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| Title | Abstract | Action(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Invisible Discrimination as Manifestation of Symbolic Capital: A Marxist analysis of the selected South Asian fiction | Title: Invisible Discrimination as Manifestation of Symbolic Capital: A Marxist Analysis of the Selected South Asian Fiction This thesis conducts a Marxist analysis of the novels "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" by Arundhati Roy, and "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia" by Mohsin Hamid, focusing on invisible discrimination as a manifestation of symbolic capital. Drawing on theories of recognition, symbolic capital, and violence, the research aims to uncover the role of recognition of symbolic capital in perpetuating invisible discrimination and how it is utilized to elevate social class status. By examining the characters and their experiences within these novels, the study explores the dynamics of power, privilege, and marginalization. It investigates how dominant social groups establish and maintain hierarchies that devalue minority languages, cultures, and identities, leading to the internalization of shame and pressure to assimilate into the dominant group. The analysis employs a Marxist lens to reveal the mechanisms through which symbolic capital is employed to uphold class distinctions. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding invisible discrimination and emphasize the importance of challenging and dismantling the symbolic capital that perpetuates inequality and oppression. The research underscores the need for recognition of marginalized voices and advocates for the pursuit of social justice and equality within contemporary societies |
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| Extropianism, Human Cloning and the Ethical Question: A Transhumanist Critique of the Contemporary Science Fiction | Title: Extropianism, Human Cloning and the Ethical Question: A Transhumanist Critique of the Contemporary Science Fiction This research study has attempted to explore transhumanist, ethical, and societal concerns raised by human cloning in the novels; The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna and Constance by Matthew Fitzsimmons. I have applied Max More’s extropian principles and Leon Kass’ ethical theory as a lens to analyze the selected texts. The research method used for the analysis of selected texts is the textual analysis by Catherine Belsey. In 1997, with the birth of Dolly, the first cloned sheep came the inception of debate on the topic of cloning. Extropianism sees human cloning as a progressive step in improving the human condition, but this raises numerous ethical concerns that clash with their ideas and notions. Science fiction has produced numerous works based on human cloning which address both sides of the argument concerning the promotion and negation of human cloning. This study identifies several ethical and societal concerns raised by human cloning in the selected texts; man is playing at being God by trying to make replicas of human beings, no matter how much advancement science and technology make in cloning technology man can never make an exact replacement of a human being either dead or alive, several acceptance and identity issue arise that prove to be very disturbing for both humans and clones. This research inspires future researchers to address the serious threats related to ethical and moral issues posed by human cloning. This study will benefit and help future researchers as a stimulus in transhuman studies. |
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| Depiction of Afghan Peace Process through semantic prosody: A corpus-based critical study of print media discourse | Title: Depiction of Afghan Peace Process through Semantic Prosody: A Corpus-Based Critical Study of Print Media Discourse After over 20 years of an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the Taliban from Afghanistan, the US administration was finally ready to sign a peace treaty with them on February 9, 2020. The linguistic portrayal of this historical event has received massive coverage in print media worldwide concerning their national interests and their engagement with the Afghan peace process. The current study is conducted to linguistically investigate the Afghan peace process covered in English newspapers by combining two methodological perspectives; corpus linguistics (CL) and critical discourse analysis (CDA). This study identified the construction of the Afghan peace process in the corpora compiled from the six selected English newspapers, such as The Dawn, The Express Tribune, The Afghanistan Times, The Kabul Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, published from February 29, 2020, to August 31, 2021, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the USA respectively. The researcher selected only two text categories from the selected newspapers, including opinion articles and editorials. Moreover, the researcher employed three corpus tools, i.e., keyword lists, collocation, and concordance, through the lexical software AntConc 4.2.0 to achieve the objectives of the study. Furthermore, the linguistic patterns in concordance lines in each corpus were examined using Stubbs' (1996) model of discourse prosody to examine the viewpoint of each newspaper. The findings of this study reveal that the newspapers of the selected countries depicted the same issue differently based on their interests and liabilities. More specifically, the same discourse patterns have been portrayed differently (negatively or positively) by each country's media. This study emphasises the need to investigate the language and discursive practices used in media discourse to extract public opinion on a certain political issue |
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| Invisible Discrimination as Manifestation of Symbolic Capital: A Marxist analysis of the selected South Asian fiction | Title: Invisible Discrimination as Manifestation of Symbolic Capital: A Marxist Analysis of the Selected South Asian Fiction This thesis conducts a Marxist analysis of the novels "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" by Arundhati Roy, and "How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia" by Mohsin Hamid, focusing on invisible discrimination as a manifestation of symbolic capital. Drawing on theories of recognition, symbolic capital, and violence, the research aims to uncover the role of recognition of symbolic capital in perpetuating invisible discrimination and how it is utilized to elevate social class status. By examining the characters and their experiences within these novels, the study explores the dynamics of power, privilege, and marginalization. It investigates how dominant social groups establish and maintain hierarchies that devalue minority languages, cultures, and identities, leading to the internalization of shame and pressure to assimilate into the dominant group. The analysis employs a Marxist lens to reveal the mechanisms through which symbolic capital is employed to uphold class distinctions. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding invisible discrimination and emphasize the importance of challenging and dismantling the symbolic capital that perpetuates inequality and oppression. The research underscores the need for recognition of marginalized voices and advocates for the pursuit of social justice and equality within contemporary societies. |
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| Representation of Kumara’s murder in Pakistan and Srilankan English newspaper: A Transitivity analysis | Title: Representation of Mob Violence in Pakistani and Sri Lankan Newspapers: A Transitivity Analysis Transitivity analysis is a linguistic framework that focuses on analyzing the ways in which participants, actions, and circumstances are represented in discourse to get the hidden meaning out of the text. It is a central concept in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), a theory developed by Halliday that the meticulous examination of transitivity patterns within textual or discursive contexts has yielded scholarly insights into the intricate processes of meaning construction, elucidating the nuanced utilization of language to articulate precise messages or convey distinct ideological tenets. However, little focus was given to Priyantha Kumara's murder using Transitivity Analysis. Therefore, this study investigates the transitivity patterns employed in Pakistani and Sri Lankan English newspaper editorials to represent mob violence with reference to lynching of Priyantha Kumara (A Sri Lankan citizen). Eight newspapers were selected; among them, four were the newspapers of Pakistan titled The DAWN, International the News, Daily Times and The Dayspring, and the rest of the four were Sri-Lankan newspapers with the title: Colombo Telegraph, Daily Newspaper, Daily Mirror Online and The Island Online. Drawing on Halliday's model of transitivity patterns, the study employs mixed method approach to identify similarities and differences in the editorials and explore how these patterns construct underlying realities regarding mob violence with reference to lynching of Priyantha Kumara. A total of ninety-six (96) clauses were analyzed, forty-eight (48) from each country's newspaper, with mental and relational processes emerging as the most prominent. These patterns conveyed condemnation, disgust, and the demand for justice while highlighting themes of religious extremism, false allegations of blasphemy, crimes against humanity, discrimination, and misunderstandings while demanding justice for the extra-judicial killing of Kumara. The research contributes to understanding the linguistic strategies used in constructing public narratives and provides valuable insights into the representation of significant events in newspaper editorials. |
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| Narrative Identity and the Rhetoric of Self Change: A comparative Analysis of Selected Memories | Title: Narrative Identity and the Rhetoric of Self-Change: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Memoirs This research study seeks to investigate two selected memoirs, i.e., Becoming (2018) and My Feudal Lord (1995), by Michelle Obama and Tehmina Durrani, respectively. The theoretical underpinnings of narrative identity, through the qualitative mode of inquiry, are applied speculative lenses to unmask the problems faced by women while constructing their self-identity under the patriarchal constraints of conservative as well as black American societies. Moreover, the study focuses on cultural and social norms, patriarchy, religion, class, feudalism, and racism. These established standards are the root cause of women’s oppression, stereotypical discrimination, sociopolitical and economic exploitation, and intersectional subjugation across the globe. Consequently, building an identity in a patriarchal environment is seen as an uphill task for women. In this regard, the personality psychologists illustrate that the self-narrative helps to reconstruct one’s own identity as the narrators (autobiographers) derive redemptive meanings out of adversity, affliction, and calamities in their lives. They, consequently, tend to exhibit a higher level of psychological maturity, generativity, and well-being. Substantially, in the 1980s this idea of narrative identity was coined by Paul Ricoeur, a French philosopher. It is generally an integrative psychological concept that bridges cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, and the humanities in the form of literary narrative. Narrative identity, however, has been further modified by Dan P. McAdams and Kat C. McLean, in 2013. They have modified the critique under seven coding constructs, i.e., agency, communication, redemption, contamination, meaning making, ENP (Exploratory Narrative Processing), and CPR (Coherent Positive Resolution). The study foregrounds the redemptive nature of the selected autobiographers and their contaminations through the politics of memory in the selected memoirs under the lenses of these seven codes of identity construction, Furthermore, the feminist theoretical analysis of the study is based on Intersectionality, a concept introduced in 1989 by Kimberley Crenshaw. |
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| An Investigation of Metadiscourse Markers in Medical research Articles on Covid-19: A corpus-Based Study | Title: An Exploration of Metadiscourse Markers in Medical Research Articles on Covid-19: A Corpus-Based Study The term "metadiscourse" describes the language strategies and components used in a text that direct the reader's comprehension of the subject content besides demonstrating the author's attitude, engagement and organization. This dissertation focuses on the Metadiscourse Markers used by the authors in hundred Covid-19 articles published in the well-known medical research journals. It is a Corpus-based study and uses Antconc Software to analyze the frequencies of metadiscourse markers and the concordance feature is being used in order to highlight the intended meanings. This research is based on Hyland Model of Metadiscourse Markers (2005) which is used to explore the two broad categories of Metadiscourse Markers i.e., Interactive and Interactional Markers and their sub-categories. This is an attempt to comprehend the language and discourse of the Covid articles, with roots in Hyland's Metadiscourse model. The research reveals that authors of the medical research journals prefer interactive markers in their writings. Within the subcategories, transitions (frequency; 18,483) are the most preferred and engagement markers (frequency; 26) are the least preferred metadiscourse markers. This research reveals how the language used by the authors in medical research journals conveys their intentions and how language is a bridge between the reader and the author. In order to effectively transmit meaning and engage readers, medical research journal authors focus more on creating logical links within the text. Additionally, these markers aid authors in appropriately conveying their viewpoints, beliefs, and ideas. The analysis of the concordance lines reveal that authors use metadiscourse markers to structure and organize the text, simplify the content, highlight essential points, link ideas, interact with readers and express the degree of certainty and ambiguity in the medical research journals. |
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| Orienting Green Discourse: A Corpus-Based Ecolinguistic Study of Economic Discourse on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) | Orienting Green Discourse: A Corpus-based Ecolinguistic Study of Economic Discourse on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) This research explores the economic discourse produced around China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by analyzing a corpus of 1.2 million words to find cognitive structures and linguistic patterns representing socioeconomic and ecological/environmental areas in the discourse of CPEC. In addition, this research also determines how identified linguistic patterns and cognitive structures develop six stories by following Stibbe’s (2015) story framework of eco-critical discourse perspective and Sen’s (1999) sustainable development approach. The data for this research is taken from the official website of CPEC, and the unofficial data comprising Pakistani and Chinese English newspapers (2016-2020) from online e-paper websites. The theoretical framework of this research includes theories from cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis. The corpus analysis provided frequencies and statistical significance scores to find frames, metaphors, salience, appraisal, and facticity patterns that helped discover the type of discourse/ideologies. Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provided a word list for corpus analysis. The findings indicate that the representation of socioeconomic areas (5719 hits) and (CPEC-socioeconomic collocation =7.59442 MI score) in CPEC discourse is found to be more frequent as compared to the eco-environmental (1807) hits and (CPEC-ecoenvironmental collocation= 2.64534 MI score) representation in the CPEC discourse. The story of frames is developed through 55 socioeconomic frames (22 problem or extrinsic frames, 34 predicament or intrinsic frames) and 66 eco-environmental frames (40 problem or extrinsic frames, 26 predicament or intrinsic frames). The story of conceptual metaphors is developed through 12 metaphors for CPEC, 11 for socioeconomic, and 4 for ecoenvironmental areas of Pakistan. Some examples include: Nature is a resource, CPEC is a human being, poverty is a war, and Pakistan’s environment is a patient. The story of salience is employed in CPEC discourse with the help of verbs of focus, vitality, and vi significance such as explore, implement, accelerate, and promote. The most salient verb is ‘promote’, with salience stats 7.36823. Similarly, CPEC has been appraised well for bringing socioeconomic uplift to Pakistan using 51 positive appraisal items, primarily adjectives. In comparison, it has been appraised as bad for the environmental health of Pakistan by using 18 negative appraisal items. Facticity or conviction patterns have been employed using expert authorities’ opinions, such as environmentalists, economists, ministers, and field experts. Moreover, modal verbs such as: will are used most frequently with eight areas, and hedging words like believe/s and think/s, are also used in the collocation ‘environmentalists-believe’ (11.23230) and policy makers -- think (7.49041) to validate descriptions of socioeconomic and eco-environmental areas of CPEC discourse. The CPEC discourse is ambivalent due to the combination of 5 areas with anthropocentric ideologies and four areas with ecocentric ideologies. The Ecosophy of the CPEC discourse starts with anthropocentric ideologies and ends with ecocentric ones. |
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| The Portability of Memory: A Psycho-spatial Analysis of Selected South Asian Dystopian Fiction | Title: The portability of memory: A Psycho-Spatial analysis of selected South Asian Dystopian fiction In this study, I attempt to look into the psycho-spatial orientation of the bystanders theorized as the implicated subject, as a site for the embodiment of their secondary experiences in the form of memory. The memory of the implicated subjects in the selected texts is analyzed in conjunction with prosthetic memory to investigate their role in enabling the oppressive structures that they inhabit in speculative settings. The thesis employs the psycho-spatial lens as a theoretical-methodological tool to reveal the socio-political ramifications of the memories carried into the future by the implicated subjects. The research attempts to contribute to the theoretical debates pertaining to the socio-political strategizing of memory, implicated subject and the spatialization of technological and cultural conundrums in the regions of India and Pakistan. The aim of the research is to examine the role of memory in constructing individual and collective identities within speculative settings, as portrayed in the novels "Midnight Doorways" by Usman T Malik, "Chosen Spirits" by Samit Basu, and "Leila" by Prayag Akbar. The study delves into the ramifications of socio- political conflict and technological evolution in these speculative settings, focusing on the interplay of psycho-spatiality. It investigates how the psycho-spatial orientation of characters and their memories in the selected novels offer a profound commentary on socio-political conundrums. It also explores the indirect responsibility of the protagonists in transmitting socio-political oppressive structures through the framework of the implicated subject. The findings of the textual analysis of the given texts shed light on the transformative impact of individuals in the construction and reimagining of the dystopian societies. |
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| Linguistic Postioning of the Kashmir Issue in pakistani, Idian, and American Media Discourse: A corpus assisted Critical Discourse Analysis | Title: Linguistic Positioning of the Kashmir Issue in Pakistani, Indian, and American Media Discourse: A Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis Since both India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947, the Kashmir issue has been at the centre of a territorial dispute between the two nations. This study intends to investigate how the print media has projected the Kashmir issue as it has been portrayed in editorials and articles. For this purpose, the corpus-based approach is used to analyse editorials and articles from Pakistani, Indian, and American newspapers from August 5, 2019, to December 31, 2021. The research compares how the Kashmir issue is presented in the three nations' newspapers by closely examining lexical items. Thus, three corpora totaling 169,680 words are created based on newspaper editorials and articles in three countries. The newspaper editorials and articles are from renowned Pakistani, Indian and American press outlets. The Baker (2008) model of concordance analysis of lexical items and the Critical Discourse Analysis methodology proposed by van Dijk (2004) serve as the theoretical framework for the study. A software tool like Antconc is used to analyse the data. According to the results, Pakistani data was more frequent than the American and Indian data. The findings reveal that three countries' publications presented Kashmir as their property and used various lexical items depending on national interests. The three principles of Van Dijk (2004) are described by the three corpora in different perspectives, i.e., social power abuse, domination and inequality. Pakistani media blame India for social power abuse, domination and unequal treatment of Kashmiris, while Indian media blame Pakistan for all these. America, the neutral, somehow balances the situation but fails to solve the issue according to UN security resolutions. Additionally, the results demonstrated that the keyword 'Kashmir' has the highest frequency in all corpora. In order to obtain a more thorough outcome, articles 370 and 35A should be quantitatively investigated in the valley of Kashmir to get a more accurate perception of the Kashmiris. |
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| The Body and the Witnessing: A Corporeal reading of the selected Covid-19 Pandemic literature | Title: The Body and the Witnessing: A Corporeal Reading of Female Precarity in the Selected COVID-19 Pandemic Literature This research examines female precarity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sarah Moss's The Fell (2021) and Sarah Hall's Burntcoat (2021). The study goes beyond the physiological implications of the COVID-19 pandemic to include a capitalistic and psychological analysis of The Fell and Burntcoat respectively. Judith Butler's concept of precarity, along with Jose Medina and Tempest Henning's concept of bodily testimony is employed to explore different forms of precarity faced by women during the pandemic. More than its economic inferences, the focus is specifically on the sociological aspect of capitalistic and psychological implications of COVID-19 on women. By focusing on the body as the main point of study and studying its role in tandem with the pandemic, the study investigates various forms of female precarity in the selected texts and the role of the body as a witness to the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, the study delves into how the protagonists' individual bodily testimonies in the novels contribute to formulating a broader understanding of the collective bodily testimony related to the COVID-19 crisis. This research is an important addition to the scholarship related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the burgeoning field of medical humanities. It also gives a new dimension to the concept of precarity, previously limited to neoliberalism, by studying it in relation to a medical phenomenon. This research may help in understanding the pandemic beyond its physiology and prepare people to combat such crises in the future |
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| Emplotment in Covid-19 News Reports of print media: A Narratological Study | This research aimed to investigate the narrativity feature in print media news reports by analyzing their emplotment structure. Although newspapers have received considerable attention in research, there has been a lack of detailed study on the narratological analysis of news reports using the approach employed in this study. Conducting such research is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the structure of news reports. To achieve this objective, the researchers selected widely circulated Pakistani newspapers, namely DAWN, THE NEWS, and THE NATION, as the primary source of textual data.The analysis focused on identifying emplotment by examining the textual constructions of temporal markers and tense in media narratives. Through qualitative textual analysis, the researchers identified patterns of emplotment based on the event structures found in these reports. The theoretical foundation of the analysis drew from the work of linguists William F. Brewer, Edward H. Lichtenstein, and Genette. Following the proposed model, the analysis constructed an event structure that revealed the emplotment structure and the presence of narrativity features in the news reports. The findings highlighted the contribution of discourse patterns, particularly tense and temporal markers, to the emplotment of the news reports. These structural arrangements, expressed through temporal markers and tense, played a significant role in ensuring continuity and coherence in the text. Based on these findings, several recommendations are proposed. First, there is a need to enhance awareness among journalists and news organizations about the narrativity feature in news reports. This awareness will help them understand the importance of the emplotment structure and its impact on the overall narrative quality of news articles. Second, organizing training programs and workshops for journalists to develop their narrative construction skills and effectively utilize temporal markers can improve the coherence and flow of news reports, thereby enhancing their readability and impact. Third, it is crucial to encourage further research in the field of narratology and news reporting, specifically focusing on exploring different aspects of narrativity and emplotment. This additional research will contribute to a deeper understanding of the vi narrative structures in news reports and their influence on readers. Lastly, developing editorial guidelines that emphasize the significance of temporal markers and tense in constructing news narratives is recommended. These guidelines should highlight the necessity of maintaining consistency and clarity in temporal references throughout news articles. By implementing these recommendations, news organizations can enhance the narrative quality of their reports and improve reader engagement and understanding |
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| Tweet on Racal and Religious Anti-Discrimination: A Discursive analysis of Social Media Hashtags | Title: Tweets on Racial and Religious Anti-Discrimination: A Discursive Analysis of Social Media Hashtags This qualitative study employs Van Dijk's framework of discourse analysis to examine the nuances of online anti-discriminatory discourse within the context of religious and racial anti-discrimination. Focusing on the dynamic and powerful platform of Twitter, the study investigates the discursive strategies and linguistic patterns employed in 24 carefully selected tweets. Specifically, the research delves into the discourse generated under two prominent hashtags: #BlackLivesMatter and #MuslimLivesMatter. The study is grounded in the understanding that online platforms serve as arenas where individuals and groups engage in discursive practices that reflect, shape, and contest prevailing ideologies, power dynamics, and socio-political contexts. Van Dijk's framework provides a systematic and multidisciplinary lens to analyze how language is harnessed to construct meaning, reinforce social hierarchies, and challenge discriminatory narratives. Through a meticulous selection process, 12 tweets from each of the hashtags are chosen, allowing for an in-depth analysis of discourse variation across these distinct anti-discriminatory movements. By focusing on these hashtags, the research highlights the experiences of marginalized communities within the broader narrative of anti-discrimination activism. Findings from the study reveal how discursive strategies are strategically employed to counter dominant narratives and create counter-narratives that challenge established power structures. Additionally, the research uncovers linguistic cues that convey solidarity, empathy, and alliance building among online communities engaging with the hashtags. The implications of this study extend to both theoretical and practical domains. The application of Van Dijk's framework enriches our understanding of how language contributes to shaping social change, as well as the interconnectedness between online and offline discursive practices. Moreover, insights drawn from the analysis offer avenues for developing effective communication strategies to counter discrimination and promote inclusivity within digital spaces. |
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| The Postmodern Museum and the Interdependence of Memory and Representation in Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence and Selected Photographs of Ara Guler | Title: The Postmodern Museum and the Interdependence of Memory and Representation in Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence and Selected Photographs of Ara Güler This thesis analyzes both literary and visual narratives including Pamuk’s novel The Museum of Innocence (2008), his physical museum, The Museum of Innocence, and selected photographs of Ara Güler in order to identify the interdependence of memory and representation. This study examines how the selected objects of study portray the fragmented nature of memories. It also analyzes how both the artists i.e. Güler and Pamuk have preserved the memories of Istanbul in their works. Apart from memory and its representation this thesis also examines the shift in the role of museums in the postmodern world by taking the example of Pamuk’s museum, The Museum of Innocence. This study is grounded in the theoretical concepts of two literary and cultural theorists namely Andreas Huyssen and Meike Bal. The method used for the analysis of the novel is textual analysis whereas, for the interpretation of the visual narratives i.e. photographs and the museum, this thesis has made a methodological intervention by triangulating Lacan’s notion of the Gaze with Huyssen, Bal, and Pamuk’s theorization of museums. This research concludes that both the novel and the photos as a medium of re-presentation reconceptualize memory through the artists’ subjective intervention which leads to the fragmented portrayal of the memory. It also identifies that this reconceptualization ultimately preserves memory. Furthermore, it also reveals that in the postmodern age museums, on the one hand, have become sites of cultural authority and on the other hand, play a pivotal role in enhancing consumerism through the commodification of art. |
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