Heroes and villains: multimodal identity construction in children’s wartime visual narratives

The article investigates the Self and Other binaries in wartime visual literature published in Bengali-language children’s periodicals in West Bengal, India during the Bangladesh Liberation Struggle 1971. The study applies a critical multimodal framework using the Social Actors Approach and Social Semiotics within the Discourse-Historical Approach. The binaries are defined by the representation and subsequent differentiation of physical, linguistic, and cultural features of the Bengali and non-Bengali social actors and through their actions in the plots. The representation of social actors in the texts conforms to as well as deviates from typical wartime propaganda.

The Dislocations and Transgressions in Bhajju Shyam’s The London Jungle Book (2004)

The paper explores the multiple transgressions and border-crossings elaborated in the visual travelogue The London Jungle Book (2004), by Bhajju Shyam, a Pardhan-Gond artist and produced by Tara Books, an independent artists’ collective specialising in experimental visual literature. The paper discusses the cultural history of “Pardhan-Gond art” and the dislocations and relocations of the art form in the contemporary art world. The paper argues that the personal experience of the artist appears to reflect these shifting categorizations, movements and locations of performance of the art form. The images and metaphors of displacement and transgression have varied connotations in the visual travelogue as they reveal the complex mechanisms of travel and mobility in the contemporary world. The text also articulates the response of the artist to the social, political and economic conditions surrounding the production and circulation of his art, through reimagining his homeland, his cultural ties and his own identity. In a paradoxical sense, the experience of travel and mobility does not symbolise the uprootedness or detachment of the artist, but it brings into effect, with more immediacy, the cultural identity and ties of the artist, as a Pardhan-Gond artist, in the contemporary art world. Furthermore, the materiality of the crossover text challenges the notions of media, genre and readership, associated with the picturebook format, destabilising the categories and assumptions associated with the literary genre.

The Existence of Forests in Japanese Belief (Sociology Literature Study of Anime Miyori no Mori)

This research discusses the environmental issues and their relationship with the Japanese beliefs described in Japanese visual literature: anime Miyori no Mori. This animation story is full of messages about environmental preservation and environmental issues. The story Miyori no Mori teaches the audiences (especially children) the importance of protecting the forest and the impacts that will arise when the forest is destroyed and clearly illustrates how the forest is related to god’s spirits in Japanese belief. This research aims to reveal the elements of that belief through the existence of the forest depicted in the anime Miyori no Mori. Qualitative approaches and sociology literature study as research methods analyses forests’ critical role in Japanese people’s beliefs. The research examined includes the elements of faith depicted in the anime Miyori no Mori, such as the role of gods, the existence of ancestral spirits, and even monsters in that forest. As a result, it will be known how important the role of forests is as part of the Japanese people’s belief. It can be a solid reason for upholding environmental preservation, mainly to prevent their environment from covid-19 effects.

BELAJAR ISLAM MELALUI LITERATUR VISUAL: PEMBENTUKAN IDENTITAS MODERAT ANAK MUSLIM MILENIAL

Moslem children have tended to learn religious teaching through teachers at the Taman Pendidikan Al-Qur’an (TPA) and Boarding School. Through the old religious authority, a teacher or cleric provided Islamic teaching taken from the classic books. However, in this millennial era, the old religious authorities must be collaborated with alternative kinds of literature, such as popular Islamic children books. This paper would like to see the presence of Islamic children's visual literature over the past few years as an alternative source of religious authority by analyzing the visual images and text displayed. The generation of millennial Muslim children consumes practical, interesting, and fun religious knowledge through Islamic visual literacy. The visual literature of the Islamic children in this paper includes three domains of analysis, namely: theology, daily ethics, and Sirah nabi. This paper argues that the presence of Islamic children's visual literature is as a media response in promoting polite preaching among millennial generation, as well as constructing alternative religious authority as a source of creating a new identity.

Recreation of Oral Poetic Genres in Selected Yorùbá Home Video-Films

The Yorùbá film as audio-visual literature is thought of as one of the most educative components build ing society. “Modernization” and responses to global change brought about the Yorùbá films which are an offshoot of the Yorùbá Travelling Theatre Movement. The indigenous theatre practitioners who are versatile in practicing the oral poetic genre and have successfully emerged as producers, directors and film-script writers employ and recreate oral poetic genres by adding feelings, beliefs and knowledge they had acquired in the past. This paper attempts a descriptive analysis of five purposively-selected Yorùbá video films by using the sociological approach: Ẹfúnsetán Aníwúrà; Basòṛun Gáà, Ogun Àgbékòỵa, Ogun Ìdàhòṃì and Òṛànmíyàn; which are replete with instances of ingenious recreations of Yorùbá oral poetic genres. The analysis is conducted with a view to elucidating the attempts of Yorùbá home-video scriptwriters in recreating and reconstructing their experiences. The analyses of the selected Yorùbá home-video films reveal that the Yorùbá home-video script writers make artistic use of Yorùbá oral genres in their films through the creative exploitation of proverbs, songs, chants and mythical allusions. The allusions to myths in the selected films suggest that Yorùbá home-video films share apparent inter-textual links with Yorùbá oral poetry. The study concludes that Yorùbá home-video scriptwriters deploy oral poetic genres in their films as one of the ways in which the artistic experiences of the Yorùbá people can resonate. KEYWORDS: YORÙBÁ VIDEO FILMS, ORAL GENRES, MYTHS, SOCIAL CHANGE, RECREATION

Recreation of Oral Poetic Genres in Selected Yorùbá Home-Video Films

The Yorùbá film as audio-visual literature is thought of as one of the most educative components building society. “Modernization” and responses to global change brought about the Yorùbá films which are an offshoot of the Yorùbá Travelling Theatre Movement. The indigenous theatre practitioners who are versatile in practicing the oral poetic genre and have successfully emerged as producers, directors and film-script writers employ and recreate oral poetic genres by adding feelings, beliefs and knowledge they had acquired in the past. This paper attempts a descriptive analysis of five purposively-selected Yorùbá video films by using the sociological approach: Ẹfúnsetán Aníwúrà; Basọ̀run Gáà, Ogun Àgbẹ́kọ̀ya, Ogun Ìdàhọ̀mì and Ọ̀rànmíyàn; which are replete with instances of ingenious recreations of Yorùbá oral poetic genres. The analysis is conducted with a view to elucidating the attempts of Yorùbá home-video scriptwriters in recreating and reconstructing their experiences. The analyses of the selected Yorùbá home-video films reveal that the Yorùbá home-video script writers make artistic use of Yorùbá oral genres in their films through the creative exploitation of proverbs, songs, chants and mythical allusions. The allusions to myths in the selected films suggest that Yorùbá home-video films share apparent inter-textual links with Yorùbá oral poetry. The study concludes that Yorùbá home-video scriptwriters deploy oral poetic genres in their films as one of the ways in which the artistic experiences of the Yorùbá people can resonate.

Visual Literature in the 21st Century: An Interview with Anna Gerber

This interview addresses the innovative work of the London-based publishing house Visual Editions since its creation in 2010. One of its founding members, Anna Gerber, provides valuable insights into the shaping of the experimental projects they publish, as well as the diversity of endeavors Visual Editions is involved in. From experimentation with the visuality and the form of the print book medium to VE's collaboration with Google's Creative Lab and the production of mobile narratives, Anna Gerber shares her views into the emerging opportunities for literary texts across media.