Browsing by Author "Saini, Alpna"

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    The Alienation and Manipulation of Geisha in Cultural Structures of Japan with Special Reference to Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha
    (The Criterion: An International Journal in English, 2017) Thakur, Smiriti; Saini, Alpna
    Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha is an account of Geisha's life; a life of struggle, and surrounded by various artistic practices where Geisha have no time for themselves. Their life seems glamorous and exciting to the outside world, however, in reality, it is pathetic and an isolated one. The aim of this paper is to focus on the origin of Geisha tradition, which is considered as a cultural heritage of Japan. Simultaneously, the paper throws light on various issues such as the role of tradition, culture, history, economy, and prostitution which contribute to the marginalisation of Geisha in personal as well as social arenas. The paper also deals with the reasons which blur the distinction between Geisha tradition and prostitution. To facilitate the interpretation of Geisha tradition, cultural construction of gender roles has been taken into account
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    Analytical study of the social structure of BAGRI society
    (Innovation Science Academy, 2018) Sen, R.K; Saini, Alpna
    The social structure of a society is based on its geographic and economic structures. Bagri society is expanded to the border districts of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. Bagri people are spread from SriGanganagar and Hanumangarh districts to some parts of Bikaner and Churu districts in Rajasthan; Sirsa and Fatehabad districts to some places in Hisar district of Haryana; and some parts of Fazilka, Muktsar, and Firozpur to some rural areas of Bathinda district of Punjab. The fundamental basis of Bagri community‟s identity is their Bagri dialect. This dialect of Arya origin is actually a dialect of Marwari enriched with words from Haryanavi and Punjabi languages. The influence of Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana‟s structures and organisations can be perceived on the social structure of Bagri society. This research paper is an attempt to understand vivid/various levels of Bagri community‟s social structure.
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    Blood Flowers: Selected Poetry of Harbhajan Hundal
    (South Asian Ensemble Inc., 2015) Sharma, Rajesh; Saini, Alpna
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    Bloodless Violence
    (2011) Saini, Alpna
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    Book Review of Seven Plays on Sikh History
    (2011) Saini, Alpna
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    The Construction of the Mythical Subject in PostColonial Context: A Study of Select Indian Plays
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Chandel, Priyanka; Saini, Alpna
    The dramatic foundations of postcolonial Indian dramatists are based on the assimilation of colonial dramaturgical practices into the native dramaturgical traditions which have created a new hybrid space. Earlier the native cultural narratives were used to propagate the hegemonic dominance, but now they have been decentered in such a way that they have paved a way to a unique construction of postcolonial subjectivity. The postcolonial writers translate the native myths and incorporate them in the texts through hybridised language and an entirely new perspective and hence, shift the marginalised colonial subjectivities with the unique postcolonial hybrid subjectivities. The postcolonial playwrights incorporate themes such as the existential interrogations and encounters of postcolonial human, fragmentation, hybridity, disillusionment, isolation, the quest for identity, gender issues, philosophical dualism, and construction of subjectivity. The introduction of pre-colonial past in the forms of aboriginal presentation like rituals, myths, folktales, history, music, songs, dance, local settings, and oral style of storytelling, prove to be effective strategies in restructuring the leading practices of western dramaturgy. They have also assimilated in their works the traditions of some of the famous proponents of modern theatres, such as Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, and Jerzy Growtowski, etc. The translation of the native texts is also used as a technique to construct a new postcolonial subjectivity and the language used for the translation of native texts is an exclusive new form of nativised language, which is neither a western mimetic form nor a completely native one, but an amalgam of both. Thus, the iv postcolonial playwrights have neither applauded nor judged the native myths, but they have explored the consequences of unyielding codes imposed by culture. Thus, an original, hybrid postcolonial subjectivity, based on the interplay of gender, myth, language, and culture emerges through an exploration of the selected texts.
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    Critical Discourse in Punjabi
    (Taylor and Francis, 2023-08-29T00:00:00) Nayar, Rana; Saini, Alpna; Bansal, Tania
    This volume forms a part of the Critical Discourses in South Asia series which deals with schools, movements and discursive practices in major South Asian languages. It offers crucial insights into the making of the Punjabi language and literature, and its critical tradition across a century. The book brings together English translation of major writings of influential figures dealing with literary criticism and theory, aesthetic and performative traditions and re-interpretations of primary concepts and categories in Punjabi. It presents 30 key texts in literary and cultural studies from Punjab from the beginning of development of Punjabi language to its present form, with most of them translated for the first time into English. These seminal essays cover interconnections with socio-historical events in the medieval, colonial and post-independence period in Punjab. They discuss themes such as spiritual and aesthetic visions, poetic and literary forms, modernism, progressivism, feminism, Dalit literature, power structures and social struggles, ideological values, cultural renovations and humanism. Comprehensive and authoritative, this volume offers an overview of the history of critical thought in Punjabi literature in South Asia. It will be essential for scholars and researchers of Punjabi language and literature, literary criticism, literary theory, comparative literature, Indian literature, cultural studies, art and aesthetics, performance studies, history, sociology, regional studies and South Asian studies. It will also interest the Punjabi-speaking diaspora and those working on the intellectual history of Punjab and conservation of languages and culture. � 2023 selection and editorial matter, Rana Nayar, Alpna Saini and Tania Bansal; individual chapters, the contributors; individual translations, the translators. � 2023 selection and editorial matter, Rana Nayar, Alpna Saini and Tania Bansa.
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    Engendered subjectiveness: Construction of queer idenity in vijay tendulkar's a friend's story and mahesh dattani's on a muggy night in mumbai
    (Central University of Punjab, 2014) Chandal, Priynka; Saini, Alpna
    The present study deals with comparative analysis of Vijay Tendulkar's A Friend's Story and Mahesh Dattani's On a Muggy Night in Mumbai with respect to treatment of queer issues, their repression and social stigma faced by queer individuals. The focus is to find out how various social, economic and political discourses work towards repression of queer identities and reaffirming the oppressive discourse of heteronormative sexuality. Both Vijay Tendulkar and Mahesh Dattani have employed the fundamental themes of queer identity, oppressive attitude of society and psychological dilemma of queer individuals in their respective plays. In both the plays under study i.e . A Friend's Story by Vijay Tendulkar and On a Muggy Night in Mumbai by Dattani, there runs the unconventional theme of alternate sexuality which has been dealt with compassion and understanding. This study takes into account various unexplored issues related to queer identity. This study explores how these plays raise the issue of the emancipation of rights of queers and undertakes a comparative analysis of the two plays in order to discover varying attitudes towards this issue in Indian drama corresponding to the periods of the two playwrights.
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    A filmic historic mapping of 1857 : A comparative study of styajit ray's shatranj ke khiladi and shyam benegal's junoon
    (Central University of Punjab, 2014) Singh, Jagdish; Saini, Alpna
    The representation of history through the medium of film has been an important trend in the filmic world. While concerning with the different issues raised by the cinematic representation of a historic event, the films involve various types of thematic, ideological and hegemonic discursive practices of the period. The 'discontinuous' nature of history and the deconstruction of established notions from time to time makes the film version of history subordinate to the times in which it is made. The present study focuses on the comparative analysis of two films: Shatranj Ke Khilari by Satyajit Ray and Junoon by Shyam Benegal. Both the films are based on the revolt of 1857. The focus is to analyse how Ray's metaphoric use of chess and Benegal's blending of the historic event with the personal makes the difference in representing history through the medium of film. Both the films showcase the history of the revolt, its background and the colonial strategies of the British. The study focuses on how the filmic representation of a historic event in the non-fictional way differs from the fictional and historic representation.
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    Girish Karnad's The Fire and the Rain and Mahesh Dattani's Dance like a Man: A study of Marginal Identities and Performing Artists
    (Central University of Punjab, 2018) Mahanta, Susmita; Saini, Alpna
    The two plays under study are Dance Like a Man (1989) by Mahesh Dattani and The Fire and the Rain (1995) by Girish Karnad. The present study proposes to focus on the depiction of marginal identities of performing artists by the societal marginalisation like gender, caste, and class. In the play Dance Like a Man, the life of the dancers is pathetically portrayed as they are never privileged for keeping the classical dancing fresh and alive rather the dancers are marginalised. Politics and Patriarchy serve as an obstacle in the path of dancers like Jairaj, Ratna and Lata. Dancing is chosen as a profession and occupation by the dancers but frequent depreciation by the family members and the society has made them handicapped economically as well as socially. The society, the dancers dwell in, never misses an opportunity to exploit, criticise and blame them. Thus, a chapter of this study is about the marginalisation of the artist on the basis of societal marginalisation. The first marginalisation looked upon in the play for performing artists is gender divide, like how females and males behaving like female are treated. The second marginalisation is class divide and the third is caste. The play, The Fire, and the Rain is about the marginalised actors who are hindered by caste, class, and gender. Acting chosen as a profession by Brahmin was not accepted in the medieval period in India. The actors were termed as low-caste. In this play, religion, politics, and patriarchy are the factors responsible for the marginalisation of the theatre actors. Karnad's, through this play, wants to save theatre by saving the theatre artist by using the tool of myth. This study focuses on unmasking the truth that the profession of an individual is not to be chosen by birth rather it is individual's choice that matters in choosing his/her profession. This study aims to bring out the reasons and consequences for the marginalisation of performing artists depicted in both the plays.
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    The Goa Diary
    (2012) Saini, Alpna
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    In a Time Machine
    (South Asian Ensemble, 2013) Saini, Alpna
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    The Legacy of the Empire: A New Historicist Study of the Colonial and Postcolonial Agenda in Selected Indian and Western Cinema
    (Central University of Punjab, 2020) Singh, Jagdish; Saini, Alpna
    The term Empire refers to an expansion of territory by including other countries or other continents under the rule of a powerful state. The concept of Empire Cinema is focused on the agenda of using some specific kind of films for propagating and justifying the existence of colonial forces on the colonised land. Empire Cinema fulfils this need for the imperial powers. New Historicist analysis of the films helps to analyse, to relate and to reinterpret the focussed colonial issues in the selected films with respect to the Postcolonial period. The study of these films helps to have a glimpse into the colonial socio-cultural as well as political encounter between colonial powers and the colonised subjects. The analysis of the empire films also exhibits the politics of film censorship.The films are becoming a vital and interesting medium for describing the events of the past. The selected films offer representation from both colonial and colonised perspectives while at the same time dealing with the representation of colonial and postcolonial issues like the thugi cult, sati, the communal violence in colonial era, the Indian- British individual interactions, the dilemma of Anglo-Indians and Indian resistance to the British Empire. The New Historicist study highlights the dual role of cinema; as an art form and as medium to propagate a specific ideology by targeting a particular kind of audience, at a specific point of time. The selected films can be analysed to represent the colonial nostalgia in the postcolonial era and remain a useful medium of revisiting the colonial history of a nation.
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    Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out: An Exploration of Voyeurism
    (The IIS University - Journal of Arts, 2014) Saini, Alpna
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    Mythico-patriarchal constructiuon of a women in githa hariharan's the thousand faces of night and mahasweta devi's stories draupadi and breast-giver
    (Central University of Punjab, 2013) Vandana; Saini, Alpna
    The present research offers a comparative study of Githa Hariharan's novel The Thousand Faces of Night and Mahasweta Devi's stories ''Draupadi'' and ''Breastgiver''. The focus of the analysis will be on the interpretative use of mythology from feministic perspective underlining women's oppression and predicament in a patriarchal society. Both the writers take mythological tales as patriarchal discourses with implied patriarchal stance and tend to revise these tales with altered ends to give voice to the silenced female perspective. The study explores how by reinterpreting mythical tales from feministic perspective, both writers Githa Hariharan and Mahasweta Devi inclusively expose and question women's suppression in a male-dominated set up.