scholarly journals Otherness in Buchi Emecheta’s Second-Class Citizen: A Postcolonial Rendering

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1534-1539
Author(s):  
Habib Awais Abubakar ◽  
Isyaku Hassan ◽  
Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi

In postcolonial discourse, the concept of the “Other” represents someone who carries dark human traits such as stigmatization, subjugation, domination, socio-political or cultural misrepresentation. The “Other” represents one of the main postcolonial concepts in literary studies because there is indisputable evidence that the term is a colonial construct. In essence, colonialism has left a permanent mark in the minds of the colonized people and this imprint has significantly manifested in literature. This analysis, thus, aims to explore how the colonial “Other” is represented in Second-Class Citizen (1974), one of the prominent postcolonial novels written by Buchi Emecheta, an author from the colonized African society. This study adopts textual analysis in which context-oriented technique is used to understand the character traits of the colonial “Other” in the two selected texts. The analysis draws upon Postcolonial theory, particularly Edward Said’s Orientalist approach. We show that Emecheta represents the colonial “Other” as backward, inferior, and of lower social class. Also, this representation is based on economic and socio-cultural differences as well as conflictual relationships between African indigenous people and British citizens.

Author(s):  
Dwi Mega Fitriana

<p>The purpose of this research is to analyze the self-positioning and social class phenomenon of <em>The Doll’s House</em>. It tells about social oppression create by upper to dominate lower class. Upper class takes part as dominant while lower class takes part as minority in society. This research uses qualitative research. The researcher needs postcolonial theory to identify the self-positioning between upper and lower class in the short story. The analysis reveals that upper class treats lower class to be the other, subaltern and create social discrimination. The conclusion is the upper class founds powerful, otherwise the lower class is found surviving not fighting from injustice.</p>


1970 ◽  
pp. 64-69
Author(s):  
Ikran Eum

In Egypt, the term ‘urfi2 in relation to marriage means literally “customary” marriage, something that has always existed in Egypt but nowadays tends mostly to be secretly practiced among young people. Traditionally, according to Abaza,3 ‘urfi marriage took place not only for practical purposes (such as enabling widows to remarry while keeping the state pension of their deceased husbands), but also as a way of matchmaking across classes (since men from the upper classes use ‘urfi marriage as a way of marrying a second wife from a lower social class). In this way a man could satisfy his sexual desires while retaining his honor by preserving his marriage to the first wife and his position in the community to which he belonged, and keeping his second marriage secret.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
You-Juan Hong ◽  
Rong-Mao Lin ◽  
Rong Lian

We examined the relationship between social class and envy, and the role of victim justice sensitivity in this relationship among a group of 1,405 Chinese undergraduates. The students completed measures of subjective social class, victim justice sensitivity, and dispositional envy. The results show that a lower social class was significantly and negatively related to envy and victim justice sensitivity, whereas victim justice sensitivity was significantly and positively related to envy. As predicted, a lower social class was very closely correlated with envy. In addition, individuals with a lower (vs. higher) social class had a greater tendency toward victim justice sensitivity, which, in turn, increased their envy. Overall, our results advance scholarly research on the psychology of social hierarchy by clarifying the relationship between social class and the negative emotion of envy.


Author(s):  
Stephen Wilmot

AbstractIn recent years there have been several calls in professional and academic journals for healthcare personnel in Canada to raise the profile of postcolonial theory as a theoretical and explanatory framework for their practice with Indigenous people. In this paper I explore some of the challenges that are likely to confront those healthcare personnel in engaging with postcolonial theory in a training context. I consider these challenges in relation to three areas of conflict. First I consider conflicts around paradigms of knowledge, wherein postcolonial theory operates from a different base from most professional knowledge in health care. Second I consider conflicts of ideology, wherein postcolonial theory is largely at odds with Canada’s political and popular cultures. And finally I consider issues around the question of Canada’s legitimacy, which postcolonial theory puts in doubt. I suggest ways in which these conflicts might be addressed and managed in the training context, and also identify potential positive outcomes that would be enabling for healthcare personnel, and might also contribute to an improvement in Canada’s relationship with its indigenous peoples.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isla Dougall ◽  
Mario Weick ◽  
Milica Vasiljevic

Within Higher Education (HE), lower social class staff and students often experience poorer wellbeing than their higher social class counterparts. Previous research conducted outside educational contexts has linked social class differences in wellbeing with differences in the extent to which low and high social class individuals feel respected (i.e., status), in control (i.e., autonomy), and connected with others (i.e., inclusion). However, to our knowledge, there has been no research that has investigated these factors within HE settings. Furthermore, inclusion, status and autonomy are correlated, yet little is known about how these factors contribute to wellbeing simultaneously, and independently, of one another. To fill these gaps, we report the results of two studies; firstly with HE students (Study 1; N = 305), and secondly with HE staff (Study 2; N = 261). Consistently across studies, reports of poor wellbeing were relatively common and more than twice as prevalent amongst lower social class staff and students compared to higher social class staff and students. Inclusion, status and autonomy each made a unique contribution and accounted for the relationship between social class and wellbeing (fully amongst students, and partially amongst staff members). These relationships held across various operationalisations of social class and when examining a range of facets of wellbeing. Social class along with inclusion, status and autonomy explained a substantial 40% of the variance in wellbeing. The present research contributes to the literature exploring how social class intersects with social factors to impact the wellbeing of staff and students within HE.


2016 ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Reginaldo Francisco

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-4237.2014n16p91O teórico e crítico de tradução francês Antoine Berman afirma que as traduções literárias em suas formas tradicionais e dominantes representam um ato culturalmente etnocêntrico, isto é, que traz tudo à sua própria cultura, às suas normas e valores, buscando fazer com que se esqueça que se trata de uma tradução. Para se opor a essa prática dominante, o autor propõe uma tradução que não esconda o elemento estrangeiro na obra traduzida, e que para isso seja fiel à “letra” (lettre) do original. Essa oposição é muito conhecida também nos termos utilizados pelo teórico norte-americano Lawrence Venuti, que fala em “domesticação” (domestication) e “estrangeirização” (foreignization) para se referir respectivamente às práticas tradutórias que ocultam as diferenças culturais, adaptando tudo à cultura de chegada, e àquelas que mantêm a estranheza do texto original e da cultura de partida. Interpretações mais radicais das ideias desses autores podem levar a pensar a tradução como dividida nessas duas possibilidades, e muitas vezes à escolha de uma delas como ideal e a outra como condenável. Entretanto, assim como com dicotomias mais antigas (literal x livre, equivalência formal x equivalência dinâmica, etc.), também estas não são duas categorias estanques, podendo haver diferentes combinações de ambas na tradução de um mesmo texto, além de estratégias híbridas ou soluções que não representam nem uma nem outra posição. Neste trabalho discuto a problematização dessa dicotomia, incluindo exemplos de minha tradução do italiano para o português do livro infantojuvenil O diário de Gian Burrasca, de Luigi Bertelli (Vamba).ABSTRACTFrench translation theorist and critic Antoine Berman states that in their traditional and dominant forms literary translations represent a culturally ethnocentric act, which adapts everything to its own culture, standards and values, seeking to make readers forget that they are reading a translation. To oppose this dominant practice, the author suggests a kind of translation that would not hide the foreign element in the translated work, one that is faithful to the “letter” (lettre) of the original text. A similar opposition to that / to Berman’s is also well-known through the terms “domestication” and “foreignization” as defined by American theorist Lawrence Venuti, who uses them to refer to translation practices that on one hand conceal cultural differences, adapting everything to the target culture, and on the other keep the strangeness of both source text and culture in the translation. Radical interpretations of these authors’ ideas may lead to the misconception that translation is divided into those two possibilities, and often to the judgement that one of them is ideal and the other condemnable. Nevertheless, as with other older dichotomies (literal vs. free translation, formal vs. dynamic equivalence, etc.), these are not clearly distinguishable and opposed categories. There may be different combinations of them in the translation of a text, as well as hybrid strategies or solutions that do not represent either one of them. In this paper I discuss the problems of such dichotomy, drawing examples from my translation of Luigi Bertelli’s book Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca from Italian to Portuguese.Keywords: foreignization; domestication; dichotomy.


1994 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 1027-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank N. Willis ◽  
Vicki A. Rawdon

Women have been reported to be more positive about same-gender touch, but cross-cultural information about this touch is limited. Male and female students from Chile (n = 26), Spain (n = 61), Malaysia (n = 32), and the US (n = 77) completed a same-gender touch scale. As in past studies, US women had more positive scores than US men. Malaysians had more negative scores than the other three groups. Spanish and US students had more positive scores than Chilean students. National differences in attitudes toward particular types of touch were also noted. The need for new methods for examining cross-cultural differences in touch was discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-56
Author(s):  
Lena Johansson de Château

In this paper, colonialism is used as a key concept for a discussion on the relationship between classical archaeology and archaeological practice in the Maghreb region. Archaeological studies of rural water management in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya are reviewed, focussing on the representation of the Romans and the indigenous people. Drawing on postcolonial theory, an alternative approach to water management in the Maghreb during the Roman period is suggested. A strong relationship between modern colonialism and the representation of ancient colonialism in archaeological writings is evident from my analysis. It is suggested that postcolonial approaches may contribute to a revaluation of the Maghreb as an archaeological region.


Author(s):  
Longjam Bedana ◽  
Sangeeta Laishram ◽  
Moirangthem Priyobrata Singh

The African society is one of the societies with rich culture and traditions. Apart from the indigenous religion of Africa, Christianity and Islam are worshiped as the major religions of the African society. Literature reflects a great amount of influence of religions on the existing societies, people and cultures. African literature often mirrors the clash of indigenous religion with Christianity. In the writings of African authors one can find the elements of Christian beliefs and practices. The present paper, however, is focused on the African woman novelist Buchi Emecheta’s selected four novels: Second-Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave-Girl (1977) and The Joys of Motherhood (1979). The paper attempts to discuss the impact of Christianity on the social and cultural aspects of the African society with special focus on African women. The findings reveal the positive as well as negative impacts of the new religion on African people and on the position of African women through the characters present in the selected novels. With the medium of writing and through Christianity, Emecheta seek to educate her society and improve upon the position of the African women.


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