scholarly journals Reading Discourses of Power and Violence in Emerging Kashmiri Literature in English: The Collaborator and Curfewed Night

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-49
Author(s):  
Amrita Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Literary Texts ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Conflict Zone ◽  
Living Dead ◽  
Dead Bodies ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Forms Of Violence

This essay studies two literary texts on Kashmir, The Collaborator (2011) by Mirza Waheed and Curfewed Night (2010) by Basharat Peer and analyzes the discourses of power, overt forms of violence that the works present. It first contextualizes events from the last three years that have occurred in Kashmir to present forms of violence Kashmiri subjects undergo in the quotidian of life. The essay, thus, argues that the selected literary works represent Kashmir as a unique postcolonial conflict zone that defies an easy terminology to understand the onslaught of violence, and the varied forms of power. As analyzed in the article, one finds a curious merging of biopolitics and necropolitics that constructs the characters as “living dead” within this emergency zone. For this, the theoretical trajectory of the essay is mapped out to show the transition from Foucault and Agamben’s idea of biopolitics to Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics. Thereafter, essay concludes how the two texts illustrate Agamben’s notion of the bare life is not enough to understand subjects living in this unique postcoloniality. The presence of death and the dead bodies go beyond bare life and shows how that bodies become significant signifiers that construct a varied notion of agency.

scholarly journals Ghost Theme is Ancient Kannada and Tamil texts

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 68-74
Author(s):  
Jayalalitha
Keyword(s):  
Tenth Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Evil Spirit ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Technical Term ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Evil Spirits ◽  
The Dead

As members of Dravidian family of Languages, Kannada and Tamil are close to each other. Apart from linguistic and grammatical similarities there are comparable elements in literary texts also. There are similar motifs and themes in Ancient Kannada and Tamil literary works. Though a few studies have concentrated in the similarities of Kannada and Tamil grammars, very little is done on the similar features of literary works. This paper makes an attempt to bring out a surprising motif of ghosts that occur in Ancient Kannada and Tamil texts. Tolkappiyam is an early grammatical work in Tamil and date of which is believed to be from 1 to 3 AD. This book speaks of a concept of ‘Thodakkaanji’. This concept is explained by commentators as not allowing the evil spirit to eat the body of the hero who died during a war. The same concept, though the technical term to denote the concept is absent, is present in the Kannada text ‘Sahasa Bheema Vijaya or Gadhayuddha’ by the Ranna, who belongs to the tenth century. While the theme of the narration centers around the battle of maces between Bhima and Duryodhana on the last day of the eighteen-day war, the poet uses a technique similar to flashbacks. This technic we can see in Tamil as a “Singanokku” which is used in grammar text to explain the ‘noorpaa’. Ranna the Kannada poet gives the details of an incident of the war field where the dead leader’s body is guarded from evil spirits/ ghosts by the fellow warriors whose wounds are less fatal. Tolkappiyam is an earlier work and Ranna’s work is late period. But that the particular theme of Thodakkanchi occurs in the Kannada and Tamil contexts merits mention and study a rare example which has not been brought out by anybody so far. Such similar points of comparison are brought out elaborately in this article.

Fight the Dead, Fear the Living

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Clasen
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Highly Effective ◽  
Living Dead ◽  
The Dead

George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) depicts the futile attempts of a group of people to survive a zombie outbreak by barricading themselves in a farm house. Romero’s film introduced the modern horror zombie, a reanimated, rotting corpse that feeds on the living, travels in hordes, and is contagious. This chapter argues that Romero’s implausible monster is highly effective because it triggers defensive adaptations in human evolutionary psychology, especially adaptations to predators and contagious substances. The zombie’s counterintuitive aspect, its undeath, makes it especially salient. Romero used the figure to probe human reactions to disaster and to paint a vivid picture of the inevitability of conflict and defeat, especially in terms of social, psychological, and organic breakdown. It resonated especially with disillusioned moviegoers at the time of its release, but the film’s monsters and themes continue to engage people because of their evolutionary salience.

Art. III.—On the Methods of Disposing of the Dead at Llassa, Thibet, etc.

1873 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
Charles Horne
Keyword(s):  
The Subject ◽  
Dead Bodies ◽  
The Dead

In the year 1857 one of the travelling Llamas from Llassa came to Lahoul, in the Kûlû country on the Himalêh, and hearing of the mutiny was afraid to proceed. Major Hay, who was at that place in political employ, engaged this man to draw and describe for him many very interesting ceremonies in use in Llassa, amongst which was the method there employed in disposing of dead bodies. This so exactly confirms the accounts given by Straboand Cicero, and is, moreover, of itself so curious, that I have transcribed it, with as many passages relating to the subject as readily came to hand; and as the Llama was a very fair draughtsman, I have had facsimiles made of his drawings to illustrate this paper. I will first give the extracts, and then the account of the Llama.

scholarly journals Finding the dead: bodies, bones and burials from the 1845 Franklin northwest passage Expedition

Polar Record ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas R. Stenton
Keyword(s):  
Human Remains ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Northwest Coast ◽  
Northwest Passage ◽  
Dead Bodies ◽  
Failed Attempt ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Back River

AbstractOn 22 April 1848, after three years in the Arctic, and 19 months spent ice-bound in northern Victoria Strait, the 105 surviving officers and crew of the Franklin Northwest Passage expedition deserted HMSErebusand HMSTerroras the first step of their escape plan. They assembled at a camp south of Victory Point on the northwest coast of King William Island and made the final preparations for the next step, a 400 km trek along the frozen seashores of King William Island and Adelaide Peninsula to the Back River. All of the men died before reaching their destination, and their remains have been found at 35 locations along the route of the retreat. These discoveries have played a central role in reenactments of events thought to have occurred during the failed attempt to reach the Back River and to the disastrous outcome of the expedition. This paper presents a summary of these findings and examines the criteria used to attribute them to the Franklin expedition. It is suggested that approximately one-third of the identifications have been based on information that is inadequate to confidently assign the human remains as those of Franklin expedition personnel.

scholarly journals Procesy i egzekucje „żywych trupów” przed sądami miejskimi i wiejskimi w XVI–XVIII wieku – przyczynek do wierzeń w magia posthuma na Śląsku

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4 (1)) ◽  
pp. 77-92
Author(s):  
Daniel Wojtucki
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Expert Witnesses ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Living Dead ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Middle Ages

There are references reaching back to the Middle Ages, regarding the fear of the “undead” or “living dead” who would rise from their graves in a local cemetery to haunt and harm the community. The fear of the “undead” was extremely strong, and the entailing hysteria often affected entire communities. In the 16th to the 18th century, in Silesia, effective forms of coping with the harmful deceased were developed. Analysing the preserved source material, we are able to determine that the basic actions involved finding the grave of the “undead” in the cemetery, exhuming the corpse and destroying it. However, this did not always mean the total annihilation of the poor man’s corpse. The trial and execution of the corpse of a person suspected of the harmful activity against the living took place observing almost the same rules as in the case of the living. Apart from the authorities, who usually commissioned local jurors to handle the situation, opinions and advice were also sought from the clergy as well as gravediggers and executioners. The last were considered to be experts of sorts and were often called upon to see corpses of the suspected dead. In the analysed cases of posthumous magic (magia posthuma) in Silesia, we deal with two directions of handling the corpse accused of a harmful posthumous activity. In both cases, the main decision was made to remove such corpses from the cemetery’s area. Costs of the trial and execution of the “undead” were considerable. They included expenses incurred due to rather frequent court hearings at which sometimes dozens of witnesses were heard, payments to expert witnesses, payments to guards watching graves, costs of legal instructions, services of gravediggers who would dig up suspicious graves, and, finally, the remuneration of executioners and their people. In the second half of the 18th century, despite relevant decrees issued by supreme authorities, trials and executions of the dead were not completely abandoned.

scholarly journals Deconstruction of Binary Opposition in Kritikus Adinan Story by Budi Darma

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Iswadi Bahardur
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Data Source ◽  
The Subject

<p><span lang="EN-US">Writing this article backed by mult</span><span>i</span><span lang="EN-US"> interpretation problems raised by a text, especially literary texts. Mult</span><span>i</span><span lang="EN-US"> interpretation is inseparable from the consciousness and unconscious of the subject of the author, as well as the process of reconstruction by the reader. Based on this article this article aims to describe the results of deconstructing binary opposition readings on the story of <em>Kritikus Adinan</em> by Budi Darma. The data source used is the story of <em>Kritikus Adinan.</em> The research method used is descriptive analysis with the theoretical perspective of deconstruction of Jaques Derrida. Based on the findings and data analysis, the results show the following. <em>First</em>, the deconstruction readings of the <em>Kritikus Adinan</em> can not be separated from the word-scoring process as Jaques Derrida puts it in deconstruction theory. <em>Secondly</em>, the reconstruction of Kritkus Adinan’s story leads to unfamiliarity but leads the reader to discover the marginalized texts.<em> Third</em>, based on the results of deconstruction reading in the story of <em>Kritikus Adinan</em>, there is a binary opposition that has been denied and broken by the author by presenting a reversal of fact.  Suggestions that can be recommended are many other literary works that are worthy and important to be reviewed by other researchers to uncover the phenomenon of reversing the facts by the author.</span></p>

Living Dead: Fearful Attractions of Film

2010 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Lowenstein
Keyword(s):  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Horror Films ◽  
Temporal Relations ◽  
Historical Understanding ◽  
Living Dead ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Relationship

This essay analyzes the relationship between fear and film by exploring the theoretical concept of "attractions" and its value for a historical understanding of three seminal American horror films directed by George A. Romero: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Land of the Dead (2005), and Diary of the Dead (2008). All three films belong to the same "Living Dead" series, so the essay focuses especially on their shared temporal relations to historical trauma through issues of deferral, belatedness, and retranscription.

Corpses of atonement: the discovery, commemoration and reinterment of eleven Alsatian victims of Nazi terror, 1947–52

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devlin M. Scofield
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
School Children ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Mass Grave ◽  
Wide Cross ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Dead Bodies ◽  
The Dead

In April 1947, a mass grave containing the bodies of 11 Alsatians executed by the Offenburg Gestapo in December 1944 was uncovered in Rammersweier. In the following days, the bodies were exhumed, placed in coffins and, after a two day vigil by local residents, solemnly and publically reburied after a two confessional service in the presence of school children and a wide cross-section of local and state authorities. A roadside memorial was constructed for the victims in 1948. The bodies of the murdered Alsatians played a central symbolic role throughout the process of exhumation, commemoration, and response to the later vandalism of the erected monument in their name. This chapter argues that the meticulous attention to the remembrance activities surrounding the reburial and memorialisation of the Alsatians and the intensity of the vandalism investigation demonstrates that Badenese officials were convinced that their responses contained a symbolic resonance beyond giving eleven more victims of Nazi terror a proper burial. In effect, contemporary Badenese authorities and their Alsatian counterparts came to view the dead bodies as representative of the larger crimes of the Nazi regime, particularly those perpetrated against the population of Alsace.

Making an Exhibition of Ourselves: Using the Dead to Fight the Battles of the Living

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dead Body ◽  
American Military ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Dead Bodies ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Osama Bin Laden ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Nuremberg Trials

In October 2011, graphic images of a blood-stained and dead Muammar Gaddafi were sent around the internet. For some time after his death, his dead body was displayed at a house in Misrat, where masses of people queued to see it. His corpse provided a focus for the Libyan people, as proof that he really was dead and could finally be dominated. When Osama bin Laden was killed by the American military in May that same year, unlike Gaddafi, the body was absent, but the absence was significant. Shortly after he was killed a decision was taken not to show pictures of the dead body and it was buried at sea. The American military appear to have been concerned it would become a physical site for his supporters to congregate, and the photographs used by different sides in a propaganda war. Both cases reflect an aim to control the dead body and associated meanings with the person; that is not unusual: after the Nuremberg trials, the Allied authorities cremated Hermann Göring—who committed suicide prior to his scheduled hanging—so that his grave would not become a place of worship for Nazi sympathizers. These examples should remind us that dead bodies have longer lives than is at first obvious. They are central to rituals of mourning, but beyond this, throughout history, they have also played a role in political battles and provided a—sometimes contested—focus for reconciliation and remembrance. They have political and social capital and are objects with symbolic potential. In The Political Lives of Dead Bodies the anthropologist Katherine Verdery explores the way the dead body has been used in this way and why it is particularly effective. Firstly, she observes, human remains are effective symbolic objects because their meaning is ambiguous; that is whilst their associated meanings are contingent on a number of factors, including the individual and the cultural context, they are not fixed and are open to interpretation and manipulation: ‘Remains are concrete, yet protean; they do not have a single meaning but are open to many different readings’ (Verdery 1999: 28).

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