East West Journal of Humanities

The Spectre of Globalized Biotechnological Exploitation in the Science Fiction of Muhammad Zafar Iqbal

Abhishek Sarkar — 2018-08-11

This article discusses select science fiction texts by the Bangladeshi author Muhammad Zafar Iqbal with reference to a recurring theme, namely, the globalized exploitation of Third World bodies. This article discusses how these texts demonize technological modifications of the human body and suggest a core of “human” sentiments as the guiding force for combating such biotechnological intervention. This article focuses on a few texts where two key plot elements are, (i) artificially and illegally manipulated human bodies, and, (ii) the surveillance of the central characters by ruthless, technologically superior First World actors and their local collaborators. The texts analyzed in detail are “Dr. Triple A” (2000), Prodigy (2011), and Animan (2014). In these texts, Iqbal reposes faith in a human exceptionalism that is predicated upon emotions and morality. He thus steers clear of Western philosophical trends such as posthumanism or transhumanism. This is borne out by these texts’ celebration of strong interpersonal attachments and selfless love, which help (morally and emotionally alert) underdogs engage with and ultimately defeat their self-centred, technologically advanced oppressors.

The Ramifications of Insurgencies on Family Lives—A Reading of Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland

Nasih Ul Wadud Alam — 2018-01-01

This article discusses select science fiction texts by the Bangladeshi author Muhammad Zafar Iqbal with reference to a recurring theme, namely, the globalized exploitation of Third World bodies. This article discusses how these texts demonize technological modifications of the human body and suggest a core of “human” sentiments as the guiding force for combating such biotechnological intervention. This article focuses on a few texts where two key plot elements are, (i) artificially and illegally manipulated human bodies, and, (ii) the surveillance of the central characters by ruthless, technologically superior First World actors and their local collaborators. The texts analyzed in detail are “Dr. Triple A” (2000), Prodigy (2011), and Animan (2014). In these texts, Iqbal reposes faith in a human exceptionalism that is predicated upon emotions and morality. He thus steers clear of Western philosophical trends such as posthumanism or transhumanism. This is borne out by these texts’ celebration of strong inter- personal attachments and selfless love, which help (morally and emotionally alert) underdogs engage with and ultimately defeat their self-centred, technologically advanced oppressors.

A Panoptical Analysis of Kurtz and Jack

Tanzina Afrin — 2018-08-11

This article offers a Panoptical reading of the characters Kurtz and Jack of Heart of Darkness (Conrad, 1902/2006) and Lord of the Flies (Golding, 1954) respectively. It discusses how the circumstantial detachment from human civilization and seclusion of these characters led them to their moral degradation. In his writing “Discipline and Punish” (2001, 2004), Michele Foucault proposes that European civilization is a Panoptical one, i.e., resembling a prison. He suggests that through the means of knowledge, power, surveillance, fear and physical domination, an authoritative figure can subjugate the weaker ones. A close reading of the characters of Kurtz and Jack discloses how they have exercised power to exploit the natives or the weak by using the means of surveillance and panoptic vision and other terms proposed by Foucault. Though, both the texts deal with the theme of the exercise of power differently- Kurtz uses his knowledge and power to subjugate the natives of Congo whereas Jack and his disciples try to dominate the little children only to prove their authorities- the implication of Foucault’s terms in these texts is apparent. This research will be conducted through the use of several secondary sources mainly focusing on the terms used by Foucault.

The Translator’s Role in Addressing Untranslatability in Poetry: Observing Translations of Kazi Nazrul Islam’s Bidrohi

Dravida Anjuman Huda — 2018-08-11

Among the many concerns about poetry translation, untranslatability is the most critical one. Translators often face difficulties in offering an authentic translation in target language. It is, after all, the translator who may decide how to address this issue. One phenomenal Bengali poem entitled Bidrohi, written by the “rebel” poet Kazi Nazrul Islam can be regarded as a text that contains untranslatability issues to a large extent. It is to be noted that there are some translation-techniques - both for any type of source text and for poetry in particular –that are suggested by translation theorists like, for example, Vinay and Darbelnet, Andre Lefevere, and Peter Newmark. Whereas Vinay and Darbelnet categorized the general translation procedures into two methods (direct and oblique translation), Lefever suggested a catalogue of seven possible strategies for translating poetry. On the other hand, Newmark’s strategies include semantic and free translation. However, as the translator is the agent of authenticity and closeness in translation, s/he has a huge role to play in assessing, choosing, and combining the existing translation techniques according to the source text. This paper aims to explore the role of the translator and to figure out if there is a certain effective approach that can be made towards a poem that is difficult to translate. In order to achieve that ground, two translations of Bidrohi– one offered by Professor Kabir Chowdhury, and the other by Mohammad Nurul Huda have been analyzed. The findings of this research paper indicate that the two translations in major parts show two different combinations of translation strategies. This paper takes the terms “Direct” and “oblique” translation as coined by Vinay and Darbelnet to show that both the translations tend to switch between these two general translation approaches. In addition, both the translations highlight some poetry translation-techniques like Lefevere’s “phonemic translation” or Peter Newmark’s semantic translation, which too, serve the purpose of overcoming untranslatability. The findings also show that there is no single effective approach in overcoming untranslatability in poetry. Overall, it can be concluded that when a poem appears nearly-untranslatable, a balanced combination of “direct” and “oblique” translation as well as some selected poetry-translation strategies can be an effective standpoint. This paper does not claim to discuss untranslatability issues in any other genre but poetry.

Representation of Sex-workers’ Plight in Mahasweta Devi’s Bedanabala and Rizia Rahman’s Letters of Blood

Md. Maruf Ul Alam — 2018-08-11

Mahasweta Devi’s Bedanabala and Rizia Rahman’s Letters of Blood portray the life of sex-workers in colonial Bengal and post-independence Bangladesh respectively. They are gripping tales of the marginalised lives of prostitutes. These two novels by Devi and Rahman can intimate great insight into the plight of sex-workers. Academic surveys and studies are not readily accessible or available to common people. Fiction has wider access and so novels like Mahasweta Devi’s Bedanabala and Rizia Rahman’s Letters of Blood can achieve what academic studies or narratives sometimes fail to do. This paper will attempt to analyse the potentials of the two novels in portraying the plight of sex-workers.

The Exploration of Human Alter Ego in Animals An Evaluation of Ted Hughes’s Animal Poems

Md. Abdur Rashid — 2018-08-11

Ted Hughes, inarguably one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, occupies an unparalleled position in contemporary English poetry chiefly because of hispoetics of animal imagery that has so far been approached from different perspectives. This paper focuses on Hughes’s representative poems and puts forth the theory that his arts poetica actually develops from two simultaneous feelings, firstly his conviction in pristine animal energy, and secondly, his disillusionment about the humanization of man through the suppression of his primeval energy. These diametrical feelings make Hughes speak in favour of the suppressed elements of the psyche which alone promise resilience in the face of uncaring reality. Hughes thinks the civilizing ideologies actually result in the subversion of the primal imperviousness of the alter ego which is spontaneously manifested in non-human beings. A corollary of this paper is that Hughes’s signature poems encompassing ‘The Hawk in the Rain’, ‘The Jaguar’, ‘Hawk Roosting’, ‘Pike’, ‘Snowdrop, ‘Second Glance at a Jaguar’ etc. and the Crow Poems make more sense when studied with reference to human alter ego represented through the poet’s conscious delineation of non-human instincts.

Edna’s “Moments of Being” and “Wild Zone” of Female Sexuality: A Gynocritical Study of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening

Jannatul Ferdoush — 2018-08-11

This paper studies Kate Chopin’s reinterpretation of female sexuality and personal autonomy in The Awakening through the lens of Elaine Showalter’s Gynocriticism. It argues that Edna’s struggle with the traditional idea of female sexual abstention, self-sacrifice, and silence symbolizes her insatiable desire to redefine female identity. The articulation of her overt sexuality in the novella offers a new gateway of understanding a ‘female self ’. Edna’s physical autonomy awakens her to a subversive, compelling, dynamic and liberating “wild” female self within. Edna in her journey into the untamed zone of sexuality through “moments of being” catches a glimpse of the forbidden trajectory of self-knowledge. She yearns to reach her selfhood through these utterly individual moments of awareness, intense power, beauty and personal significance. The unfolding of her female interiority reveals a strong connection between wildness of female eros and creativity. Chopin identifies this so called evil, unrestraint sexuality as an elixir of woman empowerment. Edna’s wandering into her sexual wilderness embodies a new female archetype who writes her own story of resistance and power through her body. Edna’s gradual alienation from androcentric idea of chastity, marriage, motherhood, her celebration of female body, and the final rejection of ‘happy-ever-after reality’ evoke a volcanic eruption of a new femininity in the female literary tradition.

Dionysus Meets the Caribbean: A Study of London Notting Hill Carnival in the Light of Samuel Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners

Anika Saba — 2018-08-11

Samuel Selvon’s iconic novel The Lonely Londoners (1956) captures the struggles of black Caribbean immigrants in the eponymous megacity. The setting of his novel is around the neighborhood of Notting Hill which has become synonymous with the Notting Hill Carnival that takes place in London every summer. This extravaganza, though has financial benefits for its participants, is an opportunity of social inclusion for the immigrants and subversion of British authority. This paper will trace the historical background of the London Notting Hill Carnival and the role of its main organizers, the Caribbean immigrants, in the light of Selvon’s novel which is based on fictional representations of this marginalized group. In doing so, the paper will refer to Richard Lehan’s argument of how the marginalized embody the Dionysian spirit in urban spaces, and Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical explanation of the age-old conflict between rationality and sensuality symbolized by the Apollonian and Dionysian myths in Western tradition. The purpose of this paper is to show how the black Caribbean immigrants of Selvon’s work embody the spirit of Dionysius in this modern-day Bacchanalia which takes place on the streets of London, and in extension, make an argument for the contribution of all marginalized immigrants in the repressed but vital spirit of Dionysus in the city.

‘Still I Am Not Tragic’: Indigenous Australian Women’s Sovereignty in Marie Munkara’s Every Secret Thing and A Most Peculiar Act

Fatema Johera Ahmed — 2018-08-11

In this paper, I examine the representation of the Indigenous women characters in two novels by Indigenous Australian writer Marie Munkara, namely Every Secret Thing (2009) and A Most Peculiar Act (2014). Munkara’s novels are set in the early phase of the colonisation of Australia and trace the takeover of Indigenous lands and lives by the Catholic Church and bureaucrats employed by the office of the Chief Protector of Aborigines. I argue that colonial constructions of white femininity disempowered both settler and Indigenous women. Despite being doubly colonised because of their race and gender, Munkara’s female characters maintain their sovereignty by engaging in decolonising practices. Indigenous women’s resistant subjectivity works in tandem with their connection to their lands to expose white ways of knowing as not the universals they are taken to be. They reveal that acquiring the coloniser’s language and imitating white cultural practices do not take away from their Indigeneity. Rather these are signs of Indigenous people’s dynamism and syncretism; they are means by which Indigenous women survive colonisation, maintain their sovereignty, and even creatively counter the colonial imposition.

Is blended learning the future of higher education?: Stakeholders’ Perspectives from Bangladesh

Muhammed Shahriar Haque — 2018-08-11

Government higher education is extremely cheap in Bangladesh, in comparison to private education. To cover the cost of private higher education, graduate students of private universities who work and study at the same time, face an uphill struggle in finding the right balance. In dire circumstances, they are forced to make a critical life changing choice— either to completely become immersed in work, or leave and pursue fulltime higher studies. In such a situation, blended learning can apparently be the answer, as this will enable graduate students to work and study at the same time. However, as hardly any research has been carried out in this field in Bangladesh up until 2018, it seems too naive to jump to conclusions. This paper specifically looks at the implication of blended learning from the perspectives of stakeholders like students pursuing graduate studies, academics, employers, and housewives. Data was gathered from 10 private universities, six corporate sectors, and dropout housewives, and analysedby employing two theories (Social-constructivism and Dual coding) and multimodal model of blended learning (enriched virtual model and flipped classroom). Findings proved to be interesting. The implementation of online classes on the one hand may help learners to balance the work and study equilibrium, as well as decrease dropouts from higher education, on the other hand would be quite costly due to virtual infrastructural development and teacher training.