Paper Title

REPRESENTING HOME AS A SOCIO-POLITICAL METAPHOR IN SELECT NOVELS

Abstract

Home is probably one of the most recurring literary metaphors in novels. It is variously described in literature as conflated with or related to house, family, haven, self, gender and journeying and therefore, the ideas of home are multilayered. Naturally, one finds today a proliferation of writing on the meanings of home within the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, geography, history, architecture and philosophy. The images of home seem to be intrinsically ‘chronotope’ in the sense that they symbolize the intrinsic connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships that are artistically expressed in literature. Home is thus no longer just a dwelling place; it subsumes the socio-political developments of the time and space when it is created in literature, as also the psychological, anthropological, sociological and other issues of humanity. The present paper is prompted by the premise that in the light of new cultural studies, home is portrayed in certain novels as an ideological construct reflecting the social, political, intellectual, moral and psychological climate of the time and place of the respective works. I have selected for my study five novels by writers of different ages, languages, cultures and worldviews: Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas, Toni Morrison’s Home, Rabindranath Tagore’s Home and the World and M.T.Vasudevan Nair’s Naalukettu.
KEYWORDS : Home, Ideology, Icon, World literature, Socio-political

Paper Title

DIASPORIC COMMUNITIES: LEVELS OF MARGINALIZATION AND RESISTANCE IN SELECT SHORT STORIES OF JATIN BALA FROM THE ANTHOLOGY CALLED STORIES OF SOCIAL AWAKENING: REFLECTIONS OF DALIT REFUGEE LIVES OF BENGAL

Abstract

The term diaspora refer to the group of people who do not reside in their country of origin. In today’s world where identities are increasingly defined with reference to dominant powers; marginalization becomes central with regards to diasporic communities. Though marginalization can be due to various factors such as class, caste, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, etc., the primary focus of this article will be the experience of marginalization because of the diasporic status of the authors and characters, and further marginalization they encounter within the diasporic communities due to their class and caste. Therefore one can see that there are levels of marginalization with regards to diasporic communities, and the marginalization is both within and without. This article aims to explicate it and further explore how in the hegemonic paradigm, varied means of resistance are undertaken by some of the oppressed marginalized communities, to rebel against the dominant powers. The select short stories, “Story of Social Consciousness”, “The Man Called Ratan” and “Reminiscences of Life at a Refugee Camp” from the anthology called Stories of Social Awakening: Reflections of Dalit Refugee Lives of Bengal by Jatin Bala, illustrate experiences of the diasporic community of Namasudra refugees from Bangladesh. The characters in the stories are doubly marginalized along the lines of caste or class and refugee status, although they shared the language and religion of the host land. The contradictory ideas of marginalization and empowerment coincide in the idea of resistance. Though they are not successful in changing the social scenario, but the narratives do not end on a bleak note. The Namasudra refugees continue to resist as a community.
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Paper Title

‘HOMELAND: A PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSTRUCT OF ILLUSION AND REALITY’

Abstract

The concept of homeland in diaspora is complex and denotes plurality. It is as much a psychological experience as it is a geographical experience. This paper attempts to explore the fluidity of the concept of homeland and the psychological compulsions that define an immigrant’s life: the factors that compel him to immigrate being lured by the advantages of the imagined life in the new land set against the realistic practicality of life in his native land. Najeeb, the protagonist of Benyamin’s Goat Days goes through the full circle. A minority Muslim in multi-religious India, hopes and believes that his status would be elevated and that he would be treated as an equal in the Islamic State of The Gulf only to find himself treated like an animal, leading to the dehumanizing of his ‘self’.Later,he returns to India, to lead a ‘quiet life’. This paper explores the interplay of illusion and reality in the mindscape of Najeeb, who is the representative of all exploited immigrants and who dream to make ‘Gulf Land’ their home. } This paper tries to understand the psychological impact of an immigrant’s real life situations versus his imagined dreamland through the study of Benyamin’s ‘Goat Days’. Najeeb, the protagonist of the narrative, is the representative of all exploited immigrants who dream to make ‘Gulf Land’ their home. Like many other youngsters in Kerala he decides to migrate to improve the quality of life for himself. But, unfortunately he is exposed to the harsh realities of life in an alien land. This paper explores interplay of illusion and reality in the context of the Indian Sub-continent, which is a multi-religious landscape. The paper also gives vivid details of the /comprehensive analysis of psychological crisis of the protagonist who is a citizen of the Islamic state and aspires to be treated fairly in an Islamic country. The eventual non-realisation of his dream leads to the dehumanizing of the self.
KEYWORDS : Optimism, Diaspora, Homeland, Reality –Illusion, Identity-dehumanize

Paper Title

THE ANXIETY OF FINDING ‘HOME’

Abstract

“The ache for home lives in all of us; the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned”, said Maya Angelou. For the Bene Israel Community in India, the idea of “Home” is a distant dream as it is not only hard to define but also to locate.If ‘The Walled City’ tries to locate the Jewishness of an individual in a foreign land, David’s other novel ‘Shalom India Housing Society’ captures the dilemma of the Bene Israel Community as a joint entity post the communal riots in 2002. After the mass exodus of the Bene Israel Jews in the 1950s from India to Israel, the 2002 Gujarat riots forced the remaining Jews to move into a tight-knit housing society for protection. This paper aims to explore the idea of “Culture” among the Bene Israel Jews with the infusion of modernity into traditional practises. In order to elucidate the meaning of “Identity” in David’s novels, I wish to bring in Bhabha’s idea of “Liminal” negotiation of cultural identity. The paper will culminate into the idea of ‘the anxiety of finding home’ and how various factors affect it.
KEYWORDS : Home, Jews, Diaspora, Bene Israel, India

Paper Title

A STUDY OF ETHNIC AND IDENTITY ISSUES IN ASIAN AMERICAN DIASPORA AS SEEN IN SELECT TEXTS

Abstract

The paper ventures to take up the study of the Asian American Diaspora considering that there has been a major influx of people from various countries of Asia into The United States of America forming this diasporas. The Literature of this diasporas is particularly and notably interesting for research as not much of it has been explored by researchers in India. This study explores the identity and ethnic conflicts of the people alongside the problems and issues of adaptation of Asian Americans to American culture and way of life,how memories of their past and of their homelands connect to their present lives.It takes into account the various facets of these issues, as portrayed in selected texts from the book, Asian-American Literature - An Anthology edited by Shrley Geok-Lin Lim. The Asian American movement, together with the recent emphasis on multiculturalism, has been inspiring Americans of Asian descent to explore their composite heritage. The movement of people from various Asian countries like India, China, Korea, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, and Bangladesh into America brings in assimilation problems and several social and cultural issues among them. Moreover, the reasons for their movement and the struggles they undergo are largely unknown. An Analysis of these concerns forms the core of the present study. The new diasporic emphasis coincides with growing interest in Asian American Literature among overseas scholars as well as with the deepening interest in East Asia among scholars in the United States. This paper focuses on the struggles of the characters in these texts to show how they choose to stay connected to their homelands in spite of trying frantically to assimilate into the host society. Each of these forms an individual diasporas within the bigger framework of Asian American Diaspora namely: the Indian American Diaspora, the Chinese American Diaspora, the Korean American Diaspora, the Filipino American Diaspora, the Japanese American Diaspora and so on. A discussion of the nature of assimilation and the thresholds of their restraints regarding culture, ethnicity and identity among these people is the basis of this paper.
KEYWORDS : Identity, Assimilation, Memories, Homelands.

Paper Title

POSTCOLONIAL INDIAN DIASPORA FICTION IN ENGLISH: CERTAIN KEYISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES

Abstract

In the recent years, scholars and critics are stressing the need for the reconfiguration of Postcolonial studies through a serious scrutiny of issues of representation and authenticity in the cultural productions emerging from the colonized countries. The debates become much stronger in case of the literary output of the diaspora of the colonized countries. On the one hand, the diaspora writing, more specifically the diaspora fiction produced by the writers of the colonized countries settled across the globe are analyzed for their exploration of “diasporic experiences”. On the other hand, contemporary diaspora narratives are analyzed in terms of their massive production, circulation and consumption and the influence of market economy on them. In the background of such debates, the present paper tries to map certain discussions taking place in the field of postcolonial Indian diaspora fiction. Based on this exploration; a few questions are raised about perceiving this supposedly young genre.
KEYWORDS : Postcolonial, Indian Diaspora Fiction, Market economy, Representation.

Paper Title

READING IN SECOND LANGUAGE SITUATION-AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Language is the essence of life and essential to communicate with others. In any language performing language functions, four major skills are identified as necessary. They are listening, speaking, reading and writing also known as LSRW. Teaching effectively is possible with the integration of these four skills. While acquiring the mother tongue, a person listens first before he/she attempts to speak. Gradually then begins to speak, later reads and finally writes. Speaking, writing and reading are the three major language skills play more important to design one’s career. The present focuses on the reading an imperative pre-requisite to the major productive skill of writing.
KEYWORDS : Language, reading, writing, motivation and different types of reading.

Paper Title

PRESENT SCENARIO ON PRIMARY EDUCATION IN INDIAN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

Abstract

In ongoing decades India has gained huge ground on access to tutoring and enrolment rates in essential training yet dropout rates and low dimensions of learning remain difficulties for the state and local government. As the U.S. has a more extended history of state funded training than India there are open doors for India to gain from the triumphs and disappointments in the American instruction framework and to team up in handling shared difficulties, for example, the best utilization of innovation in essential instruction.
KEYWORDS : Primary, Education, India

Paper Title

A WRITER AND PROFESSOR – PRATIBHA RAY

Abstract

Pratibha Ray, an Indian scholarly and inventive author, was conceived on 21st January 1944, at Alabol, a remote town in the Balikuda territory of Cuttack locale, Odisha state. A teacher by calling and an author by decision, Pratibha Ray without a doubt is an easily recognized name in Odisha and in many pieces of India through her deciphered works. She is one of the main fiction essayists in India today. It has been a long adventure for Pratibha from the dark paths of her town to the protected spot she appreciates in the hearts of her energetic perusers. As a submitted academician she has been engaged with dynamic research. Her strength, bravery and promise to work with the savage and forceful Bonda clan was exemplary at once (1985) when even a male scientist shied far from working with them. Pratibha\'s voice is a self-looking one, in the journey of genuine character. In her works, the lady is reclassifying her job and deciding parameters for herself and the general public, in all social statuses and maybe altering the idea of womanhood itself.
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