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This volume is a collection of scholarly papers that explore the complex issues concerning English Studies in the present Indian context. The discussions in this volume range from historical perspectives to classroom-specific pedagogies, from sociological and political hierarchies to the dynamics of intellectual development in the English language environment. Interrogating both policy and practice pertaining to English Studies in the context of Indian society, culture, history, literature and governance, the chapters seek to formulate contemporary perspectives to these debates and envision alternative possibilities. Since the introduction of English to India more than 2 centuries ago, the l...
This book establishes river fiction as an identifiable genre-fiction. It argues that rivers and riverbeds—through myths and legends, ecological and environmental concerns, geographical and historical realities, politics and economics around them—can provide an underlying framework to understand Indian prose fiction. With essays on river fiction across India, the volume presents a new way of understanding and reading South Asian literature. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of literature and literary criticism and South Asian studies.
Diaspora in Greek means dispersion and scattering. The term was first used to refer to the Jewish communities who were exiled from their homeland by Roman authorities. They travelled with without fixed destination to reach. In multicultural, Alexandria, Jews retained their culture while assimilating the Greek language and Hellenic culture. Sufferings in a new land, inability to go back, their destination, homelessness were the features of the diaspora of the Jews. Diaspora essentially is a bitter experience of dislocation that leads to alienation, a sense of loss, and nostalgic desires. Diaspora, therefore, is the dispersed migration exiled from their homeland in other parts of the world
India is the world’s largest democracy with nearly 70 years of independent existence. Its unique and ever-changing nature has sparked a great degree of academic debate, both before and since Independence. The beauty of India is that there are many kinds of Indias. Understanding the fundamentals that have given birth to such multiplicity across various segments is especially imperative in the present day, when the ‘Idea of India’ is keenly contested. Our nation has the world’s largest youth population and is undergoing tectonic social and political changes at present; therefore, understanding what directions India may take in the future is essential for every thinking individual. Indi...
"A valuable reference guide for film collections and LGBTQIA+ studies." — Library Journal, Starred Review The depictions of LGBTQIA+ characters in film have always varied immensely. However, the negative depictions often seem to outweigh the positive, perhaps because of the hurt they inspire or perhaps because they regrettably outnumber the positive films. The Encyclopedia of LGBTQIA+ Portrayals in American Film explores works from the past fifty years in order to not only discuss how LGBTQIA+ characters are portrayed in American film, but also how these portrayals affect viewers. Contributors to this valuable reference include film and media scholars, gender studies scholars, journalists,...
Other Tongues: Rethinking the Language Debates in India explores the implications of the energetic and, at times, acrimonious public debate among Indian authors and academics over the hegemonic role of Indian writing in English. From the 1960s the debate in India has centered on the role of the English language in perpetuating and maintaining the cultural and ideological aspects of imperialism. The debate received renewed attention following controversial claims by Salman Rushdie and V.S. Naipaul on the inferior status of contemporary Indian-language literatures. This volume : • offers nuanced analysis of the language, audience and canon debate; • provides a multivocal debate in which ac...
This volume brings together new research on the developing and transforming literary scape in South Asia in the aftermath of the partitions of 1947 and 1971. It thematically explores the transformations that have taken place in the literary spheres of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, since violence and irresolvable conflicts wreaked the subcontinent, through the narratives of loss and longing. The volume deals with key themes such as feminism, minorities and marginality, vernacular history, Bengali literary representations, and post-Partition artistic and literary representations. It contributes towards fostering a network for academic exchange across the borders thereby presenting diverse and in-depth studies on a plethora of subjects within the larger framework of literary landscapes. Narratives of Loss and Longing will be of interest to scholars of literary studies, postcolonial and decolonial studies, partition studies, minority studies, refugee studies, gender and women's studies and those interested in South Asia, especially India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
"The Oxford Handbook of Modern Indian Literatures is a compilation of scholarship on Indian literature from the 19th century to the present in a range of Indian languages. On one hand, because of reasons associated with national academic structures, publishing resources, and global visibility, English writing gets privileged over all the other linguistic traditions in the scholarship on Indian literatures. On the other hand, within the scholarship on regional language literary productions (in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, etc.), the critical works and the surveys focus only on that particular language and therefore frequently suffer from a lack of comparative breadth and/or global access. Both re...
Have you ever been to a Red-light District? “My nath utrai (Taking off the nose ring) was performed when I was twelve or thirteen. The initial days were tough but now it gives me pleasure. I have inherited the art of making love from my grandmother.” -Roopal, a sex worker from the Bedia community in brothel number 56. Nath Utrai ceremony is nothing but the auction of the girl by the highest bidder near Bharatpur in Rajasthan. “Everyone believes that all hijras are castrated, but this is not true. We call it nirvana . Castration is usually optional. It cannot be forced upon a hijra .” -Sharmila, a eunuch from the streets of Varanasi. The narrator spends a considerable amount of time i...
Living Folk Religions presents cutting-edge contributions from a range of disciplines to examine religious folkways across cultures. This collection embraces the non-elite and non-sanctioned, the oral, fluid, accessible, evolving religions of people (volk) on the ground. Split into five sections, this book covers: What Is Folk Religion? Spirit Beings and Deities Performance and Ritual Praxis Possession and Exorcism Health, Healing, and Lifestyle Topics include demons and ambivalent gods, tree and nature spirits, revolutionary renunciates, oral lore, possession and exorcism, divination, midwestern American spiritualism, festivals, queer sexuality among ritual specialists, the dead returned, vernacular religions, diaspora adaptations, esoteric influences underlying public cultures, unidentified flying objects (UFOs), music and sound experiences, death rituals, and body and wellness cultures. Living Folk Religions is a must-read for those studying Comparative Religions, World Religions, and Religious Studies, and it will also interest specialists and general readers, particularly enthusiastic readers of Anthropology, Folklore and Folk Studies, Global Studies, and Sociology.