The supernatural in short fiction of the Americas: the other world in the New World

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 39-5658-39-5658
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruggero Marino

Who discovered America? We have debated this pointless question for 500 years. There was nothing actually to discover, and with good reason Cristoforo Colombo never used the verb “to discover” nor the word “discovery”. Correctly he didn’t speak about the New World, but “otro mundo”, the other world; say the other half of the globe. The Americas existed already, and already had they been populated. Only the unbound European arrogance and the interests involved in such an extraordinary event could mark as discovery what actually no discovery was. On the other hand, even if we want to proceed in the same reasoning, we could never state with certainty who the “first one” had been. We only know the last one: Cristoforo Colombo. With him and his contribution to the history of navigation, the whole world changed, and the modern age began. If the Americas are, nowadays, for better or worse, what we know, this is solely thanks to Cristoforo Colombo.


Author(s):  
Harith Qahtan Abdullah

Our Islamic world passes a critical period representing on factional, racial and sectarian struggle especially in the Middle East, which affects the Islamic identification union. The world passes a new era of civilization formation, and what these a new formation which affects to the Islamic civilization especially in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon. The sectarian struggle led to heavy sectarian alliances from Arab Gulf states and Turkey from one side and Iran states and its alliances in the other side. The Sunni and Shia struggle are weaken the World Islamic civilization and it is competitive among other world civilization.


Author(s):  
Maxim B. Demchenko ◽  

The sphere of the unknown, supernatural and miraculous is one of the most popular subjects for everyday discussions in Ayodhya – the last of the provinces of the Mughal Empire, which entered the British Raj in 1859, and in the distant past – the space of many legendary and mythological events. Mostly they concern encounters with inhabitants of the “other world” – spirits, ghosts, jinns as well as miraculous healings following magic rituals or meetings with the so-called saints of different religions (Hindu sadhus, Sufi dervishes),with incomprehensible and frightening natural phenomena. According to the author’s observations ideas of the unknown in Avadh are codified and structured in Avadh better than in other parts of India. Local people can clearly define if they witness a bhut or a jinn and whether the disease is caused by some witchcraft or other reasons. Perhaps that is due to the presence in the holy town of a persistent tradition of katha, the public presentation of plots from the Ramayana epic in both the narrative and poetic as well as performative forms. But are the events and phenomena in question a miracle for the Avadhvasis, residents of Ayodhya and its environs, or are they so commonplace that they do not surprise or fascinate? That exactly is the subject of the essay, written on the basis of materials collected by the author in Ayodhya during the period of 2010 – 2019. The author would like to express his appreciation to Mr. Alok Sharma (Faizabad) for his advice and cooperation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (60) ◽  
pp. 253-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Olstein

Abstract World history can be arranged into three major regional divergences: the 'Greatest Divergence' starting at the end of the last Ice Age (ca. 15,000 years ago) and isolating the Old and the New Worlds from one another till 1500; the 'Great Divergence' bifurcating the paths of Europe and Afro-Asia since 1500; and the 'American Divergence' which divided the fortunes of New World societies from 1500 onwards. Accordingly, all world regions have confronted two divergences: one disassociating the fates of the Old and New Worlds, and the other within either the Old or the New World. Latin America is in the uneasy position that in both divergences it ended up on the 'losing side.' As a result, a contentious historiography of Latin America evolved from the very moment that it was incorporated into the wider world. Three basic attitudes toward the place of Latin America in global history have since emerged and developed: admiration for the major impact that the emergence on Latin America on the world scene imprinted on global history; hostility and disdain over Latin America since it entered the world scene; direct rejection of and head on confrontation in reaction the former. This paper examines each of these three attitudes in five periods: the 'long sixteenth century' (1492-1650); the 'age of crisis' (1650-1780); 'the long nineteenth century' (1780-1914); 'the short twentieth century' (1914-1991); and 'contemporary globalization' (1991 onwards).


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s889-s890
Author(s):  
M. Mohammadi

The growth of social activities for women in Iran has had a two-sided outcome for women. The worst, the women have encountered the phenomenon of prison, which is a great problem in traditional and Islamic societies. The change of role expectations after the release from prison has imposed many restrictions on women so that there is not any vivid future for them. Lack of enough education and skill has deprived the prisoner women from retaining their pre-prison situation. The high number of suicide among prisoner women shows that subculture of encountering with prisoned women in Islamic societies is based on sin approach in that the women are sinners who will be sent to hell in the other world and they must see the punishment of their sin to be ready for the extreme heat. Disinterestedness in the interaction with other people and loving isolation are two characteristics of style life for these women. The efforts of authorities to return these women to normal life, unfortunately, have failed to work. This paper investigates the reasons and roots of exclusion for prisoner women in Iran and Islamic societies.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.


1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Keith A. Sprouse ◽  
J. Michael Dash

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 214-241
Author(s):  
Aslıhan Gürbüzel

Abstract What is the language of heaven? Is Arabic the only language allowed in the eternal world of the virtuous, or will Muslims continue to speak their native languages in the other world? While learned scholars debated the language of heaven since the early days of Islam, the question gained renewed vigor in seventeenth century Istanbul against the background of a puritan reform movement which criticized the usage of Persian and the Persianate canon as sacred text. In response, Mevlevī authors argued for the discursive authority of the Persianate mystical canon in Islamic tradition (sunna). Focusing on this debate, this article argues that early modern Ottoman authors recognized non-legal discourses as integral and constitutive parts of the Islamic tradition. By adopting the imagery of bilingual heaven, they conceptualized Islamic tradition as a diverse discursive tradition. Alongside diversity, another important feature of Persianate Islam was a positive propensity towards innovations.


Author(s):  
Ю. А. Абсалямова

В статье анализируются особенности восприятия лесного пространства башкирами. На основе языковых, фольклорных материалов сделана попытка раскрыть различные аспекты взаимоотношений лес - человек, образ леса в картине мира башкир. Как и в большинстве традиционных культур, в целом мифологический образ леса носит отрицательный характер. В фольклоре он часто описывается как тёмный, мрачный, неизвестный, таящий опасности, противопоставляясь обжитому и освоенному пространству селений. Лесной пандемониум также представлен в основном отрицательными персонажами. В целом образ леса в традиционной картине мира башкир предстаёт довольно неоднозначным. С одной стороны - это категория, связанная с потусторонним миром, неизведанная, «чужая» территория. С другой - лес издавна являлся источником различных благ - в виде строительного материала, пушнины, различных продуктов питания, укрывал от врагов. The article analyzes the features of Bashkirs' perception of the forest space. On the basis of the materials of the epos, folklore, folk ideas, an attempt was made to reveal the various aspects of the relationship between forest and man, the image of the forest in Bashkirs' world view. As in most traditional cultures, the mythological image of the forest as a whole is negative. In folklore, it is often described as dark, gloomy, unknown, fraught with danger, being contrasted with the inhabited and developed space of the villages. The forest pandemonium is also represented mainly by negative characters. On the other hand, in the domestic perception forest is valued for the benefits derived from it: shelter, food, protection from enemies. In addition, Bashkirs, distinguished by a developed aesthetic perception and contemplative thinking, appreciated its beauty, which is also reflected in folklore. In general, the image of forest in the Bashkirs' traditional view of the world appears rather ambiguous. On the one hand, it is the category associated with the other world, unknown, «foreign» territory. On the other hand, the forest has long been a source of various benefits - in the form of construction materials, furs, various food products, and it sheltered them from enemies.


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