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Challenging precarity through community life: Lifeways among the tribes of Nagaland and Andaman
No full textEtymologically, the term precarity was used by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to describe a condition of job-related insecurity. Anna Tsing (2015), drawing from Bourdieu, defines precarity as a condition that renders life “without the promise of stability,” while Pembroke (2018) underpins its nature of abeyance or the foreclosure of life. Although precarity has often been examined in urban settings under neoliberal conditions, its presence, or lack thereof, in tribal life has received little attention. When tribal life in Northeast India is considered, it becomes evident that traditional customs and practices often counteract precarity and vulnerability, not only through environmentally sustainable practices but also through the symbiotic functioning of their community life. Tribal communities exemplify a strongly knit social fabric that helps mitigate vulnerability. In contrast, within contemporary modern society, as this close-knit system collapses, there is an increase in individual vulnerability. Using this argument as a point of departure, this article seeks to study the structure and functionality of community life in countering precarity by analysing the representation of tribal communities in the ethnographical fictional works of Easterine Kire and Pankaj Sekhsaria
Reducing anger in armed conflict: Buddhism and the principle of humanity
No full textThis article examines a selection of Buddhist texts, mainly in Pali, that address the reduction of violence and the elimination of suffering, connecting them to the ‘Principle of Humanity,’ one of the most fundamental ethical principles underpinning International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Drawing on canonical and commentarial sources, it examines several practices taught by the Buddha that are capable of dissolving the entrenched mental patterns underlying both personal suffering and collective conflict. The analysis engages with the theory of ‘freezing factors,’ which refers to the persistence of certain moral, emotional, or cultural attitudes that inhibit reconciliation and sustain violent dynamics during armed conflict. Special emphasis is placed on Buddhaghosa’s exposition of ten methods for overcoming resentment, and on the cultivation of mettā, love-and-amity, as a foundation for social harmony. The article argues that these practices constitute a radical path towards dismantling the very conditions that sustain anger, suffering, and division, while also recognising their compatibility with IHL’s more pragmatic aim of reducing violence within conflict. Buddhist practices can restrain hostility and rage precisely because they are grounded in the aspiration for final liberation from suffering and ignorance, and for this reason, they can effectively help prevent the escalation of unrestrained violence, which would otherwise hinder or even jeopardise efforts towards resolving the conflict. By situating these teachings within contemporary discussions on the role of trust and reaffirmation of shared humanity, the article highlights their relevance for those engaged in conflict transformation today, and raises critical questions about the sociopolitical obstacles that continue to resist such a path
Restoration or representation? How culture shapes our vision of nature
No full textThis essay examines how cultural narratives shape our perception of nature and sustainability, using artificial intelligence (AI) as both a mirror and metaphor for collective environmental imagination. When asked to depict “Environment, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems,” AI generated images rich in color and symbolism but distorted in ecological terms: dominated by animals and devoid of humans. When humans were added, they appeared isolated and disconnected, suspended between the fractal fluidity of nature and the rigid geometries of technological civilization. The author argues that our fascination with “untouched” nature and the ideal of “sustainable development” derives from a nostalgic vision of a pre-industrial paradise that never truly existed. Modern conservation, though morally driven, risks reinforcing the dualism between “pure” nature and the human world. European initiatives such as the Green Deal, Natura 2000, and the Nature Restoration Law represent vital progress toward reintegrating ecological, social, and technological dimensions. Yet a paradox persists: while restoration is celebrated rhetorically, the scientific disciplines essential to it - botany, ecology, taxonomy - are increasingly neglected. True ecological transition demands more than symbolic acts or technological fixes. It requires restoring respect for natural sciences, long-term ecological understanding, and a cultural reconciliation between representation and reality. Only by aligning imagination with ecology can humanity hope to sustain the living systems that support civilization
Monsters and monstrosity in contemporary Persian literature: The case of Houshang Golshiri’s Hadis-e Māhīgir va Dīv
No full textThis paper examines the evolving semantic representation of the “dīv” (monster) in Persian literature, tracing its transformation from classical depictions of malevolence to contemporary portrayals imbued with benevolence. The semantic turn is situated within the broader context of Western modernism’s influence during the Persian Constitutional Revolution, a period when Iranian writers actively sought to redefine cultural and literary paradigms by revisiting myth and mythological figures. Focusing on six contemporary Iranian authors, the study reveals how these writers reappropriate the figure of the monster to challenge established literary patterns and to articulate novel meanings distinct from its traditional evil connotations. Utilizing Emmanuel Levinas’s ethical framework—particularly his concepts of ‘face-to-face encounter,’ ‘vulnerability,’ ‘infinite responsibility,’ and ‘transcendental other’—this research offers an in-depth analysis of Golshiri’s Hadis-e Māhīgir va Dīv to illustrate the ethical dimensions underlying modern interpretations of monstrosity. The findings underscore a significant cultural shift in Persian literature, highlighting the dynamic interplay between tradition and modernity in the rearticulation of mythological narratives
It’s not just catechesis: Swahili educational and moralising literature published by Ndanda Mission Press
No full textThis paper analyses a rich selection of educational and moralising novellas and novelettes written in Swahili and published by the Benedictine Ndanda Missionary Press in Tanzania. The analysis investigates nineteen Swahili fictional texts as a way of ‘preaching’ moral virtues in an African language, which convey catechetical knowledge: the Ten Commandments and the Sacraments. The texts will be examined as examples of ‘intercultural exegesis’ of the Scriptures and as media enacting Christian ‘meta-praxis’. This paper illustrates how these Swahili popular novelettes can be interpreted as creative means of disseminating Christian ethics through the Swahili language, thus contributing to the development of catechetical epistemology and lexicon
Levity during the Mahilā holī oral narratives: Notes for a literary and mediatic analysis
No full textThis article investigates, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the aesthetic and socio-cultural values incorporated by the oral narratives performed during the Mahilā Holī-s in Kumaon. These are celebrations of a playful and sometimes humorous nature generally performed in this region by women and for a women-oriented audience. The study proposes to investigate these narratives primarily through a critical and literary survey of the recited oral texts. It also draws inspiration from data gathered during fieldwork in Almora and other urban and peri-urban settings in Kumaon, which included the author’s observation of a few performances. Inspired by studies about the forms of “emotional refuge” (Reddy 2001) found in different cultural contexts, in the presence of a certain “emotional community” (Rosenwein 2006), the research combines these views with theoretical models derived from Humour studies and Feminist approaches to media. The objective of the article is to analyse the values embodied by these narratives within the broader characteristics of the emotional community of Kumaoni Holī performances
English-based calques in present-day Czech and the invisibility scale
No full textThe point of departure of the article is a preceding study on calques published in Czech (Klégr, Bozděchová 2022a). After outlining the terminology, definitions and methods of detecting lexical and semantic calques, the article gives an overview of the general properties of English-based lexical and semantic calques attested in Czech – the frequency of their structural patterns, word-class distribution and the semantic relationships between the loaned English sense and the meaning of the Czech word in semantic calques – based on a sample of 1360 calques (1065 lexical and 295 semantic). In the second part, utilizing updated and enlarged samples of calques, and a sample of hybrids, the focus shifts from the central categories to the description of important subcategories of calques: lexical-semantic, abbreviated lexical, multi-word semantic, hybrid, secondary, and echoic calques. The assessment of their status among Anglicisms leads to a tentative proposal for a two-layered taxonomy of Anglicisms and an in/visibility scale from manifest to cryptic Anglicisms.
 
Fuzzy Borders Between Invisible and Semi-(in)Visible Anglicisms: Evidence from the GLAD Database and NSZA Dictionary
No full textIn language contact literature on the typology of linguistic borrowing sharp divisions have repeatedly been made into various types of loan. Loan categorisations are determined by the borrowing strategy adopted by recipient language (RL) speakers and by the formal features of the product of the borrowing process (see e.g. Haugen’s 1950; Weinreich1953; Görlach 2002; Haspelmath 2009; Pulcini et al. 2012). In more recent research, the well-established categories were redefined and relabeled to reflect a cognitively-oriented approach to the borrowing process (e.g. Winter-Froemel 2008), yet the fundamental three-fold typology of lexical Anglicisms has been retained. Authentic language data collected for the Polish contribution to the Global Anglicism Database (GLAD) and the New Dictionary of Polish Anglicisms (NSZA) point to the fuzzy borders and categorial indeterminacy of invisible and semi-(in)visible loans, motivated, as assumed, by RL-specific systemic features and adaptation processes. This paper focuses on the blurred borderline between a loan translation, e.g. Pol. obiad biznesowy <Eng. business lunch and a hybrid (loanblend), e.g. Pol. anioł biznesu <Eng. business angel. While the long-standing terminological tradition and the GLAD template both require making definite decisions as for the loan categorial status, there is much evidence among Polish covert and partially covert Anglicisms that establishing clear-cut borderlines between loan categories may be challenging and therefore may require arbitrary decisions as for their labelling
Speakers' perceptions about invisible anglicisms in Italian
No full textIn order to contribute to the study of anglicisms with respect to their ‘invisibility’ in the receiving language, this paper presents the results of a survey focused on speakers' perceptions about the use of English loan translations and semantic loans in Italian. Using age as a variable, the informants of the survey were divided into three age groups, – millennials (30-44), generation X (45-60) and boomers (over 60) – in order to establish which indirect borrowings of the sample were considered acceptable or not, whether their ‘Englishness’ was detected and which choice they would make between an Italian word and an indirect borrowing. The tested items were chosen among words and patterns recognized as English indirect borrowings in the literature, including lexical, morphosyntactic and phraseological patterns. The results of the survey show the acceptance of items such as, for example evidenze (evidence), the use of coordinated prepositions da e per (to and from), the multiple interrogative Chi è chi e chi fa cosa (who’s who and who does what), irrespective of age. In addition, there is a general agreement on considering the verb applicare (modelled on English to apply), widely used in administrative discourse, alien to standard Italian. However, the data also confirms that younger speakers are more open to the use of loan translations and semantic loans than older speakers, and are less aware of the influence of English, supporting the trend towards the gradual assimilation of indirect borrowings