Contemporary Research: An Interdisciplinary Academic Journal

Recontextualizing Politics of Noun Phrases in the New York Times Editorial

2023-06-05T23:24:49+00:00

This research paper is an effort to recontextualize the politics of noun phrases on the New York Times editorial published on January 7^th, 2016 entitled “North Korea Flexes Its Nuclear Muscle”. It examines how the recontextualization of these noun phrases can contribute to shaping public discourse about political events and ideas. Through a critical discourse analysis, Norman Fairclough’s concept of recontextualization and Theo Van Leeuwan’s discourse and function of language, the study demonstrates how the editorial uses noun phrases to mobilize support for certain political views while demonizing the opposing ones. To recontextualize the politics of noun phrases, deem how different political ideologies and movements may use specific language to reinforce their beliefs and goals. By recontextualizing the noun phrases, the editorial produces a particular political agenda that is likely to influence the reader’s opinions and attitudes towards certain political issues. The findings suggests that the language used in political discourse is a powerful tool that can be used to shape public opinion and that the manipulation of language should be a subject of public concern and also that the ideology can be changed by playing through choice of certain noun phrases.

Practical Use of ICT course in Libraries: Perspectives of MLISc graduates in Nepal

2023-06-06T00:13:39+00:00

Although the Central Department of Library and Information Science (CDLIS) was founded in TU 27 years ago, the Masters in Library and Information Science (MLISc) program is less popular among recent graduates. The MLISc program's reputation and significance are dependent on how successfully it has adapted to emerging information and communication technology (ICT). It is an early attempt to assess the MLISc ICT course material, primarily focusing on how applicable it is to real-world professional situations.Working librarians from Nepal participated in a focus group discussion to assess how well the MLISc ICT course applied to their line of work. Participants have suggested that the basic and advanced ICT course topics in the MLISc curriculum should be distinguished clearly. Library automation, digital library software, and other advanced ICT courses are available. However, the library profession places a high value on graduates with a complete understanding of information system architecture, library automation, and digitization services.

Agency of Dalit Subaltern and Resistance in Rabindra Nath Tagore’s Chandalika

2023-06-06T00:43:03+00:00

The purpose of this article is to analyze the agency of Dalit subaltern people and their resistance in Rabindranath Tagore’s Chandalika. The play has been mostly interpreted either as a play of religious conflict or a psychological drama. Such readings have however obliterated the most social concerns of the play like casteism and the agency of the Dalit people which make the play more as a social manifesto than merely stage performance and realm of aesthetics. This study looks at the issue of marginalized Dalit subaltern people focusing on how the true agency is denied to them and made hegemonic. The denial of agency to the subaltern people weakens their spirit of resistance and compels them to accept domination hegemonically. Maya, the mother character in the drama is hegemonized character in the play and gives consent to the caste system to function intimidatingly upon them. On the other hand, the performative gestures that are used consistently by Prakiti is an act of resisting the petrified and, static norms of the society. Thus, this paper focuses to explore the agency of subaltern people and throws light on the conception of resistance using the theoretical insights of Antonio Gramsci, Spivak and Michael Garnet.

Impact of Workforce Diversity on the Organizational Performance of Banking Sector of Nepal: A Mediating role of Managerial Expertise

2023-06-06T01:37:46+00:00

Work force diversity has become an organizational imperative and as such, it is important for organizations to understand, embrace and manage diversity to be able to outperform competitors. Researchers have produced mixed result on the impact of diversity on performance. Some scholars found a positive relation between diversity factors and performance whilst others have found negative relations between diversity factors and performance. This paper therefore examines the effect of work force diversity factors (generational diversity, gender diversity, ethnic/racial diversity) and the role of managerial expertise on organizational performance. This study followed the correlational research design as it intends to evaluate the impact of workforce diversity on banking sector performance. The population of the study was managerial level employees working in banking sector of Nepal and 156 responses were collected and analyzed. Five-point Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect the data. Correlation matrix and regression model were used to analyses the data. Physical diversity characters; age, gender and ethnicity were considered for the study. Research concluded that gender and ethnic diversity positively affect the organizational performance but age diversity may cause conflict in the organization, however, managerial expertise positively affect organization performance which can contribute to reduce conflict that arise because of age diversity in the organization.

Urbanization Trend in Nepal

2023-06-06T02:00:44+00:00

Though urbanization is a symbol of modernization which brings changes in economy, division of labour, production of goods, availability of modern urban amenities, urban regions in Nepal are like rural in nature. This study has been carried out to analyze the trend of urbanization from the first scientific census 1952/054 to the latest one in 2021. This study is descriptive type and based on secondary data. Periodic census, CBS publications, Nepal urban development strategy 2017, world urbanization prospect 2018 and other scholarly articles have been used to prepare this paper. Data have been presented in tables, trend line graph, and bar graph. The 1952/054 census reveals that 2.9 percent population resides in 10 urban areas. After 50 years in 2001, urban population reached up to 13.9% with 6.65 percent urban growth rate during the year. Political decision and reclassification of urban areas increased urban population 27.2% by the year 2014; and 66.2% by the year 2021 with 293 urban areas. This dramatic change in the size of urban population lacks urban amenities set by local government operation act 2017. The urbanization level of Nepal is very low by all standards but growth has been rapid in recent years. Urban area of Nepal are facing deficiencies of basic urban infrastructures and facilities such as drinking water, solid waste management, sanitation, environmental pollution, housing, transportation facilities and shortage of energy. Further research might be conducted on this area focusing on the comparative study on urbanization and existing urban pre-requisites of urbanization as per the standard norms. This area attracts further research on providing urban amenities to rural areas as an alternative model of urbanization. This research reveals increasing urbanization trends of Nepal including recent census data and urban amenities which is different from other similar previous research studies.

Ambivalent Representation of India and its Politics in Hodges’s Travels in India

2023-06-06T04:15:03+00:00

This paper analyzes ambivalent representation of India in William Hodges' Travels in India. The exploration of politics behind such representation can be interesting area to investigate. The writer has tried to portray the contradiction between ruins, antiquity, and depopulated habitation on the one hand; and modification, cultivation, and populated habitation, on the other. The horrendous act of sati has been depicted in a smart way as Hodges does not criticize Hindu tradition of self-immolation of wives for the death of their husbands; while the same custom was declared illegal and punishable later by English rulers in India during colonial time. Similarly, Hindu art and architecture has not been observed with the spectacle of Greek art which was considered model worldwide; rather it has been depicted as superb and guided by climate, culture, and geography of its own. Promod K. Nayar's notion of imperial sublime, Saree Makdisi's Romantic imperialism, and Julie Reiser's idea on writer as shared nervous system of circumstances have been used to strengthen the argument. The study concludes that the ambivalent representational stances created in Hodges' narrative try to justify English rule in India in the consolidation phase of the empire. Previous studies highlighted deserted landscape, customs, populations mainly focusing on the representation of Hindus, their art, architecture, the Muslim indolence resulting in devastation and ruin. This study, however, investigated the ambivalent representation and its politics behind the portrayal of the need of English presence in India for modification and habitation. Finally, this study also throws light on the gap for future research on the circumstances that led to the development of negative representation of the natives in colonial writing.

The Effect of Inflation on Economic Growth in Tanzania

2023-06-06T04:43:03+00:00

The research examines the effect of inflation on economic growth in Tanzania. The study employs the secondary time series data from 1970 to 2020 taken from the Bank of Tanzania, and the VECM is used to find the cointegration between variables to show the short-run and long-run dynamics. Graphical analysis and Augmented Dickey-Fuller tests are conducted to find the unit root in the model. All variables are stationary and integrated in the same order I (1). The results show that the error correction is significantly negative. That is, the annual rate of adjustment required to achieve long-run equilibrium is 28.31 percent. Based on the findings in the short-run, the extended money supply and interest rates have negative and insignificant effects on GDP, while the exchange rate has an inversely significant effect on GDP. Inflation targeting has a favourable insignificant effect on GDP. Long-run results show that extended money supply, exchange rates, and interest rates have positive significant effects on economic growth, whereas inflation targeting has negative significant effects on GDP. It is recommended that the government, policymakers, and financial institutions focus on managing inflation by the prudent implementation of fiscal and monetary policies and maintaining a regulation of interest rates, the extended money supply, and real exchange rates also inflation targeting should be emphasised by improving the central bank's communication, transparency, and accountability to avoid inflation volatility and stimulate economic growth.

Available DSpace Repositories in Nepal: Describing their Local Adoptions

2023-06-06T06:02:53+00:00

Digital library making has been basic requirements for the modern libraries. Instead of documents in papers, information is acquired and managed in some digital platform. One of the digital library platforms is DSpace, started in 2002. The collection of digital documents in DSpace is named DSpace repository. The main collection in DSpace repository is institutionally generated digital documents; hence, it is also synonymously termed as institutional repository. This study explored the existing Institutional Repository System (IRS) that was built in DSpace software in Nepal. Nepal, in South Asia, developed IRS in 2009. Literature suggested extensive studies about IRS in other South Asian countries, while Nepal was reported rarely. Moreover, Nepal was described as scanter than reality. There are nine IRS built-in DSpace in Nepal, enriching the collection from 101 to 15218. Except for three IRS, all other five IRS have their customized userinterface. They are on the way to improving their collection. Open Learning Education (OLE) Nepal has the highest collection and has diversified types of collections for kids. It is developed as Children's Digital Library. Except for three IRS, all are academic. So, these IRS have accommodated documents for academic purposes. They served students, teachers, researchers, and scholars.

Identity Crisis in Desai’s the Inheritance of Loss

2023-06-06T06:16:58+00:00

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai is a novel set in 1980s which deals with the theme of identity crisis especially of the Judge, the Cook, Sai, Biju and Gyan who struggle with their identity within their own nation and foreign land and fail to maintain a strong position even within their own community due to the effect of modernization and globalization. These lower ranked people are victimized from elite class in search of identity. Desai depicts how minority group’s identity is excluded, back grounded and suppressed by the so-called majority group in literature through the discourse. She has also shown how world’s globalized context has exploited and dominated the working-class people’s identity and freedom. This study focuses on exploring the complex web of relationships between identity and discourse as well as investigating the significant roles of literature in the construction of identity. The question that it arises is how identity is shaped by discourse in literature. In order to answer this question a wholesale analysis of the text is carried out in light of Tope Omoniyi’s Discourse and identity, James Paul Gee’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Stuart Hall’s Cultural Identity and Diaspora.

Tornado as a Disaster in Terai Region of Nepal

2023-06-06T06:41:21+00:00

Tornadoes are a specific type of storm and, being a natural disaster, they cannot be stopped. However, it is possible to reduce their impact. Tornadoes are formed when different types of air mix, creating molecular clouds filled with water vapor. As the clouds with dry air separate, low pressure is formed leading to the occurrence of tornadoes. They primarily occur at sea level when air moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. To depict the affected areas of Bara and Parsa districts in Nepal, the ARC GIS MAPPING software is utilized to create a map. Tornadoes can be anticipated if there is a presence of dust particles and cloud formations, particularly during the pre-monsoon period. However, accurate and timely severe weather forecasting alone is insufficient to mitigate the impact of these events. The size and speed of a tornado are influenced by various factors, such as the heating system from the land, the release of latent heat within the atmosphere, local geography altitude, seasons, and land or surface features.

Dialectics between Consciousnesses and Illusion in Keats’s Poem The Eve of St. Agnes

2023-06-06T07:15:53+00:00

The research paper attempts to explore the dialectics between consciousness and illusion in John Keats’s poem The Eve of St. Agnes. The contradiction between the conscious state and dream in the poem shows the incongruency and ambiguity that gives a fine vein of Romantic irony in the poem. It is a stance of isolated skepticism carried by an author towards his or her work, typically manifesting in literary self-consciousness and self reflection. The symmetrical paradox between two different realms of human life in the poem exposes the inherent contradictions provoked the interplay between reality and dream. To reveal the relationship and hostility between the ideal and the real empathically focusing into the contradictory existence of ultimate human reality is a key to Romantic irony. Madeline's spirit to celebrate her chastity on the eve of St. Agnes enables her to celebrate consciousness as the bliss of ritual. The paper revolves around the unearthing of the inherent contradiction in the poem in reference to the theoretical illumination of Romantic irony using the critical perspectives of Schlegel, Colebrook and Mellor.

A Program Evaluation of M.Ed. English Language Education of Tribhuvan University

2023-06-06T07:23:56+00:00

The purpose of this research was to review English language education program of Tribhuvan University using Stufflebeam’s CIPP model. The paper investigated university teachers’ and students’ perception on current curriculum of MEd in English language education based on CIPP model. Qualitative research approach was adopted to collect the data. Four research participants were purposely selected from Central Department of Education, Tribhuvan University. The study reports that University teachers’ are positive towards context and product process; but unsatisfied with process and input process. And the students’ are positive towards input and product process; but unsatisfied with process and context process. This requires an immediate attention on the part of curriculum designer and policy maker to internalize the strengths and weakness of the curriculum and redesign accordingly.

Exploration of Dalit Trauma in Sarad Paudel's Likhe

2023-06-06T07:36:26+00:00

Dalit community has been suffered in every aspect due to the institutionalized discrimination of the Hindu caste system in Nepal which is also known as the output of the religious and political reasons. This unfair practice has left a clear mark of social division, exclusion and inequality severely ruining Dalits' life and identity. Sarad Paudel addresses this issue and offers a glimpse of being a Dalit or untouchable in his novel Likhe. He narrates episodes of verbal and physical violence; recurrent inter- and intra-caste discrimination, which depicts the traumatic existence of that oppressed community. Other dominations and discriminations are less traumatic in the comparison of the cultural trauma caused by untouchability, which is like an incurable disease. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine the Dalit trauma as represented in this novel. To analyze the representation of traumatic experience in Dalits, the researcher has tried to apply the theoretical insights based on Jeffrey C. Alexander, Stuart Hall, Sigmund Freud and Cathy Caruth's exploration on trauma. This paper attempts to reveal how Dalit people have been living in the society bearing harsh torture, trauma and inhuman treatment in the context of Hindu Brahmin dominated society. This study adds new avenue for academic discussion in the field of academia so as to address the age-long discriminatory system in order to create a just and healthy society without any forms of discrimination in the name of race, class caste, color and gender. Therefore, this issue needs further exploration in academic discourse.