A Critical note on Avadhesh Kumar Singh’s views on “Translation: its Nature and Strategy”

Department of English (MKBU)

Topic : - A Critical note on Avadhesh Kumar Singh’s views on “Translation: its Nature and Strategy”

Name :- Milankumar Parmar

Course Name:- Literary Theories and Criticism: Background and Contexts

Enrollment no.: -  2069112220170002

Email_id: parmarmilan1994@gmail.com

Course : M.Phil

Guide:- Dr. M B Gaijan

HOD:- Pro. Dilip Barad

Department of English (MKBU)

Introduction

Translation is an act of sharing ideas, philosophy, culture, and art of one society/culture/and nation to another. When a work of an author is translated into other language/s it is more or less changed than what author has written. Sometimes an author faces shocking versions of his own work. Many times when translation took place the translators do change or have to make some changes because, language and cultural barrier.  

Translation is a rigorous process of adding and removing things from the original text, often translator adds his own ideas and thoughts, changes the cultural artifacts which are not available in the target language, changes the order of texts. In fact a translation is rewriting the text. Kashyap Deepak, a blog writer explain the translation using analogy of transferring perfume from one bottle to another, but however careful one may be he says ”some fragrance is lost but the challenge remains to capture the essence” all things in nature is subjected to change and thus cultural matters. And we also know that language is ever evolving since its very origin. For him translation is not a shift between two languages but between two types of cultural matter. (Kashyap) 

A K Singh is a scholar, critic and a professor of translation studies from India. His essay ‘Translation: its Nature and Strategy’ is often considered the foundational work in translation studies in India. In this essay he made an attempt to theorize the translation studies, with the help of structuralism and post-structuralism theories. 

A k Singh pointed out translation has often been condemned as an act of violence-parasitic and subservient to creative act. Creativity has been considered a sacred act and translation appears a second hand product, formed by already existing creative work. (Singh)

For any ideal translation/criticism/critical reading it become necessary to displace author from his place, giving freedom to translator/reader to read text as one want to read. 

In western philosophy creative art is overvalued than criticism. Metaphysics laid emphasis on individual and on poet or author, considered critic/translator as parasite and critical translation act as encroachment by other. (Singh) In this the author held central place and translators are at periphery. Thus the translation exercise undervalued since long time. But post-structuralist critic Roland Barthes dislodged the author from his high sacred pedestal of centrality.        

The new critics and post-structuralists gave less importance to author, even Roland Barthes announced in of his article “The Death of An Author’ and for the translation as an act of reading death of an author become necessary. As language refers to itself so it is disconnected from reality and linguistically the author is never more than the instance saying I: Language knows ‘subject’ and not the person.” The moment writing commences the author ‘enters in to his death’. It is the death of the empirical author who employs language to express himself. It “is the language which speaks not the author”, for the author fails in mastering the language he ‘surrenders’ himself to language and become servant. Barthes here announces the death of the historical and implied author as well. 

           

A K Singh calls language a system and thus the meaning in the text exists in the system of rules and conventions not in the text itself as believed for long. Thus the meaning of the text is diffused and dissipated not centralized. For Jacques Derrida language is disconnected from reality so reality inclusive of the author’s physical reality remains outside the verbal universe of the text. But the author enters in the Derrida’s deconstruction because the very idea of ‘decentering’ presumes the presence of center before it was decentering and thus recentering. And the moment we are in view of the center the author creeps in. thus Derrida succeed in pushing author to periphery and brought critic and translator to the illusive center.

In reply to Roland Barthes’ position that criticism as an act of violence, Singh argues that though translation/criticism is an act of violence but it is also creative. Further he points out that creativity is too an act of violence if criticism is an act of violence, if we carefully see what happens in the mind of one who creates. 

The process of creation has certain stages and they are at conflict with each other. 

Process of creation

i) Experiential/ Perceptional Intention 

ii) Systematic/Linguistic intentions 

iii) Authorial/writerly intentions

iv) Textual intentions

v) Readerly intentions 

“In the first stage Creator/writer fights with his experience and perception. When a situation, event, or experience, real or imaginative, factual or fictional disturbs the equilibrium(he borrowed the term by I A Richards) of his mind he will try to regain the previous state of mind, then to transport that state to his target readership through text. But before this textual formation, systematic and linguistic intention clash with each other. As the creative articulation is possible only through system which in case of literary creation is linguistic system, its limitations, artificiality and incompetence perpetuate violence. The experiential and perceptional intentions are conditioned violently by linguistic system and then by authorial intentions and further by textual intentions, which constrained authorial intentions, its’ possible interpretation, its form and medium. 

Thus authorial intentions try to grasp certain experience or experiential intentions with the help of linguistic system and authorial intentions wrangle with textual issue of this continuous yet invisible violence result in creative art. In the last stage text goes through violent process at the hands of reader-critic. 

Singh believes criticism is “it is inconceivable to indulge in the critical enterprise without some sort of violence to the work concerned.” Someone has rightly defined criticism as “a postmortem of text.”

    

Singh agrees with Roland Barthes’s views on criticism as an act of violence, but he further adds that if looked from different angle criticism is an extention of creative art. 

Violence is an integral part of critical exercise. As critic begin his work on creative work, ther begins a war between authorial intentions and readerly intentions.  

If we apply new criticism and reader response theory then the criticism is recreation. When a reader critic comes to the center, he will see the work as he want to and thus the work became what reader intend it to be. Text is a lifeless thing, it is reader who make it alive(through implying meaning). This creation of new meaning by reader differs from the creator/authors’, the new meaning is created only after the distortion, damage and reconstruction. 

Thus, the new meaning and new text are created through the violence of the text by competent reader. Sometimes a reader/critic rejects the textual intentions and makes his own text absolutely different from the text itself.    

The critical creation is the process of clash of intentions. 

Intentions

A). (Readerly) Experiential/perceptional

B). (Medium) Systematic/linguistic intentions

C). (communication) Authorial/Writerly

D). (Articulation) Textual intention

E). (Interpretation) Readerly/Critical intentions.

Systematic, authorial, textual, readerly intentions and their inherent limitations commit violence as the two living agents author and reader try to capture apparently non-living agents and make them yield to themselves with varying amount of success as they will try to infuse life into non-living agents. The first four stages denote violence in creative act and the fifth stage points to the violence in criticism.

Nature of clash

Writer to writer

Reader to reader

Work to work and 

Moment to moment

After these explanations we can say critical and creative act are the same as both involves violence and critical act is an extension of creative endeavor. The beauty of their endeavor lies in their straining urge to transcend their systemic limitations as they strive to embrace infinite reality through finite medium. 

Translator and Translation

        A.K.Singh reveals translator as “is a creative reader, critic and not failed author. He reads, interprets, criticizes and creates.”  And translation is “a way of reading, interpreting, criticizing, and in the same process creating a new text for those who have no access to literature in an alien language system.” 

Process of Translation

Source text

I) Readerly/reader-critical intentions

II) System/linguistic intention(SLI vs TLI)

III) Contextual /cultural intentions(SCI vs TCI)

IV) Writerly/authorly/translatorial intentions(FAI vs SA/TA)

V) Origin of the new text

SLA-Source Language Intentions

SCI-Source Cultural Intentions

FAI-First Authorial Intentions

TLT-Target Language intentions

TCI- Target Cultural Intentions

SA/TI- Second Authorial/ Translatorial intentions

The translator receives source text as it comes to him after going through series of violent acts. The source language system clashes with target language system. Then the translator ‘carries over’ source cultural/contextual intentions into target cultural intentions. Thus origin of the new text and the translator emerges as an originator of new text in a new linguistic system. Translation process involves   below stages

1. Understanding- Analysis

2. Decodification of codified message

3. Recodifying in target language 

The whole process codification - decodification - recodification results in the origin of the new text. 

Qualities of Translator

 A Translator has to be multidexterous, as he has to operate from multiple choices to choicelessness. 

 Translation is like serving two masters. It is demanding task as the translator is in continuous quest of proper words. 

 Translator’s dilemma is two manifold as he is kismeted to fight duel with words to two language. 

 Translator supposed to be in possession of big bag of pragmatics

Importance of Translation

 In limited life one cannot learn and even the major languages of the world and enjoys the literature. Thus translation is the only capable medium to get in touch with literature and knowledge in unknown language system. It can see of bridge between two language and cultures.

 Translation helps in preserving ancient literary and cultural heritage

 Translation gives national recognition to regional literature and to national literature to international.

 Translation enriches human sensibility as it adds varies experience and expressions from other cultures. 

 Translator does not translate languages but it translates cultures. Thus, translation becomes cross cultural event.

Translation Strategies

During the process of translation a translator faces numbers of problems. Most of them are cross cultural artifacts and expressions. 

 Recognizing the existence of lacunaes, gaps, blank spaces and voids, a translator has to make certain strategies they are as below.. 

 Pragmatic adjustment 

 To deal with cultural lacunaes and problems translator is supported to insert cultural filters. Cultural filters help him to enlisting things which cannot go as they are in target language because of cultural difference. 

 Translator can tackle them by finding literal substitute. 

 He has to be an extremely creative person. 

 He has to find out the company of translators and language expert- in source as well as target language.

 Other strategies are like substitution, addition or omission etc. helps him while cross cultural translation. 

Conclusion:- 

Thus, the translation has the same value as original work. Both the works are created by creative yet critical mind. Translators job is to make avail as Arnold says “what is best that is known and though in the world.” thus to make the current of new and fresh ideas.” 

Works Cited

Kashyap, Deepak. Translation and Its Role in Indian Literature. 15 7 2013. 20 1 2017 <http://www.literism.blogspot.in/2013/07/translation-and-its-role-in-indian.html>.

Singh, A K. "Translation: Its Nature and Strategy." Translation: Its theory and Practice. Ed. A K Singh. Creative boks, 1996. 1-16.

“Plagiarism, its forms and academic dishonesty”

Department of English (MKBU)

Topic :- “Plagiarism, its forms and academic dishonesty”
Name :- Milankumar Parmar
Course :- Research and Methodology
Email_id :- parmarmilan1994@gmail.com

Course : M.Phil
Guide:- Dr. M B Gaijan
HOD:- Pro. Dilip Barad
Department of English (MKBU)

Introduction

Any creative, critical and research work is created only after continuous burning of blood and mind. It is the result of one’s endless efforts. And thus the work whether creative or critical is his property achieved only after intellectual toil. MLA handbook of literary research considers it property of an individual who has created and thus has possession over it. Thus if any one likes to use this property for the creation or add to the stock of knowledge, then at least attribution should be made. “Responsible writers compose their work with great care. They specify when they refer to another author’s ideas, fats, and words, whether they want to agree with, reject to, or analyze the source.”   

University of Oxford defines plagiarism as an act of “presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent” by incorporating in one’s work without full acknowledgement. It includes all types of material, published and unpublished, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form is covered under this definition. (Oxford) 

MLA Handbook of Literary Research defines plagiarism as “intellectual theft”, the word plagiarism derived from the Latin word plagiaries which means ‘kidnapper.’ In computer language it can be termed as hackers who hacks the people’s ideas, thoughts and work.(MLA) 

Yale Center for Teaching and Learning defined plagiarism as a discrete offence, a specific failure to give credit to a particular source. Plagiarism is the use of another’s work, words, or ideas without attribution. It is a form of theft, a breach of honesty in academic community. (Yale)  

    Further Oxford mentions, acknowledgement to another’s works or ideas should not remain only to the texts, but also to other media such as computer codes, illustrations, graphs, published books and journals(print or online), from lectures, theses, student’s essay and text and data from websites. This list can be expanded with modern social media, including, Facebook, tweeter, email, YouTube, websites, music etc. (Oxford)   

  

Oxford categorizes plagiarism into two kinds intentional or reckless, or unintentional. MLA also divide plagiarism in the two categories as mentioned above (Oxford). 

Plagiarism involves two kinds of wrongs. When one uses another person’s ideas, information or expressions without acknowledging that person’s work creates intellectual theft. It also constitute fraud when another person’s ideas, information, or expression for personal gain. But plagiarism is sometimes moral, ethical and intellectual problems(MLA). 

Consequences of plagiarism

 Plagiarism creates moral, ethical and legal problems. Plagiarism undermines important public values.

 The charge of plagiarism is very serious for writers. In society plagiarists are seen as incompetent-incapable of developing and expressing their own thoughts, and willing to deceive others for personal gain

 When professional writers such as journalists are exposed as plagiarists they are out of job, and with that lose their social status and prestige.

 Students who are exposed as plagiarists may suffer severe penalty. Plagiarism harms more to those who commits, as it destroys their relationship with other academics. Plagiarist student lose an important opportunity to learn how to write research paper.

 The more serious question it raises is “where is my voice in this project?” the student miss an opportunity to learn the skill of collecting data and information , an d presenting it in one’s own way

 Plagiarism betrays the personal element in writing. It is all about how well you develop yourself as a writer. The writer is the owner of what he writes. 

Here are some examples of high profile personalities who found of plagiarism and lose their high position. Their degrees were suspended or revoked for plagiarism by universities in US. (Wecker)

1. “Gaming Olympics studies: In April 2012, Pál Schmitt resigned as president of Hungary a week after his doctorate was withdrawn by Semmelweis University in Budapest. According to a BBC report, Semmelweis accused Schmitt, a two-time Olympic fencing gold medalist, of plagiarizing entire passages of his doctoral thesis.”

2. Defenseless minister: Although Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the former German defense minister(.…)he resigned on March 1, 2011 after admitting to plagiarizing parts of his legal doctorate. Universität Bayreuth revoked his degree, citing "serious errors" in his paper.

3. Pharmaceutical power: In 2008, the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University announced that it was revoking the E.M.B.A. it had awarded Heather Bresch, the daughter of Joe Manchin III, then West Virginia's governor. 

4. Evolution of a doctorate: Self-declared "scientist working in paleobiology, astronomy, and various other areas; designer for projects including rockets and nuclear devices ... [and] writer," Charles Pellegrino claimed on his website to hold a doctorate from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. New York Times reporter revealed "Pellegrino was never awarded a Ph.D. from Victoria and therefore could not have had it stripped from him or reinstated at a later date.”

5. Mechanical failure: The former head of acquisitions for the Armaments Corporation of South Africa, Shamim "Chippy" Shaik, was stripped of his Ph.D. from then-University of Natal—now University of KwaZulu-Natal—in 2008 following reports he'd plagiarized "more than two-thirds" of his mechanical engineering doctorate.

6. Athletics antics: Westark Community College, now a part of the University of Arkansas—Fort Smith, revoked former basketball player Jerome Lambert's associate degree when officials learned that an assistant coach at Baylor University gave Lambert a term paper for a Westark course while recruiting him to come to Baylor. As the Houston Chronicle reported in 1994, Lambert also accused the coach of offering him a discounted car and apartment, both "potential violations of NCAA rules."

7. Disservices to education: In July 2007, the University of Edinburgh revoked the honorary doctorate it had bestowed on Robert Mugabe, then prime minister and now president of Zimbabwe, in 1984. The degree recognized Mugabe's "services to education in Africa," according to the Guardian. "He has since been blamed for Zimbabwe's failing economy and accused of running an oppressive regime," the article added.

8. I spy a falsified degree: In July 2010, Harvard University stripped Russian spy Andrey Bezrukov—who had attended Harvard under the name Donald H. Heathfield—of his graduate degree in public administration. "The Kennedy School usually severs its relationship with a student when it is discovered that the individual's application contains inaccuracies," the Harvard Crimson reported.

9. Résumé racketeer: Serkan Anilir, a Turkish national, saw his doctorate from University of Tokyo revoked for plagiarism and lying on his résumé, the Daily Yomiuri reported in 2010. "This is the first time in the history of the University of Tokyo, this country's most prestigious university, that a doctorate has been rescinded," according to the report, which referred to Anilir as "a distinguished researcher ... extensively covered in the mass media."(Wecker)

Unintentional plagiarism

A researcher at initial level commits plagiarism unintentionally. Habit of students to use encyclopedia at initial level of research is later on constitute unintentional plagiarism.

 “plagiarism sometimes happens because of researchers do not keep precise records of their reading, and by the time they return to their notes they have forgotten whether their summaries and phrases contains quoted materials that is poorly marked or unmarked.

 “Presenting author’s exact wording without marking it quotation is considered plagiarism, even if you cite the source.” 

 Writing a research paper in second language, students often commits plagiarism, in efforts to avoid grammatical errors.

 When reflecting grammatical patterns they sometimes inadvertently plagiarize the author’s ideas, information, words and expression.”  

Forms of Plagiarism 

Any text, phrase, sentence, in formation etc. without proper documentation, is considered as plagiarism. The most obvious form of plagiarism is to present and submit your own paper written by someone else.

Writing a research paper a researcher has to be aware of different forms of plagiarism in order to avoid the plagiarism. There are many types of plagiarism, some of the most common identified by MLA are, repeating or paraphrasing wording, taking a particularly apt phrase, paraphrasing an argument or presenting a line of thinking,

CTL Yale categories plagiarism in three, major forms as, they are 

1. Using a source’s language without quoting

2. Using information from a source without attribution 

3. Paraphrasing a source in a form that stays too close to the original. 

Plagiarism spectrum, a study conducted by Turnit found ten types of plagiarism in their survey of secondary and higher secondary education institutions. Each type is given name of digital monikers. Ten types of plagiarism are (Turnitin)

1. Clone :- Submitting another’s work, word –for-word as one’s own. It is also considered by MLA as most blatant form of plagiarism. 

2. CLTR-C :- It contains significant portion of text from a single source without alterations. It is second mostly used by people.

3. Find –Replace :- changing key words and phrases but retaining the essential content of the source.

4. Remix :- In this type a researcher/student paraphrases from multiple sources, made to fit together. 

5. Recycle :- A student/researcher borrows generously from the writer’s previously work without citation. 

6. Hybrid :- combines perfectly cited sources with copied passages without citation.

7. Mashup :- Mixes copied material from multiple sources. 

8. 404Error :- includes citations to non-existent or inaccurate information about sources.

9. Aggregator :- it includes proper citation to sources but the proper contains almost no original work.

10. Re-tweet :- includes proper citation, but relies too closely on the text’s original wording and/or structure.   (Turnitin)

How to avoid Plagiarism 

Plagiarism is very serious issue of academia. It severely harms the academic integrity. Thus students and researcher are made aware about proper documentation. It can be only avoided by proper citation. Most of the universities use plagiarism detection software to uncover potential plagiarism and to deter students from plagiarizing. Academic integrity can be maintained by providing students with thorough orientations, required writing courses, and clearly articulated honor codes. By generating a uniform understanding among students and researchers that plagiarism is wrong.(Wikipedia)

Always Cite 

 When you quote two or more words verbatim or even one word if it is used in a way that is unique to the source. 

 When you introduce facts that you have found in source

 When you paraphrase or summaries ideas, interpretations or conclusions that you find in source. 

 When you introduce information that is common knowledge or that may be considered as common knowledge in your field, but the reader may not know it. 

 When you borrow plan or structures of larger section of a sources’ argument

 When you collaborate with others in producing knowledge. (Yale)

Academic issues 

Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud, and offenders are subjected to academic censure, up to and including expulsion.(Wikipedia)

Issues related to plagiarism and academic integrity includes reusing research paper, collaborative work, research on human subject and copyright. 

Reusing a Research 

When it comes to earn grades, some researchers present a paper twice in two different courses, this practice is deceitful. As a result of this practice a researcher lose an opportunity to improve knowledge and skills. 

Collaborative work

Collaborative work is a group project/work joint participation in research and writing is common, and in fact encouraged in many course and in many profession. It does not constitute plagiarism provided that credit is given for all contributors. But many times it is not clearly mentioned that which part is written by whom. Thus everyone gets equal points.  

Research on Human subject

Many academic institutions have policies governing research on human subjects. Examples of research involving human subject includes clinical trials of drug or personal interviews for psychological study. Institutions usually require that researchers obtain the informed consent of human subjects for such projects. Although research for a paper in high school or college are rely involves human subjects.

Copyright infringement

Whereas summaries, paraphrases, and brief quotations in research papers are normally permissible with appropriate acknowledgement, reproducing and disturbing an entire copyrighted work or significant portion of it without obtaining the permission to do so from the copyright holder is an infringement of copyright law and a legal offense, even if the violator acknowledges the sources.(MLA)

Conclusion

Thus the plagiarism an academic dishonesty, an intellectual theft can be avoided by making students and researcher aware of the fact. Sometimes students do not know what they are doing. It is the duty of mentor, a teacher, of a instructor to make aware his student, a fellow researcher about the wrong they can commit by an error. The more people will be aware about the problem the less problematic plagiarism will become. 

Works Cited

Oxford. Plagiarism. University of Oxford. 26 1 201 <www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidence/skills/plagiarism>.

Turnitin. "The Plagiarism spectrum." Tunitin.com. 5 1 2015 <www.turnitin.com/assets/en_us/media/plagiarism_spectrum.php>.

Wecker, Menachem. 10 High People Whose degrees were Revoked. 2 May 2012. US News & World Report. 20 01 2017 <www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/artical/2012/05/02/10-high-people-whose-degrees-were-revoked>.

Yale. what is Plagiarism? 20 1 2017 <www.ctl.yale.edu/writing/using-sources/understandung-and-avoiding-plagiarism/what-plagiarism>.

MADARi Movie review

After long time there has been an urge to write something, to check out that it is still alive in me, after reading so much literary history and criticism I'm fed up of reading now it's time to scrutinize what have you learned. Words are bubling in the hemisphere, they are racing with each other to come out, through the veins, to the tip of my fingers and wanted to be black and white at somewhere. In this write up I'm going to talk about recently released Bollywood movie MDARI-2016.  This movie will inspire you to think, it will melt the frozen part within you, and for politicians this movie is trial.

Madaari (English: Puppeteer) is a 2016 Indiansocial -thriller film directed by Nishikant Kamat. It is produced by Shailesh Singh, Madan Paliwal, Sutapa Sikdar, and Shailja Kejriwal. The film stars Irrfan Khan, Vishesh Bansal, Jimmy Shergill , Tushar Dalvi and Nitesh Pandey and was released on 22 July 2016.(Wikipedia)

Though it is not liked by much of the audience but I found something relavent and something which I like, from the literary point of view this movie is better as compare to other movies released this year. Like many other movie this movie too has theme like of #angryyoungman, #curruption, #politics #Presstitution and many others. There is always a history behind crime and there is always a history behind every criminal. Plot of the movie is simple and progressive, though flash back technique is used where the protagonist goes back into his past- it answers the question why ?

The movie begins with the figure of speech,
બાજ ચુજે પર જાપટા ઉઠા લે ગયા કહાની સચ્ચિ લગતી હૈ લેકિન અચ્છી નહિ લગતી
બાજ પર પલટવાર હુઆ કહાની સચ્ચિ નહિ લગતી લેકિન સુનને મેં બડી અચ્છી લગતી હૈ.

This can be said basic story line of the movie. It occurs two times in movie, First time at the beginning and second time at the end...

The character of Nirmal(unheroic hero)is well portrayed, what he does, why he is doing, what his purpose behind doing such activity, viewers are not left with any kind of confusion regarding him. His character is just life half of the Indian man(just like Balram Halwai- in The white tiger)

The film presents the helplessness of a common man, and carelessness of those who are in power. It also presents how the media houses are operated by power- and its our irony if we believe in what we see and read on our TV screens. In fact we do not see what we want but we see only what they want us to show.

The postmodern aspects in the movie are use of various symbolisms, cunning dialogues, rustic language, common man's point of view, and memory of Nirmal  where his past is stored in fragments, bits and pieces where we visit time and again through him. And most important the movie has two alternative ends- but it is not open ended.

The title of the movie is very significant 'MADARi' it means Snake Charmer- traditionally they make snakes and monkies dance at his tune. Here Nirmal  plays the role of MADARI, To his tune all those in power dance. 

To conclude this, I remember the phrase from Animal Farm "All animals are equal" but "some animals are more equal". It has been more than 70 years we are independent and living in democratic country- where all human being should be equal without any kind of political, social or any other kind of differences but it is not possible even after 70 years of democracy and freedom. We are still ruled by uneducated mindless people- where every everybody do not get equal opportunity- in fact we do not chose whom to vote but they chose to whom we have to vote. In the same way this movie suggest that "All human beings are equal in democracy- but some human beings are more equal".

Pure Blood in Harry Potter: An antithesis to idea of Pure Blood

("To evaluate my assignment, click here")

Department of English

Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji Bhavnagar University 

Name:-                                   Parmar Milankumar L.

Roll No. :-                              14

Enrollment no.:-                 pg14101026

Course name:-                     New Literature

Topic of an assignment:- Pure Blood in Harry Potter: an anti-thesis to idea of

                                                Pure Blood

Submitted to :-                     Dr. Dilip Barad,

                                                  Head of the department

                                                  Department of English (MKBU)

Abstract :-

Idea or the concept of the Pure-Blood is not new phenomenon. At a first glance, the Harry potter universe seems to have little racial tension. J.K Rowling has created a multicultural state or a racial utopia. Blood status suggests that Muggles and wizards can be treated as racial groups. She has given anti-thesis of the idea of Pure-blood by presenting Harry as protagonist belonging to the Half Blood. She has broken the idea of pure blood but still there remains white race superiority.

The idea of pure blood or master race is age old, but it became prominent in the days of Hitler and Nazis. An idea that world should only be ruled by Master race or one who belongs to pure blood, and rest should serve them. They thought they have right to rule over others. Nazis declared that the Nordics were the true Aryans because they were much less racially mixed with people who were non-native to the European continent. Based on this idea that Nordic people were superior to all other races, the Nazis believed they were chosen people to expand the territory. They wanted to make the world of the pureblood only. And that was resulted in today’s problem called racism. The book series Harry Potter is written by American female writer J.K. Rowling between 1996 and 2007. It is largely regarded as the children’s literature and it is very popular throughout the world. As she had been writing in America it’s inevitable for her that America and its society would not get reflected. Thus it’s obvious that there will be some issues regarding race. Though at some level race remains hidden but, not completely. 

  

Let’s start with some positive points regarding race in Harry potter

The racial utopia

At a first glance, the Harry potter universe seems to have nothing like racism. There are number of non-white characters including fellow Gryffindors, Lee Jordon, Dean Thomas, Angelina Johnson, and Parvati and Padma Patil, and Cho Chang. None of the characters’ race is directly or indirectly identified. She has created universe which is not based on racial identity, rather it seems like melting pot, a multicultural state. These multiculturalism in her universe exist, she used it to show how race or pure blood has no real meaning in her magical universe. Perhaps she wants to show the reader a racial utopia.

The racial utopia of the Harry Potter series falls squarely within the neo-conservative racial ideology (Omi & Winant). According to this ideology, race is assumed to be socially constructed and racial justice is pursued via a color-blind society in which everyone pursues the American/ British dream by “lifting themselves up by the bootstraps” (i.e., a“just world” that rewards good choices and a strong work ethic). “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our [biological or God-given] abilities,’” says Dumbledore (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets- 333), who later reminds Fudge, the Minister of Magic, that what people grow to be is much more important than what they were when they were born (Goblet of Fire 708). Accordingly, for neo-conservatives, the belief that race (a biological or God-given characteristic) does not matter is typically grounded in one or both of two seemingly contradictory but actually compatible beliefs—that “we” are all the same (i.e., “humans” or “Americans” or “Muggles”) or that each one of us is a unique person.( Lyubansky)

Blood status: Race

Harry potter the most popular American book series by J.K. Rowling has been criticized by many critics on the variety of grounds. Most of the critics argued it as racial text. Rowling intended to comment on race by focusing on blood status and elf rights. Her treatment of these topics provides ample opportunity to examine both contemporary and historical race relations. Racism in America has been very serious issue. Racism is dangerous for the progress, development and peace of the America.

“Racism refers to the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. The emphasis on lineage and blood status suggests that Muggles and wizards can be treated as racial groups.”( Lyubansky)

Rowling has smartly presented the tendency of some wizards to place a premium on pure blood (that is, on pure breeding) and treating half-bloods and Muggles as second-class citizens is an obvious parallel to our own society’s history of oppression of Blacks and obsession about interracial sex and marriage. An American scholar MIKHAIL LYUBANSKY fairly observed that a number of characters, including Draco and Lucius Malfoy, explicitly espouse the superiority of pure blood, but this racist attitude may be best personified by the portrait of Sirius’s mother:

“Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers. . . . Yoooou!” she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man [Sirius]. “Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my fl esh!” (Order of the Phoenix 78)

This quote shows that half-bloods (i.e., those of both Muggle and wizard parentage) are subhuman and undesirable, and that their very presence threatens the purity and cleanliness of both their surroundings and their selves and thus they want to keep their blood pure.

Anti-thesis to Pure Blood Concept

The idea and concept of the superiority of the Master race or belonging to pure blood do not play active role in Harry Potter. Infect Rowling has given anti-thesis of the idea of Pure blood by presenting harry as protagonist belonging to the Half Blood. In a way she has broken down the concept of superiority of the pure blood.

Ideas related to Pure-blood are, they are superior then others, they have power to rule over other, they are most powerful, they are the savior, to make a universe pure. But these concepts are broken down by Rowling in her work where the protagonist is Muggle blood or half-blood child became the savior of the Hogwart universe. Whereas the idea of pure blood presented by the character of the Voldemort(He himself is Half-blood ) who wanted to create a world where only pure blood will exist. “Although not as obvious as the racialization of magical creatures, the bloodline status of wizards themselves can be interpreted as offering racial commentary. Voldemort's obsession with blood purification closely parallels similar racial logics employed in 20th century Europe and America, logics that championed the supposed superiority of White peoples (Whited 7). In addition, his war to cleanse the wizarding world of mixed-bloods holds unnerving parallels to many historical ethnic-cleansing campaigns, including those conducted by Nazi Germany. In much the same fashion as the Nazis, Voldemort wishes to "impose a version of the Nuremberg Laws on England”. (Nejad) The concept of pure blood in the novel is constructed to criticize those who support it, to convince that this idea itself growing out from the ignorance and arrogance.  

Thus the novel broke down the thesis of the pure blood as superior and savior of the world. Actually her world seems more like Darwinian socialism, where the powerful rules the rest other. Here only those can live who can sustain. In this world Harry is growing more and more powerful day by day, and Voldemort becoming less powerful as time passes. The world once ruled by Voldemort, now it will be ruled by Harry Potter. It’s like a Jungle Raj where the powerful and strong animal eats up the less stronger and powerful. Like when Harry becomes more powerful than Voldemort, he killed Voldemort.

Antithesis to the antithesis of pure blood can be stated as the stories are almost exclusively told through the eyes of White characters who don’t notice race, we really don’t (can’t!) know anything about the reality of the non-White characters. All major characters in the Harry Potter whether its good or evil, every one of these characters is white and English, and the wizarding world and its conflicts are entirely narrated through the eyes of White characters. All other races are mere spectators, their future are in the hands of this selected group of white wizards, or if any other race present at all play nearly no role in major happenings of the novel. As rightly quoted by Nejad “All other races are merely spectators, their futures in the hands of this select group of White wizards. Minorities, if present at all, play nearly no role in the major happenings of the novels. Cho Chang, an East Asian classmate of Harry's, serves as a love interest to multiple characters in the series but is not developed any further. Angelina Johnson and Dean Thomas, both members of Harry's Gryffindor house, are of African descent but play little role in the central plot of the works. Despite their presence, these "non-White characters barely seem to exist" and serve only minor, replaceable roles.

Thus it can be said that, she has created a racial utopia; a multicultural state which has little racism. Second thing she has fairly broken the idea of pure blood by not only putting muggle born protagonist but also make him victorious, but still there it remains there, why Harry is white child and not black one? it is because at some level in her mind still there is a wish to see white as a savior, and thus our protagonist is not other than white.

("To evaluate my assignment, click here")

Works Cited

Nejad, K. (n.d.). Literal and Metaphorical: Racial Themes in Harry Potter.

Lyubansky, Mikhail. "A Black Boy Even Taller than Ron: Racial dynamics in Harry Potter." The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived. Ed.Neil Mulholland. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2006. 233-248. Print

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 2003. Print.

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_Status

Online Journalism (Digital Journalism )

("To evaluate my assignment, click here")

Department of English

Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Name:-                                   Parmar Milankumar L.

Roll No. :-                             14

Enrollment no.:-                 pg14101026

Course name:-                   Mass communications and Media studies

Topic of an assignment:-Online Journalism (Digital Journalism )

Submitted to :-                    Dr. Dilip Barad,

                                                  Head of the department

                                                  Department of English (MKBU)

Ë         Introduction

The word journal or journalist has their origin in the French word the journal meaning a book and it has its origin in turn in the Roman word ‘Diurnalis’. Journalism has its childhood back in around 130b.c. in roman, where two hand written bulletins were putting in to the public square. Which were known as ‘Acta- Diurrna’. This was probably the first news paper dealing with events.  

From 130B.c to the present time journalism has grown up much. It has moved far from its origin in Roman to the present globalized world. The journey of the journalism in that course of time is that of from stone to print media, print to digital media which remained yet very popular form of journalism. But since last two decades of the 21^st century journalism has grown one more step ahead, now it turned from stone to print, print to broadcasting, and now from broadcasting to online journalism; Online journalism also known as digital journalism. The good thing about this long process of journalism is that it has included the previous form of journalism without any kind of the harm to previous one. Twenty first century is century of digital revolution. The world is digitalizing than why journalism left behind?

First let’s see what is journalism and then we will come to our point what is online journalism, according to Wikipedia page “Journalism is gathering, processing, and dissemination of News and information related to news, to an audience.  The word applies to the method of inquiring for news, the literary style which is used to disseminate it, and the activity (professional or not) of journalism. The media that journalism uses vary diversely and include: content published via newspapers and magazines (print), television and radio (broadcast), and their digital media versions — news websites and applications. (Wikipedia)

Ë  Role of Journalism

Lippmann saw Journalism's role “at the time as acting as a mediator or translator between the public and policy-making elites. The journalist became the middleman. When elites spoke, journalists listened and recorded the information, distilled it, and passed it on to the public for their consumption. Lippmann put it this way: The public is not smart enough to understand complicated political issues. It was also to act as a watchdog over the elites, as the public had the final say with their votes.

There are various types of Journalism they are as below

Ø Advocacy journalism

Ø Broadcast journalism

Ø Citizen journalism (participatory journalism)

Ø Data journalism

Ø Gonzo journalism

Ø Digital journalism

Ø Investigative journalism

Ø Photojournalism

Ø Sensor journalism

Ø Tabloid journalism

Ø Yellow journalism (sensationalism)

Ë   Digital journalism

The role and status of journalism, along with that of the mass media, has undergone profound changes over the last two decades with the advent of digital technology and publication of news on the Internet.

There is no clear cut definition of digital journalism. Mu Lin argues that "Web and mobile platforms demand us to adopt a platform-free mindset for an all inclusive production approach – create the (digital) contents first, then distribute via appropriate platforms." For Deuze, online journalism can be functionally differentiated from other kinds of journalism by its technological component which journalists have to consider when creating or displaying content. The difference between tradition journalism and the digital journalism can be in its role of reporter and its relation with audience and organization. The expectation of audience (society) for instant news and information has given birth to digital journalism. But still we can’t firmly say that this is digital journalism, for that we have to wait for time to pass.

Ë   History of Digital journalism

Like the other forms of journalism, at present we see as digital journalism has undergone very long process and still this process is ongoing. 

v The first type of digital journalism, called teletext, was invented in the UK in 1970. Teletext is a system allowing viewers to choose which stories they wish to read and see it immediately.

v After the invention of teletext was the invention of videotex, of which Prestel was the world’s first system, launching commercially in 1979 with various British newspapers such as the Financial Times lining up to deliver newspaper stories online through it.

v Online news websites began to proliferate in the 1990s. An early adopter was The News & Observer in Raleigh. "Nando evolved into the first serious, professional news site on the World Wide Web".

v By 1996, most news outlets had an online presence. And it was very convenient to reader that it has text, video and audio at a time. And reader has choice what to read and when to read.

v In 2001 the American Journalism Review called Salon the Internet's "preeminent independent venue for journalism."

v In 2008, for the first time, more Americans were getting their national and international news from the internet, rather than newspapers. Young people aged 18 to 29 now primarily get their news via the Internet, according to a Pew Research Center report. Sixty-five percent of youth now primarily access the news online.

v Blogs are also another digital journalism phenomenon capable of fresh information, ranging from personal sites to those with audiences of hundreds of thousands. Digital journalism is involved in the cloud journalism phenomenon, a constant flow of contents in the Broadband Society.

v The Online News Association, founded in 1999, is the largest organization representing online journalists, with more than 1,700 members whose principal livelihood involves gathering or producing news for digital presentation.

v Hyperlocal journalism is journalism within a very small community. Hyperlocal journalism, like other types of digital journalism, is very convenient for the reader and offers more information than former types of journalism. It is free or inexpensive.

Ë Impact of digital journalism

When the new things or new ways of something come it in one or other way has its impact on the traditional way of doing the things. The same things happened when there was new flaw of digital journalism. It has its impact on the traditional media ways of journalism and thus on the readers. Here are some points which are regarded as the impact of its…

 (Paxson., 2010)

v Digital journalism allows for connection and discussion at levels that print does not offer on its own. People can comment on articles and start discussion boards to discuss articles. This was not possible before this, reader and the writer never met or can interact with each other. People add to the story and connect with other people who want to discuss the topic.

v Digital journalism creates an opportunity for niche audiences, allowing people to have more options as to what to view and read.

v Digital journalism opens up new ways of storytelling; through the technical components of the new medium, digital journalists can provide a variety of media, such as audio, video, and digital photography.

v Online sources are able to provide quick, efficient, and accurate reporting of breaking news in a matter of seconds, providing society with a synopsis of events as they occur.

v News consumers must become Web literate and use critical thinking to evaluate the credibility of sources. Because it is possible for anyone to write articles and post them on the Internet, the definition of journalism is changing. Because it is becoming increasingly simple for the average person to have an impact in the news world through tools like blogs.

v The interaction between the writer and consumer is new, and this can be credited to digital journalism. There are many ways to get personal thoughts on the Web.

v This form of journalism has pushed journalists to reform and evolve. Older journalists who are not tech savvy have felt the blunt force of this. In recent months, a number of older journalists have been pushed out and younger journalists brought in because of their lower cost and ability to work in advanced technology settings. (wikipedia)

Ë        Digital journalism and traditional journalism

Many newspapers, such as the New York Times, have created online sites to remain competitive and have taken advantage of audio, video, and text linking to remain at the top of news consumers' lists. Indian news papers like The Times of India (www.timesofindia.com), Indian Express (www.indianexpress.com)and other publication also has their own news websites like The Hindu(www.thehindu.com).

Figure 1

                                      The Times of India Web Site

Newspapers and TV cable are at a disadvantage because they generally can only put together stories when an ample amount of detail and information are available. Often, newspapers have to wait for the next day, or even two days later if it is a late-breaking story, before being able to publish it. People are now able to find the news they want, when they want, without having to leave their homes or pay to receive the news.

The Internet has created a faster, cheaper way for people to get news out, thus creating the shift in ad sales from standard newspapers to the Internet. Many newspapers and individual print journalists have been forced out of business because of the popularity of digital journalism. Because of this, many people have viewed digital journalism as the death of journalism.

Students wishing to become journalists now need to be familiar with digital journalism in order to be able to contribute and develop journalism skills. Some of the quality require in digital journalism are…

They have to be quick,

Who can update their stories within minutes.

Able to infer credible information.

Some critics believe that newspapers should not switch to a solely Internet-based format, but instead keep a component of print as well as digital. in order to keep up with the transition from print to web.

Digital journalism allows citizens and readers the opportunity to join in on threaded discussions relating to a news article that has been read by the public. These threads can provide useful information to writers of digital journalism so that future articles can be pruned and improved to possibly create a better article the next time around.

The Internet has also given rise to more participation by people who are not normally journalists. Bloggers write on web logs or blogs. Traditional journalists often do not consider bloggers to automatically be journalists. This has more to do with standards and professional practices than the medium.

Other significant tools of on-line journalism are Internet forums, discussion boards and chats, especially those representing the Internet version of official media. Often this gives a unique chance to find new, alternative solutions to the conflict, but often the Internet is turned into the battlefield by contradicting parties creating endless "online battles." Internet radio and podcasts are other growing independent media based on the Internet.

Ë        Blogs

The increasing improvements in the field of digital journalism gave new rise to journalism in form of bloggers. Blogs can be seen as a new genre of journalism because of their “narrative style of news characterized by personalization” that moves away from traditional journalism’s approach, changing journalism into a more conversational and decentralized type of news. Blogging allows readers and journalists to be opinionated about the news and talk about it in an open environment. By allowing comments, the reader can interact with a story instead of just absorbing the words on the screen. According to one 2007 study, 15% of those who read blogs read them for news.

Ë  Citizen journalism

This allows anyone who wants to share something they deem important that has happened in their community. Individuals who are not professional journalists who present news through their blogs or websites are often referred to as citizen journalists. One does not need a degree to be a citizen journalist. Anyone can record events happening and send it anywhere they wish, or put it on their website.

For citizen journalism to be effective and successful there needs to be citizen editors, their role being to solicit other people to provide accurate information and to mediate interactivity among users.

The Internet also offers options such as personalized news feeds and aggregators, which compile news from different websites into one site. One of the most popular news aggregators is Google News. Others include Topix.net, and TheFreeLibrary.com. (wikipedia)

Conclusion:-

Digital journalism is very popular now days, people access news and information so easily and quickly, cheaply, and they can access what they want and whenever they want. It gives everybody the right of freedom of expression. But with all these there are several disadvantages also, like reliability and authenticity lacks in online journalism. It is threat to traditional journalism and print media.     

("To evaluate my assignment, click here")

Works Cited

Paxson., P. (2010). The Internet. In P. Paxson., & P. Paxson (Ed.), Mass communications and media studies : an introduction (pp. 144-148). London, 11 York Road, , London: The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.

wikipedia. (n.d.). wikipedia. Retrieved march 21, 2016, from wikipedia.org: www.wikipedia.com/digital_journalism

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia.org. Retrieved March 17, 2016, from Wikipedia.org: www.wikipidea.com/journalism