Journal of Research in Humanities

Slow Violence – Displacement Leading To Nostalgic Anxiety And Solastalgic Distress: An Analysis Of Thinner Than Skin By Uzma Aslam Khan

2025-06-30T14:34:12+00:00

This research, in the domain of psychological ecocriticism, underscores the need of environmental sustainability as depicted in Thinner than Skin (2012) by Uzma Aslam Khan. The theoretical framework of this qualitative research has been formulated by taking the tenets from Rob Nixon’s Slow violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2011) to corroborate that slow violence with its attritional and incremental features results in displacements. The textual exegesis of the novel accentuates that forced imposition of the official landscape on the vernacular landscape of the people of Pakistan turns the inhabitants into uninhabitants; thus, creating refugees out of place as well as refugees in place. The research elucidates the disruption of once sustainable lifestyles of the herders and the inhabitants of Kaghan valley. By addressing these issues of ecological exploitation and human oppression, the research aims to contribute towards redressing inequities so as to reinstate environmental sustainability.

Reappropriation of Western Tropes in Ayesha Muzaffar’s Jinnistan and The Bhabhis of Lahore: A Case for Pakistani Anglophone Paranormal Short Fiction

2025-06-30T18:38:00+00:00

This paper explores paranormal elements in Ayesha Muzaffar's short story collections, Jinnistan (2023) and The Bhabhis of Lahore (2022), both of which are notable contributions to Pakistani Anglophone paranormal short fiction. The study investigates how religious and cultural influences shape the portrayal of paranormal creatures in Pakistani literature, with a specific focus on the reappropriation of Western paranormal tropes. While Western fiction often portrays possession through a Christian lens, Pakistani works reinterpret this theme using Islamic perspectives on jinn and maintain a distinctly South Asian supernatural aesthetic. Thus, the objective is to explore the distinct characteristics of Pakistani paranormal short fiction and how Western tropes are adapted within this framework.

Magical Interpellation: An Althusserian Analysis of Ideological Control in Lev Grossman's The Magicians

2025-06-30T18:43:54+00:00

This paper applies Louis Althusser’s Marxist theoretical perspective of Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) as instruments of ideological control to examine Lev Grossman’s nove The Magicians. Through an analysis of Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy as a fictional ISA, the study explores the interpellation of characters and readers, raising questions about power, resistance, and subjugation within the fantasy genre. The Magicians not only reflects systems of power in the real world but also critiques these same structures, inviting readers to engage critically with escapism, identity formation and the function of fantasy in cultural and ideological contexts. This analysis develops a framework for understanding popular culture's role in ideological reproduction and its potential for contesting these processes. The study concludes that The Magicians is both a reflection of, and a challenge to, contemporary cultural ideologies.

A Trajectory of Decoloniality from “De” to “Re” in Fahmida Riaz’s Poem “Come Let Us Create A New Lexicon”

2025-06-30T18:50:02+00:00

This research explores the trajectory of decolonial praxis in Fahmida Riaz’s poem “Come Let Us Create A New Lexicon,” using theoretical key concepts from decolonial theorists such as Walter Mignolo, Aníbal Quijano, and Gloria Anzaldúa. The study traces the progress of this trajectory from “epistemic disobedience” to “epistemic reconstruction” as articulated by Mignolo and Quijano. The research positions this journey within the state of “nepantla” as described by Anzaldúa. Together, these terms facilitate the process of de-essentializing and rethinking colonial epistemologies, leading to a “pluriversal” and multi-perspective worldview. This framework is situated in Riaz’s poetry to analyse how the engagement with these decolonial ideas illustrates the dismantling of colonial/dominant epistemic structures and the reconstruction of diverse narratives through repressed knowledge systems within Pakistani society. Riaz’s poem endeavours to liberate ignored narratives to be incorporated in the central epistemes to build a heterogeneous community. The findings of this study contribute to a nuanced understanding of Pakistani literature and its engagement with decolonial praxis, which becomes a tool for social liberation through epistemic reconstruction.

“I was he and he was I”: Mimetic Study of Orhan Pamuk’s The White Castle

2025-06-30T19:00:08+00:00

This study analyses Orhan Pamuk's The White Castle (1985) through the lens of René Girard's mimetic desire. The research investigates how people’s mimetic inclinations are the fundamental cause of the East-West conflict, proposing that the relationship between these two regions is deeply rooted in mimesis. By analysing the characters and their interactions, this study reveals societal interaction on individual and societal level. Moreover, this paper demonstrates that Pamuk’s characters can be understood as Girardian subjects, which is demonstrated through the shift in their identities. The significance of this study lies in its innovative approach to understanding Pamuk's literary oeuvre and its contributions to the broader discourse on cultural dynamics between the East and West through a mimetic lens. By applying Girard's mimetic theory, the research offers fresh insights into the characters' shifting identities and motivations, guided by processes of imitation, which have been previously overlooked in the existing literature.