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Indian Short Story: A Critical Evaluation by Dr. Dipak Giri
Full text linkIndian Short Story: A Critical Evaluation | Literary Criticism | Dr. Dipak Giri, Malik & Sons Publishers & Distributors, 2024, pp. 260, INR 1050 | $ 40, ISBN-978-93-92459-85-
Examining Test Anxiety and Its Alleviation: Assessing the Efficacy of Gamification in ESL Contexts
Full text linkStudents are under more pressure now than ever before, which has caused a variety of anxieties. This study focuses on test anxiety, which encompasses emotional factors that impact students before, during, and after exams. Factors contributing to test anxiety include inadequate test-taking skills, unfamiliarity with content and formats, time constraints, and strict evaluation. Gamification, the integration of game elements into non-gaming contexts, offers significant psychological benefits, especially for ESL students. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of reducing test anxiety among ESL learners. To assess the impact of gamification, a survey comprising twelve statements related to test anxiety was administered to 30 first-year undergraduate ESL students It was followed by a focused group interview that delved into gamification’s effect on test anxiety. The study shows a reduction in anxiety levels of the students due to gamification. Ultimately, this study highlights the importance of innovative approaches, such as gamification, in addressing test anxiety within ESL education
Popular Culture and the Nigerian Filmic Space: The Efficacy-Entertainment Braid
Full text linkPopular culture is ever evolving; it creates eddies and currents and is a complex of interdependent viewpoints with effects on society. The Nigerian film industry has developed into a powerful cultural force that shapes values and social standards while also entertaining. This study interrogates how Nigerian films use popular culture to craft gripping stories. It demonstrates how filmmakers key into trends to boost the industry. Arguing from popular culture theoretical perspective, this study adopts ethnography to map the currency that popular culture has gained. It argues that popular culture has become essential in today\u27s globalized society due to its constant rise which could also be attributed to the rise of new technologies. The study submits that Nigerian films are a product of their culture and, as such, represent the attitudes, beliefs, and concerns that are prevalent in society, even though they also have an impact on the mass culture that watches them
Urban Space, Masculinity, and the Poetics of Resistance in the Black Arts Movement
Full text linkThe Black Arts Movement of the 1960s is a point in the cultural and political transformation of the African American literary tradition. The movement, which emerged in the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X, not only attempted to redefine the relationship between art and politics but it was also attempted to redefine the black identity by radically engaging the aesthetic practices. Historians like Yusef ‛M. Akbar and McCree have suggested that such a transition was a deliberate move towards a praxis that preempted the political action of black poets, writers, and visual artists as a coherent way of dissent. Poetry especially was the burning ground where the issue of race, maleness, cultural memory and political awareness were smelt into resistance. A kind of so-called political poetics was strategically written into the poetically rhetoric of the time, i.e. the works of Amiri Baraka, Lucille Lynn, etc., which already predetermined the experience of the community, black solidarity, and the recovery of the historical narrative. Here, the structure and the content of verse was employed in a selective way to question and challenge systems of oppression but at the same time producing possible eschatological visions of a free self. By redefining Harlem and other urbanized areas, which could be readily characterized by the discourse of violence and confinement, surveillance, etc., the movement poets captured not only the reality of the racial oppression but also the potential of group empowerment. Their choice to have the urban experience foregrounded allowed the poets to outline contexts that were materialistically repressive as they were symbolically subversive to locate urbanity-as-such as a space of political struggle and cultural reinterpretation. This paper argues that the poetry of the Black Arts Movement, especially when gathered in book form as in Black Fire, is a technique to transform marginalization in the city into a vessel of cultural and political enlightenment. It illustrates that the aesthetic cultures of resistance, masculinity and collective memory exist in a collaborative manner to recover the black identity which in turn promotes the ideological premises of Black Power. In this manner, the poetics of defiance shared by the movement resonate even now, in the modern movement of racial justice, which serves as a temporal link between the struggle of the past and the modern-day movement
Defying the Old Shackles: Redefining the New Women in Shobha De’s Works
Full text linkTraditionally, women are celebrated as embodiments of sacrifice and suffering, as monuments of patience and devotion. They are depicted enacting various roles—as mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters—but never as individuals claiming their lives as their own, where they can seek personal gratification and self-fulfilment. This paper analyses Shobhaa De’s selected novels, Starry Nights and Socialite Evenings, to explore how the female characters challenge the institution of marriage, defying outdated patriarchal norms that expect women to be submissive and passive, heralding an awakening of women to a new understanding of their place and position within the family and society. By concentrating on the individuality and independence exhibited by these women, the paper investigates the evolving dynamics of women’s roles and status in society, particularly within the context of metropolitan culture and elite postmodern India
Orientalism and Westernism (Occidentalism): Prejudices and Interreligious Dialogue
Full text linkInterfaith dialogue is considered one of the important topics between Islam and other religions from very ancient times. We find that there are many Qur’anic verses and prophetic hadiths that emphasize the principle of dialogue with others, taking into account religious constants and matters related to belief. Therefore, we see that what the Islamic clerics are doing is an attempt to dialogue with the followers of other religions regarding the common human value, while avoiding everything that brings about differences, especially in matters of religious belief. There are many obstacles present to religious dialogue, but we find that major religious institutions in the world, especially Al-Azhar in Egypt and the Vatican Church, have taken important steps to support the process of dialogue between religions. Dialogue with the other does not necessarily require convincing the other, but what is required is finding common ground between the two parties to support peaceful coexistence and communication between people of different religions. It cannot be said that religious dialogue is easy target, but it is a very complex dialogue that requires different treatment, understanding the other’s culture, and not trying to impose a certain opinion or play a guardianship role. But what is required is a constructive dialogue based on equality, with the necessity of taking into account the religious and cultural identity of each party
Exploring Dialogue-based Writing Task for Developing English Communication in India
Full text linkIndian learners at all levels of education, from school to university, encounter serious obstacles in effective communication in classroom and real-life situations. The primary obstacle to their English communication is the lack of competence in constructing effective dialogues. For most of the learners, such an obstacle occurs due to the lack of a supportive environment, the dearth of English-speaking friends and the dominance of their native language. The study presents the potentiality of dialogue-based writing task as a solution to improve English communication of such learners and examines whether dialogue-based writing task, in which characters in a story communicate with each other directly, helps the learners overcome the gap in their personal and professional development. Accordingly, two sample tasks on dialogue-based writing are given in the paper expecting the learners to generate their own dialogues on different themes, thus stirring them to practice and polish their English communication. Moreover, the paper promotes dialogue-based writing task as an effective pedagogy, which supports the curriculum and assists the learners in gaining higher communicative competence in English. By emphasizing this type of active participation, the study also emphasizes the significance of task-based learning (TBL) in the development of communication skills, which brings about overall educational goals of language learning in India
Coloured Hanky (An Adaptation of Othello)
Full text linkSanjay Kar used the historical backdrop of Imperial Tripura as the plot of his play when the Mughal emperor Suja wanted to defeat the existing king conspiring with Nakkshatra Roy, another claimant of the throne of Tripura. The existing king, Gobindo Manikya, had chosen a young, brave, and strong man from the fishermen’s community as his commander-in-chief. Thus, Atulchandra is the Tripura prototype of Othello the Moor. Both have a black complexion, and they come from lower-class families. Through the conversation of several other characters like Aghore, who is modelled after Iago, the ongoing hatred towards the lower class has been expressed. This has been clearly expressed in the conversation between Aghore and Rudranarayan. But the King needs a brave heart like Atul, and so he gets his due from the king. However, he falls in love with Debaleena, a beautiful young woman from the royal family who is much younger than Atul. As a villain, Aghore planned to disrupt this relationship. He succeeds in implanting jealousy and distrust in Atul against Debleena, and Rangeen rumal (a coloured hanky) plays a crucial role in this misfortune of the duo. Atul gave this to Debleena as a gift from his mother, which he believed had some magical power. He advises Debleena to keep the hanky in her safe custody so that it is not lost. The cunning Aghore has this information and uses his wife, Daliya, to steal the hanky from Debleena. Ultimately, the frenzied Atul killed his wife out of jealousy and soon after, he killed himself knowing the truth from Daliya
The Hidden Threads
Full text linkThis poem highlights the conflict between interior wants and external goals as it examines the intricacies of the human experience. It criticizes the emphasis placed by society on ambition, worldly achievement, and superficiality, all of which can conceal a deeper desire for empathy, inner calm, and connection. The poem challenges readers to see past appearances and acknowledge the universal human quality that binds us all together.
The poem expresses the difficulty of striking a balance between one\u27s own demands and outward expectations through poetic language and vivid images. It implies that we may find a greater sense of compassion and connection by listening to the silent cries of others and the whispering of our own hearts.
The poem is a potent meditation on the human experience because its themes of identity, morality, and the human predicament are ageless and universal. The poem provides a complex examination of what it means to be human by interlacing the strands of personal hardships and group weaknesses.
This poem offers a provocative analysis of contemporary life, inspiring readers to reconsider their goals and pursue a more genuine, kind, and purposeful way of living