Depiction of Postmodern culture in Elif Shafak’s “The Bastard of Istanbul”

Postmodern culture or postmodernity speaks of social, economic or cultural conditions which made an appearance in western society after the modern age. It functions opposite to the modern outlook. This research has been carried out to represent postmodern culture in contemporary social structure through “The Bastard of Istanbul” written by a Turkish author Elif Shafak. The novel has been investigated deeper keeping in view the concept of postmodern culture. The results unfold that the author exhibits pop culture, social hypocrisy, dual standards, social follies and wavering personalities in the novel. This research concludes that the author has, by incorporating postmodern elements in the novel, highlighted social and cultural issues which are a reflection of our contemporary society.

Socio-Cultural Issues of Religious Minorities in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

Minorities are basically defined as ascribed status such as gender, race, ethnic, and religious background. The objectives of the current study were to determine the socio-cultural issues of religious minorities in Southern Punjab; to know the minorities’ social condition and to examine the satisfaction of the respondents regarding government role regarding the protection of minorities. The study was conducted in two districts Rahim Yar khan and Multan of Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Data were collected from 200 minority residents of districts Rahim Yar Khan and Multan through structured interview schedule. Data were collected through purposive sampling technique. Collected data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 23.0 version. It was found that majority of the respondents were from the rural areas and illiterate and less than ten thousand rupees per month. Majority of the respondents did not own the property and face lot of socio-cultural discriminations in daily routine of life. The respondents faced a lot of issues due to their religious identity and it strongly hit their socio-cultural, economic and even personal life. It is suggested that government should have to implement the prescribed laws to protect the minority rights and give them confidence to spend their life with full zeal and zest.

Socio-Cultural Role of “Marginalized”: Case of Almas from Tulambah

Social existence of marginalized communities is a well addressed issue in Pakistan. Marginalized communities attracted attention from different walks of life. Their social status and problems have been given voice by, both, academia and media. Most of the literature produced in this regard maintains a particular tone that presents the picture of ‘marginalized’ surrounded in the social difficulties, economics insignificance and political deprivation. This kind of treatment has kept the discussion in narrow binaries in which society, as a whole, has been held responsible for the plight of minorities and marginalized groups and communities. This narration, in which society is held responsible and culprit, has not been questioned and potentially challenged in Pakistan. Existing literatures not only contains reductionist point of views but also lacks a pure socio-cultural analysis. It is also because of the fact that academic treatment of any socio-cultural aspects requires something more than mere relying on the ethnographic details. It deserves a rigorous methodological treatment besides a sound theoretical understanding. Women, transgender, menials, linguistics and sectarian minorities etc. constitute ‘marginalized’ in Pakistan.

Exhibition of Traditional Gender Roles through Symbolic and Semiotic use of Language in Alice Munro’s ‘Royal Beatings’

his paper presents the feminist analysis of short story ‘Royal Beatings’. It involves the beating of a teenage girl by her father who became the victim of domestic violence on her misconduct with her stepmother. The theoretical framework used for analysis is ‘Feminism’ and character’s actions are analyzed from the two feministic lenses that are ‘Traditional Gender Roles’ and Julia kristeva’s symbolic and semiotic perspective of language. The paper concludes that deep rooted patriarchal structures where men are deemed authoritative, have control on their female members and a high degree influence in their lives are considered the real causes of female oppression.

Literacy Events and Literacy Practices: A Critical Discourse Study of Intersection of Class, Gender and Literacy in Pakistan

This article attempts to examine some of the literacy practices in middle class youth of Pakistan over 18 years of age and determine the relationship between literacies, gender and particular middle class social practices. Young men and women of Pakistan acquire multiple literacies depending upon different social institutions they find themselves in and different discourses they are exposed to during course of their lives. These social institutions in turn shape their outlook and mould them into desired individuals. The literacies which have been identified in the current research include school literacies, home literacies, leisure time literacies, oral literacies, media literacies, religious literacies and communication channels related literacies. In order to achieve its ends, this research analyzes discourse samples of students of the Department of English, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan which were collected using qualitative methods of open-ended questionnaire and case studies. The questionnaire was conducted with 16 research participants (8 male and 8 female students). The findings have been discussed with case studies of two research participants (1 male and 1 female).

Rise of Turkey as a world power: Vision of Neo-Ottoman Empire

The research explores the emergence of republic of turkey and its way of gaining the position from the central power to the emerging world power. Turkey in reality initiated to get the dominant position over region and influence over world after president Erdogan came into power whose pro-Islamic based policies brought many reforms in domestic and foreign policies.. In the war torn region president Erdogan policies has balanced the position of country in the region. The objectives of this research are to explore the facts about the Turkey’s way to the Neo-Ottoman Empire and its influence over international powers. This research also unfolds the changes in the global politics after Turkey’s position as a symbolic challenge for the world super and major powers. The research concerns with three main questions that are, how Turkey got significant position after many domestic and regional challenges? How president Erdogan would accomplish his future ambitions of Neo-Ottoman Empire and the last question refers to the post-Lausanne scenario in global politics. The research also provides the analysis over the Turkey’s pre-preparations for her dominancy over region and the political and economic benefits to the Turkey after revival of Neo-Ottoman Empire.The research explores the emergence of republic of turkey and its way of gaining the position from the central power to the emerging world power. Turkey in reality initiated to get the dominant position over region and influence over world after president Erdogan came into power whose pro-Islamic based policies brought many reforms in domestic and foreign policies.. In the war torn region president Erdogan policies has balanced the position of country in the region. The objectives of this research are to explore the facts about the Turkey’s way to the Neo-Ottoman Empire and its influence over international powers. This research also unfolds the changes in the global politics after Turkey’s position as a symbolic challenge for the world super and major powers. The research concerns with three main questions that are, how Turkey got significant position after many domestic and regional challenges? How president Erdogan would accomplish his future ambitions of Neo-Ottoman Empire and the last question refers to the post-Lausanne scenario in global politics. The research also provides the analysis over the Turkey’s pre-preparations for her dominancy over region and the political and economic benefits to the Turkey after revival of Neo-Ottoman Empire.