Precolonial Igbo Voices in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater (2018): A Palimpsestic Search for “Home”

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 81-92
Author(s):  
Eugenia Ossana
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Spiritual Belief ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Fictional Narrative ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Narrative Mode ◽  
Self Formation

The present article examines how Freshwater (2018), the debut novel of the Nigerian writer  Akwaeke Emezi, offers a layered portrayal of precolonial Igbo and western narratives. By recourse to the auto-fictional narrative mode, the fiction deploys a constant tug of war which suggests the culturally hybrid nature of discourses connected to spiritual belief, self-identity dynamics and gender. My analysis pivots around three main discussions. Firstly, I trace and exemplify the aesthetic and thematic imbrication between Igbo cosmology (and Animism) and Christianity. Secondly, I seek to evince the unconventional depiction of plural consciousnesses coexisting in an individual in an effort to contest long-established truisms of self formation. I also focus on the ensuing amalgam between western conceptions of mental illness, trauma and Igbo mystic interpretations of reality. Considering the peripheral Igbo stance the novel depicts, the fiction will be contextualised within the current literary meta- and trans-modernist axis. Thirdly, I refer to transgender issues mapped up and brought to the fore through the main character’s predicament; a search for existential answers commingling divergent paradigms. Thus, Freshwater offers a peculiar polyphony of numinous narratorial voices which strive to question extant (neo)postcolonial truths.

scholarly journals Magical Realism in Neil Gaiman’s Coraline

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-101
Author(s):  
Saeede Hosseinpour ◽  
Nahid Shahbazi Department of English Language and
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Magical Realism ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Main Concern ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Juvenile Literature ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Narrative Mode

Abstract Magical realism, as a narrative mode or genre in adults’ literature, has been in vogue since its revivifying with the publication of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). However, the depiction of the genre in children’s and juvenile literature is a new trend; the presence of its elements have been traced and proved feasibly applicable in the interpretation of recent children’s fiction such as David Almond’s Skelling (1998). In this regard, the main concern of the present article is to sift the characteristic features of magical realism within Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002) through the application of Wendy B. Faris’s theoretical framework of the genre therewith Tzvetan Todorov’s definition of the fantastic in order to introduce the novel as an exemplar of magical realism in the domain of children’s literature.

scholarly journals Convergence of Biology and Gender Identity: A Study of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eyes

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 182-198
Author(s):  
Dr. Vanamala S.M.
Keyword(s):  
Women Characters ◽  
Biological Markers ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Anatomical Difference ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Cultural Pressures ◽  
Exact Point

The concept of gender and the related practices are born at the intersection of biology and politics. Biological markers; physical, physiological and psychological are politicized for hierarchical positioning of man and woman. The nexus between biology and politics has also generated the notion of ‘immutability’ of woman’s ‘gendered self’. Women too, having interiorized the inferiority of the self unquestioningly and have shown little inclination to redefine her-‘self’ after having accepted the nature’s role in her physical and physiological formation. The inability for better ‘self’ definition is also due to the failure to distinguish the exact point of confluence between biology and politics in the socially ascribed gender identities. Caught in the imbroglio woman has suffered crippled social and psychological consequences and the same is well substantiated in the novel The Bluest Eye by African American writer Toni Morrison. The women characters in the novel are paradigms of real life situations. While some do acutely suffer from social and psychological deprivation having interiorized the inferiority of their biological markers, others handle affirmatively the socially ascribed deprivations of their physical self by understanding the nexus between biology and cultural politics. The novel successfully explores the fact that distinct anatomical difference between man and woman or the biological identities of humans should not be the cause or source of discriminatory practices. Or in other words the novel denies the inferiority of woman as something  hermetically sealed and that social factors; advantages of birth (like race and social class), socio-cultural pressures, cultivation of mental culture and many more are of great consequence for both the formation of ‘positive self- identity’ by woman  and for challenging of gender significations.

scholarly journals Self- Identity and Black American Community in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

HARIDRA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (04) ◽  
pp. 32-33
Author(s):  
Sharda Singh ◽  
Priti Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Black American ◽  
Human Being ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
The Core ◽  
Silver Lining

Independent and integrated identity is coveted by every human being. Each one longs to be called an intelligent, aware, talented, responsive and creative individual. Black men and women are no exception .The two needs of home and wholeness; for which they yearn; are not available to them on this earth. And they lose in the game of searching identity. But it is well said that EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING. The present article pinpoints self-esteem and desires of the identify as the core of her protagonists. Sethe,protagonist of the novel Beloved prefers to kill her daughter rather than to re-slave her .Sethe finds that the prevailing definitions of women,mother and wife are challenged by her racist masters…but it is SHE WHO EXERTS HER IDENTY BY PAVING THE TORTOUS PATH..AND REFUTES ALL OBSTACLES WHICH she was sure that being black and women she can never get love and status.

scholarly journals Identity Constructions and Gender in Daisy Hasan’s The To-Let House

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Afrida Aainun Murshida ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Politics Of Identity ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Identity Constructions ◽  
The North ◽  
Gradual Evolution ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
And Gender

This paper is a detailed Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the novel The To-Let House that represents the indigenous struggles, the politics of identity and the construction of a ‘woman’s identity’ amidst the unsettling environment of violence in the historical context of the North Eastern part of India. The paper would analyse and explore the underlying discourse operating in the novel and investigate the core theories and its impact through the conscious choices of the ‘language in use’ by the author. Daisy Hasan’s The To-Let House is primarily marked with the identity constructions and its gradual evolution. The author not only just unravels the struggles that the characters undergo but also counterfeits a sense of identity instituting it towards one’s self identity. The characters in the novel are unable to affiliate themselves into any one particular cultural identity; rather they constantly are struggling within themselves inwardly, in the midst of the violence surrounding them outwardly. This weakness and inability to assign an identity turns out to be a strong narrative that constructs a powerful discourse highlighting the nuances of ‘belongingness.’

Sati

Crisis ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh Bhugra
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Role Expectations ◽  
Prevention Strategies ◽  
Social Causation ◽  
Gender Role Expectations ◽  
Good Wife ◽  
And Gender

Abstract. Sati as an act of ritual suicide has been reported from the Indian subcontinent, especially among the Hindus, for several centuries. Although legally proscribed, these acts occur even now in modern India. The principle behind such acts has been put forward as the principle of good wife. There is little evidence to suggest that women who commit this act suffer from a formal mental illness. Cultural factors and gender role expectations play a significant role in the act and its consequences. Using recent examples, this paper illustrates the cultural factors, which may be seen as contributing to the act of suicide. Other factors embedded in the act also emphasize that not all suicides have underlying psychiatric disorders and clinicians must take social causation into account while preparing any prevention strategies.

Diaghilev and British Writing

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-92
Author(s):  
Susan Jones
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Responses ◽  
Literary Aesthetics ◽  
Ballets Russes ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Opening Up

This article explores the diversity of British literary responses to Diaghilev's project, emphasising the way in which the subject matter and methodologies of Diaghilev's modernism were sometimes unexpectedly echoed in expressions of contemporary British writing. These discussions emerge both in writing about Diaghilev's work, and, more discretely, when references to the Russian Ballet find their way into the creative writing of the period, serving to anchor the texts in a particular cultural milieu or to suggest contemporary aesthetic problems in the domain of literary aesthetics developing in the period. Figures from disparate fields, including literature, music and the visual arts, brought to their criticism of the Ballets Russes their individual perspectives on its aesthetics, helping to consolidate the sense of its importance in contributing to the inter-disciplinary flavour of modernism across the arts. In the field of literature, not only did British writers evaluate the Ballets Russes in terms of their own poetics, their relationship to experimentation in the novel and in drama, they developed an increasing sense of the company's place in dance history, its choreographic innovations offering material for wider discussions, opening up the potential for literary modernism's interest in impersonality and in the ‘unsayable’, discussions of the body, primitivism and gender.

Minorities in the Contemporary Egyptian Novel

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Youssef
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
First Century ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Robust Analysis ◽  
Specific Approach ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Historical Moment

This book examines questions of identity, nationalism, and marginalization in the contemporary Egyptian novel from a postcolonial lens. Under colonial rule, the Egyptian novel invoked a sovereign nation-state by basking in its perceived unity. After independence, the novel professed disenchantment with state practices and unequal class and gender relations, without disrupting the nation’s imagined racial and ethno-religious homogeneity. This book identifies a trend in the twenty-first-century Egyptian novel that shatters this singular view, with the rise of a new consciousness that presents Egypt as fundamentally heterogeneous. Through a robust analysis of “new-consciousness” novels by authors like Idris ᶜAli, Bahaᵓ Tahir, Miral al-Tahawi, and Yusuf Zaydan, the author argues that this new consciousness does not only respond to predominant discourses of difference and practices of differentiation along the axes of race, ethno-religion, class, and gender by bringing the experiences of Nubian, Amazigh, Bedouin, Coptic, Jewish, and women minorities to the fore of Egypt’s literary imaginary, but also heralds the cacophony of voices that collectively cried for social justice from Tahrir Square in Egypt’s 2011-uprising. This study responds to the changing iconographic, semiotic, and formal features of the Egyptian novel. It fulfills the critical task of identifying an emergent novelistic genre and develops historically reflexive methodologies that interpret new-consciousness novels and their mediatory role in formalizing and articulating their historical moment. By adopting this context-specific approach to studying novelistic evolution, this book locates some of the strands that have been missing from the complex whole of Egypt’s culture and literary history.

Large-Scale Demonstration Experiment of Mental Imagery Ability

1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1089-1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Richard Ferraro
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Introductory Psychology Class ◽  
Imagery Ability ◽  
Psychology Class ◽  
Demonstration Experiment ◽  
And Gender

The present article describes a demonstration experiment used in a large introductory psychology class pertaining to mental imagery ability. The experiment is effective in providing a concrete instance of mental imagery as well as an effective discussion regarding individual differences and gender differences in imagery ability.

Who’s holding up the sky? On Rymba, a novel by A. Bushkovsky

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-158
Author(s):  
A. V. Zhuchkova
Keyword(s):  
Gender Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Flood Zone ◽  
The Social ◽  
Russian North ◽  
And Gender

The article deals with A. Bushkovsky’s novel Rymba that goes beyond the topics typical of Russian North prose. Rather than limiting himself to admiring nature and Russian character, the author portrays the northern Russian village of Rymba in the larger context of the country’s mentality, history, mythology, and gender politics. In the novel, myth clashes with reality, history with the present day, and an individual with the state. The critic draws a comparison between the novel and the traditions of village prose and Russian North prose. In particular, Bushkovsky’s Rymba is discussed alongside V. Rasputin’s Farewell to Matyora [ Proshchanie s Matyoroy ] and R. Senchin’s The Flood Zone [ Zona zatopleniya ]. The novel’s central question is: what keeps the Russian world afloat? Depicting the Christian faith as such a bulwark, Bushkovsky links atheism with the social and spiritual roles played by contemporary men and women. The critic argues, however, that the reliance on Christianity in the novel verges on an affectation. The book’s main symbol is a drowning hawk: it perishes despite people’s efforts to save it.

Highlighting the Correlation Between Telomere Shortening and the Susceptibility to the Novel SARS-CoV-2 Virus (COVID-19)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aml Ghanem
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Telomere Shortening ◽  
Infection Pathways ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Demographic Distribution

COVID-19 is a global crisis that requires a deep understanding of infection pathways to facilitate the development of effective treatments and vaccines. Telomere, which is regarded as a biomarker for other respiratory viral infections, might influence the demographic distribution of COVID-19 infection and fatality rates. Viral infection can induce many cellular remodeling events and stress responses, including telomere specific alterations, just as telomere shortening. In brief, this letter aims to highlight the connection between telomere shortening and susceptibility to COVID-19 infection, in addition to changes in telomeric length according to the variation of age and gender of confirmed cases with COVID-19 infection. To sum up, the correlation is revealed from the available data that connect telomere length and COVID-19 infection, demonstrated in the fact that the elderly patients and males are more susceptible to COVID-19 due to shortening in their telomere length.

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