bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Estudo sobre violência intrafamiliar contra a criança: conhecimentos e atitudes de professores da educação infantil
Authors: Monti Luísa Leôncio , Sigolo Silvia Regina Ricco Lucato
Published: June 2023

No cenário da violência intrafamiliar contra a criança, a escola e o professor são instrumentos de prevenção e proteção infantis. O objetivo do estudo foi investigar conhecimentos e atitudes de professores da Educação Infantil sobre a violência intrafamiliar contra a criança de zero a cinco anos e onze meses, a partir da teoria multicausal. Participaram 36 professoras de uma cidade do estado de São Paulo. Foram utilizados dois instrumentos de coleta de dados: um questionário sobre formação e experiência docente e um questionário estilo escala de Likert sobre violência intrafamiliar contra a criança. Observou-se tendência em não realizar a denúncia formal. Foi relatada insegurança para atuar, devido lacunas na formação, resultando em hesitação para denunciar e apoio das práticas em senso comum e crenças pessoais. As profissionais relataram falta de credibilidade nos órgãos que compõem a rede de apoio. A promoção de um microssistema (escola) que favoreça o desenvolvimento e a proteção do indivíduo, depende da capacitação de professores. Conclui-se que as profissionais são capazes de identificar situações e características de violência intrafamiliar contra a criança, contudo, não são capazes de realizar os encaminhamentos adequados.
Sfondi estetik në poemën “Dashuria” (eros) të Naim Frashërit
Authors: Fetahu Ramazan
Published: June 2023

Letërsia orientale, përmes poezisë mistike, kaloi në letërsinë dhe në kulturën shqiptare. Naim Frashëri është personifikim i kësaj ure të kalimit të vlerave mistike orientale në hapësirat shqiptare. Temat mbi të cilat do të qëndrojmë dhe të cilat janë qendrore në poezinë e Naimit, janë: Zoti, e bukura, dashuria dhe ekstaza, si rrugë për arritjen te Zoti. Këto vlera te Naimi janë pjesë e pandarë e formimit intelektual të tij. Idetë e tij mbi të bukurën janë të shpërndara në vepra të ndryshme, por në poemën “Eros” (dashuria), ai e paraqet në mënyrë tërësore botëkuptimin e tij mbi këto çështje. Te Naimi ndikim të madh kishin poetët persianë: Xhelaluddin Rumiu, Farid ud-din Attari, Ibn Arabiu etj., pasi ai i lexonte veprat e tyre në gjuhën origjinale. Ndikimi i tyre vërehet në konceptin e njëshmërisë së qenies (vahdeti vuxhud), e cila ndihet në tërë veprimtarinë e  Naimit dhe shpeshherë edhe quhet panteizëm, sipas konceptit perëndimor. Por panteizmi i tij nuk është i llojit perëndimor të Spinozës, ai është panteizëm i stilit oriental, konkretisht koncept i filozofisë islame.  E them këtë, duke u bazuar në atë që Naimi e unifikon Zotin me të bukurën dhe dashurinë, e njëjtë kjo me unifikimin që bën Rumiu në veprat e tij, në dallim nga Spinoza, i cili e kërkon unifikimin e Zotit në bazë të intelektit. Spinoza e kërkon Zotin tek etika, kurse Rumiu dhe Naimi tek estetika.
Hasan Tahsini, dijetari e patrioti që meriton një vend të veçantë në panteonin kombëtar të dijes
Authors: Meidani Rexhep
Published: June 2023

Një vit më parë, gjatë vizitës së  studiueses së pasionuar Manushaqe Halili në zyrën time, ajo më dhuroi serinë prej tri vëllimesh, të titulluar “Hoxha Tahsin, Vepra, I, II, III”, të    përgatitura prej saj. Para largimit, si  kalimthi, ajo foli dhe për një vëllim të ardhshëm, për të cilin më kërkoi dhe kontributin tim konkret, pra për të shkruar edhe unë diçka në nderim të këtij shqiptari dhe rilindësi të shquar.
Meqë m’u ofrua dhe koha për ta pasqyruar këtë angazhim, i dërgova një e-mail kolegut dhe  mikut tim, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, me të cilin jemi anëtarë të Bordit të të Besuarve (Board of Trustees), të Bibliotekës Aleksandrina (në Aleksandri, Egjipt). Në përgjigjen e tij (faksimilja e përgjigjes i është bashkëngjitur shkrimit), krahas dhënies së disa referencave, ai e konsideronte Hoxha Tahsin Efendiun si “një nga pionierët e shkencave moderne të shekullit të XIX në Perandorinë Osmane”, ndërkohë që në pjesën e fundit të letrës flet për librin e tij në dy vëllime, të botuar në turqisht më 2017-n, të titulluar “Trashëgimia Shkencore Osmane” (Osmanlı Bilim Mirası).
Aty, ai e “ka përzgjedhur Hoxha Tahsinin si një nga 290 dijetarët e shquar midis mijërave prej tyre, gjatë periudhës së gjatë osmane 6-shekullore”. Një diskutim të frytshëm patëm së bashku, në Rigë (Letoni), gjatë një takimi ndërkombëtar (prej tij, në çdo rast, mund të përfitohet  shumë).
Bayesian Optimization of Sampling Densities in MRI
Authors: Gossard Alban , de Gournay Frédéric , Weiss Pierre
Published: June 2023

Data-driven optimization of sampling patterns in MRI has recently received a significant attention. Following recent observations on the combinatorial number of minimizers in off-the-grid optimization, we propose a framework to globally optimize the sampling densities using Bayesian optimization. Using a dimension reduction technique, we optimize the sampling trajectories more than 20 times faster than conventional off-the-grid methods, with a restricted number of training samples. This method – among other benefits – discards the need of automatic differentiation. Its performance is slightly worse than state-of-the-art learned trajectories since it reduces the space of admissible trajectories, but comes with significant computational advantages. Other contributions include: i) a careful evaluation of the distance in probability space to generate trajectories ii) a specific training procedure on families of operators for unrolled reconstruction networks and iii) a gradient projection based scheme for trajectory optimization.
Onderwijs en opvoeding in Suriname en op de Caribische eilanden
Authors: Sanches M.R. , Van der Rijst R.M. , Isabella S.A. , Day I.N.Z. , Visser-Wijnveen G.J.
Published: June 2023

Dit themanummer ontsluit wetenschappelijke studies naar de praktijk van opvoeding en onderwijs in Suriname en op de Caribische eilanden binnen het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. Met dit themanummer hoopt de redactie het wetenschappelijk gesprek over opvoeding en onderwijs tussen de Nederlandstalige gebieden te versterken en een impuls te geven.  

Dit themanummer richt zich specifiek op onderwerpen die gaan over opvoeding en onderwijs in Suriname en op de Nederlands-Caribische eilanden. De opgenomen artikelen dragen bij aan een verheldering van hedendaagse problematieken van opvoeding en onderwijs in het Nederlandstalig Caribisch gebied. De artikelen bestaan uit verslagen van empirisch onderzoek uitgevoerd op Aruba, Bonaire en Curaçao en in Suriname, alsook een kritische methodologische notitie.
Väck sömnen till liv
Authors: Garcia Lantz Alicia
Published: June 2023

Patienters sömn i samband med vård på sjukhus God sömnkvalitet är förknippad med en rad positiva effekter på fy- sisk hälsa och psykologiskt välbefinnande. Trots detta är bristande sömnkvalitet vanligt förekommande bland patienter som vårdas på sjukhus vilket kan medföra negativa konsekvenser i form av försäm- rat immunförsvar (Lee-Chiong, 2008; Imeri & Opp, 2009; Bese- dovsky et al., 2012), försämrad smärttolerans (Krause et al., 2019), ökad risk för förvirring och delirium (Knauert, Haspel & Pisani, 2015) samt ökad risk för störningar i insulinregleringen hos diabeti- ker (DePietro et al., 2017).
Sömnproblem och sömnkvalitet bland gravida – en enkätstudie
Authors: Ek Emmelie , Lönnberg Teddie , Oscarsson Marie
Published: June 2023

Sömnen påverkas under en graviditet med bland annat fler uppvaknanden och mindre djupsömn. Sömnproblem under graviditeten ökar risken för psykiska problem och medicinska komplikationer hos den gravida och fostret. Det saknas svenska studier om sömnproblem och graviditet. Syftet var att kartlägga sömnproblem och sömnkvalitet bland gravida och jämföra de tre trimestrarna, samt undersöka samband mellan sömnproblem och självskattad hälsa. Studien genomfördes som en tvärsnittsstudie med en webbaserad enkät som besvarades av 836 gravida kvinnor. Resultatet analyserades med en deskriptiv och analytisk statistik. Resultatet visar att majoriteten av de gravida (69,5 %) rapporterade sömnproblem och 84,2 % rapporterade dålig sömnkvalitet. Inga signifikanta skillnader fanns mellan de olika trimestrarna. Av de gravida skattade 79,5 % sin hälsa som god. Bland gravida med god självskattad hälsa hade 65,3 % sömnproblem, bland gravida med dålig självskattad hälsa hade 86 % sömnproblem (p <0,001). Av de gravida med god självskattad hälsa hade 81,4 % dålig sömnkvalitet och bland gravida med dålig självskattad hälsa hade 95,3 % dålig sömnkvalitet (p <0,001). Kvinnorna rapporterade många graviditetssymtom störde de gravidas sömn. En majoritet (62,9 %) besvärades av illamående i första trimestern. Påverkan av sura uppstötningar/reflux, ryggont och obekväma ställningar ökade med varje trimester. Livliga drömmar och oro för förlossningen upplevdes störst i första trimestern. Över 80 % av alla gravida kvinnor i alla tre trimestrarna fick störd nattsömn av frekvent urinering. Majoriteten av de gravida hade sömnproblem och dålig sömnkvalitet. Trots detta skattade de flesta sin hälsa som god.
Skolungdomars sociala medievanor och betydelse för sömnen
Authors: Möller Anna , Karlsson Jennifer , Ericsson Iréne
Published: June 2023

Användningen av sociala medier är idag ett utbrett fenomen som har blivit en naturlig del i, framför allt skolungdomars liv. Skolungdomar tillbringar mycket tid framför digitala medier för att de anser att de genom att vara online blir en del av ett socialt sammanhang. Aktuell statistik angående ungdomar och sömn visar på en försämrad sömn hos skolungdomar. Syftet med litteraturöversikten var därför att undersöka om skolungdomars sociala medievanor kunde vara av betydelse för sömnen. För att få svar på frågan genomfördes en systematisk integrativ litteraturöversikt vilket innebär att resultat från kvalitativa och kvantitativa studier har integrerats och presenteras kvalitativt.
The Act and Art of Editing: Exploration of the Functions and Responsibilities of Book Editors in the Electronic Age
Authors: Igudia Osarobu Emmanuel , Akangbe Clement Adeniyi
Published: June 2023

In this present ICT-driven information age, the traditional roles of editors in the book publishing process are threatened, as software is being developed to perform editorial functions. Experience has shown, however, that ICT can help in improving human experience in all spheres of life. For editors to remain relevant, there is the need for conscious effort by publishers and editors to upgrade their knowledge in the application of ICT in the editorial practices. This paper examines the chances of survival of book editors in the face of a fast changing environment. The paper concludes that the publishing option in the electronic age does not exclude editorial functions but redefines the new roles of editors in the publishing process. Therefore, editorial roles need a redefinition in the present dispensation and editors and publishers, especially in the developing nations such as Nigeria need to move with the changing time. This is done by committing more resources into training and development, to enable editorial staff to be relevant in the present dispensation. Therefore, the job of the editor remains, only if, editors upgrade themselves in the act and art of editing to make them relevant in this changing time.
Exploring the Influence of Emotional Autonomy on Academic Flow Theory: A Study on Cadets at Politeknik Ilmu Pelayaran (PIP) Makassar
Authors: Syam Makmur
Published: June 2023

Emotional autonomy is the ability of young cadets to act independently, take the initiative, overcome obstacles, and effectively manage emotions while engaging in activities. Academic flow is a state experienced by individuals when fully immersed, focused, concentrated, comfortable, and enjoying what they do due to intrinsic motivation. This study examines the relationship between Emotional Autonomy and academic flow theory among cadets at Politeknik Ilmu Pelayaran (PIP) Makassar. The sample consisted of 170 participants selected through random sampling. The quantitative research method used the emotional autonomy scale and the LIS Inventory Flow Academic as measurement tools. Data analysis was conducted using the Product Moment correlation technique with SPSS 24.0 for Windows. The results revealed a correlation coefficient of 0.643 between emotional autonomy and academic flow, with a significance level 0.000 (p<0.01). The findings indicate a positive relationship between emotional autonomy and academic flow. This research provides valuable insights for Cadets in enhancing their emotional autonomy to attain a state of academic flow during lectures and residential activities.
Landscapes Mythicized:
Authors: Bhattacharya Amit
Published: June 2023

The lay of a people is often tethered to the lay of the land that they live in or leave behind; for the land holds all the associations of ancestry, heritage, and environment that constitute what Emile Durkheim would call “the collective conscious.” Landscapes may assume near mythical dimensions in forming and framing the creative impulse of writers who draw their images and symbols, themes and motifs, and aspirations and apprehensions from their terrestrial roots and routes. In the present paper, I seek to reread a few poems of the famous Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali with a view to highlighting his poetics of place that remains true to the kindred points of haven (America, the adopted land) and home (Kashmir, the homeland). Attempts will be made to shed light on the re-creative dynamics of his poetry that helps him to mythicize these two landscapes with the aid of “memory” and “imagination.” My objective here is to foreground the process through which the poet’s re-creation of place combines with the reader’s focus on spatiality to situate Ali’s poems such as “Postcard from Kashmir,” “Snowmen,” “A Wrong Turn,” “Snow on the Desert,” “Farewell,” etc. In the poem, “Postcard from Kashmir” for example, the speaker holds the postcard that represents to him the land of his birth – “Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox,/ my home a neat four by six inches.” The persistent pains of “exile” lead him to proximate the half-inch Himalayas to this “home,” because he realizes “This is home. And this the closest I’ll ever be to home.” Similarly, in the poem “Snow on the Desert,” the poet brings to bear all his imaginative elasticity to re-create the Papago’s way of living in the Sonoran desert in the South Western part of the United States. His poetic narrative brings to the surface the native history of the Papagos people whose long lost lives are imaginatively re-created by a diasporic poet, keenly aware of the ancient glory of his own homeland as contrasted with its recent abjection.
Intersectionality in Adrienne Rich’s Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence and Barbara Smith’s Toward a Black Feminist Criticism
Authors: Gupta Leema Sen
Published: June 2023

Adrienne Rich in her Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence focuses on the tension between imposed heterosexuality and choice of sexual orientation, whereas Barbara Smith in Toward a Black Feminist Criticism deals with the gap of identity politics between white women and women of color. Both writings can be examined through the lens of intersectionality. Both Rich and Smith argue that women, in general, are oppressed and have been subject to domination in the patriarchal society. However, they differ in their argument of how the social and institutional forces contribute to the politics of gender, race, and sexuality and how women’s racial and sexual orientation have been exploited to make them vulnerable. Rich, in her writing, shows lesbian women as marginalized not only for being lesbian but also for being women. In Rich’s writing, gender and sexuality intersect with one another, whereas in Smith’s writing, race, gender, and sexuality intersect because she argues that both Black women and Black lesbian women are marginalized simultaneously. This paper will examine how intersectionality has been used by Rich and Smith to understand the differences in their arguments when they are both advocates for the voice of marginalized people in society.
Tasks for the Transition:
Authors: McKay Todd
Published: June 2023

In Bangladesh, high school students have trouble doing English tasks when they enter university due to their high school’s medium of instruction and their need for both English and academic skills. One way to prepare students for university is to develop programs around tasks they will do at university. This study documents three phases of a needs analysis to design a summer English program for students at Notre Dame College (NDC) in Bangladesh. The three phases identified where students would need English when they graduate, tasks they would need to do, and situations in which they would do those tasks. In Phase 1, teacher interviews and student questionnaires revealed where students would need English. In Phase 2, to get a sense of situations and tasks in which students would need English, I interviewed teachers, spoke with students, and observed classes at four universities. In Phase 3, to understand how relevant situations, tasks, and media were to more students, questionnaires were given to 240 students across universities. Results were situations, tasks, and commonly-used media for developing the NDC curriculum.
Front matter
Authors: Front matter
Published: June 2023

CROSSINGS: A Journal of English StudiesDepartment of English and HumanitiesUniversity of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)crossings@ulab.edu.bdSpecial Volume on Marx 200 | March 2020 | ISSN 2071–1107
Inspired by the Bengal Renaissance:
Authors: Quayum Mohammad A.
Published: June 2023

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) is often considered as one of the most significant figures in the education and emancipation of Bengali (Muslim) women, especially during the early decades of the twentieth century. A contemporary of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Sarat Chandra Chattapadhyay (1876-1938) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976), she was not only a brilliant writer but also one who passionately fought for the rights and dignity of women, as well as for women’s social, economic, and intellectual empowerment. Here I would like to argue that Rokeya’s efforts in educating and emancipating Indian women in general, and Bengali Muslim women in particular, were part of a larger social reform program or movement which began in Bengal in the early decades of the nineteenth century and lasted through the first half of the twentieth century, eventually resulting in a change in the course of Bengal’s history, as well as in the fate and circumstances of Bengali (Muslim) women. In other words, I contend that Rokeya was influenced and inspired by this movement in taking up the gauntlet against the deeply entrenched patriarchy that shaped the mind and habits of her society.
Dionysian Africa as an Antithesis of the Apollonian West
Authors: Azad Shibly
Published: June 2023

On his deathbed, the protagonist Harry in the story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” examines his past life. He concludes that he lived an empty life and that none but he is to blame for it. The narrative is structured in a diegetic frame, telling the past events of the protagonist by separating them off from the present events. The narrative, consequently, swings back and forth from interjected flashbacks to flashforward scenes, suggesting a triumph of the Apollonian virtue over the Dionysian vice, as the yardstick to measure a man. In setting his locales and depiction of places, Hemingway employs Manichean dialectics, indicative of his internalizing an Orientalist perspective that places Africa as opposed to the West. The bipartite representation reflects the author’s subscription to the high Victorian values that he had absorbed while growing up. This paper contends that “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” embodies a dialectical struggle between the Apollonian virtue and the Dionysian vice in the human soul, presented as thesis and as antithesis. It attempts to decode the embedded binary symbols, illustrating that the usage of the imageries of the snow-capped mountains and the peaks, as opposed to the dusty plane of Africa infested with beasts, alludes to representation of life and death. Further, it asserts that the idea of Africa is feminized when Hemingway equates the continent with the image of Helen, making the latter a synecdoche of the former; and that this blending of hegemony and misogyny reinforces a politics of aesthetics that obliterates, distorts, and dehumanizes the image of Africa.
Consciousness-Raising in Amitav Ghosh’s Ecocritical Novel The Hungry Tide
Authors: Dhar Tej N
Published: June 2023

Ecocriticism, which studies the relationship between literature and the physical environment, has already permeated several other fields of literary study to create combinations like ecofeminism and ecopostcolonialism. As a novelist, Amitav Ghosh does not deal with ecological concerns with the declared open intent of novelists like Barbara Kingsolver. Most critics of Ghosh consider The Hungry Tide a novel about borders, refugees, history, and language. Some, though, have discussed it as an ecopostcolonial novel. The contention of this essay is that the twin narratives of the novel provide enough evidence of its engagement with ecocritical concerns. Piya, who dominates its main narrative, is a professional cetologist and a confirmed environmentalist whose actions and thinking have a bearing on ecological issues. The second narrative, though ostensibly about the refugees of the subaltern variety, is deeply engaged with the politics of human-animal relationships. So both narratives have a significant ecocritical component, which is meant to raise the consciousness of the readers.
Living Amidst the Catastrophes of “the Living Contradiction”:
Authors: Benjamin Bret
Published: June 2023

Two hundred years after Marx’s birth, we find ourselves living amid thecatastrophes of what Marx terms “the living contradiction.” I argue here thatMarx’s immanent critique of capitalist society’s “economic law of motion”remains the indispensable basis for any coherent understanding of capital todayand, hence, of any revolutionary project to bring about capital’s demise andsupersession. This essay develops a careful reading of a discrete section fromGrundrisse where we find key elements of Marx’s critique in concentrated form. Ifocus on the way that Marx consistently frames capital as contradiction – a set ofbarriers or limits that capital posits, presses past, and in superseding, posits againat a higher level of contradiction – culminating in Marx’s formulation of capitalas “the living contradiction.” In conversation with contemporary value-formtheory I consider what makes this contradiction living; in particular I considerthe intertwined phenomena of class decomposition and surplus population asthe phenomenal expressions of what value-form theorists have termed “asocialsociality,” the characteristic condition of commodity-subjects under capital.Ultimately, I contend that Marx remains the seminal theorist of capitalism, andthat his immanent critique of the capital-relation and the value-form remains notmerely relevant, but necessary and indispensable if we are to understand, and,more important, survive the pervasive crises of the present.
The Slow versus the Spectacular:
Authors: Nguyen Khanh
Published: June 2023

“Polynia” and “Covehithe” are two short stories from China Miéville’s 2015collection Three Moments of an Explosion. Present in both is an “ecosystem” ofspectacular violence that the author builds through, first, the graphic descriptionof violence, second, the encapsulation of eye-witnessed violence in visual objectsthat resemble what the Marxist philosopher Guy Debord terms “spectacles” and,third, the manipulation of textual spectatorship. To construct a chilling and eerieatmosphere for his narratives, Miéville can be said to have drawn heavily on HPLovecraft’s weird tales. Nonetheless, behind the spectacles of violence representedin “Polynia” and “Covehithe” is not the cosmic horror typical of Lovecraft buta different kind of horror, heavily anchored in our reality, possessing new andincreasing urgency: the horror of global warming and environmental degradation,or, as in the words of Rob Nixon, of “slow violence.” Consequently, there happensin “Polynia” and “Covehithe” what is similar to an act of translation, of the slowinto the spectacular. I argue that this translation provides a potential answer toNixon’s pressing question about how to surmount the representational challengescreated by slow violence in order to render it more urgent and engaging. Thisargument is furthermore related to broader discussions about the relationshipbetween literature and the media, fiction’s engagement with the environmentalcrisis, as well as the differences between Old Weird and New Weird.
The Hotel Narrative in Turkish, Mexican, and Bengali Fiction
Authors: Almond Ian
Published: June 2023

This webinar was presented on November 27, 2020 at the Fall 2020 Seminar Series organized by the Department of English and Humanities (DEH), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). The lecture was transcribed by Khadija Rubaiyat Tasmia (Supervisor, The English Zone, ULAB), Mashiur Rahaman, Vincent Dip Gomes, and Shahriyer Hossain Shetu (students of DEH). It is based on a chapter taken from Ian Almond, World Literature Decentered: Beyond the ‘West’ through Turkey, Mexico and Bengal (Routledge, 2021). The lecture may be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/125162620861384/videos/222975315894460.
Front Matter
Authors: Front Matter
Published: June 2023

CROSSINGS: A Journal of English StudiesDepartment of English and HumanitiesUniversity of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)crossings@ulab.edu.bdVolume 12 | September 2021 | ISSN 2071–1107
Ecocinema, Slow Violence, and Environmental Ethics:
Authors: Mridha Shibaji
Published: June 2023

In the Anthropocene epoch, slow violence triggered by human-caused environmental disaster is omnipresent across the globe. By forming an alternative media-spectatorship/readership in a media-saturated, fast-changing world, ecocinema can potentially help create an ecocentric environmental ethics, allowing us to question long-held notions of anthropocentrism, speciesism, and other ecological issues. Analyzing two documentaries, A Plastic Ocean and Silent River, this paper investigates the efficacy of the narratives of ecocinema as a powerful cultural and political text in making environmental slow violence perceptible to human imagination and in taking us one step further to environmental justice activism. The study will also examine the way in which water answers back to the environmental injustice triggered by humans through retaliation and revenge, appropriating and expanding Rob Nixon’s idea of slow violence and Jane Bennett’s concept of thing-power. Closely reading the portrayal of water as a dynamic entity in these two visual texts, this paper argues how the intrinsic value and the agency of water can reveal to humans the problems connected with their strong anthropocentric environmental ethics.
The Matrix:
Authors: Nayeem Md. Mahbubul Hasan
Published: June 2023

Film as a visual art form can be understandably perused as a form of “visual literature” where, under proper scrutiny, literary theories and critical concepts may be found intervening significantly. Stretching the range of “cine-literacy,” an approach to interpret films from a literary/theoretical perspective, suggests simultaneously the pervasive reach and the inter-disciplinary scope of literature. This article aims at addressing the aspects of the 1999 movie The Matrix that enable it as a congenial site for Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism to operate. There is hardly any linguistic phenomenon, verbal or non-verbal, that can negate its affiliations with the Bakhtinian theory of dialogism which affords a disentanglement of the dialogic properties operative in the phenomenon and thus attempts to excavate its philosophical roots as well as the diversity of implications. The Matrix, as a form of communicative event captured in celluloid that attempts to convey some messages to the audience, corroborates the idea further and the film indeed illustrates the ways dialogism and other Bakhtinian precepts are imbricated in the cinematized fiction. What an enumeration of Bakhtinian concepts in the movie allows is an articulation of the movie’s rich diversity of meaning and implications. The film has been approached from Bakhtin’s theoretical perspective with a view to addressing the adaptability of the filmed fiction with the central tenets of his theory of dialogism. Furthermore, a dialogical perspective of the film unearths its underlying mosaic of philosophical imbrications that ultimately endorses its intrinsic quality of multiplicity of meaning.
English as a Status Marker on Facebook:
Authors: Biswas Monisha
Published: June 2023

Nowadays, Facebook seems to have become a platform for people to show off their statuses (social, economic, educational, etc.) to the extent that their choice of language here can be linked to a status symbol. This study specifically examines the reasons and different ways Bangladeshi university students use English on Facebook to achieve status. Data were collected through observations of Facebook posts, a survey of 117 university students, and a semi-structured interview of 10 undergraduate students. The study found that most of the participants preferring English for Facebook posts and comments feel more educated, impressive, and prestigious. However, most participants agreed to preferring Bangla for personal messages. Interestingly, English is found to be preferred when writing to someone respectful in a formal context. Even participants with a weaker command of English were found to be using the language on Facebook without being bothered about linguistic accuracy. The study also found that all participants used code switching and code mixing between English and Bangla languages. These findings imply that English is mostly used by these university students to exhibit their high education status and language identities in public on Facebook.
Western-centricity in Academia:
Authors: Coluzzi Paolo
Published: June 2023

Most international academic journals are produced in Europe and the United States, and whether or not they are considered objective and inclusive forums for worldwide academic research, they are subtly imbued with elements of their own culture. First of all, the language, is, in most cases, English, but not Outer Circle Englishes or English as a Lingua Franca, but specifically British and/or American English. And this obviously creates a big barrier for authors who are not fluent in these varieties, which partly explains the dearth of authors coming from areas outside Europe and, more specifically, the United Kingdom and North America. After the language itself, the problem lies in all the western cultural elements that are found in the journals. The dates, for example, are always expressed in western terms such as the Christian era. Or the names of the authors in the references, which follow the western convention of the surname followed by the first name/s (or initials), which is at odds with the patronymic systems normally used in Muslim countries where no family names exist, for example. This paper discusses these issues and tries to offer some possible solutions.
Subversion of Colonial Masculinity and Manifestation of Gendered Nationalism in Letters of 1971 (Ekattorer Chithi)
Authors: Dipa Sahelee Parveen
Published: June 2023

Bengali males, in colonial hegemonic discourse, were projected as “weak” and “submissive” (Macaulay qtd. in Chowdhury 4; Banerjee 29; Ray 21). This tendency of feminizing colonized males was naturalized through the process of constant discursive practices by the end of the nineteenth century. This discourse, as has been demonstrated by different historiographies, had influenced the self-perception of the Bengalis to a large extent. However, the colonial resistance and nationalist movements proved to be a fruitful site for the Bengalis to counter the negative portrayal of their masculine selves (Chattopadhyay 271). Again, emerging nationalist discourses in anti-colonial movements in various parts of the world led to the concept of “gendered nationalism” whereby nation is signified as mother and its male citizen as the savior or protector of the “motherland” (Mayer; McClintock, qtd. in Banerjee 6). Consequently, the view that woman is to be seen as the preserver of the tradition and producer of the valiant male citizen got normalized in the discourse of nationalism. It is against this background that this paper aims to read Letters of 1971 (Ekattorer Chithi) – a collection of letters written during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 by the freedom fighters – as an endeavor to the historic legacy of reclaiming Bengali masculinity. Letters of 1971 unraveling the gallantry of the freedom fighters, and their decision of embracing martyrdom over defeat, engages a glaring instance of a counter-narrative of the colonial discourse of Bengali masculinity. Alongside, the narratives of Letters of 1971 will be seen, in this paper as participating in the discourse of gendering nationalism through its projection of the nation as mother who is in dire need of action from its valiant sons.
The Dark Triad and Sensory Marketing:
Authors: Khanom Afruza
Published: June 2023

With the commodification of the body image in modern day media and advertising, marketing of the self to gain power over one’s surroundings has become a commonplace phenomenon. Well-adapted individuals are seen to manifest a perfect body image of themselves that give them the power to influence the behavior and decisions of others. From a psychological perspective, this propensity of self-glorification through sensory marketing reveals a narcissistic strain of manipulative behavior which embodies characteristics of “the dark triad.” But for manipulation to occur, the victim must be willing for influence to take place. Through an in-depth analysis of Grace Paley’s “The Pale Pink Roast,” this article looks at how Peter’s personality, infused with traits of the dark triad, appeals to Anna’s sexuality and influences her into behavior that renders her feeling helplessly guilty and confused. From the very beginning of the short story, the sensory experience engages Anna’s perception, clouds her judgment and affects her behavior. Here sensory marketing has been considered as a mechanism of persuasion that powerfully overwhelms Anna into sexual acquiescence and results in her surrendering to a desire that has an unwholesome effect on her sense of self. Through Anna, Paley explores the complexity of female sexuality that the modernized women of her time were facing.
Between and Beyond Metamorphosing Identity:
Authors: Tabassum Samirah
Published: June 2023

This paper offers a critical comparative reading of the representation of animal and racial metamorphoses in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915) and A. Igoni Barrett’s Blackass (2015), respectively, with a view to underscoring how the processes and consequences of metamorphosing identity foreground biopolitics. While the first novel muses on the transformation of Gregor Samsa, a human being, into a monstrous vermin, the second novel, a farcical take on Kafka’s narrative, traces the transformation of Furo Wariboko, a black Nigerian, into a white-skinned man. The comparison is premised upon two axes: first, the human-animal interaction and tension that inform anthropocentric speciesism on one hand and the civilized-white/savage-black binary opposition on the other; second, the circuits of economic privilege and social accommodation. Exploring the ways in which we identify ourselves and are identified by the people in power, the paper locates the identity rubric of the human subjects in two different settings where the logic of the world is disturbed by unusual transformations and the disabled/non-disabled binary is put in a dialogue. In its enterprise of unmasking disability from its hegemonic referents, the paper incorporates insights from Disability Studies, Critical Posthumanism, Critical Race Theory, and Critical Animal Studies. By exploring the potential of debility’s capacitation, that is, the extraction and exploitation of “body maiming” and/or “body capacities” in The Metamorphosis and Blackass, this paper suggests a non-anthropocentric interspecies vision of affective politics.
The Problems of English Studies in Bangladesh
Authors: Islam Syed Manzoorul
Published: June 2023

English Studies in Bangladesh today does not have the same prospect it enjoyed even twenty years ago. Although there has been expansion of English Studies-as new university departments teaching the subject have opened, and most university colleges have English literature as a major subject, there has been a continuous slide in quality. The situation has almost reached a crisis point, and many academics openly raise questions as to the viability of English Studies in its present form. The challenges that English Studies today faces are many, some ideological, some methodological and pedagogical, and some have to do with such things as poor logistics, lack of libraries and books and qualified teachers. In addition, the challenges coming from the bifurcation of English departments into Language/Linguistics and Literature streams, and increasing marketability of such courses as TESOL, ESP and the like pose a grave threat to English Studies in Bangladesh. The paper will discuss these problems in some detail, and will attempt a way out of the current crisrs.
Institutional Elitism:
Authors: Haque Muhammed Shahriar
Published: June 2023

The fact that graduates from western or foreign countries, or at least those with qualifications from these countries, are highly prized is probably a marketization ploy in order to enhance the international atmosphere and reputation of the host institution. In a country like Bangladesh, very few get the opportunity to study beyond the shores of their home country, and most of the fortunate few are usually from the upper middle class. By somewhat surreptitiously opening the doors of employment to the very privileged few, the advertisers are not only being elitist and discriminatory but also contribute to the (re)production of the ideology that anything foreign is better than local. To separate this reality from the rhetoric in Bangladesh’s private education discourse, this paper analyzes a sample of web-based recruitment advertisements of the country’s private institutions and attempts to illustrate how institutional elitism is practiced in the country.
Correcting ESL Learners’ Writing
Authors: Mahmud Zafor Mohammad
Published: June 2023

This study is based on an investigation into the traditional practice of checking learners’ written work in their absence and providing correct versions of incorrect forms of expression. The survey was administered to 50 first-year non-English major students at ULAB. The findings maybe of particular help to course designers in ESL and ELT programmes. The paper also suggests some effective means of correcting learners’ scripts.
Liminal Phases, Domestic Spaces:
Authors: Ahmed Naveera
Published: June 2023

A liminal space / phase is a dimension of in-betweens’ where two identities can co-exist. Objects and traditions brought from home countries into foreign domesticities strengthen cultural identities; however, they are also symptomatic of the mourning process that is a part of the re[1]homing process. In Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri’s characters grow more accustomed to living in foreign dwellings, and learn to negotiate between the culture, food and traditions of their home and ‘host’ country’ Lahiri also explores the effects that personal conflicts have on hybrid domesticities.
The Imperial Design and Shakespeare
Authors: Alam Mohit Ul
Published: June 2023

My paper aims at showing that Shakespeare worked within an imperial paradigm. The basis for saying so is that in Europe, starting with the ancient Greece, the idea of the empire was pre-formulated before the establishment of an empire. That is. the empire was invented before it was actualized. The Greeks, followed by the Romans, read the map of the world from a moral premise. They imagined an empire with Athens as the centre, implying that the lands away from the centre were the locations for barbarians, who were morally inferior and bestial. Such a view of the empire has been called ‘poetic geography’ by Gimabattista Vico, an eighteenth-century philosopher. My point is that the poetic geography was not only created by the Greeks and the Romans in respect of their empires, but the English also had pursued a poetic geography before the English/British Empire took shape. In this pursuit Shakespeare had been used as an agency to further the imperial cause. But Shakespeare had been at best a double-edged agency, because while he was found useful in pushing the imperial agenda he also became the site of resistance for the colonized.
Fears of Formal Speech Presentation in English:
Authors: Rahman Nadia
Published: June 2023

There is no one who regularly speaks in public who was not once absolutely terrified. The usual teeth chattering, feet trembling happen every time we stand up to make a speech. For the non-native speakers this fear is responsible to aggravate their already shaky performance. There are a number of reasons behind the fear of formal speech presentation. The article will explore the reasons of this fear and suggest experimented solutions from the real class room situations.
The Centenary Volume on Abul Fazal:
Authors: Mohit Ul Alam Mohit Ul Alam
Published: June 2023

Manobtontri Abul Fazal: Shatobarshik Shmarankgrantha (Abul Fazal, a Humanitarian: Centenary Commemorative Volume)Editors: Prof Anisuzzaman et alDhaka: Somoy Prokashan, 2009

Nothing is more in need at this critical time, when political democracy has re[1]started an all but limping journey, than the publication of a centenary commemorative anthology on Abul Fazal (1903-1983). the foremost humanist of the country…
An Idealist on the Lectern:
Authors: AIam Fakrul
Published: June 2023

Almost as soon as the English Gitanjali was published, Rabindranath Tagore found himself responding to countless invitations to give lectures and speeches in English on all sorts of topics around the world. The four volumes of The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore record fully the remarkable range of topics covered by Rabindranath in these lectures and speeches. They reflect his intense idealism, his unwavering commitment to humanism as well as his fervent belief in the world of the spirit. They reveal his passionate nature and remind us that he rose to the occasion time and again to critique nationalism and narrow[1]mindedness and promote internationalism. What I propose to do in this paper is analyze these speeches to bring out their dominant themes and reveal their stylistic qualities, comment on their contemporary relevance and reception, and show how they are typical of the viswa-kabi or the universal poet, intent on bringing his message of unity and brotherhood to international as well as national audiences.
Arundhati Roy:
Authors: Amin Nuzhat
Published: June 2023

This essay evaluates features in Arundhati Roy’s non-fiction or political essays. Through the course of her works, she opens up a whole spectrum of questions: can fiction and non-fiction occupy a common ground without dissolving their generic differences, does non-fiction become activism if it strays too far away from conventional practices and actively promotes acts of resistance, can writers choose not to take into account the upheavals that they witness, is silence defensible on the grounds that the political is polemical and fiction is subtle? Roy posits that she is a writer creatively engaged in activism rather than a writer-activist who merely professionalizes protest.
Teachers’ Awareness and Current Practice of Communicative Activities in Bangladeshi Universities
Authors: Shayeekh-Us-Saleheen Md.
Published: June 2023

Many applied linguists and researchers regard Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) as one of the most effective approaches to ELT and they have experienced that the variety of activities (e.g. warming-up exercises, interviews, games, role plays, simulations, problem-solving tasks, ranking exercises) compatible with a communicative approach is unlimited. Such activities engage learners in communication and offer them an opportunity to practice their communication skills meaningfully in different contexts and by taking on different roles. Bangladesh embraced Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the 1990s in order to improve the declining standards of English in the country and it is most likely that when asked to name the methodology the teachers make use of in their classrooms, the majority of language teachers today assert “communicative” as the methodology of choice. But the question is how far the teachers have practiced communicative activities in the class and how they experience it while practicing it in the classroom. Hence, this paper will present teachers’ awareness and current practice of communicative activities in Bangladeshi universities. In addition, it will try to focus on some potential problems of using communicative activities in Bangladesh context and suggest ways of overcoming limitations to cope with the context. It is based on a questionnaire which looked at classroom procedures teachers currently use as part of their English language teaching.
A doomed love, in a new language
Authors: Islam Md. Rafiqul
Published: June 2023

Shakespeare Roman Tragedy: Antony and CleopatraTranslation Mohit Ul Alam, Dhaka: Anupam Prokashoni,2010

If Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet is a manifest love story of two young lovers, Antony and Cleopatra is a …
The Metamorphosis:
Authors: Islam Nasrin
Published: June 2023

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is a novella which depicts alienation of a modern man in the most dreadful manner. It starts with the transformation of Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, into a bug and the author depicts the story of his gradual separation from his family and his consequent death in a very moving way. We get a detailed description of the gradual encroachment of an insectile character on his human character. However, the transformation takes place very abruptly at the beginning of the story and we are not offered an adequate account of Gregor’s mental metamorphosis, except for some of his reflections on his past, which must have led to the physical metamorphosis. Interestingly enough, along with the description of Gregor’s coming in terms with his new insect body, we are given a very significant and elaborate depiction of the mental change of Gregor’s sister Grete. We may apparently think that she steadily develops into an adult and assumes a new individual identity. Nevertheless, the continuous loss of her innocence and tenderness of mind is a remarkable feature of her mental development. And there are scopes to argue that actually it is with the rendition of her mental decadence that Kafka has substituted the account of Gregor’s mental change which he has gone through prior to his physical transformation. And, the novella ends with a very strong indication that Grete is also heading towards the miserable fate as Gregor did. This paper discusses these two transformations as complementary to each other by showing parallels of the situations that set off the process of change in these two victims of capitalist society, and by emphasizing the fate of an alienated modern man represented by these two siblings.