scholarly journals The Diasporic Narrative: Identity Crisis in Ghasan Kanafani’s Men in the Sun

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Raed Ali Alsaoud Alqasass
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Narrative Identity ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Sharp Contrast ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
The Past ◽  
Promised Land ◽  
The Future

This study examines Ghasan Kanafani’s Men in the Sun as a representative novella of the Palestinian identity crisis among the Palestinian refugees in the aftermath of the Nakba in 1948. Kanafani’s emplotment of this identity crisis is couched in a diasporic narrative that lays bare a double plot, one before 1948 and another following it. The narrative split reveals a sharp contrast between the present state of the characters on their journey to Kuwait, the promised land, and the past as revealed in their reminiscences of homeland. The paradisaic images of homeland are woven with images of Hellish existence under the scorching sun of the desert. This double narrative is indicative of the split psyche of the characters which is symptomatic of an identity crisis. Their pursuit of a way out of this conflicting state ends with a collective, tragic disillusionment; they end up dead and thrown on a garbage heap without even a proper burial place. Kanafani weaves the different mini narrative threads into one tragic denouement since his novella is not about the fate of individual characters but that of a nation. The silence of the characters prior to their death is a Kanafanian prophecy of the future of the Palestinian Cause after it has lost its power of speech and ended, like the characters, dead on the garbage heap of history.

Looking backward to the future: Counter-memory as oppositional knowledge-production in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yifat Gutman
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Temporal Shift ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Future ◽  
Peace Activism ◽  
Activist Groups

This article examines a strategy of peace activism that gained visibility in the last decades: memory activism. Memory activists manifest a temporal shift in transnational politics: first the past, then the future. Affiliated with the globally-circulating paradigm of historical justice, memory activist groups assume that a new understanding of the past could lead to a new perception of present problems and project alternative solutions for the future. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and discourse analysis among memory activists of the 1948 war in Israel since 2001, the article examines the activist production of counter-memory during active conflict. Using Coy et al.’s typology of oppositional knowledge-production, the article shows how the largest group of memory activism in Israel produced ‘new’ information on the war, critically assessed the dominant historical narrative, offered an alternative shared narrative, and began to envision practical solutions for Palestinian refugees. However, the analysis raises additional concerns that reach beyond the scope of the typology, primarily regarding the unequal power relations that exist not only between the dominant and activist production of oppositional knowledge, but also among activists.

Creating an enabling environment for urban tourism development: the future of Bangkok.

2021 ◽  
pp. 147-158
Author(s):  
Louisa Yee-Sum Lee ◽  
Philip L. Pearce
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Urban Tourism ◽  
The Past ◽  
Enabling Environment ◽  
The Future ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Public Sectors ◽  
The City ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract This chapter considers tourism development in Bangkok from the past to the present, and then ventures on to examine the city's future. The analysis introduces how the evolution of the city, its urbanization and the overall growth of Thai tourism more generally have shaped the present state of Bangkok. The chapter draws on existing literature augmented by in-depth interviews; specifically, six significant and influential interviewees from both the private and public sectors of Bangkok help reveal how the past and present are shaping the future of tourism in the city.

The evolution of culture

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Станислав Борзых ◽  
Stanislav Borzyh
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Evolution Theory ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Definition Of

This book offers a special view on the culture from the position of evolution theory. It begins with definition of culture and concludes that it is a way, by which those species who possess it survive like that do those who have, say, claws, teeth or wings or any other such device and contraption. In this light culture is the same as these features and nothing more. Therefore, it can be recognized and detected in many species and not only in humans. Culture also consists of special units, which can be comparable to instruments or technologies we have. They too are the subjects to evolutionary processes and so they develop and become more complicated during the time. Thus, it is supposed that culture has developed as it is characteristic for all living organisms and all their organs and treats. In fact and in essence culture is a specifically human or otherwise way of survival, our own answer on those natural conditions, in which we found ourselves in the past and which surrounded us in those times we became separate species. Besides there are scrutinized the past, the present and the future of culture through the lens of its new understanding. All what happened in our history though wasn’t in any sense anticipated nevertheless was logical and consistent with stimuli on which we reacted. And this includes civilization as well as the present state of things and affairs without some exceptions. We are only primates who try to survive with those instruments and means we possess, and nothing more than this.

scholarly journals History of Romanian Medical Informatics: Learning from the Past to Reshape the Future

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (01) ◽  
pp. 243-251
Author(s):  
George Mihalas ◽  
Lacramioara Stoicu-Tivadar
Keyword(s):  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Present State ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Active Member ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Periods ◽  
And Training

Objectives: The paper presents a review of the history of medical informatics in Romania, starting from the pioneering works, relating the present, and foreseeing the future. Methods: Major milestones of the development of this field have not been simply enumerated, but described within the specific socio-political frame, grasping the entire context over the last four decades in Romania. Two main perspectives have been traced: education and training in medical informatics and implementations in healthcare. Results: Four distinctive historical periods are identified and the major events of each period are described in a critical manner. The history of the Romanian Society of Medical Informatics is presented in a separate chapter. The last section is dedicated to the present state of the field in Romania. Conclusion: The history of Romanian Medical Informatics spans many years and is rich in content. The Romanian Society of Medical Informatics is mainly the result of the efforts undertaken by an enthusiastic and sound professional community, trying to continue the tradition, to achieve new goals, and to work as an active member of the international biomedical/health informatics community.

scholarly journals Etymology of the Serbian language: With a glance at the past and a look into the future

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 137-161
Author(s):  
Jasna Vlajic-Popovic
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Future Development ◽  
The Past ◽  
Introductory Overview ◽  
The Future ◽  
Etymological Dictionary ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Serbian Academy ◽  
At Home

After an introductory overview of previous achievements in the field, abroad and at home, during the 19th and 20th centuries, this paper deals with the present state of Serbian etymology (i.e. etymology of the Serbian language) among the Serbs which, for several decades now, has been closely related to the Etymological Department of the Serbian Language Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Following an explanation of elements of the etymological analysis, we offer a comparison of the methodologies applied in compiling the two dictionaries presently under development at the Department, a thesaurus-type Etimoloski recnik srpskoga jezika (ERSJ - Etymological Dictionary of the Serbian Language) and the concise Prirucni etimoloski recnik srpskoga jezika (PERSJ - Concise Etymological Dictionary of the Serbian Language). Finally, we present a preliminary projection of the future development of Serbian etymology with a suggested agenda.

Islamic Philosophy: Past, Present and Future

2014 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 265-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Paya
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Historical Survey ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Islamic Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Thought ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Muslim Scholars

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to critically assess the present state of Islamic philosophy in its main home, namely, Iran. However, since such a study requires some knowledge of the past developments of philosophical thought among Muslims, the paper briefly, though critically, deals with the emergence and subsequent phases of change in the views of Muslim philosophers from ninth century onward. In this historical survey I also touch upon the role played by other Muslim scholars such as theologians, mystics and jurists, in shaping Islamic philosophy. The last section of the paper, deals, not in great details, with one or two possible scenarios for the future of Islamic philosophy.

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