Resistance through Female Bonding in Tehmina Durrani's Blasphemy

The present research article analyses the suffering of women and their resistance against oppressive Islamic patriarchy through female bonding in Tehmina Durrani’s Blasphemy. In doing so, it offers the working definition of the term “feminism” as a tool of inquiry. It mainly focuses on the suffering of Heer, the protagonist of the novel, due to her loveless marriage with Pir Sain. It exposes the easy distortion of Islam by so-called hypocritical religious leaders like Pir Sain. The suffering of Heer and other female characters in the novel reveal the problems in the cultural and social setting of the Islamic culture and religion. Heer is repeatedly beaten, raped and humiliated by her abusive husband Pir. Pir forces her to live in the world that he has constructed for her. Her marriage with Pir utterly fails as it turns out to be a source of trouble and repression of her self-satisfaction. When she fails to tolerate severe torture and domestic violence, she decides to revolt against it. This paper concludes that Heer is able to resist sexual abuse and exploitation through female bonding. In doing so, she is able to assert her female selfhood.

MERAWAT RUHANI JEMAAH: STUDI DAKWAH MAJELIS TAKLIM DI DESA PANGEDARAN, KABUPATEN SAROLANGUN, PROVINSI JAMBI

Religious expressions in rural areas is no longer a problem with the diversity it has. The social reality in Pangedaran Village is very concerning, various problems such as the education rate is very low, knowledge support activities are very minimal, even the drugs abuse is common in the village. the social setting accompanies the da'wah activities of the taklim, which demands that the recitation can fill Islamic knowledge and religious experience and the congregation's spiritual care. Thus, it is important to reveal the da'wah activities in the recitation in caring for the congregation's spirituality to pacify the human ego as spiritual beings. The purpose of this study is to explain the rituals, experiences of members in carrying out the routines of the taklim assembly to care for the spirituality of the congregation. Qualitative methods and descriptive analysis were used to complete and obtain relevant research results. Utilizing observation, in-depth interviews and documentation to support the data to answer the main questions of this research. The findings of this study, explained that the activities of the taklim assembly in caring for the congregation's spirituality were carried out by implementing dhikr, eradicating illiteracy, filling in religious knowledge, recitation rituals, reading prayers, it were done consistently.. it provide opportunities for social interaction and support the spiritual care of the congregation with social activities that form social capital so that they enter the gemeinschaft of mind group that has the same drive and motive, namely the spiritual instability of the congregation. Melihat ekspresi keagamaan di pedesaan sudah tidak menjadi persoalan dengan keberagaman yang dimilikinya. Realitas sosial di Desa Pangedaran sangat memprihatinkan, berbagai persoalan seperti angka pendidikan sangat rendah, aktivitas pendukung pengetahuan sangat minim, bahkan maraknya narkoba sudah menjadi rahasia umum di Desa tersebut. Setting sosial demikian mengiringi aktivitas dakwah majelis taklim, yang menuntut pengajian dapat mengisi pengetahuan keislaman dan pengalaman keagamaan dan perawat ruhani jemaah. Dengan demikian penting untuk mengungkap aktivitas dakwah dalam pengajian tersebut dalam merawat ruhani jemaah dapat menentramkan ego manusia sebagai makhluk spiritual dan landasan aritkel ini. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk menjelaskan ritual, pengalaman anggota dalam menjalankan rutinitas majelis taklim untuk merawat kerohanian jemaah. Metode kualitatif dan menganalisis secara deskriptif digunakan untuk menyelesaikan dan memperoleh hasil penelitian yang relevan. Memanfaatkan observasi, wawancara mendalam dan dokumentasi dalam mendukung informasi atau data akurat untuk menjawab pertanyaan utama dari penelitian ini. Hasil dan diskusi pada temuan penelitian ini, menjelaskan bahwa aktivitas majelis taklim dalam merawat ruhani jemaah dilakukan dengan pelaksanaan zikir, pengentasan buta aksara, mengisi pengetahuan keagamaan, ritual-ritual pengajian, pembacaan do’a, amalan-amalan dan selawat dilakukan secara konsisten. Rutinitas jemaah memberi peluang interaksi sosial dan mendukung perawatan ruhani jemaah dengan kegiatan sosial yang membentuk modal sosial sehingga mereka masuk ke dalam kelompok gemeinschaft of mind yang memiliki dorongan dan motif sama, yaitu ketidakstabilan spiritual atau ruhani jemaah.

Chastity is being true to one’s word - Presenting the story of Vallalamakarajan

Devotional literature is not merely a literary work, but also an act of uplifting moral life and the religious beliefs of the people. When we look at devotional literature and religious thoughts, these are the best. Thus, in advancing the position of chastity, the story of Vallalamakarajan in Arunachala Purana confirms the singularity of the word efficiency while advancing the position of chastity. Chastity is here irrespective of male or female. It also breaks down the barriers of lower classes and the upper classes. If a word is to have its meaning, it is appropriate to combine the time frame in which it is spoken and the social setting. The word chastity presents us in a particularly significant position. It very well may be seen that the term has been utilized in the feeling of peculiarities since the hour of Sangam to the later to the later moral literary works

Shifting Positionalities in a Time of COVID-19: The Transnational Public Health Doctor and Ethnographer

Ethnographic research is characterised by in-person engagement with individuals and groups within a social setting, usually over an extended timeframe. These elements provide valuable insights which cannot be gained through other forms of research. In addition, such levels of involvement in “the field” create complex, shifting researcher-participant relationships which themselves shape the course of the project and its findings. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many research projects, but impacts on ethnographic research, with its emphasis on physical presence in the field and interpersonal relationships, reveals much about these key elements of our praxis.I discuss how the pandemic influenced the progress of an ethnographic research project, based in Malawi, including consideration of how, as lead for the project, my clinical/“public health” positionalities interacted with relationships in the village and the arrival of COVID-19 in Malawi. This account reveals shifting intersubjectivities of researchers and participants as the pandemic brought changes in the nature of the engagement, from ethnographic explorations into the roles of smoke in everyday life, through fieldwork suspension, and contextualised COVID-19 response. These experiences demonstrate how a basis of reflexive ethnographic engagement with communities can underpin thoughtful responses to upcoming challenges, with implications for future “global health” work, both within and beyond the pandemic context.

Examining Psychedelic-Induced Changes in Social Functioning and Connectedness in a Naturalistic Online Sample Using the Five-Factor Model of Personality

The present study examines prospective changes in personality traits relevant to social functioning as well as perceived social connectedness in relation to the naturalistic use of psychedelic compounds in an online volunteer sample. The study also examined the degree to which demographic characteristics, social setting, baseline personality, and acute subjective factors (e.g., emotional breakthrough experiences) influenced trajectories of personality and perceived social connectedness. Participants recruited online completed self-report measures of personality and social connectedness at three timepoints (baseline, 2weeks post-experience, 4weeks post-experience). Linear mixed models were used to examine changes in outcomes and the moderation of these outcomes by covariates. The most substantive changes were reductions in the personality domains Neuroticism, and increases in Agreeableness and social connectedness. Notably, reductions in Neuroticism and increases in Agreeableness covaried over time, which may be suggestive of common processes involving emotion regulation. Preliminary evidence was found for a specific effect on a component of Agreeableness involving a critical and quarrelsome interpersonal style. Although moderation by demographic characteristics, social setting, baseline personality, and acute factors generally found limited support, baseline standing on Neuroticism, perspective taking, and social connectedness showed tentative signs of amplifying adaptive effects on each trait, respectively. Our findings hold implications for the potential use of psychedelics for treating interpersonal elements of personality pathology as well as loneliness.

Mechanisms of Identity Construction among Members of Pyramid Schemes in Iran: A Critical Ethnography

Whereas the emergence of pyramid schemes exerted considerable impacts on people’s lives, up to now, far too little attention has been paid to the experiences of members from the sociological perspective, particularly in non-Western contexts. Therefore, this study illuminates social processes underlying participation in such schemes in a less studied social setting, Iran. This article also critically traces the social and psychological consequences of membership in pyramid schemes. We adapted a critical ethnographic approach, including participant observation of local branch offices, followed by 16 in-depth interviews with the former members of schemes. Our findings suggest that the practices deployed by the schemes lead to the building of social identity, namely, “superhuman,” mainly based on the misinterpretation of the real world. Finding the reality surrounded deliberately contrasted with the firms’ promises, the constructed identity fails, and members lose their social capital.

A Taxonomy of Identity Safety Cues Based on Gender and Race: From a Promising Past to an Intersectional and Translational Future

Identity safety cues refer to aspects of the environment or social setting that communicate one is valued and the threat of discrimination is limited. In this article, we review the content of identity safety cues, their strengths and limitations, and implications for future theory, research, and practice. A close analysis of the identity safety cue literature can inform the efforts of individuals and organizations who aim to enhance social inclusion and promote diversity. Searching databases for safety cue research (e.g., Google Scholar, PsycINFO), we found more than 35 peer-reviewed articles that explicitly addressed identity safety cues. We synthesized the literature to produce a novel taxonomy of identity safety cues that target stigmatized groups, namely those minoritized by gender and race. A taxonomy of identity safety cues can facilitate clear and universal communication about the science, delineate types of operational definitions, and direct future research and theorizing. Our review revealed that knowledge of cues is often limited by unidimensional identity characteristics (i.e., targeting gender or race, not both), and we discovered four cue categories that induced identity safety: minority representation, diversity philosophies and programming, environmental features, and identity-safe information. The significance of this review is that, beyond establishing the only known taxonomy of identity safety cues, we critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of cue efficacy and provide a forward-thinking discussion of theoretical implications and broader impacts, focusing on the expansion of intersectionality theorizing and the translation of identity safety cue research.