cultural and geographical border crossing results into the formation of post-modern fluid identities. Textual Analysis of South Asian – Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi – Diaspora writers like Jhumpha Lahiri, Bharati Mukherjee, Zulfikar Ghose, Kamila Shamsie, and Monica Ali prove that border crossing of the immigrants constitute fluid identities and promote the idea of coexistence. They form a shared human community through assimilation and global citizenship. It may be edifying and handy for common people to extend a bond based on reciprocity and harmony as members of the same universal community. These novelists express the idea of home as a psychological phenomenon rather than related to specific geography or nationality. Moreover, these South-Asian writers promulgate the precept of cultural celebration, solidarity, and coexistence with other cultures in the form of assimilation as fellow citizens. This study will contribute to critical understanding of South Asian literature and will pave way for further research in English Literature, Anthropology, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, and Human Development.
“Dialectical Materialism and Discourse: A Comparative Study of Aravind Adiga and Claude Brown” ABSTRACT Thesis Title: Dialectical Materialism and Discourse: A Comparative Study of Aravind Adiga and Claude Brown This research analyses the selected texts of Aravind Adiga and Claude Brown to investigate the Marxian social dialectic as reflected linguistically. The study explores the socioeconomic power at work behind the discourse of the dominant social class and the way this power is used for hegemonic practices. It ascertains the cognitively manipulative role of the socially established identities, as constituted by caste and race, in establishing and maintaining the socioeconomic supremacy of the powerful. It investigates the discursive reaction of the dominated individuals to the socioeconomic monopoly of their exploiters and the way this reaction results in the material progress of the former. This qualitative content analysis establishes its ontological premise on Marx’s dialectical materialism and van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach. The study uses van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach as model as well. It selects two different writers, who, through their distinct linguistic choices, represent two different societies with different cultural conditions and different eras, to investigate whether Marx’s concept of social dialectic which involves an endless historical process of the oscillation of the socioeconomic power between the two social classes is linguistically valid. The analysis reflects that the discourse strategies of the powerful social group determine and are also determined by the hegemonic practices of this group for its material interests. It reveals that the semantic features as used in discourse by the powerful class manipulate the dominated cognitively through the socially constituted ideologies. It also shows the realization by the dominated about their manipulation and their subsequent resistance through the same discourse strategies, which results in their socioeconomic amelioration. The study compares the two authors of two different societies and eras and finds that caste as a social identity in the South Asian Indian society is more susceptible to discursive manipulation as compared with race in the African American society and also that the South Asian Indian society offers greater scope discursively for the socioeconomic improvement to the dominated individuals. The study also concludes that Marx’s proposition about the endless historical process of the socioeconomic competition, which causes the oscillation of power between the two social classes, is linguistically effective.
“Environmentalism and Native American Writers: An Eco-critical Study” ABSTRACT Title: Environmentalism and Native American Writers: An Eco-critical Study In the Native Americans’ worldview, nature holds a special place; for this reason, in our contemporary concerns about environment and its degradation, the Native American literature has been attracting specific critical attention. They not only identify themselves with nature but also have a life sharing bond of interdependence with it. The European colonisation displaced the Native Americans from their homeland. Their natural resources have been mercilessly exploited since then; resulting into fatal diseases and poverty. Hence, environmental degradation continues to marginalise the Native Americans perpetually. Compelled by abject poverty, they have been left with no options but to sell their native land and animals. They have been enduring great pain due to the loss of nature; even have lost their very identity. This research work is the analysis of Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead, Ceremony and N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn and The Ancient Child. The novels depict the distinguished features of the Native American’s cultural and spiritual vision rooted in nature. The destructive activities of the European colonisers wreaked havoc in the Native Americans’ life by separating them from their beloved environment. This not only made them impoverished but also destroyed their mental peace. Keeping these issues in view, Silko and Momaday offer a depiction, in their works, of the importance of restoring the Native Americans’ lost identity by challenging the Euro-Americans’ relegation of nature and the Native Americans to a lower stratum to be destroyed and dominated. Finally, the present research reveals that nature is an integral part of the Native Americans’ lives and destruction of it is detrimental to their very existence. The research findings indicate that the selected texts neutralise the Euro-Americans’ misrepresentation of the Native Americans’ intimacy with nature and expose the European devastating activities for colonising purpose under the guise of development and civilisation.
Commodifying “Islamic Feminism”: An Investigation into the Cultural Production of Muslim Women Life Writers in Euro-American Locations This research intends to investigate how the Muslim women writers living in Western metropolitan centers inscribe the othering of Muslim women to get financial stability in the West and establish their reputation as Islamic Feminists. In doing so, they seem to be writing in line with the concept of “Islamic feminism” which, I argue, has become a highly commodifiable and, thus, a questionable category in contemporary times. This research argues that representation of the Muslim women, especially in post 9/11 times, has become a highly consumable and marketable phenomenon, and most of them championing the cause of Muslim women in the name of Islamic feminism, write with their careerist concerns. That is why, because of their assimilationist mindset, they act as comprador intellectuals. The works I have selected for this research are Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni, Love in a Headscarf by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed and Standing Alone in Mecca: A Pilgrimage in to the Heart of Islam by Asra Q. Nomani. In order to prove my argument, I am using two theoretical lenses i.e. Amina Wadud’s idea of Islamic Feminism, Graham Huggan’s concept of “marketing the margins,” and Kwame Anthony Appiah’s notion of “comprador intelligentsia.” I will invoke these theoretical positions to investigate if “Islamic feminism” is really an independent / autonomous category or it is complicitous with Western feminism to promote its agenda. The research is going to be investigative and qualitative in nature and, because of its interpretive and exploratory design, textual analysis will be used as research method.
LANGUAGE PRODUCTION AND COMPREHENSION IN VERBALLY ABUSED AND NON-ABUSED CHILDREN: A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC COMPARISON There are different types of child abuse, such as physical, emotional, psychological, and verbal. Verbal abuse is the type of child abuse that is considered as the least significant or minor abuse. However, in reality, it not only affects the behavioral development of children, but may also leave permanent impression on their cognitive processes of language comprehension and production. The current study aimed at finding out the differences in the language production and comprehension of verbally abused and non-verbally abused children. The study applied ‘an integrated theory of language production and comprehension’ by Pickering and Garrod (2013) as theoretical framework and collected quantitative and qualitative data with the help of three tests, viz. Conflict Tactic Scale by Straus (1996), Picture Description and Word Association Tests. The analysis of the data revealed that verbally abused children used abusive language more often as they were more inclined towards choosing negatively associated linguistic choices as compared to non-verbally abused children, who used abusive language less often and they were less inclined towards choosing negatively associated linguistic choices.