Njoo Cheong Seng: An Artist in the Fight between Liberalism and Eastern Traditions

As an artist, Njoo Cheong Seng (writer, playwright, film producer, and director) made efforts to respond to colonial discourse through his works and activities from the mid-1920s to the 1940s. His responses manifested in the forms of resistance and counter discourse. This paper seeks to explore the ideas and forms expressed in the counter discourse by Njoo Cheong Seng, an artist of Chinese Indonesian ethnicity. The perspective applied in this research is the postcolonial approach, particularly with regard to the concepts of hybridity and resistance. The deconstructive reading framework interpretation method was applied to determine the opposing relationship between the colonised and the coloniser discourses. The results show that Njoo Cheong Seng supported the movement to restore Chinese characteristics as a form of cultural resistance to the idea of Dutch colonial liberalism. The strategy that he used seemed to support the colonial discourse while simultaneously masking the hybridity that he promoted through ideas such as cultural nationalism. In addition, Njoo Cheong Seng and other similar collective artists developed a strategy that seemed to be of a puritan nature; however, it was, in fact, a simultaneous hybridity that consistently responded to modernity values. Njoo Cheong Seng actually opposed modernity born of liberalism. Essentially, he opposed the concept of the human as the centre of everything, or anthropocentrism.

Real, Reel and the Anthropocene: Eco-trauma Testimonies in the Film Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal

The paper attempts to read the Endosulfan disaster in Kerala as an instance of the Anthropocene wherein the unscientific use of a pesticide resulted in the persistent misery of a population and the ecology in which they struggle to survive. The suffering is further presented to a larger audience through the film Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal (2015, Dir. Dr Biju) by assimilating the reel and the real to bear testimony to their struggles amidst the toxicity of the chemical. The film, as the paper argues, becomes a representative text in the eco-trauma genre that on the one hand displays the disaster while on the other offers a cultural resistance against the unchecked use of chemicals around us. The film situates the Endosulfan disaster amongst the global movements against the pesticides and emphasises the need of a healthy environment.

The kinship greetings of blood and marital ties in the Minangkabau community

This study aimed to explore the use of regional languages regarding forms of kinship based on blood and marital ties greetings by the Minangkabau's in the Bromo area. To analyze the forms of blood and marriage-related kinship greetings, a sociolinguistic study was applied. The data collection was listening to the informants' conversation regarding greetings for the Minangkabau community, followed by talking engaging techniques. The analyzed using the equivalent method with the qualitative approach. The results showed that form of blood kinship greeting such as Apak, Amak, Uda, Uni, Adiak, Anduang, Mak Gaek, Angku, Ungku, Pak Gaek, Mak Dang, Mak Wo, Mak Etek, Etek, Apak, Andeh, and Pak Etek. There are several types such as Uda, Ajo, Adiak, Abak, Amak, Uda, Ajo, Uni for marital ties greetings. These greetings, both blood, and marital kinship ties indicate cultural resistance and social bonding, which have roles in daily communication among the Minangkabau people.

The dialectics of universalism and particularism: World society, religious traditions, and women’s political representation, 1960–2013

This study develops a model of macro-cultural identity inspired by the work of George Herbert Mead. The model puts world society theory, which emphasizes the homogenizing effects of ‘world culture,’ into conversation with civilization-analytic perspectives, which contend that religious and civilizational differences grow increasingly salient over time. The author regards these approaches as dialectically co-implicated. To test the model, the article analyzes cross-cultural heterogeneity in the effects of world society linkages on women’s share of parliamentary seats between 1960 and 2013. Countries are grouped into cultural zones based primarily on religious composition and secondarily on geographical region. The results generally support world society theory. Contrary to civilization-analytic perspectives, cultural resistance to women’s representation is most pronounced early but fades over time. Despite overall increases in women’s representation, there is little cross-cultural convergence, giving rise to improvement without isomorphism. The study concludes with a refined model of world society effects.

"If I Were Not Alexander..." An Examination of the Political Philosophy of Plutarch’s Alexander-Caesar

<p>This thesis examines Plutarch’s Alexander-Caesar. Plutarch’s depiction of Alexander has been long recognised as encompassing many defects, including an overactive thumos and a decline in character as the narrative progresses. In this thesis I examine the way in which Plutarch depicts Alexander’s degeneration, and argue that the defects of Alexander form a discussion on the ethics of kingship. I then examine the implications of pairing the Alexander with the Caesar; I examine how some of the themes of the Alexander are reflected in the Caesar. I argue that the status of Caesar as both a figure from the Republican past and the man who established the Empire gave the pair a unique immediacy to Plutarch’s time. I then examine the argument, made by some, that it is possible to discern in the Parallel Lives a statement of cultural resistance to the Roman Empire. I argue that the affirmative Hellenism which pervades the Lives reflects not so much a cultural resistance to the Roman Empire, but a concern that the Hellenic values that Plutarch valorised should be dominant within the Roman Empire.</p>

"If I Were Not Alexander..." An Examination of the Political Philosophy of Plutarch’s Alexander-Caesar

<p>This thesis examines Plutarch’s Alexander-Caesar. Plutarch’s depiction of Alexander has been long recognised as encompassing many defects, including an overactive thumos and a decline in character as the narrative progresses. In this thesis I examine the way in which Plutarch depicts Alexander’s degeneration, and argue that the defects of Alexander form a discussion on the ethics of kingship. I then examine the implications of pairing the Alexander with the Caesar; I examine how some of the themes of the Alexander are reflected in the Caesar. I argue that the status of Caesar as both a figure from the Republican past and the man who established the Empire gave the pair a unique immediacy to Plutarch’s time. I then examine the argument, made by some, that it is possible to discern in the Parallel Lives a statement of cultural resistance to the Roman Empire. I argue that the affirmative Hellenism which pervades the Lives reflects not so much a cultural resistance to the Roman Empire, but a concern that the Hellenic values that Plutarch valorised should be dominant within the Roman Empire.</p>

La ficción transcultural entendida como literatura traducida en el polisistema poscolonial

For a great number of fictional writers in the postcolonial paradigm pluralism is organic, translation is an inevitable way of life, and translation consciousness and strategies can be a way of reinforcing rather than weakening different linguistic and cultural identities, because above all translation is used as a way to get access to the central arena of the postcolonial polysystem: it is a powerful tactic within a larger movement of cultural resistance. This paper intends to reflect upon how the study of these transcultural fictions understood as translated literature within the global polysystem, may be of great help when it comes to delineating a theoretical reflection on post- colonial translation practice. Such study should provide us with a better understanding of: a) the form and function of these literatures, and b) possible strategies for the translation of culturally heterogeneous texts, in the light of what authors who translate themselves have done. The specific literary examples we will mention to illustrate our points are the transcultural narratives of the Peruvian José María Arguedas and the Indian Vikram Chandra.

Literary Translation behind Bars in the Late Soviet Union: Contextual Voices of Vasyl' Stus and Ivan Svitlychnyi

Translation in captivity is nothing new, nor is it restricted to a particular place or historical period. However, this social and cultural phenomenon is marked by a far more frequent occurrence in totalitarian societies. This article examines the practice of literary translation in Soviet labour camps, where, as a result of political repression, Ukrainian scholars, writers, translators, and lexicographers (aka prisoners of conscience) constituted a large part of the incarcerated population. The fact that translation activity thrived behind bars despite brutal and dehumanizing conditions testifies to the phenomenon of cultural resistance and translators’ activism, both of which deserve close scholarly attention. This study provides insights into practical, historical, psychological, and philosophical aspects of translation in extreme conditions. It seeks answers to the questions of why prisoners of conscience felt moved to translate, and how they pursued their work in situations of extreme pressure. Through the lens of translation in prison, the article offers a wide perspective on the issues of retranslation, pseudotranslation, translation editing, text selection, and the functions of literary translation. The focus of the paper is on Soviet Ukraine in the 1970s-80s, when a wave of political repressions led to the appearance of a new generation of prisoners of conscience. Case studies of Vasyl' Stus and Ivan Svitlychnyi are discussed, drawing on their letters during the incarceration period and the memoirs of their inmates.

The Priority of Preaching in the Church’s Global Mission

This article seeks to reemphasize the priority of preaching in the church’s global mission. Current crises and sophisticated cultural resistance to the proclamation of the gospel tempt pastors, missionaries, and church leaders to reevaluate the most effective methods for ministry. Key texts are examined and applied to support the position that the methodologi- cal priority of preaching transcends generational, cultural, and historical contexts and that the preaching of the word is missionally effective in our current globalized context. KEYWORDS: Preaching, eschatology, man of God, word of Christ, mission