۱.
کلیدواژهها:
Ulysses Heterogeneity James Joyce Event Eligible Subject
In James Joyce’s Ulysses, Leopold Bloom emerges as one of the greatest Irish characters, a temporally indomitable rebel who shatters the regular chronology and enters into the self-created heterogeneous world for the sake of challenging Irish nationalistic sacredness. The multiple characteristics of Leopold’s subjective perception of time directs us to Alain Badiou’s distinctive ontological reading, in which he proposes the term void as an ignored ontological heterogeneity triggered by the state’s monolithic structuration. By localizing the void under the name of the event, the required condition will be prepared for the eligible subject, namely, a rebel to engage idiosyncrasy in hope of changing a future that is still in the formation. By examining Ulysses, this article explores the ways in which Leopold’s mind embraces a plethora of immediate impressions in the form of failed inconsistencies that can be used as a personal artifact in social context laden with anti-colonial sentiments to first, provide self-created truths, and then reexamine structured situations at the sudden moment of excess, bracing itself for new causal events. Moreover, the article examines miscellaneous, pithy insignificant events as narratorial tropes cast across the spatial-temporal plane of Ulysses, diverging the narrative from linear narration, and at the same time distracting the character from approximating their centrality.
۲.
کلیدواژهها:
Postethnicity Decolonization Universality Pluriversality Ethnocentrism Rewesternization
Through a decolonial approach, this study questions the concept of postethnicity, proposed by David Hollinger, arguing that Hollinger’s vision of a rooted cosmopolitanism – a globally connected society built on shared values – is based upon narrow ‘universal’ values which solely align with Western standards. Decolonial critics like Walter D. Mignolo, in return, advocate for a ‘pluriversal’ world where multiple perspectives and voices coexist without being subsumed under a dominant Western narrative. The study uses two novels, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun and Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, to illustrate this debate. It argues that Ishiguro’s novel, while exploring universal themes, is ultimately rooted in a Western ethnocentric perspective, reflecting a zero-point view where Western paradigms are presented as global patterns. On the other hand, Roy’s novel is situated in India, addressing local issues and challenging Western standards. The study concludes that Ishiguro’s approach at best leads to rewesternization – a reassertion of Western perspectives even while attempting to move beyond them, while Roy’s by integrating indigenous traditions, individual and local singularities, and global issues, contributes to the decolonization of Western paradigms advocating a pluriversal world where multiple voices are valued.
۳.
کلیدواژهها:
Looking-Glass-Self Matrix of Social Domination Reverse Racism Structural Racism God Help the Child
In God Help the Child (2015), the overarching argument of this article is that Sweetness is incapable of conveying a meaningful reflection of her “true self”. Her frailty to love and respect herself makes her vulnerable to exchange the same emotions with Bride. The objective of this paper is to scrutinize the impact of colorism and color-blindness on the lives of African-American women. We try to respond to two fundamental questions, namely how can “looking-glass-self” theory be applied on the maternal bond between Sweetness and Bride? and second, what is the impact of intersectionality or matrix of the social domination on the lives of Sweetness and Bride in God Help the Child (2015)? Drawing upon Collins’s Black Feminist and Winnicott’s Psychoanalytic theories, we try to examine multi-faceted aspects of racism, including reverse racism, structural racism, intersectionality, matrix of the social domination, and common stereotypical images attributed to Black women with a holistic approach. Although socio-cultural White ideology is dominant to Bride’s Blackness, Bride rescues herself from the hatred of her own world by furnishing a kind of domination over other women and companies by her physical beauty and success in expanding cosmetics business. She turns her dark skin color into a marvelous asset in the guise of the White clothing.
۴.
کلیدواژهها:
Kazuo Ishiguro Cultural Memory Theory individual identity Collective Identity Trauma and loss Personal memories Social narratives
Kazuo Ishiguro explores human emotions, trauma, and love in his novels, with memory playing a central role in shaping characters' identities. This study, drawing on Jan Assmann's cultural memory theory, investigates the role of memory in shaping individual and collective identities in Kazuo Ishiguro's A Pale View of Hills. The study explores how personal and cultural memories influence characters' perceptions, beliefs, and interactions, shaping their sense of self and societal integration. It highlights how suppressed memories, unresolved traumas, shared historical memories, and societal narratives contribute to identity formation. Characters in the novel navigate trauma, loss, and identity construction amidst cultural memory and spatial dislocation. The experiences of characters like Etsuko and Sachiko illustrate the crucial role of memory in shaping individual and collective identities. The study reveals the intricate interplay between personal and collective memory as depicted through Etsuko's reflections on past tragedies and societal contexts in the novel. Ishiguro's exploration of memory, trauma, and identity construction showcases the profound impact of memories on both personal and collective identities. The findings demonstrate how the past continues to shape the present and influence personal and shared cultural histories.
۵.
کلیدواژهها:
intuition Knowledge Light Logos of Life Ontopoiesis/Phenomenology of Life Transcendentalism
This study explores the analogy between Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Transcendentalism and his mystical experience through a phenomenological lens, emphasizing cross-cultural cognitive dimensions and their impact on the concept of universality. The research addresses the contemporary relevance of this analogy in an era marked by scientific advancements that, while clarifying many misconceptions, fail to provide existential reassurance or answer all human inquiries. This reflective inquiry seeks to understand reality and the rational linkage of events by engaging with life’s forces, which are integral to human wonderment. The methodology involves a comparative analysis of Emerson’s themes of intuition, light and knowledge alongside Tymieniecka’s Phenomenology of Life. The study does not aim to offer practical solutions but rather provides a philosophical account of intuition’s role in human experience, addressing fundamental challenges at their core. The findings suggest that Emerson’s mystical experiences, when analyzed through his themes of light, intuition and knowledge, align with phenomenological signification on an intuitive basis. Emerson’s Transcendentalism reflects life’s ontopoietic dynamism, perceiving universal structures akin to eidetic intuition essential for mental functionality. This study underscores the philosophical potential inherent in merging transcendental thought with phenomenological inquiry, offering new insights into understanding universality across literary contexts.
۶.
کلیدواژهها:
The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka The Cow Gholam Hossein Saedi influence comparative literature
This study employs the framework of Influence Studies within Comparative Literature to explore the impact of Franz Kafka (1883-1924) on Gholam Hossein Saedi (1936-1985). The primary focus of this comparative study is to assess the quality of influence and elucidation regarding the overarching perspective on loneliness, isolation, identity crisis, and metamorphosis, ultimately aiming to comprehend the similarities and distinctions between Gholam Hossein Saedi's The Cow (1965) and Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis (1915). The present research, conducted through a descriptive-analytical approach and grounded in the French school of comparative literature, concerned with influence studies, determines that the central theme of Kafka's novel revolves around human destiny, which is altered by societal issues. Both narratives illustrate the transformation of their main characters into non-human forms, emphasizing the alienation and isolation faced by individuals in contemporary society. Kafka examines the absurdity of human existence through Gregor's transformation and his subsequent ostracism by society, while Saedi sheds light on the struggles of marginalized communities through Mashd Hassan's change into a cow. The findings of this study demonstrate that Saedi, influenced by Kafka, has adapted and expanded the notion of metamorphosis in The Cow, thereby enriching the landscape of Persian literature.
۷.
کلیدواژهها:
Henri Lefebvre Capitalism Urbanism Technocratic Society culture
This study is concerned with the effects of technology on man’s identity in the Knight Rider TV show. It investigates how the major characters of this TV show lose their human identities as a consequence of embracing technological practices which are hailed by technocratic societies as enhancing to the human race. Such an issue is knocked upon by Henri Lefebvre who sees technology as an expression of capitalist domination over humanity. In Lefebvre’s view, man’s social and cultural practices are formed by the space encompassing him reflecting a mutual relationship between man and space. With the advent of the technological age, Capitalism tends to socialize technological practices as alternatives to man’s original cultural and social practices. This issue encourages the initiation of technocratic societies which require man to cast away his human identity through annexing him to a machine. In the light of these perspectives by Lefebvre, the current study examines the effects of technology on man’s identity in Knight Rider TV show. Through tracking the phases that they pass in becoming technocratic individuals, the study reveals how the main characters give up their innate cultural and social molds to technological practices. The study argues that the characters’ own aspirations for an unlimited power, intensified by the mystification practiced by capitalist leaders about the role of technology in enhancing man’s attributes, have blinded them from noticing the gradual loss of their human identities.
۸.
کلیدواژهها:
Empire Fundamentalism Post 9/11 resistance US Invasion of Iraq
This study seeks to delineate the representation of post-9/11 in Iraq through employing a range of ideas and conceptions from Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s formulation of Empire to Agamben’s theorization of the state of exception so as to reveal the real cause of the US invasion of Iraq, the real significance of fundamentalism which arose in the wake of the violence resulting from the invasion, and the resistance role that fundamentalism played in Iraq. The study seeks to demonstrate how Islamophobia, terrorism, fundamentalism, and Empire are inextricably intertwined and the way they are represented in Inaam Kachachi’s The American Granddaughter. The findings of the study reveal the fact that the main intentions of the invasion arise out of the Empire’s attempts to spread its supranational sovereignty to the entire world, along the way giving rise to fundamentalism, which stands as the antithesis of the Empire and which does not have anything to do with going back to the roots of Islam but rather serves the losers of the process of globalization as the means through which they can contest its winners. The novel, thus, is an attempt at giving a narrative mode to the events that led to the fundamentalist renaissance in Iraq as a form of postcolonial confrontation and indicating how fundamentalism has been a form of resistance.
۹.
کلیدواژهها:
Perception Disappearance Transmission Dromology Virilio
This paper seeks to explore C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia under the light of Paul Virilio's framework of thought. Virilio's concept of dromology explains the way people see things change as they move faster, and how this affects the way they see other people and things around them. This can lead to a greater sense of control and surveillance. The study argues that the robots in Lewis's stories represent future humans brought closer through advanced technology that transcends time limits. Lewis's characters are like a reflection of the reader. They help the reader see themselves and their dreams in a new way. Lewis has addressed how these characters see the world changes them into different creatures, in that the way they see the world affects how they see themselves. Lewis's characters can be observed as the people who represent the society. This paper demonstrates that the characters in the series are cyborgs and live in a cyborg world. To support this argument, the principles of the panopticon theory are needed to indicate how the characters seem to have a purpose with reference to the pejorative aspects of human’s psyche.
۱۰.
کلیدواژهها:
stance markers Hard Sciences interactional metadiscourse Soft sciences
The meticulous examination of discourse analysis, particularly the scrutiny of language application in academic writing, carries significant weight in the realm of Applied Linguistics. A critical aspect of this exploration revolves around the deployment of stance markers, which function as linguistic tools for articulating the personal viewpoints and assessments of writers concerning the assertions they proffer. The primary objective of this study was to juxtapose the overall and categorical distribution of stance markers in academic research articles authored by native (English) and non-native (Iranian) academic writers across the spheres of soft and hard sciences. The analytical framework of Hyland (2005b) on interactional metadiscourse was utilized to delineate the specific taxonomy of stance markers employed in the academic research articles written by two groups of authors. The results of the research revealed significant differences in the overall and categorical distribution of stance markers between the two sets of datasets, highlighting the potential impacts of disciplinary and cultural variations on their usage. The study advocates for an enriched understanding and integration of the rhetorical norms inherent in academic genres, including the deployment of stance markers, to enhance the creation of educational materials and elevate the language proficiency of students in linguistic studies.
۱۱.
کلیدواژهها:
Instagram motivation Mall CALL social media
Instagram, a widely popular platform, has become an influential tool for teaching and learning English by delivering daily updates of new language content on various Instagram pages and accounts. This study examines the effect of Instagram on learners' motivation to learn English and evaluates its advantages and disadvantages for educational purposes. A mixed-methods approach was utilized, incorporating quantitative data collected through a questionnaire distributed among 100 Iranian EFL learners and qualitative data gathered via semi-structured interviews with five teachers who actively employ Instagram in English instruction. Findings revealed that Instagram significantly boosts learners' motivation, with participants expressing positive views about the platform. Key advantages include its engaging and diverse content, as well as its potential to enhance skills and subskills like speaking and vocabulary. In spite of these benefits, certain drawbacks were identified, such as the presence of distracting non-educational content, limited interaction opportunities, and restrictions in fostering deep learning and comprehensive teaching. The study concludes that Instagram offers notable benefits for English education, particularly in motivating learners and providing varied content. However, to fully benefit from its educational potential, it is important to implement strategies that address the challenges identified. Balancing its strengths and limitations is essential to make Instagram more useful in English language education.
۱۲.
کلیدواژهها:
Designing Test EFL Pre- and Post-puberty subject-verb agreement Tense Agreement
The current paper pursues two aims: to employ Classical Test Theory (CTT) to develop and refine a test, and to determine the impact of the age factor on L2 grammar among Iranian EFL learners, providing evidence for the claim that CTT best evaluates the consistency of measurements in age-related studies. The study examines the performance of adults or teenagers as pre- and post-puberty learners, in the grammar test devised through CTT, to conclude whether younger learners or older ones perform better on subject-verb agreement. Based on random sampling, twenty-three male participants, including 12 adults and 11 adolescents, upper-intermediate native speakers of Persian, took part in the study. They were tested on a 60-item test of grammar (on subject-verb agreement), which has been developed using the CTT model, as it fits small sample sizes and can be used for understanding complex issues (e.g., age-related issues). Other than devising a test on agreement using CTT as a model, the results revealed that post-puberty learners scored better than their younger counterparts, partly because they are cognitively more mature. However, age is not the one and only factor in second language learning, and other factors like individual differences, contextual factors, and methodological rigor should be taken into account.
