Languages, Literature And Culture - Research Publications

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Start date: 2010Has files: Yes

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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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    Towards an Eco-Poetic Vision of the Poetic Works of Agha Shahid Ali and Sylvia Plath: A Comparative Study
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Pala, Aadil Muzafar; Kaur, Zameerpal
    The environmental problems became of supreme importance with the dawn of twenty first century. These issues which are faced by both biosphere and human life are flourishing at an alarming speed and are posing a threat to the life proportions upon the earth. There was a time when man was considered as having a close relationship with his surroundings and was nurtured and nourished by it, but with the passage of time man came under the influences of many newly introduced experiences and philosophies that altogether changed the vision of the civilisations towards anthropocentrism. Human being began to develop egotism which ultimately paved way for him to think himself as superior to the entire visible world and hence exploit it to meet his own ends. This new idea replaced man’s earlier thinking of being sentimental towards his survival without the presence of the nature. Nature by no means can be treated as a pleasure giving property to the human being rather it is the precondition for his very survival and prosperity. With the gradual growth of human civilisations on the earth the plundering and exploitation of the natural resources significantly increased by man’s selfglorification and self-indulgence by destroying the trees for his shelter and for iv industry, devastating the beautiful landscapes replacing them with the setting up of industrial establishments, roads, buildings etc. Ecocrticism is an approach to spread awareness and play a role to save the planet earth as it can be seen concerned with the relationships which show how the physical environment is dealt with in literature. It is a unique study which seems to project a natural science and a discipline based on humanistic approach. The present research work focuses on the theoretical framework of Ecocriticism considering its concepts like Ecopoetics and Ecopsychology and their application upon the poems of Agha Shahid Ali and Sylvia Plath. It further focuses on the narratives which explores the elements of nature and environment and the aspects of man nature relationship in the poetry of the selected poets. There can be seen an oriented quest where the ways emotions and feelings get an impact from the nature and vice-versa, the impact of culture on the nature which is seen proving helpful in creating the poetic stance.
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    The Patriarchal Perspectives on Female Subjectivities in the Selected Plays of Atamjit and Mahesh Elkunchwar
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Kaur, Amandeep; Saini, Alpna
    The present research is aimed at critically exploring the selected Marathi and Punjabi plays namely Pooran, Farash Vich Uggya Rukh, Main Tan Ik Sarangi Han by Atamjit and Old Stone Mansion, Garbo and Sonata by Mahesh Elkunchwar who are both well-known playwrights of the second half of the 20th century. Their plays are concerned with many social and political problems and divulge various dimensions which help construct female subjectivity. Both demonstrate woman as victim of the caste, class and gender discrimination. Inferior conditions of middleclass women, sexual issues like prostitution, violence, extramarital affairs, rape, murder, gender discrimination, exploitation, psychological disorders have been examined with special reference to construction of a woman’s subjectivity. This research work is significant as these two are important contemporary authors who raise questions about the marginalisation and subjectivities of women in two different societies, languages and cultures of India. The selected plays analyse different women characters in the selected plays who sometimes accept the supremacy of a man, and resist at other times while also representing the psychological constitution of a woman in terms of her gender and her cultural placement. The present study has also undertaken a comparative study of selected plays in order to explore the typically patriarchal perspectives of the two authors in their given cultural locations on how a woman is constructed in contemporary Indian drama. The thesis employs readings of the plays in consultation with diverse disciplines such as Psychoanalysis, Marxism, Gender Studies and Performativity. This study will help forge an understanding of the female subjectivities from varying standpoints under the light of various discourses prevalent in the contemporary Indian locations, particularly, those of the selected playwrights.
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    Dialectics of South Asian Subjectivity across Borders: A Critical Study of Selected Contemporary English and Vernacular Diasporic Fiction
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Kaur, Pardeep; Singh, Amandeep
    The present thesis examines the dialectics of South Asian subjectivity across borders of nation-state, gender, religion, class, culture and ethnicity through the critical study of eight novels by diasporic writers in English and vernacular languages. The thesis is organised into six chapters. The introductory chapter comprises major trends in contemporary South Asian diasporic literature, the review of existing literature, brief introduction to the selected texts, historically theorising the term subjectivity from the Enlightenment to the postmodern era. The second chapter explores the perceptions of different generations regarding tradition, modernity, assimilation and acculturation, evolved through conflicts and dialogue. The third chapter explores how spatial and temporal contexts keep on shaping individual subjectivity, while at the same time personal and collective history spiral together for determining the historical positioning of these subjects. The fourth chapter examines the contestation between normative discourses (heterosexuality, patriarchy, religion, nationalism etc.) and the existing alternative discourses (homosexuality, hybridity, cosmopolitanism etc.) leading to the dynamic process of South Asian subjectivity construction. The changing definitions and nature of culture, existence of plurality of cultures, multicultural overtones represented in the contemporary fiction constitute the fifth chapter of this study. The concluding chapter presents a composite South Asian subjectivity which cannot be claimed as a definite portrayal because subjectivity is not an event but a process. A pattern can be seen through the analysis of these works which shows the common frames of reference in the subjectivity formation of this community through the dialectics among different notions of existence. The critical study of selected diasporic texts shows that subjugated and muted subjectivities occupy the narrative spaces in contemporary English and vernacular fiction.
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    Exploring Female Identity: A Comparative Study of the Selected Novels of Shashi Deshpande and Mridula Garg
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Nancy; Sen, Rajinder Kumar
    Female identity is a very complicated concept in the contemporary era. In addition to that, it becomes more complicated when discussed in reference to gender socialisation, violence, and exploitation. Women have been viewed and perceived within the constructed patriarchal structure of gender difference. In the domain of patriarchal culture, the woman is a social construct. The present research work tries to probe into the silences, subordination and voices of exploited women by undertaking a comparative study of the selected novels of Shashi Deshpande and Mridula Garg by using feminism as a theoretical framework. The contemporary writes are critiquing the unspoken voices to explore their exploitation in various domains. Feminism is a highly innovative concept representing a significant departure from the traditional mode of critical evaluation. In the selected novels both the writers represent the series of female characters who have exploited. They project realistically the women’s plight and exploitation in the patriarchal society. It explores how men establish their masculine power and fulfil their desire by assaulting women. Through the feminist theory, the present study tries to explore the female identity which is constructed by the socio-cultural aspect.
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    NEGOTIATING IDENTITY IN POSTCOLONIAL SPACE: A CRITICAL STUDY OF SELECTED SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORIC FICTION
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Naik, Showkat Ahmad; Singh, Amandeep
    Delineating identity is a very complex phenomenon because identity has many factors contributing to its development that differ from scenario to scenario. Identities are part of history in which they evolve and are subject to constant change and transformation. Therefore, phenomenon of identity, an enigma till now, has become more enigmatic due to the emergence of postcolonial space, because of the blending in of different identities in it. Postcolonial space created after wide-ranging resistance with intellectual and diplomatic dexterity is intended to exploit the myth that dissenting voices can never be absolutely silenced. However, the paradox that lies amid the postcolonial space is that chaos perpetuates order. For that reason, this thesis is an attempt to illuminate that all noticeable instabilities cannot be identified underneath the heading of chaos as sometimes the assumption of certain negative terms may be used as much in the facility of backing up to remove whatever is made obligatory. There are some postcolonial diasporic writers who describe postcolonial spatial scenario and show how the canon of South Asian English Literature has flourished itself to some definite expectations by forging a counter-Orientalist discourse. Brick Lane by Monica Ali, Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid and Home Boy by H.M. Naqvi are novels that are drenched with issues regarding the notion of identity in postcolonial space particularly in the diasporic contexts. These authors in their respective novels traverse into the new suburban to negotiate identity of the different characters and expose the dilemmas they go through.
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    The effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in L2 learning amongst engineering college students: An investigation
    (Boom Lemma Publishers, 2020) Saranraj, L; Zafar, Shahila
    The main objective of this study is to investigate the L2 learners intrinsic and extrinsic motivation amongst engineering college students in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu. Through simple random sampling method, 150 respondents were randomly selected from various engineering colleges in the study area. The adopted and modified AMTB (Attitude / Motivation Test Battery) questionnaire has been used in this study. Results showed that the male respondents have strong motivation towards intrinsic (integrative) and extrinsic (instrumental) than female. - 2020, Boom Lemma Publishers. All rights reserved.
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    An Ecocritical reading of Kalidasa's Rtusamhara
    (International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities, 2015) Yeshpal; Chopra, Sayar Singh
    Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and environment, it's included everything related to the human and nonhuman elements i.e. earth, water and sky houses, agriculture, caves, hills, plants, trees, oceans, seasons, animals, wind, ancient architecture, rocks, soil etc, are considered a beautiful gallery of portraits in ecocriticism. This research paper is based on an ecocritical study of Kalidasa's Rtusamhara. Kalidasa (who lived around 5th century AD.) is a representative of nature poet, his literary works are based on beauty of nature and environment. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine Kalidasa's Rtusamharafrom an ecocritical point of view.
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    A Feminist Approach to the Study of Sex Trafficking and Prostitution in Allison Hobbs’s Stealing Candy
    (2018) Garg, Geetika; Zafar, Shahila
    The present study focuses on the implementation of feminist theory to the issueof sextrafficking and prostitution throughan analysis of Allison Hobbs’snovelStealing Candy. Sex trafficking and prostitution are not synonyms,but both are interrelated. Sex trafficking and prostitution are presentedinthe novel throughthree teenage girlsfrom differentbackgroundsare abducted and are emotionally manipulated andbrainwashedinto accepting sexual enslavementas their hopeless plight in life.Various feminists discussed and are still discussing issues of sex trafficking and prostitution in their works and try to constructing some solutions to this crime.But some feminists are in favor of prostitution as a sex work. So,this papershows the journeyof teenage girls from normal life to prostituted lifeand how feminism reactsto sex trafficking.
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    Language and Power: A Foucauldian Reading of Lois Lowry’s The Giver
    (Barloni Books, 2018) Lone, Sartaj Ahmad; Zafar, Shahila
    Lois Lowry’s The Giver (1992) delineates a nightmarish utilitarian state where human beings are produced through artificial insemination for the optimal service of the state. The current paper explores how reality is constructed by power through operationalization of discourse. The Giver depicts a totalitarian state that not only contrives a systematic way of controlling the minds of its subjects but also their milieu. The regime employs genetic engineering and linguistic manipulation to keep its citizens controlled, collectivized and contented in an unusual way. The government controls the weather and topography to introduce the Concept of Sameness in the state. The totalitarian regime either erases certain words from its social fabric or transmutes them into certain bizarre concepts that are thought to be diseases which need medication. In addition, the paper also asserts that in the novel language acts as a double-edged sword that acts as oppressive as well as liberative weapon depending upon its usage.