scholarly journals The Ideological Ranting in the Debut Novels of the Contemporary Pakistani Writers

Author(s):  
Mariam Nadeem ◽  
Sohail Ahmad Saeed

People believe that ideologies work for their betterment by showing them a path of prosperity. However, they fail to understand the consequences of blindly following a specific ideology. In their debut novels, the contemporary writers of Pakistan depict the working of one of these ideologies: religion. The present study aims to analyze the projection and exploitation of power in the name of religion: how people suffer for the sake of faith, and the manipulation that follows it in these selected novels: The Prisoner, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, How it Happened, and Agency Rules. The study also highlights the link between religious ideology and the conditioning of the minds of people. The analysis takes place in the light of Marxist theory. The study discovers the role of religious ideology in overpowering helpless people with the belief that following a certain path will reward them in life after death.

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Gubara Said Hassan ◽  
Jabal M. Buaben

The role of Islamic intellectuals is not confined to elaborating on the religious ideology of Islam. Equally important is their role in setting this religious ideology against other ideologies, sharpening and clarifying their differences, and thereby developing and intensifying one’s commitment to Islam as a distinct, divinely based ideology. Islam, as both a religion and an ideology, simultaneously mobilizes and transforms, legitimizes and preserves. It can be an instrument of power, a source and a guarantee of its legitimacy, as well as a tool to be used in the political struggle among social classes. Islam can also present a challenge to authority whenever the religious movement questions the existing social order during times of crisis and raises a rival power, as the current situation in Sudan vividly demonstrates. Throughout his political career, Hassan al-Turabi has resorted to religious symbolism in his public discourse and/or Islamic rhetoric, which could often be inflammatory and heavily reliant upon the Qur’an. This is, in fact, the embodiment of the Islamic quest for an ideal alternative. Our paper focuses on this charismatic and pragmatic religio-political leader of Sudan and the key concepts of his religious discourse: faith (īmān), renewal (tajdīd), and ijtihād(rational, independent, and legal reasoning).


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-377
Author(s):  
Ewa Domańska ◽  
Paul Vickers

Abstract In this article I demonstrate that the ideas outlined in Jerzy Topolski’s Methodology of History (Polish 1968, English translation 1976) could not only offer a reference point for and indeed enrich ongoing debates in the philosophy of history, but also help to set directions for future developments in the field. To support my argument, I focus on two themes addressed in Topolski’s work: 1) the understanding of the methodology of history as a separate discipline and its role both in defending the autonomy of history and in creating an integrated knowledge of the past, which I read here through the lens of the current merging of the humanities and natural sciences; and 2) the role of a Marxist anthropocentrism based on the notion of humans as the creators of history, which I consider here in the context of the ongoing critique of anthropocentrism. I point to the value of continuing to use concepts drawn from Marxist vocabulary, such as alienation, emancipation, exploitation and overdetermination, for interpreting the current state of the world and humanity. I stress that Marxist anthropocentrism, with its support for individual and collective agency, remains crucial to the creation of emancipatory theories and visions of the future, even if it has faced criticism for its Eurocentrism and might seem rather familiar and predictable when viewed in the context of the contemporary humanities. Nevertheless, new manifestations of Marxist theory, in the form of posthumanist Marxism and an interspecies historical materialism that transcends anthropocentrism, might play an important role in redefining the humanities and humanity, including its functions and tasks within human and multispecies communities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Denni H. R. Pinontoan
Keyword(s):  

In this article, I argue that issues, particularly with regard to concerns of "life after death" and the role of Minahasan forebears within the life of the community, have over time been shaped, reconstructed, and re-represented by a Western Christian moralism. A counterproposal is offered, in the form of a "theology of identity." Embracing an understanding of identity as being a summative projection of a "newborn spirit," this emerging approach to theologizing Minahasan identity offers a novel means to attend to certain turmoils that have festered within the life of the Minahasan church and its Christians.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-189
Author(s):  
Mohsen Bakhtiar

Abstract Proper hejab observance has long been an important issue to political-religious conservatives in Iran who, in recent years, have relied on metaphorical language to persuade Iranian women to dress modestly in public. The present paper, based on Kövecses’s (2015) account of metaphor in context, explores the role of contextual factors involved in the formation of hejab linguistic metaphors used in 56 pro-hejab billboards and posters. Data analysis indicates that the moral and social status of women are depicted as being determined by, or correlated with, their degree of veiling. On that basis, properly covered up women are shown to be the recipients of very positive metaphorical conceptualizations (as pearls, flowers, and angels), whereas immodestly dressed women are negatively pictured as being subject to sexual objectification (as unwrapped edibles). Moreover, the hejab is a protective cover is shown to be the metaphor instantiated in many of the billboards and posters. The protective function of hejab is highlighted by conceptualizing corrupt men as flies and devils. Finally, the metaphorical patterns represent the contextual role of political and religious ideology, key cultural concepts, and show entrenched conventional conceptual metaphors and metonymies in the production of novel metaphors.


Author(s):  
Megan A. Stewart

What role, if any, does religious ideology play in the Islamic State’s (IS) violence and governance strategies? Given the organization’s name alone, the role of religious ideology in the group’s behavior—from challenging its enemies through a combination of violent tactics to undertaking intensive state-building projects—has seemed paramount. This essay, however, argues that the Islamic State’s governance and warmaking strategies are neither unique to the Islamic State nor are they particularly Islamic, as these behaviors are part of revolutionary warfare strategy that crystallized under, and were predominantly implemented by, leftist rebel groups during the Cold War. The Islamic State’s approach is thus a jihadist interpretation of this revolutionary warfare strategy with origins in leftist rebel groups. This essay describes the nature and origins of revolutionary warfare, as well as its spread from leftist and anticolonial movements across ideological categories to jihadist groups. It then demonstrates the parallels in both violence and governance between the Islamic State and Cold War leftist revolutionaries. The essay concludes with a discussion of the role of a religious ideology in terms of the Islamic State’s strategic approach, as well as the implications for jihadist warfare in the future.


Author(s):  
Andrea Giardina

Marxism has slowly declined in recent literature on the economic and social history of the ancient world. If one happens to run into the name of Marx or the term Marxism, it is generally within the context of polemical remark. In spite of recurrent attempts to resuscitate it as an ideal foil for anti-Communist polemic, Marxism made its final exit from the field of ancient historical studies in the 1960s, when new Marxist and Marxist-inspired historiography came to the fore. This chapter discusses the changing role of Marxism in Italian history-writing. It focuses on the historians who claim themselves as Marxists, and those who employ Marxist categories and draw on Marxist theory yet refuse to be defined as Marxists. The chapter examines the debates of the different groups on the historiographic phase marked by the circulation of Marxist concepts, analytical tools, and models outside the strictly Marxist milieu. One of the most striking aspects of this phase is the existence of a trend for the formation of research groups that shared not only an affinity or ideological adherence to Marxism, but also an interest in historical theory and a similar orientation in cultural politics. These interdisciplinary approaches stimulated the confluence of individual competences in group projects aimed at singling out new topics and developing investigational strategies. This historiographic phase also reflected a sense of community, a refusal of traditional academic hierarchies, a wish to keep individualism in check, and the rejection of erudite isolation. In Italy, these forms of association served as a means for ethical and political self-representation of cultural hegemony.


Author(s):  
Mike Saks ◽  
Katherine Zagrodney

Following a neo-Weberian theoretical perspective, with reference to neo-Marxist analyses, this chapter considers the position of health support workers in the market in neo-liberal societies – with a particular focus empirically on a cross-country comparison between the United Kingdom and Canada. It discusses the role of health support workers holistically in the context of the wider range of health professionals with whom they work. Health professions themselves have been claimed in recent years to have been deprofessionalised or proletarianised. However, it is argued here that such trends are overstated and there is still typically a large gulf between the working conditions of this group of health professional occupations and those of health support workers. The latter are critically considered in terms of the recent interest in depicting such groups as the new precariat. It is argued that there is little doubt that in the United Kingdom and Canada most health support workers can be described as operating in precarious conditions. Nonetheless, doubts are raised as to whether this group will become the self-conscious and cohesive class as envisaged in neo-Marxist theory. The conclusion to the chapter highlights the policy implications of the analysis in light of current debates.


Author(s):  
Gary E. Schwartz

Substantial research documents a positive association between religious practice and improved health and well-being. Research on the relationship between spirituality and health is less developed but also positive. Generally speaking, Western science and medicine explain these positive associations via psychological and social mechanisms rather than spiritual (or “metaphysical”) ones. However, contemporary theory and research in consciousness science, including research on near-death experiences and life after death, are pointing to a profound paradigm change in science, shifting from conventional materialist models of nature and the cosmos to postmaterialist models. This chapter introduces the reader to the emerging postmaterialist paradigm in science and considers some of its important implications for understanding and applying spirituality in integrative preventive medicine.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabe Mythen ◽  
Sandra Walklate ◽  
Elizabeth-Jane Peatfield

In the last 15 years the concept of radicalisation has come to prominence as a means of explaining the process by which individuals become attracted to extremist ideology and endorse the actions of terrorist groups. Post 9/11, radicalisation has gained traction in policy, political and media circles in Britain, being commonly connected to the threat of ‘home-grown’ terrorism. In this article, we critique the understanding of radicalisation outlined in the UK Government’s PREVENT strategy. We focus specifically on how particular understandings of radicalisation are constructed, evidenced and operationalised in PREVENT and the way in which these understandings align with party political worldviews. It is posited that an unremitting focus on the role of religious ideology in the process of radicalisation within PREVENT mutes recognition of otherwise important material grievances expressed by individuals involved in violent extremism. At a broader level, our analysis adds to growing concerns around the deleterious impacts of the securitisation of social policy.


Author(s):  
Жезлов ◽  
Nikolay Zhezlov

In this article the role and value of radical religious views in the course of recruitment of suicide bombers, and also in the general system of the factors which are negatively influencing social and ethical climate is analyzed. Definitions to such concepts as "religionism" and "religious extremism", the reasons increasing the number of the single terrorist attacks conducted by terrorists suicide bombers are called. The special attention is paid to process of recruitment in the terrorist organizations. Ways of elimination of the called problem are reflected, and also the role of correctional facilities of criminal and executive system in the course of the prevention of the terrorism based on religious ideas is designated. Relevance of the topic covered in article is caused by growth of number of the negative situations connected with manifestation of extremism, religious strife, the interfaith conflicts and increase of activity of the terrorist organizations using religious ideology for promotion and justification of the activity.


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