Midnight's Children: From Communalism to Community

Peer reviewed article. Salman Rushdie has been the epitome of diasporic writing since his seminal work in Midnight's Children. While it is arguable that the question of what constitutes the identity of an immigrant (in an already existing diaspora) is first fully articulated in The Satanic Verses, it is already in his Booker Prize Winning novel that Rushdie tackles the questions typical for diasporic individuals and communities. The novel indeed takes place in the subcontinent, but it was written at the time when Rushdie was heavily negotiating the terms of his own identity in relation to his double cultural heritage. His character, Saleem Sinai, is something of an immigrant when he moves to Pakistan, but then when he goes back to Bombay, the sense of being-out-of-place remains. The most pertinent question for him seems to be that of authentic identity. In fact, as a writer in diaspora, Rushdie seems quite influenced by variegated European philosophies on selfhood and identity, in particular some Existentialist thought that constituted a part of a certain Zeitgeist in the 60s and 70s. Midnight's Children indeed explores the issue of authenticity in the culturally specific setting of post-Partition Bombay, but the influences from European culture on Rushdie are hardly negligible. The novel puts in dialogue Existentialism's discourse on individual authenticity and subcontinental nativism, or communalism

Global Citizenship in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist

In this paper, I use the established readings of Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalistas a political allegory of contemporary international relations to formulate an inquiry into the notion of citizenship. Taking my cue from Aihwa Ong’s work on “flexible citizenship,” which stresses the way global capital calls for disrespect of national borders and laws, I look at the way Hamid’s novelistic imagination problematises the conflict between economic, political, and social citizenships and how it looks forward to the emergence of a new understandings of citizenship as something defined in terms of global rights and duties

A Bosnian refugee who became a great story-teller: Adnan Mahmutovic on what drives him as a person and author

Adnan Mahmutovic is fast becoming a literary phenomenon across the Anglophonic world, courtesy a strong narrative voice that is unique and spotlights the human endurance in most extreme conditions, including war, ethnic cleansing and survival in new places as a refugee. His recent novel Thinner than a hair is in news; so is the collection of short fiction How to fare well and stay fair. Adnan has a PhD in English literature and an MFA in creative writing, and is currently a lecturer and writer-in-residence at the Department of English, Stockholm University. Fellow writer Sunil Sharma interviewed Adnan by email

Increased expression of upstream TH2-cytokines in a mouse model of viral-induced asthma exacerbation

Additional file 2: Table S2. Primary and secondary antibodies used during western blot analysis of lung homogenate samples. All primary antibodies were diluted in TBS-T with 5 % BSA, while the secondary antibody was diluted in TBS-T with 5 % milk

Discriminant Analysis of Deaf Persons Communication Systems

Deaf persons, in their communications, use verbal and non-verbal communication systems, as well as bilingual communication. The aim of this article is to determine which communication system the deaf people prefer, and to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the sub-samples of the respondents in the preference of the communication systems using discriminant analysis. Study findings have shown that deaf people prefer a non-verbal communication system and a bilingual manner of communicating, and do not reject the verbal communication system because it is essential to communicating with hearers but, they do not prefer it. Discriminant analysis revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the sub-groups of the respondents at a statistical significance level of 0.01

Images of Nursing from West Michigan: A Photo Essay

The image of nursing is diverse and complex, with public perceptions influenced by traditional imagery and negative stereotypes. Few recent studies consider how nurses view their professional image. My study aimed to uncover how West Michigan nurses perceive the image of nursing. Approval was given by the local Sigma chapter (Kappa Epsilon at Large), to recruit participants from members, and by Grand Valley\u27s IRB. Via an online REDCap survey, participants submitted an original photo and written narrative. Submissions were searched for underlying patterns using thematic analysis. Themes identified were: (1) nurses establish relationships with unique and vulnerable clients, using their insight to act as sources of peace, care, and compassion; (2) nurses are strong, knowledgeable professionals who utilize creative and critical thinking to address clients\u27 complex, and at times, urgent healthcare needs. West Michigan nurses possess positive images that present nurses as professionals who possess multifaceted roles and identities as they strive to have a positive influence on humanity. The findings of this study indicate a strong need for better communication of positive nursing images, as well as continued advocacy for the representation of nursing in society

Spatial analysis and identification of suitable landing zones for aerial evacuation from the congested urban areas

Introduction: According to the latest estimates to 2023, about half of the Bosnia and Herzegovina population lives in concentrated urban areas (CEIC, 2023). Considering congested or inadequate road communications in the urban areas, unfavorable steep relief and other potential obstacles, the issue of urgent evacuation becomes problematic, especially in the case of a widespread emergency. Using the municipal areas of Sarajevo and Banja Luka as the sites with a high level of risk for natural disasters and/or incidents caused by the human factor, we have attempted to identify the potential zones from which it would be possible to organize and carry out the aerial evacuation of the affected population on a larger scale than previously analyzed (Smailbegovic & Mahmutovic, 2024). Methodology: Considering the potential causes and epicenters of disasters (earthquake, flood, industrial incidents, terrorism), population density, road infrastructure, geomorphological and other terrain and land cover elements, we made a selection of potential  aerial evacuation points from the congested urban areas (Erskine et al. 2022). The analysis consisted of two elements: 1. a semi-quantitative automated, integrative spatial-matching model that analyzes the available geospatial data (e.g. population, proximity to the epicenter, terrain coverage) and assigns an overall suitability score for the particular landing site  (Walter and Fritsch, 1999; Mertova, 2021) and 2. qualitative-expert evaluation of selected landing sites by the pilots qualified and trained for evacuation from such complex areas (Scherer at al. 2010). The intent was to filter the various levels of geospatial data using the automated method and qualify or disqualify the potential sites by its overall matching score (i.e. open space, obstructions, accessibility, spatial correlation). The qualified areas were evaluated by the expert pilot and assessed upon experience and suitability of sustaining the evacuation operations with the available equipment. Results: The results of the bi-level analysis suggest that the urban areas of Sarajevo and Banja Luka each have at least three ideal and five acceptable locations which could sustain large-scale emergency evacuation of affected residents. The ideal areas have exhibited the automated matched score of at least 90 percent and unanimous approval from the three expert aviators. The acceptable landing zones have scored at least 75 percent match and two thirds approval from the expert aviators.  The choice of locations and their viability depends on the type of potential disaster, but according to the available data, it is realistic to expect that the selected locations would withstand and remain partially usable in the majority of possible emergencies. Concluding remarks: Given congestion of urban areas and lack of overall planning towards evacuation in an emergency, it is encouraging that suitable aerial evacuation sites exist in the major municipal areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina even though they were not planned for that exact purpose. The combined automated and expert-validated method shows potential in determining other suitable landing zones for aerial evacuation in the complex terrain

Which Side are You On? The Worlds of Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison is a key figure among the first wave of authors of the so-called British Generation (Sandifer and Eklund). The works of the other two creators, Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, have been the basis for a wealth of scholarly research within the field of comics studies and whole constellations of literary scholarship (Sandifer and Eklund; Sanders; Krueger and Shaeffer; Millidge). Morrison\u27s fictional worlds, however, remain understudied, despite the fact that, as Marc Singer observes, Morrison\u27s work and career seem to be evenly distributed along a continuum ranging from the alternative Vertigo material to the mainstream superhero comics (Singer 10-30). Furthermore, what should be of interest to comics scholars is the peculiar character of Morrison\u27s method, which seems to lie in his unique approach to the creative process. A chaos magician, shrewd comic entrepreneur, self-proclaimed geek and a closet workaholic, Morrison has always juggled several projects at once, often transferring ideas and concepts across series as a result, using subtle references to Borges and Calvino together with obscure mentions of silver age characters of DC comics, as for instance Buddy Baker/Animal Man (Callahan; Shapira). Since Morrison has spread his intense commitment to artistic production over a vast continuum of work, the net result is that the boundaries between mainstream and alternative productions have become thin