Reading Identity, Reading Essence: A Strategic Essentialist Approach to Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-101
Author(s):  
Saleha Ilhaam
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Strategic Essentialism ◽  
Reading Identity ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

The term strategic essentialism, coined by Spivak, is generally understood as “a political strategy whereby differences (within Group) are temporarily downplayed, and unity assumed for the sake of achieving political goals.” On the other hand, essentialism focuses that everything in this world has an intrinsic and immutable essence of its own. The adaption of a particular “nature” of one group of people by way of sexism, culturalization, and ethnification is strongly linked to the idea of essentialism. Mulk Raj Anand’s Bakha is dictated as an outcast by the institutionalized hierarchy of caste practice. He is essentialized as an untouchable by attributing to him the characteristic of dirt and filth. However, unlike other untouchables, Bakha can apprehend the difference between the cultured and uncultured, dirt and cleanliness. Via an analysis of Anand’s “Untouchable,” the present article aims to bring to the forefront the horrid destruction of the individual self that stems from misrepresentations of personality. Through strategic essentialism, it unravels Bakha’s contrasting nature as opposed to his pariah class, defied by his remarkable inner character and etiquette. The term condemns the essentialist categories of human existence. It has been applied to decontextualize and deconstruct the inaccurately essentialized identity of Bakha, which has made him a part of the group he does not actually belong to.

scholarly journals The Moral Justification of Religion

1909 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-185
Author(s):  
Ralph Barton Perry
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Moral Justification ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Personal Liberty ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Artificial Illumination ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Fear Of The Lord ◽  
Human Destiny

It is generally agreed that religion is either the paramount issue or the most serious obstacle to progress. To its devotees religion is of overwhelming importance; to unbelievers it is, in the phrasing of Burke, “superstitious folly, enthusiastical nonsense, and holy tyranny.” The difference between the friends and the enemies of religion may, I think, be resolved as follows. Religion recognizes some final arbitration of human destiny; it is a lively awareness of the fact that, while man proposes, it is only within certain narrow limits that he can dispose his own plans. His nicest adjustments and most ardent longings are overruled; he knows that until he can discount or conciliate that which commands his fortunes his condition is precarious and miserable. And through his eagerness to save himself he leaps to conclusions that are uncritical and premature. Irreligion, on the other hand, flourishes among those who are more snugly intrenched within the cities of man. It is a product of civilization. Comfortably housed as he is, and enjoying an artificial illumination behind drawn blinds, the irreligious man has the heart to criticize the hasty speculations and abject fear of those who stand without in the presence of the surrounding darkness. In other words, religion is perpetually on the exposed side of civilization, sensitive to the blasts that blow from the surrounding universe; while irreligion is in the lee of civilization, with enough remove from danger to foster a refined concern for logic and personal liberty. There is a sense, then, in which both religion and irreligion are to be justified. If religion is guilty of unreason, irreligion is guilty of apathy. For without doubt the situation of the individual man is broadly such as religion conceives it to be. There is nothing that he can build, nor any precaution that he can take, that weighs appreciably in the balance against the powers which decree good and ill fortune, catastrophe and triumph, life and death. Hence to be without fear is the part of folly. Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.

scholarly journals Makna Psikologis dan Teologis Keberadaan Manusia Menurut Lukas 10:27

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-46
Author(s):  
Zevania Venda Andaline
Keyword(s):  
Human Existence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Difference

The difference in viewpoints between dichotomous and trichotomic understandings will certainly not subside. The dichotomous believer has an emphasis on the visible and invisible. On the other hand, those who want to describe human existence in more detail are often called trichotomists. Yet if you want to sort out the existence of humans will be more than just 3 parts.

Termin kandaulos/kandylos (κανδαυλοσ/ κανδυλοσ) na podstawie λεχεων συναγωγη Focjusza oraz "Commentari ad Homeri Iliadem" Eustacjusza z Tessaloniki

Vox Patrum ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 361-373
Author(s):  
Maciej Kokoszko ◽  
Katarzyna Gibel-Buszewska
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Present Article ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cooked Meat

The present article focuses on one of the Greek delicacies mentioned by Photius and Eustathius, i.e. a Lydian import called kandaulos/kandylos. The dish was developed before the mid. VI th c. BC and named after a Lydian king, Kandaules, who ruled in the VII th c. BC. The delicacy was (via the Ionians) borrowed by the Helens and established itself in Greece sometime in the V th c. It became popular in Hellenistic times. The information we possess allow us to reconstruct two varieties of kandaulos/ kandylos. The first was savoury and consisted of cooked meat, stock, Phrygian cheese, breadcrumbs and dill (or fennel). The other included milk, lard, cheese and honey. The dish is reported to have been costly, prestigious and indicating the social status of those who would eat it. Though there is much evidence suggesting its popularity in antiquity, we lack solid evidence proving that kaunaudlos/kandylos was eaten in Byzantine times. On the other hand, Byzantine authors preserved the most detailed literary data on the delicacy. If it had not been for the Byzantine interest, our competence in the field of Greek cuisine would be even faultier.

Laughter on the Fringes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Peterson
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Literary Canon ◽  
Autobiographical Writing ◽  
Treasure Trove ◽  
Old Comedy ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Aggressive Humor ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

This book examines the impact that Athenian Old Comedy had on Greek writers of the Imperial era. It is generally acknowledged that Imperial-era Greeks responded to Athenian Old Comedy in one of two ways: either as a treasure trove of Atticisms, or as a genre defined by and repudiated for its aggressive humor. Worthy of further consideration, however, is how both approaches, and particularly the latter one that relegated Old Comedy to the fringes of the literary canon, led authors to engage with the ironic and self-reflexive humor of Aristophanes, Eupolis, and Cratinus. Authors ranging from serious moralizers (Plutarch and Aelius Aristides) to comic writers in their own right (Lucian, Alciphron), to other figures not often associated with Old Comedy (Libanius) adopted aspects of the genre to negotiate power struggles, facilitate literary and sophistic rivalries, and provide a model for autobiographical writing. To varying degrees, these writers wove recognizable features of the genre (e.g., the parabasis, its agonistic language, the stage biographies of the individual poets) into their writings. The image of Old Comedy that emerges from this time is that of a genre in transition. It was, on the one hand, with the exception of Aristophanes’s extant plays, on the verge of being almost completely lost; on the other hand, its reputation and several of its most characteristic elements were being renegotiated and reinvented.

scholarly journals The Difficult alliance. Military cooperation between the ruthenian king Daniel and the Piasts of Mazovia

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-112
Author(s):  
Michał Skoczyński
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Military Cooperation ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Historical Methodology ◽  
The Military

Abstract The article presents the military cooperation between the King of Galician-Volhynian Ruthenia, Daniel Romanowicz, and the Dukes of Mazovia, Konrad and his son Siemowit. The alliance, based as a counterweight for the cooperation between the King of Hungary and the Piast princes of Lesser Poland, who were trying to conquer Ruthenia and dominate all Piast principalities in then fragmented Poland. It lasted for several decades from the 1220’s to the 1260’s and was primarly aimed at mutual protection against the invasions of the pagan Yotvingians and supporting each other in armed conflicts. The text contains an analysis of war expeditions, tactics and ways of support that were given by both sides of the allianace. It is a new point of view on this aspect of political strategy of both sides that in some ways defined the regional situation. Ruthenians granted masovian Piasts some mobile and political uncommited support in fight with their relatives in Poland, and also secured their border with the Yotvingians. On the other hand, masovian knights were an additional strike force in ruthenian plundering expeditions to Yotvingia. The research was based on the analysis of preserved historical sources and scientific literature using historical methodology.

scholarly journals Another Name for Liberty: Revelation, ‘Objectivity,’ and Intellectual Freedom in Barth and Marion

Open Theology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 430-450
Author(s):  
Kristóf Oltvai
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Intellectual Freedom ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
Absolute Truth ◽  
Saturated Phenomenon ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Karl Barth’s and Jean-Luc Marion’s theories of revelation, though prominent and popular, are often criticized by both theologians and philosophers for effacing the human subject’s epistemic integrity. I argue here that, in fact, both Barth and Marion appeal to revelation in an attempt to respond to a tendency within philosophy to coerce thought. Philosophy, when it claims to be able to access a universal, absolute truth within history, degenerates into ideology. By making conceptually possible some ‚evental’ phenomena that always evade a priori epistemic conditions, Barth’s and Marion’s theories of revelation relativize all philosophical knowledge, rendering any ideological claim to absolute truth impossible. The difference between their two theories, then, lies in how they understand the relationship between philosophy and theology. For Barth, philosophy’s attempts to make itself absolute is a produce of sinful human vanity; its corrective is thus an authentic revealed theology, which Barth articulates in Christian, dogmatic terms. Marion, on the other hand, equipped with Heidegger’s critique of ontotheology, highlights one specific kind of philosophizing—metaphysics—as generative of ideology. To counter metaphysics, Marion draws heavily on Barth’s account of revelation but secularizes it, reinterpreting the ‚event’ as the saturated phenomenon. Revelation’s unpredictability is thus preserved within Marion’s philosophy, but is no longer restricted to the appearing of God. Both understandings of revelation achieve the same epistemological result, however. Reality can never be rendered transparent to thought; within history, all truth is provisional. A concept of revelation drawn originally from Christian theology thus, counterintuitively, is what secures philosophy’s right to challenge and critique the pre-given, a hermeneutic freedom I suggest is the meaning of sola scriptura.

Geography and the Gerrymander

1918 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. O. Sauer
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Major Part ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Adequate Knowledge ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Partial Suppression ◽  
Historical Basis ◽  
The Individual

The gerrymander is an American name for a political abuse, which, though by no means exclusively American, has been most widely practiced and generally tolerated in this country. It is a device for the partial suppression of public opinion that simulates agreement with democratic institutions. The subterfuge, therefore, has no place in countries in which oligarchic control is legitimized. Nor is it suited to European conditions, because it is difficult there to shift electoral boundaries. European electoral units in large part have a clearly defined historical basis, which in turn rests upon geographic coherence. This solidarity is commonly so great that it cannot be disregarded. American political divisions on the other hand show in major part very imperfect adjustment to economic and historic conditions, largely, because many of the divisions were created in advance of such conditions. They are, in the main, not gradual growths, but deliberate and arbitrary legislative creations, made without adequate knowledge of the conditions that make for unity or disunity of population within an area. Political divisions tend, therefore, to be less significant than in European countries and to be regarded more lightly. It is in particular the smaller unit, such as the county, that has been manipulated for electoral purposes. In spite of their poorly drawn individual boundaries, groups of counties can be organized into larger electoral units in such a manner as to represent a common body of interests predominating. On the other hand they can be so arranged as to mask these interests. The lack of proper coherence in the individual county may be rectified in large measure in the group, or it may be intensified. Gerrymandering accomplishes the latter result.

Markedness and Perspective in the Interpretation of the Active and Passive Voice

1974 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Klenbort ◽  
Moshe Anisfeld
Keyword(s):  
Information Content ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clear Pattern ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Logical Subject ◽  
The Difference

The subjects were presented with active and passive sentences. For each sentence, they had to choose between two alternative implications. The pattern of choices indicates that in the passive the logical subject was interpreted by the subjects as the focal point of the information asserted by the sentence and as the carrier of overall responsibility for the sentential proposition. In contrast to the passive, there was no clear pattern of preferences for the active. The difference between the two voices was attributed to their markedness asymmetry, the passive being marked and the active unmarked. It is concluded that the active offers a neutral structure for conveying information; a structure available for use when one does not want to superimpose on the information content any stylistic or connotational implications. The passive, on the other hand, suggests special connotations in addition to the basic message.

Scenarios as Tools of the Scientific Imagination: The Case of Climate Projections

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-61
Author(s):  
Michael Poznic ◽  
Rafaela Hillerbrand
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
The Public ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
Scientific Imagination

Climatologists have recently introduced a distinction between projections as scenario-based model results on the one hand and predictions on the other hand. The interpretation and usage of both terms is, however, not univocal. It is stated that the ambiguities of the interpretations may cause problems in the communication of climate science within the scientific community and to the public realm. This paper suggests an account of scenarios as props in games of make-belive. With this account, we explain the difference between projections that should be make-believed and other model results that should be believed.

Prevalence and Causal Factors of Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders of the Upper Extremity and Trunk among Japanese Pianists and Piano Students

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 112-117
Author(s):  
Shinichi Furuya ◽  
Hidehiro Nakahara ◽  
Tomoko Aoki ◽  
Hiroshi Kinoshita
Keyword(s):  
Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Significant Risk Factor ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Difference

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) among Japanese female classical pianists of different age groups. The causal factors for PRMDs also were examined. A group of 203 senior pianists, including piano teachers and students with piano majors at high schools and colleges, were surveyed using questionnaires. Results showed that 77% of these pianists suffered from PRMDs in at least one of their body portions. This value was larger than those reported in Western countries. Forty-four percent of these were serious enough to warrant medical treatment, which was a lower rate than reported in Western countries. The difference in these numbers may reflect the current state of understanding of PRMDs among Japanese pianists and their educators. The prevalence of PRMDs was found to be age-dependent. In the student groups, the finger/hand had the highest rate of PRMDs, followed by the forearm and shoulder. The senior group, on the other hand, had the highest PRMD incidence at the neck/trunk, followed by the forearm and hand/finger. Care may need to be exercised for these differences. The results also indicated that prolonged daily practice (>4 hours), playing chords forcefully, eagerness about practice, and nervous traits were found to contribute to the development of PRMDs in these pianists. Hand size was, on the other hand, not a significant risk factor of PRMDs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document