Saturday Onsite Presentation Session 3

Cultural Studies & History

Session Chair: Nairita Ghosh

14:05-14:30

69623 | Narratives of the Coconut in Our Memory: The Coconut Industry in Philippine Literature and History, 1940-2018

Romeo Peña, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Philippines

The main purpose of this study is to contribute in the history of the coconut industry in the Philippines. It employed historical (historiography) and literary methods (textual, contextual, subtextual, and intertextual) in the analysis of texts to understand the recollections about the coconut industry in historical and literary narratives and to determine their use in shaping the essence, dignity, and identity of coconut farmers in the Philippines. Then, from the analysis conducted on the recollections of the coconut in the historical and literary narratives from 1940 to 2018, this study discovered the ideas and knowledge that can be the foundation for the strengthening of the coconut industry in the future. Likewise, this study investigated and highlighted the value of coconut farmers in the Philippines, particularly, their major role in the cultivation of the coconut as the tree of life and their role in the development of the coconut industry which is the source of the country's wealth.

14:30-14:55

68254 | Treatment of History in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

Mukesh Yadav, University of Engineering and Management, India

F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby carry on to hold our sensibilities till date. While going through the novel The Great Gatsby one can realize that the people and the quandary they face echoes even today. Though the novel displays the ‘roaring twenties’ but it seems its roar continues to be heard forever. F.Scott Fitzgerald created multi-layered characters holding both the sparkle and the matte. The characters displayed that though the human existence is eternal, but everyone has to face distinct tests of time and situation. The novel highlighted the hollowness and false pride carried during post-modern times. ‘The American Dream’ was shattered in this decade by the hollow presumptions of the past; ‘Fraternity’ lost its meaning; ‘liberty’ was misinterpreted and ‘pursuit of happiness’ converted to ‘pursuit of pleasure’. The brightness of “Jazz Age” blinded people and dark shadows remained unnoticed for quite a long time. The paper addresses the aspect of how the transitory moments of history crystallize into an enduring world of fiction, signaling the triumph of the imaginative powers of the novelist and at the same time delivering an ageless vision for humanity.

14:55-15:20

70699 | Idea, Images, and Agency: The Yakshis in Texual Traditions and Iconographies

Nairita Ghosh, Jamia Millia Islamia University, India

This paper intends to focus on the idea of Yakshis in both literary traditions and iconographies in the Indian subcontinent. The constant appearances of the Yakshis, in both benevolent and malevolent forms, are extant in the Brahmanical, as well as Buddhist and Jaina traditions. The Yakshis, initially understood as spirits of nature, such as lakes, rivers, trees, hills, and so on, existing in fluid forms, started to calcify in figurines adorning temples and Stupas, being worshipped as mother goddess to consorts of Gods and as enchantresses, from 3rd century BCE onwards, acting primarily as guardians of wealth, whether intellectual or physical. This paper raises questions as to how the depictions of Yakshis changed over time, their iconographic forms evolved, and whether their agencies and functions point to the processes of social changes being taken place, thereby transforming their initial identities. With a close examination of the sites of Chandraketugarh in West Bengal, Sanchi and Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh, Karle and Ellora in Maharashtra, and Badami in Karnataka, as well as Puranic texts, the Mahabharata, the Buddhist and Jaina literatures, and a detective novel written in 1974, this paper attempts to study the many nuances of the elusive phenomenon of Yakshi in the subcontinent.