bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
DEVELOPMENT POLICIES OF THE MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) FOR IMPROVING REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS
Authors: Sartono Sartono , M. Zalviwan  , Dina Octaviani  , Angga Hendharsa  , Ali Afif  , Sigit Sugiardi
Published: March 2024

This study explores the importance of developing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the creative economy, as well as their position as the main drivers of economic growth. Focusing on North Kayong District, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, this research highlights the resilience and innovation demonstrated by SMEs in overcoming challenges. Government initiatives target the mitigation of barriers, with an emphasis on developing local superior products to increase regional competitiveness. The main objective is to utilize local potential to create sustainable opportunities for economic expansion and poverty alleviation. Qualitative research methods, through observation, focus group discussions (FGD), and questionnaires, as well as data analysis techniques including difference tests and SWOT analysis. The research results show that there are significant differences between government policies and the expectations of SMEs, while the results of the SWOT analysis show that SMEs have strengths to be developed such as the availability of local raw materials and market uptake, but have challenges such as limited access to funding, infrastructure, training and promotion. product. The position of SMEs is in quadrant two, the most appropriate diversification strategy, including product, market and place diversification. Government mitigation to support the development of SMEs, through policies developing road and transportation infrastructure to facilitate access to products and markets, providing markets for sales of superior products, training facilities for SMEs. The impact on local communities is as a provider of raw materials, developing SMEs and the creative economy, as well as increasing the economy and regional competitiveness.
BUSINESS ANALYSIS AND VEGETABLE HYDROPONIC MARKETING
Authors: Gustami Harahap  , Siswa Panjang Hernosa  , Mitra Musika Lubis  , Ella Permatasari
Published: March 2024

The purpose of this research is 1) To find out how much income hydroponic spinach farming is in Percut Sei Tuan District; 2) To determine the feasibility of hydroponic spinach farming in Percut Sei Tuan District; 3) To find out the marketing efficiency of hydroponic spinach farming in Percut Sei Tuan District. This research was conducted in Percut Sei Tuan District, Deli Serdang Regency, in December 2022. With a sample of 23 respondents, 8 owned hydroponic businesses, three collectors, five wholesalers, and seven consumers. The data used are primary data from interviews with questionnaires to find the 1st objective by the R/C ratio business feasibility analysis; the share margin analyzed for the 3rd objective. Based on the research, the results obtained: 1) the average income of hydroponic spinach vegetable farmers is IDR. 13,393,328 per planting period with an average land area of 294.50; 2) Farming is feasible with R/C Ratio >1, which is 3.08, Volume BEP Value = 347,98 kg, BEP price value = IDR 8,237, Payback Period (PP) value = 0,33; 3) the three marketing channels are considered efficient, where the efficiency value is < 50%. Channel I is worth 1,47%, Channel II is 1,51%, and Channel III is 1,1%.
WHAT MAKES COCOA FARMERS CONVERT COCOA LAND? CASE STUDY: TWO COCOA PRODUCING DISTRICTS IN SOUTHEAST SULAWESI PROVINCE, INDONESIA
Authors: Prihantini Campina Illa , Jamil Ahmad Syariful , Risna Risna , Iksan Iksan , Masitah Masitah , Joka Umbu , Septiadi Dudi , Destiarni Resti Prastika
Published: March 2024

Southeast Sulawesi province, as one of the cocoa baskets and the center of the National Cocoa Movement (GERNAS), continues to experience a decline in cocoa production and land area. One factor is the widespread conversion of cocoa land. This phenomenon needs to be highlighted and studied further because it can affect the sustainability of the cocoa value chain in Southeast Sulawesi. This study aims to determine what factors influence cocoa farmers in converting cocoa farmland to other farms in Southeast Sulawesi Province's two leading cocoa-producing districts. The research sites were purposely selected because they are the two leading cocoa-producing districts in the province. This study used logistic regression analysis. Cocoa farmers in Kolaka district converted cocoa land to patchouli farming, while cocoa farmers in East Kolaka district converted their cocoa land to rice farming. The analysis results show that the main factors that significantly influence cocoa farmers' decision to convert cocoa land are cocoa farming experience and the price of other commodities (including the level of income farmers receive from farming other commodities). The primary policy that the government can take in maintaining cocoa land area is to provide price certainty for cocoa itself. So far, cocoa farmers have always faced price uncertainty, and cocoa's value chain and sustainability in Southeast Sulawesi Province need to be clarified.
FARMERS' WIFE INCOME SOURCES AND IT’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE HOUSEHOLD: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Authors: Akbar Akbar , Saleh Syafiuddin , Tri Putri Wiraksini
Published: March 2024

The wife's contribution to the family is unavoidable. In addition to preparing the husband's needs before and after he comes home from work, as well as taking care of all household needs, the wife's responsibility is working to help the husband in meeting the needs of his household. The purpose of this study was to determine the income of farmer households, the source of income of farmer wives, and their contribution to the household. This study was carried out in Manongkoki Village, North Polongbangkeng District, Takalar Regency, in May and June 2023. In this study, 125 farmer's wives who worked outside the home were included. The sample used was 25% of the population so that the number of samples used in this study was 31 people. The sampling technique used is simple random sampling. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study method. The data collection techniques used were observation and interviews using questionnaires. The data analysis techniques used were income analysis and income contribution analyses. The findings revealed that (1) the average household income was IDR 2,090,412 per month, (2) the sources of income for farmers' wives were farm laborers, traditional cake sellers, and grocery traders, and (3) farmers' wives contributed 34% of home income with a low category. Farming families appreciate this revenue contribution since it allows them to cove.
THE EFFECT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE PRICE OF STAPLE FOODS IN MEDAN CITY
Authors: Manihuruk Ekamonika , Rachmadhan Aditya Arief
Published: March 2024

Staple food must be available in sufficient quantities and at affordable prices. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted public access and disrupted food distribution. As one of the most affected cities, Medan City is facing the threat of rising food prices due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on staple food prices in Medan City. The commodities that are the focus of the research are: (1) rice, (2) white sugar, (3) palm oil, (4) chicken eggs, (5) chicken meat, and (6) beef. This study used weekly time series data which is divided into two periods; the period before the COVID-19 pandemic (2018-2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). Data analysis was performed using the ANOVA method; where the price difference shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food prices. The results of the analysis show that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on increasing staple food prices in Medan City for the commodities: (1) rice, (2) white sugar, (3) palm oil, (4) chicken eggs, and (5) beef. The results of the study also show that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative implications on the food security in Medan City. This research emphasize the government intervention in stabilizing staple food prices during extraordinary conditions (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) to preserve food security in urban area.
ANALYSIS OF FARMERS' INCOME AND WELFARE DEEP COCONUT (COCOS NUCIFERA L) IN KERITANG DISTRICT, INDRAGIRI HILIR REGENCY
Authors: Khaswarina Shorea , Yulida Roza , Rapiqi M. , Salamah Umi
Published: March 2024

The purpose of this research is to: (1) determine the income level of coconut farmers (Cocos nucifera L) (2) Analyze the level of welfare of coconut farmers (Cocos nucifera L) in Keritang District, Indragiri Hilir Regency. The data collection methods used in this study are primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained by conducting direct interviews with coconut farmers in Keritang District, Indragiri Hilir Regency using a questionnaire, while secondary data was obtained from relevant agencies as well as previous research journals and literature studies. This study used a survey method with a total of 44 respondents of coconut farmers obtained using the Taro Yamane formula and sampling with simple random sampling method. The analytical tool used to answer the first objective is income analysis tool (μ = TR - TC).  The analytical tool used to answer the second objective is the analysis of the level of welfare according to BPS 2022. The results of this study indicate that the average income of coconut farmers (Cocos nucifera L) in Keritang District, Indragiri Hilir Regency is IDR 56,084,645.45/farmer/ year or IDR 4,673,720.45/farmer/month and this study shows the welfare level of coconut farmers (Cocos nucifera L) in Keritang District, Indragiri Hilir Regency. The level of welfare of coconut farmers according to BPS indicators (2022) in Keritang District there are 30 farmers or 68.18% are at the level of welfare with the Good group and 14 farmers or 31.82% are in the category of sufficient welfare level.
ASSESSMENT OF FUMMAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS INDUSTRIES’ CONTRACT FARMING SCHEME AMONG PINEAPPLE FRUIT FARMERS IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA
Authors: Yekinni Oyedeji Taofeeq , Ladigbolu Temitope , Akanji Ezekiel Olalekan
Published: March 2024

This study assessed FUMMAN Agricultural Products Industries Plc. contract farming scheme among pineapple fruit farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Data on enterprise characteristics, benefits derived, constraints encountered and field personnel characteristics were gathered from 105 pineapple fruit farmers. Respondents were sampled using a multistage sampling procedure and interview schedule were used to elicit information which were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at α0.05. Findings showed that the majority (76.2%) of the pineapple fruit farmers cultivated less than 1 hectares farm size. They derived benefits from access to stable market (x ̅=1.94) and reduction of wastage level (x ̅=1.84), while defaulting in contractual agreements (x ̅=1.45) and delay in payment (x ̅=1.38) were major constraints encountered. Integrity (x ̅=3.29), honesty (x ̅=3.29) and trustworthiness (x ̅=3.27)   were the major characteristics of field personnel identified. There were significant relationships among farmers’ benefit derived (r=0.787), constraints encountered (r=-0.193) and field personnel characteristics’ assessment. It is recommended that FUMMAN should endeavour to keep to contractual agreements while ensuring extension of the contracts through highly rated field personnel
REGIONAL AND INTRA-REGIONAL ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MUSI RAWAS UTARA DISTRICT AS AN OIL PALM PRODUCING REGION IN SUMATRA SELATAN PROVINCE
Authors: Utomo Rohadi , Siddiq Amar
Published: March 2024

This research aimed to identify the key economic sectors that could uplift Musi Rawas Utara Regency from its underdeveloped status within Sumatra Selatan Province. The study employed a descriptive-analytical approach, which included analyzing primary sectors using the Location Quotient (LQ) method, determining leading sectors through Shift Share analysis, and assessing the contribution of the primary highest-value industry using Intra-Regional analysis. Among the 17 sectors contributing to the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), five were identified as primary sectors in Musi Rawas Utara Regency, with a significant dominance of the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries sectors. However, Shift Share analysis revealed two leading sectors: education and health services with social activities. We identified seven potential sectors: industrial, infrastructure, and developing sectors. Developing sectors include agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining and quarrying, and education. Meanwhile, five sectors were considered underdeveloped: the processing industry, construction, transportation and trade, financial services and insurance, government administration, defense, and taxpayer social security. LQ analysis emphasized that the agricultural and forestry sector is the primary sector in Musi Rawas Utara Regency, with palm oil production being a vital contributor. For the development of palm oil, Nibung and Karang Dapo districts require particular attention. Given Musi Rawas Utara Regency's disadvantaged status, optimizing agricultural sector development is crucial. By focusing on this sector, the region can enhance its economic performance, ultimately aiming to overcome its underdeveloped status and improve its financial outlook.
Effects of Smart Watch-Delivered Text Messaging on Social Initiations of Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors: DiDomenico Justin , Tincani Matt , Dowdy Art
Published: March 2024

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience challenges with social skills when interacting with peers, which can affect their ability to form friendships and participate in inclusive settings. This study evaluated text messaging prompts and prompt fading delivered by a smart watch to increase social initiations of three adolescent students with ASD and their peers without ASD. We used a single-case, multiple probe across participants design to assess participants’ level of and type of independent and prompted appropriate social initiations without and with the intervention. Textual prompts substantially increased each participant’s social initiations compared to baseline. Two participants remained reliant on textual prompts to make initiations, whereas the third was less reliant on prompts and continued to make independent initiations after prompts were completely faded. Participants’ social skills gains maintained up to three weeks following intervention and participants and parents reported agreement with the goals, procedures, and outcomes of the strategy.
“I often feel it falls on my shoulders to be the one who takes responsibility”: Perspectives of Autistic Adults, Parents, and Professionals on Cross-neurotype Communication in Educational and Healthcare Settings
Authors: Kalandadze Tamara , Øverland Elisabeth , Pavel Heidi Reistad , Loftås Jørgen Bergem , Branney Peter
Published: March 2024

Autistic people often experience difficulties in social communication, which have traditionally been explained by autism-related deficits in social cognition and behaviour, with less focus on the role of the contextual factors and communicative partners in effective communication. Here, we investigated the perspectives of autistic adults, parents, and professionals on communication breakdowns between autistic people and nonautistic educational- and healthcare professionals. This study was anchored in the Double Empathy Problem theoretical framework. Through Reflective Thematic Analysis three main themes were constructed:1) Cross-neurotype communication breakdowns are common and multifactorial; 2) Both autistic and nonautistic people can take responsibility for effective communication; and 3) Autism knowledge and understanding matters. Differences in communication styles, the feeling of being different and autism knowledge among professionals have been found to be associated with effective communication. Our findings provide insights which can help to improve communication in educational- and healthcare settings and, thus, contribute to improve the support provided to autistic people.
Trident G: Free Energy & Brain Criticality Based Theory of Intelligence & Resilience
Authors: Ashton Smith Mark
Published: March 2024

This paper presents the Trident G Theory, a novel theoretical framework for understanding human intelligence. The theory takes a systems-level approach. It draws on principles of brain criticality, the Free Energy Principle, self-organisation and allostasis to explain how the brain achieves an optimal balance for information processing and adaptive behaviour.The brain's near-criticality allows for flexible, efficient information processing and enables rapid adaptation to changing environmental demands. Key concepts include metastability, where multiple cognitive states can co-exist, and the Free Energy Principle, which frames the brain's drive to minimise uncertainty and prediction error.The Trident G theory uniquely defines intelligence across two axes: processing/inference (vertical) and free energy (horizontal). The vertical axis represents the metastable balance between 'top-down' executive control and 'bottom-up' creative exploration. The horizontal axis reflects cognitive resilience across a spectrum of free energy and arousal, governed by dopaminergic tone. The brain's allostatic capacity to maintain criticality along both axes is hypothesized to define a dynamic range of general adaptive intelligence (G).The theory offers a novel perspective on the neural basis of intelligence, potentially informing the understanding of cognitive disorders and guiding the development of interventions aimed at enhancing cognitive function and resilience across the lifespan.
Constraint satisfaction in large language models
Authors: Jacobs Cassandra L. , MacDonald Maryellen
Published: March 2024

This article considers the role of Large Language Models (LLMs) in studies of human language comprehension, particularly constraint satisfaction approaches to sentence comprehension. Constraint satisfaction theories were prominent in the late 20th century and emphasized continuous, rich interaction between many sources of information in comprehending a linguistic signal unfolding over time. A major challenge of the approach was how to capture these highly interactive comprehension processes in a rigorous fashion yielding explicit predictions, because by definition the important constraints were numerous and changed in prominence from one context to the next. Connectionist models were conceptually well-suited to this role, but researchers initially had insufficient computing power available and lacked sufficiently large language corpora to bring these models to bear on large-scale language comprehension. These limitations do not hold today, and LLMs have offered an opportunity to test earlier constraint satisfaction ideas about human language comprehension. We consider ways that LLMs can be applied to questions of interactive processes during ambiguity resolution, an important topic within constraint satisfaction approaches, with abundant empirical research. We argue that further use of LLMs can advance theories of constraint satisfaction, while acknowledging the gaps in our understanding of how and when people and these models combine linguistic information.
Evaluating rotations of winter annual and summer annual forages for yield, nutritional value, and economic sustainability as forage resources for beef cattle in northern Iowa
Authors: Schwab Denise L. , Michel Josh , Reynolds Beth , Pecinovsky Ken T. , Gruss Shelby
Published: March 2024

A winter annual- summer annual forage rotation can be used to break up the traditional corn - soybean rotation and produce 7-11 tons per acre of forage biomass on a dry matter basis per year.
Dry conditions in the fall of 2020 and again in the fall of 2002 through 2023, limited germination and early growth. Moisture in the spring of 2021 reinvigorated growth, but the drought in the spring of 2023 prevented germination of the summer annual so only a single harvest was taken on September 5, 2023. The 47-year average rainfall for the farm for April – November is 30.8 inches but from April – November 2023 there was only 13.8 inches of rainfall significantly reducing summer annual yields.
The variation between years indicates a double cropping system is very dependent on adequate rainfall for forage establishment and growth, as seen by the loss of the August harvest in 2023 where only half the average rainfall was received compared to 2021 and 2022.
 
Pengaruh Hambatan Samping Terhadap Kecepatan Kendaraan di Daerah Pasar Tradisional
Authors: Br Tarigan Pagit Juni Sartika
Published: March 2024

Hambatan samping banyak ditemukan di daerah pasar tradisional pinggir jalan perkotaan seperti Pasar Tradisional Padang Bulan dan Tanjung Rejo Setia Budi. Pengaruh hambatan samping terhadap kecepatan kendaraan perlu diketahui untuk mengurangi dampak kemacetan. Oleh karena itu, telah dilakukan survei hambatan samping serta kecepatan kendaraan mobil penumpang dan sepeda motor. Hasil survei diolah untuk menentukan koefisien korelasi dengan regresi linier sederhana serta menentukan arah hubungan pengaruh hambatan samping terhadap kecepatan kendaraan. Aktivitas kendaraan berhenti pada Pasar Tradisional Padang Bulan memiliki nilai interpretasi 0.551 dan 0.241 pada Pasar Tradisional Tanjung Rejo Setia Budi untuk kecepatan mobil penumpang. Aktivitas pejalan kaki pada Pasar Tradisional Padang Bulan memiliki tingkat nilai interpretasi 0.349 dan 0.143 aktivitas kendaraan keluar masuk pada Pasar Tradisional Tanjung Rejo Setia Budi untuk kecepatan sepeda motor. Berdasarkan arah hubungan, hambatan samping kendaraan keluar dan masuk merupakan aktivitas yang paling tinggi memberi pengaruh kecepatan kendaraan menurun. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa regresi linier sederhana ini menunjukkan adanya hubungan hambatan samping terhadap kecepatan kendaraan.
Comprehensiveness and Context of Psychiatric Reports Submitted to Review Boards in Cases of People Found Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder
Authors: Frechette Julien , Charette Yanick , Nicholls Tonia L. , Seto Michael C. , Crocker Anne G.
Published: March 2024

Recent research suggests that empirically validated risk factors for persons found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCRMD) are rarely mentioned by clinicians in reports for Review Boards in Canada. This study aims to better understand this observation by examining the styles of clinical reports (i.e., types of report according to their comprehensiveness and their content) and the contextual factors associated with them. To identify styles of reports, mentions of risk factors within reports were subjected to a series of latent class analyses. Regression analyses were then carried out to identify which contextual factors (characteristics related to the person found NCRMD, the timing of the report, and the clinical team/care setting) were significantly associated with the styles of reports. Findings revealed four styles of reports which were also correlated to contextual factors, some unrelated to the risk of violence and/or reoffending for the person found NCRMD. These results reinforce the need to implement evidence-based practices in forensic risk assessment and management.
Legally a Jailer, Practically a Carer: Release on Bail Subject to Surety Supervision
Authors: Myers Nicole M. , McDermott Joseph
Published: March 2024

The pre-trial release decision involves an assessment of the risk the accused poses to the community and the administration of justice if they are released pending trial. To ameliorate risk and provide some insurance, a surety – a family member or friend who agrees to supervise the accused and promises a sum of money if the accused fails to appear in court, commits further offences, or breaches a condition of their release – may be required. Sureties are required to act as “jailers in the community,” conceptualized as a mechanism for reducing risk and enhancing public safety by providing supervision and improving the likelihood that the accused will comply with conditions. While the court imposes a legal relationship of monitoring and control between the accused and their surety, this expectation is confounded by tension between acting as someone’s jailer and providing care in the context of a close personal relationship. Through 32 interviews with sureties in Ontario, we explore the tensions and contradictions in the ways the legal relationship imposed by the court is experienced in practice, revealing a lack of formal support, a sense of powerlessness to exert authority over the accused, and a flexibility in enforcement that raises questions about surety effectiveness as a risk management strategy.
Learning Disabilities and Delinquency: The (Non-)mediating and (Non-)moderating Role of Peer Deviance
Authors: Etmanski Brittany , Ryan Ashley , Gallupe Owen
Published: March 2024

This study assesses the role of peer deviance in the relationship between learning disabilities and violence and property crime. Two possibilities are explored: (a) that youths with a learning disability tend to have more deviant peers which in turn increases delinquent involvement (a mediating effect) and (b) that youths with a learning disability are more strongly influenced by the deviance of their peers (a moderating effect). We draw on the causality literature and employ a causal directed acyclic graph. Using data from the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health ( N = 6,391), we find results that are not in line with either possibility. While adolescents with learning disabilities are shown to exhibit higher levels of violence (but not property crime), peer deviance is not found to play either a mediating or a moderating role. We recommend future work test alternative mediating pathways, such as through victimization and self-control.
Youth, Crime, and the Potential Cost Offset to Housing First Programs
Authors: Kneebone Ronald , Dutton Daniel J. , Jadidzadeh Ali
Published: March 2024

Housing First (HF) is an approach that emphasizes providing housing as a precondition for assisting people experiencing homelessness. To the extent that housing reduces contacts with police, HF may reduce criminal behaviour and so reduce costs borne by the justice system. This may be particularly true for youth whose homelessness often forces them to adopt survival behaviour that exposes them to police and bylaw enforcement officers. Using regression analysis, we employ linked administrative data sets from police and from HF programs to examine how interactions of youth with police change following admission to a HF program. An important contribution of our study is the use of administrative police records rather than self-reported data on the number of criminal incidents and their severity. Unconditional quantile regression is used to observe HF’s effect on changes in both the number and severity of criminal incidents. Controlling for demographic characteristics of youth and for type of housing program and using administrative police records as opposed to self-reported police interactions, we find only weak evidence to suggest that the number of criminal incidents falls following admission to a HF program and only weak evidence of a fall in the seriousness of crimes.
Zakir Naik’s Techniques in Comparative Theological Discourse: Some Reflections
Authors: ISLAM MOHAMAD AMINUL , USHAMA THAMEEM
Published: March 2024

Zakir Naik is one of the scholars in Comparative Religion. Providing quotations with exact references from his instant memory, Naik makes his audience astonished and spellbound. In adopting a descriptive methodology, this research has attempted to explore the secrets behind Zakir Naik’s effort in daʿwah and his techniques for preparing daʿwah materials, memorizing and delivering them to his audience. An interview has been taken to examine them accordingly. Some of the contents of this research have been collected from the interview, and the rest of the materials were studied from unpublished research done by Zakir Naik, especially daʿwah materials related to International Daʿwah Training Program in 2016. Finally, the study has attempted to offer a set of guidelines that would help create successors of Zakir Naik that may contribute to constructing a tolerant religious pluralist society.
A Recollection of a Positive Qur’ānic Character: Maryam Bint ʿImrān
Authors: BAHARI CHE AMNAH
Published: March 2024

This article writes on Maryam bint ʿImrān, of whom the Qur’ān has deliberated several times in a lively manner and even a sūrah having her name as its title. A ḥadīth of Prophet SAW also states that Maryam is one of the chosen women of the world during her time. Many mufassirūn based on the verses of the Qur’ān and aḥādīth of the Prophet SAW have clarified her excellent character. What are the types of characters? How do we ordinary people benefit from this oft-repeated character? How can we emulate it, and how can we make it relevant in today’s contact? This article will refer to relevant tafāsir of the Qur’ān to seek clarification on Maryam’s character, providing action guides for Muslims of today to emulate good morals and good parenting.
Development and Welfare Discourses, Marginality and Cultural Interventions in Mahasweta Deviâ€™s  Aajir
Authors: Behera, Banaras Hindu University, India Guru Charan
Published: March 2024

This essay is an attempt to study the position of the marginalised communities in India caught in the web of the politics of development and welfare programmes, through a reading of the cultural and political ramifications of Mahasweta Deviâ€™s Aajir (Deviâ€™s dramatisation of her short fiction of this title in Bengali). The objective is to show how the text is a kind of cultural intervention with political implications in favour of the marginalised â€“ low class caste people, untouchables, bonded labourers, tribals and women. It is to demonstrate not only how the context gets embedded in the text but also how the text participates in the context in reflecting on and influencing the context, revealing the text-context reciprocity.
â€œFantasy Ladiesâ€: Female Performers and Actresses in Qurratulain Hyderâ€™s â€œThe Missing Photographâ€
Authors: Bhatia, University of Western Ontario, Canada Nandi
Published: March 2024

This essay examines Qurratulain Hyderâ€™s short story â€œThe Missing Photograph,â€ as a site that interrupts what Priti Ramamurthy identifies as the relative silence of feminist and film historiography on the role and contribution of actresses in early Hindi cinema, a silence that is attributed to the fact that they did not fit the dominant paradigm of social reform, nationalism, or radical movements. By providing an acute awareness of multiple and intersecting social forces that impacted the lives of actresses, â€œThe Missing Photograph,â€ I suggest, is an important imaginative fragment that highlights how actresses, while remaining invisible, were central to the early film industry.
Serving Up Chineseness: Myths of Authenticity and Identity in Kylie Kwongâ€™s Cookery Texts
Authors: Huiyi, Monash University Malaysia Jacqui Kong
Published: March 2024

This paper seeks to examine the form and content of the culinary television programmes and cookbooks of Australian-Chinese celebrity chef and restaurateur, Kylie Kwong. It will utilise Bill Nicholsâ€™ theory of â€œThe Challenge of Persuasionâ€ to demonstrate how Kwongâ€™s cookery show, Kylie Kwong: Cooking with Heart and Soul, is not just about food and cooking, but embodies particular ideologies and â€œmyths,â€ as theorised by Barthes, about Chinese culture and identity. It also draws upon selected excerpts from Kwongâ€™s cookbooks and food memoir, Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories (2003) and My China: A Feast for the Senses (2007), to unpack their representations of Chinese culture and identity. My aim is to elucidate how Kwongâ€™s cooking show and cookbooks transcend their pragmatic function to become representational tools that carry specific meanings about Chineseness, both in terms of its production and consumption.
Brief Notes Towards a Collective Hong Kong Story: Place, Language, History and Politics
Authors: Lai-Ming, Hong Kong Baptist University Tammy Ho
Published: March 2024

For the last seven years, the online journal Cha: An Asian Literary Journal has been publishing poetic works investigating Hong Kong identity and politics. As such, Cha provides a useful source for exploring the different thematic concerns which have preoccupied post-handover writing on the city. In this short essay, I focus on four of these thematic areas (place, language, colonial history and politics) and discuss how they reflect changing political, economic and social realities within Hong Kong.
1819: Isa Kamari on the Foundation of Singapore
Authors: Aveling, Monash and La Trobe Universities, Australia Harry
Published: March 2024

1819 is the year of the British â€œfounding of Singapore.â€ Early in that year Sir Stamford Raffles signed a preliminary treaty with the Temenggung of Johor permitting the British to set up a trading post on the island (Turnbull 1). By 1824, the request for a trading post had grown into a treaty through which the British claimed control over the whole of Singapore. 1819 is also the title of the English translation of the novel by the major Singapore Malay writer Isa Kamari on that same series of events (Malay: Duka Tuan Bertakhta, Sadly You Rule, 2011). In that book, Raffles, the Temenggung and the newly-installed Sultan Hussein of Singapore all play leading roles, but their actions are also balanced by those of the saint Habib Nuh, the silat master Wak Cantuk and the writer Munsyi Abdullah, who provide their own perspectives on the impact of the British colonisation of Singapore. In this paper I am interested in the way Isa tells the story not of the founding of Singapore in 1819 but of its loss, specifically to the Malay community, and the implications that he draws from that story for the contemporary Malay community of Singapore.
Sacred without God: Bhakti in the Poetry of Arun Kolatkar
Authors: M.G., Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India Hari , Komalesha, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India H.S.,
Published: March 2024

Of all literary traditions that have silhouetted the contours of modern Indian Poetry, the tradition of Bhakti poetry stands out pre-eminently from the rest; it provides a creative template out of which modern Indian English Poetry stems forth. In fact, the subversive poetics of the saint poets that characterises Bhakti poetry becomes a ready tool in the hands of many anti-establishment movements of contemporary Indian literature to critique the established hegemonic structures of the society that prevent a free play of creativity. It is in this context that we can locate the significance of Arun Kolatkar's poetry. An extensive reading of contemporary Indian English Poetry reveals that no Indian English poet has internalised the sensibility of Bhakti tradition to the extent that Arun Kolatkar has in his works; such internalisation makes his poetry the most fascinating site to look for the contemporary manifestations of Bhakti. Hence, this paper attempts to explore the influence of Bhakti poetry on Arun Kolatkar, arguably the greatest Indian English poet, and seeks to delineate the way the spirit of Bhakti creeps into his poems while detailing the material world. Although Kolatkar is least interested in using poetry as a means to express the intense longing for a personal deity as the Bhakti poets did, his passionate devotion towards life matches the devotion of saints in its intensity. The paper, thus, attempts to bring out the quality of devotion that has an existence in Kolatkar's poetry without any concrete references to God and religion.
De-familiarising Nationalist Discourses: Performative Ironies of the Normative Indian Episteme
Authors: Das, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India Saswat S. , Purakayastha, Kazi Nazul University, India Anindya Sekhar , Sarkar, Vellore Institute of Technology, India Sandeep
Published: March 2024

The present excursus attempts a deconstructive reading of the foundational texts of normative Indian nationalism and problematises them and their epistemic plexus through the critical trajectories of Homi K. Bhabha and Partha Chatterjee. Nationalism still remains a primary signifier in academic debates and in works like The Nation and its Fragments and Nationalist Thoughts and the Colonial World, Chatterjee challenges the assumption that nationalism in Asia and Africa is a derivative version of pre-given European nationalist a prioris. For Chatterjee, Asian and African nationalism was based on difference and not on derivation and the present essay addresses this differentiality, this dynamics of performative operativity of Indian nationalism with specific references to textual episteme of foundational thinkers such as Tagore, Gandhi, Vivekananda and Jawaharlal Nehru. We interrogate the normative cognitivities of these foundational thinkers by pitting them against the radical conceptualisation of DissemiNation of Homi K. Bhabha. We argue that while the foundational texts of Indian nationalism did not imitate the epistemic structures of the West they ended up in offering only mythic abstractions and religious normativities that surely fail to betray any proud deliberative encounter with â€œthe historic and objective realitiesâ€ of India.
Malay Characters in Lloyd Fernandoâ€™s Green is the Colour
Authors: Ramlan, International Islamic University Malaysia Madiha
Published: March 2024

This essay focuses on how members of the Malay community are characterised in Lloyd Fernando's Green is the Colour (1993) by highlighting the complexities and nuances surrounding Malay identity. Fernando's characterisation of Malays puts focus on discourses of identity and belonging that continue to dominate imaginaries on personal and national levels. By putting the 1969 Sino-Malay Race Riots and the Islamic Revivalism of the 1980s into context, Fernando enables a discussion not only on the many aspects of being Malay, but at the same time address how these many facets of â€œMalayâ€ identity inform and are informed by the Malaysian socio-political landscape.
â€œNo man is an islandâ€: Crossing Thresholds â€“ Journeying with the Recent Poetry of Syd Harrex
Authors: Murn, Flinders University, Australia Molly , Graefe, Flinders University, Australia Melinda
Published: March 2024

Syd Harrex's poetry has been widely published both overseas and in Australia, and in retirement he continued to write and to be involved in the mentoring of creative writing. He always considered that his professional activities, which had brought him in contact nationally and internationally with contemporary writers, had significantly nourished his own development as a poet.Â  Â  In 2009, as we were working with Syd to gather poems together for Five Seasons, he experienced the sudden diminution of eyesight, the onset of macular degeneration, and this radically changed the way he was now able to compose. This paper explores the connections between Syd Harrex's recent and earlier poetry, the ways in which his creative process changed with the failing of eyesight, and the impetus to write back to his Tasmanian-islandic self through the memories of childhood, as prompted by the melodies and rhythms of everyday life.
Re-Imagined Homes: Transnational Asian American Writing in Annie Wangâ€™s The Peopleâ€™s Republic of Desire
Authors: Fu, Edgewood College, USA Binbin
Published: March 2024

This essay proposes that Annie Wang's The Peopleâ€™s Republic of Desire (2006) offers a new home-identity alignment for Asian American subjectivity in the transnational space of the Pacific Rim, an alternative to the predominant cultural nationalist model for home-identity configuration defined within the US nation-state boundaries. It argues that contemporary cosmopolitan life brought about by global capital has created a more flexible, border-defying cultural imaginary across the Pacific for Asian American writing and the making of Asian American identity outside the nation-state, yet its fluidity, by dissolving the traditional bond between home and identity, also signifies Asian Americans' continuous displacement and dividedness between national and transnational imperatives.
Home and Diasporic Imagination: Incorporating Immigrant Writer Chang Shi-Kuo in (Chinese) American Literary Studies
Authors: Huang, East Carolina University, USA Su-ching
Published: March 2024

As part of a larger project aiming to include Sinophone US literature in US literary studies, this essay focuses on the Taiwan immigrant writer Chang Shi-Kuoâ€˜s work and his recurrent themes, such as the obsession with China, the anxiety over patrilineal transmission, male hysteria and racial melancholia. The thematic concerns and stylistic experimentalism in Changâ€˜s fiction intersect with those of other ethnic Chinese writers in the US, whether they write in Chinese or English. Focusing on Changâ€˜s fiction and its engagement of the diasporic imagination with the aforementioned themes, this paper examines Changâ€˜s portrayals of US and Taiwan/Chinese societies. While his charactersâ€˜ US experience often suggests a critique of technocracy and commercialism, and the ensuing interpersonal alienation in the US, his depiction of Taiwan seems more nuanced and sanguine. I propose to read the discrepancy between such portrayals as resulting more from diasporic nostalgia than from lived experience. Despite Changâ€˜s explicit attachment to Taiwan, he is also quite aware of his immigrant status. Observing the transition of student immigrants into US citizens, he rejects the label of â€•Overseas Student literature; instead, he contends that student immigrant literature will gradually become the literature of the adopted country. Changâ€˜s affinity with US-born Chinese American writers can be observed in his Chinese protagonistsâ€˜ male hysteria, which hints at the dissolution of traditional Chinese gender division in North America. The inability to sustain a traditional Chinese family in North America suggests a failure to ensure a profitable future for the Chinese diaspora, which I describe as anxiety over patrilineal transmission, after the Asian American critic Sau-ling Wong. Such male hysteria not only harks back to the â€•obsession with Chinaâ€– but also points to an affinitybetween Sinophone US literature and Chinese American literature written in English by US-born Chinese American writers.
An Untenable Dichotomy: The Idea of Home in John Okadaâ€™s No-No Boy
Authors: Li, Stony Brook University, USA Wenxin
Published: March 2024

Given the particular history of Asian immigration in the U.S., the idea of a stable and safe home has been regularly sought after in Asian American literature. Whether these Asian immigrants abandoned their homeland due to war, famine, or other disasters, the urgency to find safety and protection in a new home in America remains one of most enduring themes. In No-No Boy, a 1957 novel by John Okada that explores the traumatic aftermath of the internment of Japanese Americans during and after World War II, the idea of home is presented in an unstable dichotomy between affirming Americanness and perpetual foreignness. The novel's protagonist Ichiro Yamada regains his freedom after serving a prison term for refusing to join the American military in the war against Japan, only to find a dysfunctional home in the back of the family grocery store. Everything here is Japanese: the food, language and allegiance. Ichiro's home is contrasted with Kenji's home, which showcases its Americanisation in every aspect. By setting up this dichotomy, Okada exposes the tension within the Japanese American community in the difficult process of assimilation into American society. The ultimate hope for Ichiro seems to lie in a home that is yet to be built, a life with Emi in an America that simply accepts him for who he is without racialisation.
Persuratan Baru: An Alternative Paradigm to Western Literary Methodologies
Authors: Mohd. Tahir, National University of Malaysia (UKM) Ungku Maimunah
Published: March 2024

As an ex-colony of Britain, the Malay literary world exhibits an intellectual rush to imbibe Western literary constructs at the expense of local literary tradition which, informed by Islam, has spanned centuries. These Western constructs, which contradict both Malay culture and Islam, the religion of the Malays, give rise not only to confusion of knowledge and epistemology (in particular the concept of literary function and aesthetics), but also reinvent new values and structures of literary form and practice. Malay literature thus takes on an unmistakably Western hue and identity. In the face of this foreign onslaught, local scholars feel an urgent need to revive analytical frameworks that are cognisant of Islamic precepts and Malay cultural dynamics. This is seen as a means to bring back to Malay literature the Islamic worldview and identity which have been eclipsed, and, in some cases, jettisoned altogether. One such framework is Persuratan Baru (Genuine Literature) or PB which is informed by the concept of taklif, principally accountability to God through observation of the syariah or Islamic jurisprudence. Persuratan Baru re-orientates Malay creative and critical writings by challenging the primacy of the story as the lynchpin of fiction. In its place, PB prioritises knowledge as the main organising principle of narrative on the one hand, and stylisation of ideas, with discourse positioned as a crucial tool of articulation, as an integrated method of foregrounding ideas in creative terms, on the other.
Entangled Allegiances and Multiple Belongings in Shirley Geok-lin Limâ€™s Among the White Moon Faces: An Asian American Memoir of Homelands
Authors: Mayer, Siena College, USA Chingyen Yang
Published: March 2024

In Among the White Moon Faces: An Asian American Memoir of Homelands (1996), Shirley Geok-lin Lim writes, â€œThe dominant imprint I have carried with me since birth was of a Malaysian homelandâ€ and â€œthere are homelands of the memory and homelands of the future, and for many of us, they are not the sameâ€ (231, 191). Oscillating between her birthplace, Malaysia, and her adopted homeland, the United States, Lim embarks on a whirlwind journey to find a place called home both literally and metaphorically throughout her poetically crafted memoir. Lim's mixed personal and cultural heritages, and her geographical and emotional wanderings which cross multiple terrains problematise the static anchorage of the idea of home, nationhood, and personal and cultural identities. In her narratives of home and exile, Lim simultaneously captures the trauma of displaced identities, the nostalgic yearning for her native land, and the loneliness of an exile, but also celebrates the dynamic multiplicity of transnational identities and homelands.