scholarly journals “The accident of the accent”: satiric reflections of contemporary Nigeria in Wole Soyinka’s Alapata Apata

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-51
Author(s):  
Taiwo A. Stanley Osanyemi
Keyword(s):  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Wole Soyinka ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
The World ◽  
Entire Nation ◽  
Artistic Talent

The accident of the accent is the hilarious and artistic device Wole Soyinka employs to portray the societal failings and ways to ameliorate them in Alapata Apata as a writer of national consciousness and global realities. Previous critical studies on this text have focused on the avalanche of satirical elements and their societal manifests in the play with little or no consideration for the accentual mistake (the accident of the accent) and its satirical implications. This is the critical lacuna that this study attempts to fill. The primary text shall be Wole Soyinka’s Alapata Apata which will be subjected to critical textual analysis. Inspirations are drawn from Gerard Genette’s model of Narratology as the theoretical framework to allow for the investigation of the intrinsic visual and auditory images in the text and to undergird the analysis of the findings. It is discovered that there are three prominent strands of accentual representations and their corresponding interpretations of Alapata Apata: Alapata Apata (the butcher on the rock), Alapata Apata (rock spliter) and Alapata Apata (the ruler of the rock domain). This paper concludes that Soyinka’s artistic talent in the play lies largely in the presentation of Yoruba, his mother tongue accent marks to sift out the socio- political faults in his society and by extension in the entire nation of the world.

Getting Real?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Goodhart
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Norms

Chapter 3 engages with realist political theory throughcritical dialogues with leading realist theorists. It argues that realist political theories are much more susceptible to conservatism, distortion, and idealization than their proponents typically acknowledge. Realism is often not very realistic either in its descriptions of the world or in its political analysis. While realism enables the critical analysis of political norms (the analysis of power and unmasking of ideology), it cannot support substantive normative critique of existing social relations or enable prescriptive theorizing. These two types of critique must be integrated into a single theoretical framework to facilitate emancipatory social transformation.

Misunderstanding and Misuse of Darwinism

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-345
Author(s):  
Hubert Markl
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Wilhelm Von Humboldt ◽  
Gregory Bateson ◽  
Neural Imaging ◽  
The World ◽  
True Meaning ◽  
The Many

The reason why I wavered a bit with this topic is that, after all, it has to do with Darwin, after a great Darwin year, as seen by a German scientist. Not that Darwin was very adept in German: Gregor Mendel’s ‘Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden’ (Experiments on Plant Hybrids) was said to have stayed uncut and probably unread on his shelf, which is why he never got it right with heredity in his life – only Gregory Bateson, Ronald A. Fisher, and JBS Haldane, together with Sewall Wright merged evolution with genetics. But Darwin taught us, nevertheless, in essence why the single human species shows such tremendous ethnic diversity, which impresses us above all through a diversity of languages – up to 7000 altogether – and among them, as a consequence, also German, my mother tongue, and English. It would thus have been a truly Darwinian message, if I had written this article in German. I would have called that the discommunication function of the many different languages in humans, which would have been a most significant message of cultural evolution, indeed. I finally decided to overcome the desire to demonstrate so bluntly what cultural evolution is all about, or rather to show that nowadays, with global cultural progress, ‘the world is flat’ indeed – even linguistically. The real sign of its ‘flatness’ is that English is used everywhere, even if Thomas L. Friedman may not have noticed this sign. But I will also come back to that later, when I hope to show how Darwinian principles connect both natural and cultural evolution, and how they first have been widely misunderstood as to their true meaning, and then have been terribly misused – although more so by culturalists, or some self-proclaimed ‘humanists’, rather than by biologists – or at least most of them. Let me, however, quickly add a remark on human languages. That languages even influence our brains and our thinking, that is: how we see the world, has first been remarked upon by Wilhelm von Humboldt and later, more extensively so, by Benjamin Whorf. It has recently been shown by neural imaging – for instance by Angela Friederici – that one’s native language, first as learned from one’s mother and from those around us when we are babies, later from one’s community of speakers, can deeply impinge on a baby’s brain development and stay imprinted in it throughout life, even if language is, of course, learned and not fully genetically preformed. This shows once more how deep the biological roots are that ground our cultures, according to truly Darwinian principles, even if these cultures are completely learned.

Unstoppable Decay and Relentless Hope: Study of Alterity in Popular Culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
Adrien Ordonneau
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Consequences of capitalism’s crises and their manifestations in arts have deeply modified the way we can approach mental health. As Mark Fisher pointed out in 2009 with his book Capitalist Realism, neoliberalism is using mental illness as a way to keep existing. The capacity to think a way out of alienation is deeply linked with arts and popular culture. The article proposes to study the uncanny dialogue between arts and politics in relationships to people, and mental health. The theoretical framework will show how arts are trying to build a way out of alienation, since 2009. The article will illustrate this research with the study of many artistic practices, including our own. The findings will show how the ambiguous and uncanny relationships with the world is used by artists as a way out of alienation, despite the difficulties occurring with mental health in time of crisis.

Islamic International Relations Towards a Theoretical Framework

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gubara Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The World

The Western originators of the multi-disciplinary social sciences and their successors, including most major Western social intellectuals, excluded religion as an explanation for the world and its affairs. They held that religion had no role to play in modern society or in rational elucidations for the way world politics or/and relations work. Expectedly, they also focused most of their studies on the West, where religion’s effect was least apparent and argued that its influence in the non-West was a primitive residue that would vanish with its modernization, the Muslim world in particular. Paradoxically, modernity has caused a resurgence or a revival of religion, including Islam. As an alternative approach to this Western-centric stance and while focusing on Islam, the paper argues that religion is not a thing of the past and that Islam has its visions of international relations between Muslim and non-Muslim states or abodes: peace, war, truce or treaty, and preaching (da’wah).

The Strategies and Practices of Sheikh Azizur Rahman Nesarabadi in the Pursuit of Unity in Diversity and Harmony: The Global Viewpoint

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 520-538
Author(s):  
Fayzul Huq ◽  
Arshad Islam ◽  
Kazi Afifa Khatun
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Good Interest ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The World ◽  
Unity In Diversity

The Muslims of Bangladesh are separated into diverse religious, political, and social groups. Several scholars tried to unite Muslims. One of the most significant Islamic intellectuals of Bangladesh, Sheikh Azizur Rahman Nesarabadi, proposed a paradigm of religious harmony to unite the Bangladeshi people and global nations. According to him, religious harmony with the doctrine of Ittihad Ma’al al-Ikhtelaf (Unity in Diversity) is the only key answer to the current disunity at the national, international, and global levels. This study examines his concept and his role in the society and politics of Bangladesh by textual analysis of primary and secondary data. After analyzing religious harmony itself, we deliver a brief biography of Sheikh Azizur Rahman, presenting his contribution to both Sharia and Sufi education, and their effects on his vision. The study then emphasizes his thoughts on four steps of religious harmony and analyses in light of current social realities in Bangladesh and the Muslim world. This paper concludes that Sheikh Nesarabadi’s thought and theory on religious harmony depend upon three foundations: common good interest, moderation, mutual respect, and the Tawhidic model. These contain the structure for religious harmony of Muslim unity whose implementation by Muslims can achieve the command of Allah to empower the Ummah to continue a leading role in the world as a Khalifah of Allah SWT almighty.

scholarly journals Russia and Spain in the mirror of journalistic discourse: metaphors and stereotypes

2010 ◽  
pp. 247-254
Author(s):  
M. V. LARIONOVA
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
Conceptual Metaphors ◽  
The Press ◽  
The World ◽  
National Stereotypes

В условиях современного информационного общества СМИ играют ведущую роль в формировании и закреплении в сознании национальных стереотипов как особых концептуальных образований, содержащих устойчивые мнения, суждения о какой-либо нации. Газетно-публицистический дискурс, активно тиражируя используемые журналистами этностереотипы, не только отражает специфику национального сознания, но и способствует усилению прагматического воздействия текстов политической коммуникации на существующую в сознании читателей картину мира. В статье на примере сложившихся представлений о России и Испании рассматриваются процессы моделирования с помощью стереотипов и метафор образа одной нации в ментальном пространстве носителей иной лингвокультуры. Marina V. Larionova Russia and Spain in the mirror of journalistic discourse: metaphors and stereotypes In the information-oriented society mass media accomplish a key mission creating and consolidating in human minds national stereotypes defined as specific conceptual formations which contain established opinions, judgements referring to any nation. The journalistic discourse, actively multiplicating ethno stereotypes used by the press, not only reflects specifics of national consciousness, but also promotes pragmatic influence of texts of political communication on the reader's conceptual anticipation of the world. Using the example of traditional stereotypes of Russia and Spain, the article examines the process of modelling by means of stereotypes and conceptual metaphors of the image of one nation in the mentality of the bearers of another national idiomatic culture.

scholarly journals Double Vision, Phosphenes and Afterimages

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-32
Author(s):  
Işık Sarıhan
Keyword(s):  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Double Vision ◽  
Phenomenal Experience ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Mind

Pure representationalism or intentionalism for phenomenal experience is the theory that all introspectible qualitative aspects of a conscious experience can be analyzed as qualities that the experience non-conceptually represents the world to have. Some philosophers have argued that experiences such as afterimages, phosphenes and double vision are counterexamples to the representationalist theory, claiming that they are non- representational states or have non-representational aspects, and they are better explained in a qualia-theoretical framework. I argue that these states are fully representational states of a certain kind, which I call “automatically non-endorsed representations”, experiential states the veridicality of which we are almost never committed to, and which do not trigger explicit belief or disbelief in the mind of the subject. By investigating descriptive accounts of afterimages by two qualia theorists, I speculate that the mistaken claims of some anti-representationalists might be rooted in confusing two senses of the term “seeming”.

scholarly journals Teaching natural and applied sciences in the Arabic language in schools and universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: تدريس العلوم الطبيعية والتطبيقية باللغة العربية في مدارس وجامعات المملكة العربية السعودية

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (37) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wafaa Hafize Alowaydhi, Faziah Ali Salem al-Sayari
Keyword(s):  
Applied Sciences ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
University Professors ◽  
The World ◽  
Descriptive Survey

The study aimed to know the percentage of supporters for the issue of teaching scientific and applied materials in the Arabic language and to reveal the reasons for support for this issue from the viewpoint of supporters, and to know the percentage of opponents and reveal the causes of opposition from the viewpoint of opponents, and the study sample consisted of (1223) individuals that included students from both phases Secondary and university students, science teachers, supervisors, science university professors The researchers followed the descriptive survey method using a questionnaire tool to survey the opinions of the sample on the issue, and the most prominent results are that 81.3% agree to teach natural and applied sciences subjects in the Arabic language instead of teaching them in other languages, and 18.7% see that they do not agree to teach science in the Arabic language, and that 91.1% Among the sample members who believe that understanding the science needs the student to be familiar with the language in which he is studying, if the mother tongue would be easier for him to understand the scientific subjects, while 8.9% do not agree to this, The results showed that 17.9% of respondents believed that teaching natural sciences in the Arabic language would be a reason for isolation from the world, while 82.1% saw the opposite. The study recommended a review of the teaching of natural and applied sciences in the Arabic language and a decision to use them in teaching natural and applied sciences because it is the mother tongue and to strengthen pride in them in the hearts of future generations.

scholarly journals Western's Media Representation of Palestine

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 357
Author(s):  
Rym Ezzina
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Media Representation ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Press ◽  
The World ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
International Event

Media is considered as an important social institution in society as it is the main source of knowledge about what is going on across the world influencing people and shaping their points of view concerning a given event. More specifically, this study is a textual analysis of the coverage of an international event, the Palestinian membership in the United Nations as seen from two western media networks of CNN, and BBC. It investigates the discourse of each network regarding the Palestinian and Israeli people, through the two analytical angles of transitivity and Critical Linguistics to demonstrate that news is socially constructed and that reality in the press is more about opinions and propositions than facts. 

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