HOW INDONESIA SHOULD DEAL WITH THE US: VALUABLE LESSONS FROM AMERICAN INDIAN LITERATURE

This paper will not talk much about the relationship between Indonesia and the US officially but will explore more the ways to deal with the US culturally. Like the other countries, Indonesia cannot escape from the American influence: be it politically, economically, technologically and even culturally. The three factors that usually become the important issues are the identity, geographically strategic Indonesian position for the US, and also religion. Unfortunately, Indonesia is unable to deal with the US in equity as two great nations. This fact only shows inferiority and the ‘doubled-standard policy’ conducted by the US make it worse. In the US perspective, there is no such a policy since all policies are for the US domestic interest and benefit. Therefore, Indonesia must be able to deal with the US using Indonesian perspective, for the sake of Indonesian domestic need. The most effective way to deal with the US in equity as the two great and respected nations is the cultural way, which is often neglected by the Indonesian governments. The cultural way to deal with the US has been significantly done by the American Indian people. After being invaded by the Europeans which was ceaseless and finally led to their destruction by the end of the 18th century and losing their identity as the Indian among the white society, in the end of the twentieth century they tried to gain back their identity and try to communicate and bargain with the US, their own official government in their culturally unique way. This is best exemplified in the globally-read-and-awarded American Indian literature which explore that identity is the core of a nation, of a people, to survive and to be respected by others. The American Indian experience is the best lesson for the Indonesian to deal with the US. Key words: dealing with the US, lesson from the American Indian literature, equally respected communication, Indonesian cultural values and identit

[Review of] Paula Gunn Allen, ed. Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Design

Studies in American Indian Literature edited by Paula Gunn Allen is an excellent literary survey and resource book for instructors interested in developing college level courses on American Indians. Allen develops the format by including critical studies in American Indian literature that explain and/or use basic themes, motifs, structures, and symbols found in traditional and modern American Indian literature. These critical essays lead into course outlines for developing American Indian classes

Out! and New Queer Indian Literature

What, exactly, constitutes a new queer literature in India? This essay attempts to examine this question by focusing on works written in the twenty-first century, with particular attention given to two short stories from the 2012 anthology Out! Stories from the New Queer India, edited by Minal Hajratwala: Sunny Singh’s “A Cup Full of Jasmine Oil” and Ashish Sawhny’s “Nimbooda, Nimbooda, Nimbooda.” Intended as neither a legal nor a historical study, this essay considers the interplay of literary cultural production and real-world, watershed events. Through asking questions such as “What is ‘new’ about these twenty-first century works?” and “How are they ‘queer’?” I seek to map the politics of location in Singh’s and Sawhny’s texts. More generally, I consider contemporary queer Indian literature, particularly with regard to its focus on what I would term “visible-invisibility”—the contradictory, complex, time-and-place-specific discourses that construct queer Indian subjects across diverse religious, gender, and community contexts.[1][1] I would like to extend a special thank you to Rulmini Panda and Anneli Strutt

[Review of] Kathleen Mullen Sands, cd. Circle of Motion: Arizona Anthology of Contemporary American Indian Literature

The subtitle of this collection raises a question: Is it wise to mix various genres and also authors from very different tribes and then to limit this mixture by the arbitrary geographical borders of a state

Editorial: Indian Literature: Past, Present and Future

IntroductionIndian Literature with its multiplicity of languages and the plurality of cultures dates back to 3000 years ago, comprising Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and Epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. India has a strong literary tradition in various Indian regional languages like Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and so on. Indian writers share oral tradition, indigenous experiences and reflect on the history, culture and society in regional languages as well as in English. The first Indian novel in English is Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Rajmohan’s Wife (1864). Indian Writing in English can be viewed in three phases - Imitative, First and Second poets’ phases. The 20th century marks the matrix of indigenous novels. The novels such as Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable (1935), Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupé (2001), and Khuswant Singh’s Memories of Madness: Stories of 1947 (2002) depict social issues, vices and crises (discrimination, injustice, violence against women) in India. Indian writers, and their contribution to world literature, are popular in India and abroad.Researchers are keen on analysing the works of Indian writers from historical, cultural, social perspectives and on literary theories (Post-Colonialism, Postmodernity, Cultural Studies). The enormity of the cultural diversity in India is reflected in Indian novels, plays, dramas, short stories and poems. This collection of articles attempts to capture the diversity of the Indian land/culture/landscape. It focuses on the history of India, partition, women’s voices, culture and society, and science and technology in Indian narratives, documentaries and movies.Special Issue: An Overview“Whatever has happened, has happened for goodWhatever is happening, is also for goodWhatever will happen, shall also be good.”- The Bhagavad-Gita.In the Mahabharata’s Kurukshetra battlefield, Lord Krishna counsels Arjuna on how everything that happens, regardless of whether it is good or bad, happens for a reason.Indian Literature: Past, Present and Future portrays the glorious/not-so-glorious times in history, the ever-changing crisis/peace of contemporary and hope for an unpredictable future through India’s literary and visual narratives. It focuses on comparison across cultures, technological advancements and diverse perspectives or approaches through the work of art produced in/on India. It projects India’s flora, fauna, historical monuments and rich cultural heritage. It illustrates how certain beliefs and practices come into existence – origin, evolution and present structure from a historical perspective. Indian Literature: Past, Present and Future gives a moment to recall, rectify and raise to make a promising future. This collection attempts to interpret various literary and visual narratives which are relevant at present.The Epics Reinterpreted: Highlighting Feminist Issues While Sustaining Deep Motif, examines the Women characters in the Epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata. It links the present setting to the violence against women described in the Epics Carl Jung’s archetypes are highlighted in a few chosen characters (Sita, Amba, Draupati). On one note, it emphasises the need for women to rise and fight for their rights.Fictive Testimony and Genre Tension: A Study of ‘Functionality’ of Genre in Manto’s Toba Tek Singh, analyses the story as a testimony and Manto as a witness. It discusses the ‘Testimony and Fictive Testimony’ in Literature. It explains how the works are segregated into a particular genre. The authors conclude that the testimony is to be used to understand or identify with the terror.Tangible Heritage and Intangible Memory: (Coping) Precarity in the select Partition writings by Muslim Women, explores the predicament of women during the Partition of India through Mumtaz Shah Nawaz’s The Heart Divided (1990) and Attia Hosain’s Sunlight on a Broken Column (2009). It addresses ‘Feminist Geography’ to escape precarity. It depicts a woman who is cut off from her own ethnic or religious group and tries to conjure up her memories as a means of coping with loneliness and insecurity.Nation Building Media Narratives and its Anti-Ecological Roots: An Eco-Aesthetic Analysis of Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan, analyses the post-Partition trauma in the fictional village, Mano Majra. It illustrates the cultural and spiritual bond between Mano Majrans — the inhabitants of Mano Majra — and nature (the land and river). It demonstrates how the media constructs broad myths about culture, religion, and nation. According to the authors, Mano Majrans place a high value on the environment, whilst the other boundaries are more concerned with nationalism and religion.Pain and Hopelessness among Indian Farmers: An Analysis of Deepa Bhatia’s Nero’s Guests documents the farmers’ suicides in India as a result of debt and decreased crop yield. The travels of Sainath and his encounters with the relatives of missing farmers have been chronicled in the documentary Nero’s Guests. It uses the Three Step Theory developed by David Klonsky and Alexis May and discusses suicide as a significant social issue. The authors conclude that farmers are the foundation of the Indian economy and that without them, India’s economy would collapse. It is therefore everyone’s responsibility—the people and the government—to give farmers hope so that they can overcome suicidal thoughts.The link between animals and children in various cultures is discussed in The New Sociology of Childhood: Animal Representations in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Garden in the Dunes, Amazon’s Oh My Dog, and Netflix’s Mughizh: A Cross-Cultural Analysis. It examines the chosen works from the perspectives of cross-cultural psychology and the New Sociology of Childhood. It emphasises kids as self-sufficient, engaged, and future members of society. It emphasises universal traits that apply to all people, regardless of culture. It acknowledges anthropomorphized cartoons create a bond between kids and animals.Life in Hiding: Censorship Challenges faced by Salman Rushdie and Perumal Murugan, explores the issues sparked by their writings. It draws attention to the aggression and concerns that were forced on them by the particular sect of society. It explains the writers’ experiences with the fatwa, court case, exile, and trauma.Female Body as the ‘Other’: Rituals and Biotechnical Approach using Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman and Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women, questions the society that limits female bodies for procreation and objectification. It talks about how men and women are regarded differently, as well as the cultural ideals that apply to women. It explains infertility, which is attributed to women, as well as people’s ignorance and refusal to seek medical help in favour of adhering to traditional customs and engaging in numerous rituals for procreation.Life and (non) Living: Technological and Human Conglomeration in Android Kunjappan Version 5.25, explores how cyborgs and people will inevitably interact in the Malayalam film Android Kunjappan Version 5.25. It demonstrates the advantages, adaptability, and drawbacks of cyborgs in daily life. It emphasises how the cyborg absorbs cultural and religious notions. The authors argue that cyborgs are an inevitable development in the world and that until the flaws are fixed, humans must approach cyborgs with caution. The Challenges of Using Machine Translation While Translating Polysemous Words, discusses the difficulty of using machine translation to translate polysemous words from French to English (Google Translate). It serves as an example of how the machine chooses the formal or often-used meaning rather than the pragmatic meaning and applies it in every situation. It demonstrates how Machine Translation is unable to understand the pragmatic meaning of Polysemous terms because it is ignorant of the cultures of the source and target languages. It implies that Machine Translation will become extremely beneficial and user-friendly if the flaws are fixed.This collection of articles progresses through the literary and visual narratives of India that range from historical events to contemporary situations. It aims to record the stories that are silenced and untold through writing, film, and other forms of art. India’s artistic output was influenced by factors such as independence, partition, the Kashmir crisis, the Northeast Insurgency, marginalisation, religious disputes, environmental awareness, technical breakthroughs, Bollywood, and the Indian film industry. India now reflects a multitude of cultures and customs as a result of these occurrences. As we examine the Indian narratives produced to date, we can draw the conclusion that India has a vast array of tales to share with the rest of the world.Guest Editorial BoardGuest Editor-in-ChiefDr. Bhuvaneswari R, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai. She has pursued her master’s at the University of Madras, Chennai and doctoral research at HNB Central University, Srinagar. Her research areas of interest are ELT, Children/Young Adult Literature, Canadian writings, Indian literature, and Contemporary Fiction. She is passionate about environmental humanities. She has authored and co-authored articles in National and International Journals.Guest EditorsCynthiya Rose J S, Assistant Professor (Jr.), School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai. Her research interests are Children’s Literature, Indian Literature and Graphic Novels.Maria Baptist S, Assistant Professor (Jr.), School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai. His research interests include Crime/Detective fiction and Indian Literature.MembersDr. Sufina K, School of Science and Humanities, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, IndiaDr. Narendiran S, Department of Science and Humanities, St. Joseph’s Institute of Technology, Chennai, Indi

A Brief on Indian Literature and Languages

Literature is the reflection of life and loyalty. Literature is the word derived from Latin litterae (plural); letter) is the art of written works and literature, and is  bound to published sources (although, under circumstances unpublished sources can be exempt). Literally translated, the word literature means "acquaintance with letters, as in the "arts and letters. The major classification of literature are poetry, prose, plays, fictions, novels and short stories etc.

Caste and Sexuality in Modern Indian Literature

This thesis investigates the centrality of caste in modern Indian English fiction. Although caste permeates and is relayed through the religiously sanctioned practice of ‘untouchability,’ it hides in popular discourse. One pivotal strategy whereby caste tries to maintain itself is its investment into questions of sexuality. I argue that caste is anti-desire; its organizing principle is embedded in violence that impacts everyone to varying degrees, irrespective of one’s caste status, but it affects sexual minorities and Dalits the most. The construction of the Brahmin-Dalit category defines, limits, and thus controls every other socially constructed category. Not only does the brahminic elite brahminize the socio-cultural geography, it performs caste in ways that seep into the embodied self of both upper castes and Dalits. All material and embodied spaces emerge as a theological version of Hinduism. Despite such underpinnings of caste, scholars (predominantly those with upper-caste backgrounds) have ignored caste. They have been happy to explore and challenge colonial power structures, but they have ignored Brahminization, which predates all forms of colonialism in India by centuries as a form of internal colonization of sexual minorities and non-brahminic Others. Drawing upon Indian literary fiction, queer theory, postcolonial discussion, and current public discourse in India, I seek to develop a queer theory that focuses on India and contributes to Dalit Studies. Although there have been discussions of queer sexualities and caste-based practices as separate issues, none, to my knowledge, has combined the two. Taking significant clues from Western queer theory, I turn to Indian sources, both past and present, with a major emphasis on ancient Sanskrit texts in which caste is embedded, to explore caste and caste’s (violent) interplay with sexuality in present-day India. It argues that while modernity can trigger a positive change, a true transformation demands caste reform, not only for the benefit of outcasts but also for the upper-caste people. The introduction of this thesis defines the field of caste in Indian Writing in English, ranging from Gandhian politics to the present-day discourse on caste. The first chapter examines the functioning of caste in a brahminic home in R. K. Narayan’s The English Teacher (1945). The following chapters analyze the complexities of caste from both brahminic and anti-brahminic perspectives in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997) and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), providing an account of caste in upper-caste homes from queer, material, and linguistic perspectives. The final chapter of this study connects the epistemology of caste violence analyzed through Indian English fiction to two recent events: the socio-cultural response to the Covid 19 pandemic and the death of the upper-caste actor Sushant Singh Rajput, thus highlighting the variety of ways in which caste continues to shape and govern brahminic communities in contemporary India. The conclusion of this study demonstrates the pervasiveness of caste and hopes to provoke further critical inquiry in the field of caste studies and sexuality studies that focus on India.Diese Dissertation untersucht die Schlüsselrolle der Kaste in der modernen indischen englischsprachigen Literatur. Obwohl das Kastensystem alle Lebensbereiche durchdringt und in der religiös sanktionierten Praktik der Unberührbarkeit“ weiterlebt, kommt es im allgemeinen Diskurs nicht vor. Eine zentrale Strategie, mit der sich das Kastensystem zu behaupten versucht, ist ihr Deutungsanspruch in Fragen der Sexualität. Ich behaupte, dass die Kastenordnung Lust feindlich ist; ihr Ordnungsprinzip beruht auf einer ihr inhärenten Gewalt, die jeden in unterschiedlichem Maße trifft, unabhängig von der eigenen Kastenzugehörigkeit, aber gerade sexuelle Minderheiten und Dalits (Unberührbare) trifft sie am stärksten. Die strenge Hierarchie der Brahmanen-Dalit-Pyramide definiert, begrenzt und kontrolliert somit jede andere gesellschaftlich begründete Ordnung. Die brahmanische Elite brahmanisiert (vereinnahmt in ihrem Sinn) nicht nur die soziokulturelle Landschaft, sie setzt die Kastenordnung auf eine Weise um, die in das Konzept des Selbst der oberen Kasten und der Dalits eindringt. Alle materiellen und verkörperten Räume erscheinen als theologische Version des Hinduismus. Trotz dieser Dominanz der Kaste ignorierten Wissenschaftler (vorwiegend solche, die selbst einer höheren Kaste angehören) die Kaste. Sie gaben sich damit zufrieden, koloniale Machtstrukturen zu erforschen und in Frage zu stellen, aber sie ignorierten die Brahmanisierung (den Einfluss der Brahmanen), die durch die Jahrhunderte vor allen Formen des Kolonialismus in Indien als eine Form der internen Kolonialisierung von sexuellen Minderheiten und Nicht-Brahmanen existierte. Ausgehend von indischer Literatur, der Queer-Theorie, dem postkolonialen und dem aktuellen öffentlichen Diskurs in Indien versuche ich, eine Queer-Theorie zu entwickeln, die sich auf Indien konzentriert und zu den Dalit-Studien beiträgt. Es gab Diskussionen über queere Sexualitäten und kastenbasierte Praktiken, doch wurden diese als getrennte Themen behandelt und meines Wissens bisher nicht in Kombination untersucht. Ich nehme wichtige Anhaltspunkte aus der westlichen Queer-Theorie auf und wende mich indischen Quellen zu, sowohl aus der Vergangenheit als auch aus der Gegenwart. Ein Hauptaugenmerk liegt dabei auf alten Sanskrit-Texten, um dasKastensystem und das gewalttätige Zusammenspiel der Kastenordnung im Hinblick auf die Sexualität im heutigen Indien zu untersuchen. Ich behaupte, dass die heutige Zeit zwar eine positive Veränderung anstoßen kann, eine echte Transformation jedoch eine grundlegende Reform der Kastenordnung erfordert, nicht nur zum Nutzen der Ausgestoßenen, sondern auch für die oberen Kasten selbst. Die Einleitung dieser Arbeit definiert das Feld der Kaste in der indischen Literatur in englischer Sprache, ausgehend von der Zeit Gandhis bis zum heutigen Diskurs über Kasten. Das erste Kapitel dieser Dissertation untersucht die Funktionsweise der Kaste in einem brahmanischen Haus in R.K. Narayans Der Englischlehrer (1945.) Die darauf folgenden Kapitel analysieren die Komplexität der Kaste sowohl aus brahmanischen als auch aus anti-brahmanischen Perspektiven in Arundhati Roys Der Gott der kleinen Dinge (1997) und Das Ministerium des äußersten Glücks (2017). Es handelt sich um eine Darstellung der Kastenzugehörigkeit in den Häusern der oberen Kaste aus queerer, materieller und sprachlicher Perspektive. Das abschließende Kapitel dieser Untersuchung setzt die Epistemologie der Macht der Kaste, analysiert anhand der beschriebenen indischen englischsprachigen Literatur, in Verbindung mit zwei aktuellen Ereignissen: der soziokulturellen Reaktion auf die Covid-19-Pandemie und dem Tod des Schauspielers Sushant Singh Rajput, der der obersten Kaste angehörte. Diese Betrachtung hebt die Vielfalt der Wegehervor, auf denen Kaste weiterhin brahmanische Gemeinschaften im heutigen Indien prägt und dominiert. Das Fazit dieser Untersuchung zeigt die weite Verbreitung der Bedeutung der Kaste. Ich hoffe, weitere kritische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiet der Kasten- und Sexualitäts-Studien, die sich auf Indien konzentrieren, anzuregen