New Books...
Portrayal of Women in Media and Literature
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Pages xxiii+ 542, ISBN 978-93-82647-01-1
Worldwide Circulation through Authorspress Global Network. The book is also available online on flipkart, infibeam, alibris, amazon, snapdeal, ebay, Southasiabooks and so on
First Published in 2013 by ACCESS, New Delhi
Though the 21st-century has often been referred to as the age of women-empowerment when every crusader against patriarchal norms is applauded, representation of female emancipation, be it in films and serials or in literature, often assume distorted forms. The depiction of women in media and literature seems to be aimed more at satisfying the subconscious male voyeuristic desires than at how the females have become modernised enough to take on the world. Importantly, this is not a novel phenomenon. Since the time of The Ramayana or The Mahabharata, women have been constantly relegated to peripheries vis-à-vis the usual male assumption of centrality, with the powerful men looking down upon their female counterparts merely as submissive sexual objects. Women have been consistently stereotyped as unintelligent human beings who are expected to serve in kitchens, follow the directions of their male and female in-laws, act as caring mothers to children, and ensure, on the peril of unpopularity, that servants did their tasks ‘correctly’. Even in Europe, which seemed to have had been modernised by the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, women were not allowed proper education or encouraged to write. Only as late as in 19th-century did some sensitive intellectuals, starting with John Stuart Mill, and involving personalities like Frances Cobbe, Harriet Martineau, and Josephine Butler among others, began clamouring for equal rights for women.
20th-century critics like Kate Millett, Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter, and Judith Fetterley have, in various publications, cautioned their female readers about the ‘traditional male hypocrisies’ which seek to dismiss the importance of females even while clamouring for their developments. Fetterley, especially, speaks for the necessity of ‘resisting readers’ who would identify the specific areas in male-constructed literature which offer demeaning portrayal of women and conspire to keep them submissive. However, as far as casual re-readings of post-modern literature reveal or cursory glances at films and television serials notice, women are directly or unwillingly participating in their own commodification, and allowing themselves to be sexualised on screen or in print. Rather than becoming a century for women’s liberation, the 21st-centutry has become a period of gross female sexualisation. In such an age of artistic and aesthetic decadence, it has become necessary to identify the specific areas where women are being, on daily basis, distortedly depicted, patronised, or dominated. Even if such identifications and relevant publications would not normally stop violent attacks on young women, they would at least make maturing readers aware of the deplorable ground-realities for women in India and on international arena, and make them stake and encouraging views of the female efforts for liberation.
Was it necessary to publish this compilation of essays on portrayal of women in media and literature? The answer is: yes. Numerous crimes against women, as social scientists have pointed out, are taking place on a daily-basis particularly because of ignorance and lack of compassion for femininity. The variety of issues explored in this critical anthology would make some epistemic contributions to the fields of feminism and pro-women-activism, with cautious approaches adopted towards the depreciations of females in different fields. If the role of humanities is to make individuals more humane, such a compilation is expected to further advance humaneness and humanity.
In recent years, the Government of India and all the Indian states are taking stringent measures against female harassments and anti-women violence. Academic activism has also been making its contribution. In the field of written literature, the femininity-indicating ‘actress’ and ‘authoress’ have been diligently replaced with ‘actor’ and ‘author’, respectively. But, interestingly, while such academic ‘measures’ perceptively try to abolish the discriminating female-signs and signifiers, the males have not been motivated into becoming ‘authoresses’, ‘actresses’, or ‘poetesses’. The males have been traditionally granted superior places; even while indicating unisexuality, male signifiers have been adopted! If Spivak’s strategic essentialism is to be taken into account, abolishment of the ‘-esses’ might interpreted as offering scopes for re-examination. Nevertheless, this compilation of critical essays is expected to be referred to by teachers and students alike who want to further their studies and activism regarding female empowerment and dignities.
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Autobiographies, Boigraphies and Memoirs: Prestine Waves
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Pages xxii + 473, ISBN 978-93-81030-48-6
Worldwide Circulation through Authorspress Global Network. The book is also available online on flipkart, infibeam, alibris, amazon, snapdeal, ebay, Southasiabooks and so on
First Published in 2013 by GNOSIS, New Delhi-110 016
About Book
Autobiographies, Biographies and Memoirs occupy
an important place in Literature for various reasons. Authors used this
genre to communicate their worldviews to people. Gandhi’s The Story of My
Experiments with Truth is an excellent example. My Truth by Indira
Gandhi is yet another example of communicating the message of an individual to
a larger world. Jivansmriti (Reminiscences) of Rabindranath Tagore
narrates his early years of life, while in Toward Freedom: the Autobiography
of Jawaharlal Nehru, conveys Nehru’s own views to his “own countrymen and women.” Nirad C.
Chaudhuri’s The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, published in 1951,
stands apart as a great master-piece, combining personal life experiences with
a strong motivated worldview (“the conditions in which an Indian grew to
manhood in the early decades of this century”).
Talking about non-Indian writers A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard is one
such autobiography where everyone's
heart goes out to this girl who was kidnapped and imprisoned at the tender age
of 11. Another autobiography that took away the hearts of readers
is Sliding into Home by Kendra
Wilkinson; a former resident of the Playboy mansion and star of The Girls Next
Door. She manages to tell a lot more about her life than most people would be
willing to. War by Sebastian Junger
takes us inside an Afghanistan war zone to learn what it is like to be in
combat. Similarly the renowned Biography Jonathan Edwards by George
Marsden where the author brings to life the great preacher and theologian
Jonathan Edwards is praise worthy. Another truly portrayed biography that we
came across is Love Queen of Malabar:
Memories of Friendship with Kamala Das by Merrily Weisbord where she
wanders into the restricted zones of Kamala Das’s life.
Jawaharlal Nehru writes in his autobiography Toward Freedom, “… this account is wholly one-sided
and, inevitably, egotistical; many important happenings have been
completely ignored and many important persons, who shaped events,
have hardly been mentioned. In a real survey of past events this
would have been inexcusable, but a personal account can claim this
indulgence.” Gandhi justified writing an autobiography with these words:
“But a God-fearing friend had his doubts,
which he shared with me on my day of silence. 'What has set you on this
adventure? He asked. 'Writing an autobiography is a practice peculiar to the
West. I know of nobody in the East having written one, except amongst those who
have come under Western influence. And what will you write? Supposing you
reject tomorrow the things you hold as principles today, or supposing you
revise in the future your plans of today, is it not likely that the men who
shape their conduct on the authority of your word, spoken or written, may be
misled. Don't you think it would be better not to write anything like an autobiography,
at any rate just yet?”
Indira Gandhi’s work is a compilation of her
writings in a manner that the book has an autobiographical format. Nehru wrote
his autobiography in English.
Gandhi and Tagore wrote their autobiographies first in their mother tongues
(Gujarati and Bengali respectively) and then they get it translated or
recreated their works into English. Nirad Chaudhuri wrote his celebrated work
in English.
Autobiographies, Biographies and Memoirs may
raise controversies of various types: political, social, familial, regional,
religious, etc. A recent biography-like book on Muhammad Ali Jinnah by Jaswant
Singh Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence raised a hue and cry among
Jaswant Singh’s own party members. Earlier in recent times, actor Om
Puri’s biography Unusual Hero by his wife created strong and deep
controversies. Such controversies arise out of revelations in public of private
personal acts and thoughts that may involve others and thus hurt the feelings,
careers and interests of people referred to. It looks like that the
autobiographer or biographer never asks the permission of others to narrate the
incidents which engross them! But due to such pristine waves of unfold truth,
Autobiographies, Biographies and Memoirs became most popular forms of
literature.
However, autobiographies and biographies have
their own aspects difficult to master. Even the authors of these works are
burdened with the responsibility of ensuring that the readers are with them and
are comfortable with the journey they choose to undertake with the authors. The
goal of this special volume Autobiographies,
Biographies and Memoirs in English: Pristine Waves is to make a survey of
some of the major autobiographies and biographies written in English. It
is assumed that work should try to bring put some pristine waves of unfold
truth, hidden fact or incident of the life of the person studied in present
book.
We are hopeful
that this critical anthology would prove to be a very valuable companion to
different teachers, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and doctoral
research scholars who are intent on acquainting themselves with different
aspects of Autobiographies, Biographies
and Memoirs in English.
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Dynamics of Diasporic Identity in Commonwealth Literature
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Pages xxi + 327, ISBN 978-81-7273-726-9
Worldwide Circulation through Authorspress Global Network
First Published in 2013 by, Authorspress, New Delhi-110 016
About Book
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Diaspora studies,
through years, have depicted an organic development maturing over years of
cultural segregation to ultimate acculturation in the wake of globalisation. In
its phase of inception, diasporic studies depicted certain general features:
dispersal from original “centre” to the periphery of the foreign land; sense of
alienation, retainment of community memory, a painful “rebirth” in an
antagonistic society and hence the yearning to return back “home”. These varied
and yet generalised concept have been highlighted in Diasporas in Modern Societies: Myths of Homeland and Return where
William Safran speaks of the nostalgic yearning of the early immigrants and how
“their ethnocommunical conciousness and solidarity are importantly defined by
the existence of such a relationship” (84). However, such feelings of nostalgia
were found only in the early immigrants but their children or the second
generation immigrants are free of such “looking back” emotions. Fredrick Buell
in his book National Culture and the New
Global System calls these immigrants “Global Cosmopolitans” who have
established a new identity in the foreign nation.
The etymological
origin of Diaspora can be traced to ancient Greek where it meant scattering as
a result of migration or geographical upheaval and was related to the dispersal
of the Jews. In the post-biblical phase, the term came to be related to human
scattering because of slave trading and transfer of labourers. Diasporic
communities grew up in distant lands of Jamaica, Trinidad, West Indies, United
States, Australia etc. and there they created a space for themselves where they
could preserve their individual identities and their racial origin. Obviously,
this endeavour to preserve identity in a distant land was far from easy and it
resulted in concepts like self, cultural memory, rootlessness, linearity and
continuity, alienation and belonging.
Though no country
has really been able to escape the effects of migration or dislocation, yet in
the post colonial scenario the questions and issues are being re-evaluated. One
wonders whether dislocation has to be really traumatic and if the new entrant
can not rally get assimilated with the new culture. History and memory are two
separators but in the global scenario all concepts require to be re-visited.
Multiculturalism is an attempted reality and it works at multiple levels. The
word is in vogue and this has imparted different connotations to it and which
is a definite reason for caution. It must be remembered that it is not a mere
coexistence of multiple cultures or ethnicities – rather it works towards a
separation which is essential for maintaining “difference” and working towards
individual recognition. Its popularity is not in “coercive assimilation” but
rather in the resonance of the term “culture” and a positive connotation.
Two other important terms which have come to be associated
with the search for diasporic identity are “hybridity” and “third space”.
Robert Young points out that the term “hybrid(ity)” was first used with respect
to humans in 1813 and it implied “the crossing of people of different races”
(6). Bhabha, later in the location of culture uses the term in a less palpable
context of “mutual contamination of imaginary purity” and it led to the concept
of the “third space” of the colonizer and the colonized that effects the hybridization of both
parties. It is this “third space” which has become an important zone of
interaction between the diasporic community and the original master class. This
spatial turn has resulted in the intermingling of cultures, what Bhabha calls,
“hibridity”, thereby producing “thirding as othering”. It causes
“in-between-ness” which has been supported also by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
and Edward Said. Bhabha challenges the
hegemonic historiography in “The Third Space” and writes:
All
forms of culture are continually in a process of hybridity. But for me the
importance of hybridity is not to be able to trace two original moments from
which the third emerges, rather hybridity to me is the ‘third space’ which
enables other positions to emerge. This third space displaces the histories
that constitute it, and sets up new structures of authority, new political
initiatives, which are inadequately understood through received wisdom...the
process of cultural hybridity gives rise to something different, something new
and unrecognisable, a new area of negotiation of meaning and representation
(Bhabha 211).
The present volume
discusses these varied aspects of diasporic identity in varied avtars. The editors of the present
critical anthology have taken an all-inclusive approach on diasporic identity
in Commonwealth Literature. Their principal insistence is on acquainting
teachers, researchers, and post- and undergraduate students with different dynamics
of diasporic identity in Commonwealth Literature.
Emerging Issues in ELT
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Pages xviii + 420, ISBN 978-93-81030-46-2
Worldwide Circulation through Authorspress Global Network. The book is also available online on flipkart, infibeam, alibris, amazon, snapdeal, ebay, Southasiabooks and so on
First Published in 2013 by GNOSIS, New Delhi
About Book
The growing popularity of
English language instruction has led to more professionalism within the ranks
of English teachers. Today’s classrooms reflect a wide range of individual
student differences in experience, aptitude, motivation, interest, gender, race
and ethnicity. Teacher must develop the knowledge and skills to teach diverse
group of students with emerging trends. In addition to this, to keep place in
an ever-changing society, teacher and students must be prepared to expand their
teaching repertoires throughout their careers as educators. Teachers in the 21st
century must be thoughtful, reflective practitioners prepared to teach and
learn within a changing environment, including the social, economic,
technological and professional contexts.
The world keeps changing with
every rotation it makes round the sun. Just a decade ago, students were taught
with pens, pencils, black boards and chalks. But today, all that have become
history which no one wishes to remember. Light pens and boards, PDF notes, CD
ROMs have replaced all those. And even as you are reading this, the world is
advancing rapidly with respect to ICT technology as even computers and laptops
are gradually leaving the scene for Net-books, Net-Pads, Tablet PCs, i-Pods and
magic handsets.
There is need to study these
new trends with its all critical fairness.
So this anthology aims to help teachers by providing detail study of
modern techniques to teach English effectively. This anthology strives to
provide clear, comprehensive, and objective advice to anyone interested in
teaching English. It presents empirical studies on the various factors that
influence English language learning and teaching. Technology has changed the
way we access information and the way we teach and learn. New technologies have
contributed to the proliferation of information and resources. Such
technologies may include internet, audio-visual aids, MALL, CALL, multimedia,
distance learning and digital technologies that help to enrich ELT.
Nevertheless, this compilation of critical
essays is expected to be referred to by teachers and students alike who want to
further their studies and activism regarding ICT enabled English Language
Teaching and Learning. We are thrilled and honoured in editing present this
volume to the vast local and global readership. We sincerely hope that this
effort will be appreciated.
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Role of ICT in English Language Teaching and Learning
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Pages xvii + 335, ISBN 978-93-82647-00-3
Worldwide Circulation through Authorspress Global Network. The book is also available online on flipkart, infibeam, alibris, amazon, snapdeal, ebay, Southasiabooks and so on
First Published in 2013 by ACCESS, New Delhi
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English is a West Germanic language
linked to Dutch, Frisian and German with a significant amount of terminology
from French, Latin, Greek and few others. Historically, English language had so
modest foundation that at first it would hardly worth the honor of being the
literature language of even a renowned Englishman. Shakespeare wrote for a
speech community of about six million peoples, that it was not thought to be of
much account by the rest of Europe, and that it was entirely unknown to the
rest of the world. John Locke, the celebrated English philosopher once said
that ‘English was the language of the illiterate vulgar’. But today the
situation has been exclusively changed and the English language dominated over
almost all rest languages. Today, English is truly an official or co-official
language of over 45 countries and is the mostly preferable medium of
international communication. We see wide-ranging use of English in the field of
science, aviation, computing, diplomacy, and tourism all over the world.
English, today, has the widest
circulation, spoken and used as official language by men and women round the
world, especially in the countries which were British colonies. The earlier
teaching of English was characterized largely by a type of instruction which is
a type of a lecture method in teaching language or literature. But, presently,
universalisation of education technology is a matter of great prosperity for
the teaching dogma. Particularly Information Technology achieves a wide
possible reach for the students. We see a sea change in the teaching of English
language in the schools and colleges by the introduction of ICT equipments. The
use of ICT can succeed in achieving language proficiency and will fosters an
all-round development of the mind of students.
The present anthology Role of ICT in English Language Teaching and
Learning: Observations and Ruminations is our humble attempt to bring different
scholarly views, opinions and investigations under one umbrella in form of this
book. We requested many scholars of India and aboard to ruminate and write on
this topic and we are overwhelmed by their response.
The overall aim of this anthology
is to highlight difference facets of the application of ICT in teaching English
language and investigate and explore various
experimentation and innovation in this area in order to find out the
goals of ICT enabled teaching for creating environmental consciousness and
related behavioural practices among students and we are sure that we succeed in
bringing together all angled deliberations,
observations and ruminations on role of ICT in English Language teaching
and learning. Nevertheless, this compilation of critical essays is expected to
be referred to by teachers and students alike who want to further their studies
and activism regarding ICT enabled English Language Teaching and Learning. We
are thrilled and honoured in editing this volume to the vast local and global
readership.
Twentieth Century British Literature
Twentieth century British literature marks the advent of new
ways of looking at the world with comprehending, interacting and reconstructing
literary sensibility. Modernistic point
of view along with elements like experimentation and individualism were
introduced in it. Focus on pluralism,
quest for the self, lack of faith, fragmentation, alienation and much more
found its reconstructed ways into its gamut.
It is also
called as modern literature and is reflective of the political upheavals,
social unrest, and domestic crisis in addition to racial discrimination,
political protests, the Gay Rights movement, the Feminist movement and so on. Significant
contribution has been made in the field of novel, drama and poetry. A lot of scope is given to man’s
psychological problems and the concept of consciousness in relation to time.
The approach that the modern literature adopts is realistic as opposed to the
idealistic. Almost everything from
within the human nature is embraced within its vast confines. There is also a
faithful rendering of the modern society devoid of common values and virtues,
and gripped by elements of disappointment, dejection, depression,
disillusionment, disease and death. The writers of this period revolted against
the existing order and reacted against existing pretentions. They opted for a more intense, more
democratic and pluralistic mode of expression.
This anthology contains such approaches
and critical investigation of renowned Twentieth century British literary texts
through multiple aspects.
We are sure that these
scholarly articles will definitely provide a deeper insight and help readers
and researchers voyage into the realms of the 20th century British
literature with its different facets. Research scholars who wish to undertake
research in the same can truly be benefited.
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