Narrative Nuance
Asynchronous Session
Beyond Good and Evil: The Phenomenology of Confession in Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dr. Becky Meadows
We usually view “Old Man” Potter’s face with disgust as he listens to George Bailey’s confession of mishandling funds in Frank Capra’s 1946 masterpiece film, It’s a Wonderful Life. After all, Bailey is a good man who has spent his life aiding others, often to the detriment of his own self and dreams. Surely a Judeo-Christian God of justice would see Bailey rewarded appropriately for his actions, as well as punish Potter. And yet, even as we see Bailey’s friends line up, hands full of cash, at the end of the movie, we see an absence of Potter, the quintessential evil presence that actually gets away with Bailey’s $8,000 mishandled by George’s Uncle Billy. We are left unsettled even as we realize Bailey will not go to jail for a crime he did not commit. Even Uncle Billy is safe. However, why was justice not complete? A phenomenology of Bailey’s confession in light of the works of Paul Ricoeur reveals George Bailey’s false confession and Uncle Billy’s lack of confession as the barrier between them and complete Judeo-Christian justice.
Chaos in Translation: Shakyamuni Buddha’s Truth and Endless Fractals of Yilshim
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jihee Han
I shed light on the spread of Shakyamuni Buddha’s Truth to Shilla-Korea indirectly through the Chinese translation by Chinese monk-friars including Kumarajiva(344-413CE), Xuanzang (現場600-664), and Kuiji (窺基 632-682) and directly through the teaching of Indian monk-friar Marananta (摩羅難陀 c. 384 ?) and the Korean translation by Ahdo (阿道 479-500? ), Zhazhang (慈藏 590-658), Woncheuk (圓測 613-696), Euysahng (義湘 625-702) and Wonhyo. Then, I indicate the current chaos in translation, regarding how to translate Wonhyo’s terms, such as 一心, 十門, 和諍, 無愛, by illustrating previous translations and explications domestically and internationally. Given the chaos in which Shakamuni’s Truth was transcribed, translated, and spread in various languages including the Pali, the Sanskrit, the Tibetan, and the Chines, I argue that when it comes to the exegesis of Wonhyo’s Xipmunhwazaengron, one needs to dive into the past historical period and get ready to enter the 門 of Shakyamuni’s Buddhist Truth of 一心 and passes through the never-ending fractals of 門, experience the dynamic engagement of 和諍 without a priori judgment and finally, come out with 無愛 of giving up any desires.
Joseph the Indian and the Decolonization of Indian Christian Identity
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Clara A.B. Joseph
This paper juxtaposes an early sixteenth-century source, “The Narratives of Joseph the Indian," and decolonial discourse in post-Independence India. The Narratives is a record of interviews that the priest, historically known as Joseph the Indian, conducted with Europeans circa 1502. Joseph belonged to the Eastern rite of Indian Christians, identified as Thomas Christians, highlighting their religious heritage tracing back to the apostle Thomas. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Decolonialism targets, among other things, Christianity and views Christians as products of colonization that should either be removed or “returned” to Hinduism. The argument posits that the Narratives serves as a colonial textual reminder, asserting that Christianity in India has pre-colonial roots. This perspective disrupts anti-Christian Decolonialism and exposes the colonial and postcolonial civilizing mission as a strategy to conceal economic goals. The argument unfolds by first examining the “Indian” aspect of Joseph and its relevance to contemporary challenges against the patriotism of Indian Christians. Subsequently, it examines the commercial concerns of colonizers, Joseph’s involvement in that discourse, the Narratives’ role in establishing the trade interests of colonialism, and how re-reading the Narratives sheds light on similar goals of decolonial ventures. Lastly, the paper considers the importance of the Narratives in the decolonization of Early Modern Studies. The Narratives form part of Pedro Alvares Cabral’s travelogue but remains an understudied primary source. The methodology is defined by Michel Foucault’s theory of discourse, providing the necessary framework for the study.
The Crises of English Literary Research among South Asian Emerging Scholars : A Theoretical Framework on Crises, Crises of Literary Research in South Asia, Steps and Implementation View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Md. Amir Hossain Hossain
Emerging scholars in South Asia have to face different types of crises that impact their psychology while they are found to fail in conducting their potential research projects. They instill strength and courage in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, and encourage nation-building with research findings and enthusiasm to transform the state into a modern welfare state. In this concern, this study would like to investigate some major crises faced by South Asian scholars and researchers, such as difficulty in receiving grants, managing and evaluating huge amounts of information, publishing in highly indexed journals, securing intellectual property, understanding and following the nuances of academic and scientific ethics, lack of scientific training, lack of communication with supervisors, lengthiness of time, lack of in-depth knowledge, financial constraints, lack of motivation, quantity of literature, insufficient primary and secondary materials, lack of self-confidence, shortage of library management, and limited budget. This paper applies Karl Marx’s and Fredrick Engels’s theories of crises to investigate the complexities faced by emerging scholars in South Asia. It tries to deconstruct concepts of crises, evaluations, steps, and recommendations for scholars who are invested in challenges while carrying out literary research projects at universities and beyond. For these reasons, the researcher demonstrates the crises of English literary research among scholars, depicts how scholars are found to mitigate challenges, fosters the prospects of emerging scholars in South Asia, and implements the steps for overcoming crises by the government, policymakers, and specialists.
