Jordan Journal of Modern Languages & Literatures

Revealing Hate Comments on Indonesian Political Issues on Instagram: A Discourse Analysis

Ismail Tahir — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

This study investigates hate comments on Indonesian political issues employed by Indonesian Instagram users. The data were collected over three months (October – December) in 2022 and were analyzed using NVivo software (data classification, data coding, and data visualization). A dataset of 265 comments containing hate comments was collected The study reveals that hate comment classifications on Indonesian political issues include demonizing and dehumanizing, negative action, disagreement, violence, negative character, and death. Interestingly, demonizing and dehumanizing are the most common types of hate comments employed by Indonesian netizens on Instagram. Most of these comments protest government policies regarding disagreement and resistance to a particular government policy. Thus, this study recommends addressing virtual interactions situationally, culturally, and politically. The study also provides implications for impoliteness perspectives by exploring examples of hate comments employed by Indonesian netizens.

Keywords: Hate comments, Indonesian Language, Social Media, Political Issues, Instagram.

Highlights:

1. This study investigates hate comments on Indonesian political issues on Instagram

2. Hate comments include demonizing and dehumanizing, negative action, disagreement, violence, negative character, and death.

3. Indonesian Instagram users tend to protest government policies regarding disagreement and resistance to a particular government policy.

4. Virtual interactions are employed by Indonesian Instagram users situationally, culturally, and politically.

5. This study highlights and contributes to understanding digital political discourse among Indonesian Instagram users.

Arab Social-Cultural Identity Presence in International English Language Textbooks: A Study at Private Middle Schools in Palestine and Jordan

Rania Muhammad Qassrawi, Haya Fayyad Abu Hussien, Samih Mahmoud Al Karasneh — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

In the context of the dynamic social and cultural transformations experienced globally, educational curricula and syllabi assume a significant role in preserving societies' values and socio-cultural identities. This qualitative study investigated the representations and misrepresentations of Arab socio-cultural identity in international English language textbooks used in middle schools in Jordan and Palestine during the academic year 2022-2023. A purposive sample of eight textbooks, published by three prominent international publishers, was subjected to content analysis. The analysis focused on socio-cultural representations of Arab identity and potential misrepresentations within these textbooks, employing a criteria checklist developed and validated for reliability and accuracy by the researchers. The findings indicated that, although the textbooks included some representations of Arab socio-cultural identity, they predominantly featured elements that contradict and undermine Arab cultural values.

Keywords: middle school, social-cultural identity, international textbooks.

Highlights:

1-Representation of Arab Identity in Global Contexts as it examines how Arab culture, traditions, values, and everyday life are represented (or overlooked) in international English language textbooks used in private middle schools.

2-Cultural Balance and Visibility, as it analyzes the balance between Western and local (Arab) cultural content in reading passages, visuals, and activities.

3-Impact on Students’ Cultural Awareness and Identity Formation, since it explores how limited or distorted representations of Arab culture affect students’ sense of belonging, cultural pride, and motivation to learn English.

4-Teachers’ Perceptions and Pedagogical Adaptations, which highlights how teachers perceive the cultural content of international textbooks and how they supplement or adapt materials to include Arab socio-cultural elements.

5-Recommendations for Culturally Responsive Curriculum Design. This suggests proposing strategies for integrating Arab cultural perspectives into international ELT materials.

Repartees: Silencing Replies from a Holistic Pragmatic Perspective

Ramia Fua’d Abdulazeez — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

This study examines the holistic (i.e. causal) pragmatic structure of repartees, which are considered as silencing replies. It aims to build their structure by adopting Kopytko’s (2009) approach. It also aims to identify the type of analogy which fuels such witty replies via adopting Itkonen’s (2005) relation-based taxonomy. The methodology followed is qualitative represented by analyzing examples, from various sources, via an eclectic approach built on the two approaches mentioned above. The study endeavors to answer one question: What is the basic component which makes such replies silence their interlocutors? The answer has been shown to be self-referential analogy whose embodiment is binary- temporal and personal. It is concluded that a repartee’s holistic pragmatic structure embraces static and dynamic components. The former includes two: locution and perlocution. The latter, in turn, pertains to the illocution whose force changes in accordance with the context in its broadest sense. The significance of this study lies in its being the first linguistic one to bridge the gap in the literature on the concept of repartees as tackled here. It can help individuals to issue witty replies to silence their opponents when having unallowed standpoints, especially those concerned with bullying or hate speech in general.

Highlights:

Shedding light on an important aspect of language use - repartees. Learning how to issue them help speakers to face bullying or any supporters of hate speech in whatever form.
Showing the various forces which a repartee can perform: jocularity, defense, insult, etc.
Identifying the different types of analogy which fuel such witty responses.
Uncovering the infrastructure of repartees in order to learn how to issue one.
Spotting a new type of reasoning, i.e., analogic reasoning, which plays a crucial part in issuing such replies.

English in Commercial Signage: Evidence from Jordanian Clothing Companies on Facebook

Ghazi Al-Naimat — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

This study investigates the use of English in online linguistic landscapes by analyzing the names and introductory descriptions of 180 Facebook pages belonging to Jordanian clothing companies. Data were collected from these pages and examined using the main principles of LL studies. The findings show that most clothing company pages are in English, reflecting global symbolic associations. Additionally, the presence of Turkish and French names evokes a European imagery linked to the products offered. A local dimension appears through the use of Romanized scripts, where cultural values are expressed via a blend of global and local language features. The study finds that, with English as the primary language, the linguistic practices on these online pages closely parallel those found in local physical public spaces across Jordan. This illustrates the socio-symbolic role of English and has contributed to a digitally mediated transformation in how language is presented on commercial signage. The results imply that the negotiation of linguistic identity and cultural significance occurs primarily in online commercial settings in Jordan.

Keywords: English; online-linguistic landscape; Facebook pages; clothing company; Jordan

Highlights:

1- It extends LL theory to online commercial spaces, particularly Facebook clothing pages in Jordan. The adaptability of the field to newly digital environments is worth mentioning here, where linguistic and visual choices construct symbolic meaning.

2- It provides empirical evidence from the Middle Eastern context. Global LL scholarship can benefit from such regional data, focusing on how global language hierarchies manifest in Arab digital contexts.

3- The study reaffirms a consistent and key finding: English dominates as a symbolic code on Jordanian Facebook clothing pages, aligning with its prominent role in real commercial spaces in Jordan. Taking this into consideration, the study shows that both LL settings convey meanings of modernity, prestige, and global identity.

4- It reveals the hybridization of European and local linguistic elements, with Romanized Arabic reflecting local identity in globalized online discourse. This concept, termed hybrid digital identities in LL studies, illustrates how users creatively merge global prestige with local authenticity.

5- The study highlights the continuity between physical and digital landscapes, presenting digital spaces as extensions of tangible commercial language practices shaped by globalization.

Translating English Color Idioms into Arabic

Marah Alrifai, Aladdin Al-Kharabsheh — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Color idioms, a special category of idioms, cannot be translationally approached without deep and ‘voracious’ cultural insight that goes beyond the transmittal of linguistic structure and a very parochial sense of meaning. This paper argues that color idioms pose a Herculean translation task when rendering them from English into Arabic. By examining data from literary and political domains and employing Nida’s (1964) formal/functional equivalence, Baker’s (1992) idiom translation model, and Farghal and Shunnaq’s (1999) ideational equivalence, our analysis identifies two primary, exceedingly intractable, translation difficulties: the intricate idiomatic-symbolic meanings of color idioms, and the stark cultural disparities between these two languages. The findings also indicate that Baker’s (1992) borrowing the source language idiom, which prompted an insidiously exoticizing literalist-formal translation, has turned out to be the most heavily used method, followed by translation-by-paraphrasing, which stimulated the weaving of noxious ‘colorless’ equivalents, whose ‘selvedges’ are arguably so frayed to ensure ‘colorful’ frayages, or full restitution of meaning. These ‘misfiring’ loss-ridden equivalents have been addressed by proposing, where necessary, more valorizing redressive translation solutions.

Highlights:

1. Color idioms are deeply culture-bound, carrying symbolic meanings that differ sharply between English and Arabic, which makes their translation especially challenging.

2. The analysis of 69 idioms shows two major translation obstacles: (a) the symbolic, non-literal meanings of color expressions, and (b) the wide cultural gap between the two languages.

3. Translators overwhelmingly relied on Baker’s (1992) “borrowing the source idiom”, producing literal/formal translations that often sounded foreign and failed to convey the idiomatic meaning.

4. Paraphrasing was the second most-used strategy, but it frequently resulted in “colorless” translations that erased the color symbolism and led to significant translation loss.

5. The study offers more functional or ideational alternatives in cases where the published translations misfired, showing how better cultural and semantic alignment can restore idiomatic meaning—even if color is sometimes lost.

Preserving Cultural Difference in the Translation of Proverbs: A Cultural Linguistics Approach

Sanaa Benmessaoud, Fatima Alzumar, Adnan K. Abdulla — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Emirati proverbs are deeply rooted in Emirati culture and social customs and make heavy use of devices typical of classical poetry. The translation of these proverbs is thus particularly challenging, especially that research on the translation of proverbs from the Arabian Peninsula is still scarce. To fill this gap, this article analysed the English translation of Emirati proverbs, using analytical tools from Cultural Linguistics and drawing on Venuti’s ethics of difference. The analysis revealed that while the translation appears to be foreignizing, it replaced Emirati cultural conceptualizations with ones that are more familiar to the English reader. The result is an exoticizing target text that reduces the Emirati culture to a series of clichéd stereotypes.

Keywords: Cultural Conceptualizations, Cultural Linguistics, Foreignizing Translation, Proverbs

Shaw’s Serious Jokes: Carnivalesque Laughter as Resistance in Pygmalion

Odai Al Ma’aitah, Samira al-Khawaldeh — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

This paper analyzes the role of carnivalesque laughter as a form of resistance in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (1913), using Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the carnivalesque as a framework. The study examines how Shaw employs humor, irony, and satire to critique and rigid class structures and societal norms in Edwardian England. Characters such as Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins mirror Bakhtin’s vision of carnival, where traditional hierarchies are inverted, and the established social order is challenged. By focusing on language, character dynamics, and the subversive nature of humor, this paper explicates how carnivalesque laughter in Pygmalion serves as a tool for questioning and destabilizing oppressive social structures. The analysis demonstrates that Shaw’s strategic use of satire reflects a spirit analogous to that of Bakhtin’s carnival, promoting a discourse of social change and renewal. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of Shaw's literary techniques and the power of laughter as a vehicle for cultural and social critique.

Keywords: George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion, Mikhail Bakhtin, carnivalesque, satire, social resistance, Edwardian society, transformative humor, folk humor.

Highlights:

It reframes Pygmalion through Bakhtin’s carnivalesque, arguing that laughter in the play functions as social resistance that unsettles Edwardian class hierarchies.
It offers close readings of key scenes to show “de-crowning” in action: Eliza’s salon “small talk,” Alfred Doolittle’s ironic rise, and Higgins’s drawing-room frankness, each exposing the fragility of class identity built on accent, manners, and costume.
It distinguishes carnival laughter from reductive modern satire, positioning Shaw’s humor as regenerative: laughter educates, renews, and invites change rather than stopping at ridicule.
It recasts Higgins as a paradoxical catalyst of the carnival. His phonetic “laboratory” opens a space where boundaries blur, enabling Eliza’s growth and undermining the very norms he tries to police.
It ties the argument to broader cultural stakes, showing how carnivalization in Pygmalion deconstructs class and gender expectations and culminates in Eliza’s assertion of autonomy as the play’s transformative outcome.

The Nature of Human Reality in Paul Auster’s The Brooklyn Follies in Light of Sartre’s “For-Itself-For-Others”

Mohammad-Javad Haj’jari, Nasser Maleki — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

The existential aspect of the social nature of human reality, defined as “for-itself-for-others” in Sartre’s philosophy, determines humankind in terms of communal contributions for the establishment of an ideal society of interpersonal relations and collaborations. Such community requires one’s selfhood shaped in accordance with the well-being of others, best manifested in the Sartrean concept of “for-itself- for-others”. In Auster’s The Brooklyn Follies, in existential terms, Nathan Glass, the protagonist, leads an authentic life both on personal and social levels towards Sartre’s principle. In this light, Nathan represents the human potency to organize the chaotic network of interpersonal associations when an individual is conscious of human freedom of choice and social responsibilities and tries to help others acquire the same level of awareness. As such, he is a portrait of the concept of “for-itself-for-others” in managing the network of his relationships with other community members. This paper, highlighting Nathan’s role as the architect of Auster’s urban utopia, shows how the Sartrean concept above can realistically manifest itself within a chaotic society on the edge of collapse around the turn of the century in the USA.

Keywords: Auster, Existentialism, Sartre, The Brooklyn Follies.

Highlights:

1- Existential Authenticity: Auster’s protagonist exemplifies Sartre’s notion of the “for-itself-for-others,” attaining authenticity through reflexive awareness and ethical engagement.

2- Communal Dimension: Individual freedom is portrayed as a force that enhances collective and moral well-being.

3- Interpersonal Reality: Authentic existence is realized through relational connectedness rather than isolation.

4- Memory and Legacy: The act of commemorating forgotten lives underscores the persistence of human meaning beyond mortality.

5- Resilient Freedom: In confronting crises such as 9/11, the protagonist maintains hope and agency, reflecting Sartrean possibilities of transcendence.

Navigating between Trauma and Identity in Life of Pi: An Analysis of Yann Martel's Novel as a Trauma Narrative

Rameez Raja, Tania Bansal — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

This paper analyzes the role of carnivalesque laughter as a form of resistance in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (1913), using Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the carnivalesque as a framework. The study examines how Shaw employs humor, irony, and satire to critique and subvert rigid class structures and societal norms in Edwardian England. Characters such as Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins mirror Bakhtin’s vision of carnival, where traditional hierarchies are inverted, and the established social order is challenged. By focusing on language, character dynamics, and the subversive nature of humor, this paper explicates how carnivalesque laughter in Pygmalion serves as a tool for questioning and destabilizing oppressive social structures. The analysis demonstrates that Shaw’s strategic use of satire reflects a spirit analogous to that of Bakhtin’s carnival, promoting a discourse of social change and renewal. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of Shaw's literary techniques and the power of laughter as a vehicle for cultural and social critique.

Keywords: Identity, Psyche, Survival, Trauma Fiction, Trauma.

Highlights:

1. Life of Pi as Trauma Fiction:

This research places Life of Pi within the genre of trauma fiction, implying the theoretical trauma theory’s frameworks as propounded by Cathy Caruth and Anne Whitehead to highlight how Yann Martel’s narrative poignantly captures the psychological fragmentation, delayed response, and disorientation characteristic of trauma narratives.
2. Storytelling as a Coping Mechanism:
Pi’s act of demonstrating his story serves as a means to process and survive trauma. Through storytelling, he makes meaning, navigates memory, and transforms traumatic experiences into a narrative form that aids in psychological survival.
3 . Interplay of Trauma and Identity:
Pi’s identity is depicted as fluid and reshaped by his traumatic experiences which include the shipwreck, isolation, and loss. His endurance at sea and his relationship with Richard Parker reflect how trauma dishevels and then refashion the self.
4.Religious Faith and Psychological Resilience:
Pi’s strong faith in Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam turn out to be a stabilizing force, helping him reconcile the tumult of trauma with a sense of meaning and hope. Faith functions as a narrative and emotional labyrinth for survival.
5.Narrative Structure Reflecting Trauma:

Martel’s chooses nonlinear, fragmented storytelling methods along with the disjointed temporality of trauma. The blend and blurring of boundaries between reality and imagination demonstrates the way trauma blurs memory and perception.

Legacy of Slavery in Homegoing (2016) by Yaa Gyasi and The Underground Railroad (2016) by Colson Whitehead

Walid Abdallah Rezk — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016) and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2016) exhibit thematic parallels, notably in their exploration of historical trauma, the enduring ramifications of slavery, and the pervasive influence of systemic oppression. These novels delve into the African American experience, shedding light on the intricate adversities encountered by individuals and communities across epochs. Furthermore, they employ a blend of historical realism and elements of magical realism to effectively convey their narratives. Critical race theory serves as a lens through which to analyze both works, elucidating the intersections of race and racism with other social constructs and delineating the portrayal of race, ethnicity, and power dynamics within the narratives. By portraying the various forms of systemic racism and discrimination that continue to exist, these novels emphasize the importance of recognizing and addressing these issues in contemporary society.

Keywords: Historical Realism, Historical Trauma, Identity, Legacy of Slavery, Oppression.

Highlights:

Comparative Insight into Historical Trauma:
The paper presents a comparative analysis of Homegoing and The Underground Railroad, focusing on how both novels portray intergenerational trauma and the enduring effects of slavery.
Application of Critical Race Theory (CRT):
It employs Critical Race Theory to explore the intersections of race, power, and systemic oppression within the African American experience.
Fusion of Historical and Magical Realism:
The study demonstrates how Gyasi and Whitehead blend historical realism with elements of magical realism to illuminate the lasting legacy of slavery.
Ethical Representation and Authorial Responsibility:
It examines how both authors address ethical issues such as authenticity, appropriation, and the responsibility of representing historical trauma.
Contemporary Relevance and Social Reflection:
The paper connects the novels’ themes to current racial and social injustices, highlighting literature’s role in promoting empathy and social change.

E. M. Forster’s Epigraph and the Construction of Modernity: Connection and Concentration in Forster’s Novels

Wooil Lee — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

This paper aims to reexamine E. M. Forster's (1879-1970) epigraph “Only Connect” with a new lens. Conventionally, Forster's epigraph has been construed within the framework of humanist criticism, emphasizing the modern notion of “personal relations.” However, this paper contends that Forster's epigraph can be interpreted as a means of delineating modernity. Through his own exploration of relational theories, Forster offers a novel perspective on understanding the dynamics of modern societal structures, including those related to class, gender, and race. By reexamining Forster's conception of relationality, this study endeavors to enrich the field of Modernist studies. Furthermore, by asserting that Forster's epigraph suggests connection as a potent social force, this paper aims to stimulate constructive discourse within Modernist scholarship

Keywords: E. M. Forster, modernity, concentration, relationality, connection.

Highlights:

M. Forster’s novels should be reconsidered through a sociological and theoretical lens rather than conventional humanist criticism.
Forster’s notion of “connection” functions as a social principle of modernity, defined by its ongoing tension with the opposing force of “concentration.”
Reading Howards End and A Passage to India as literary sites where connection and concentration coexist reveals the heterogeneous and conflictual nature of modern social life.
Forster’s narrative logic operates within a relational theory and constructs a theoretical model that links literary form to the sociological dynamics of modernity.
Repositioning Forster as a theorist of relational modernity provides a new methodological and conceptual contribution to Modernist studies.

Obstetric Violence vs. The Insubordination of Eve’s Daughters: Embers of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in Elizabeth Baines’s The Birth Machine

Francisco José Cortés Vieco — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Frankenstein can be understood as Mary Shelley’s accusation of the usurpation of women’s reproductive capacity by a scientific father and has become a myth nurturing a ‘hideous progeny’ of multifarious literary expressions. Through the lens of Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, this essay explores Frankenstein’s inspiration for Elizabeth Baines’s The Birth Machine to unravel the intergenerational rage of Eve’s daughters against patriarchal science, and the timelessness of Shelley’s rewriting of the Bible and Milton’s Paradise Lost, transfused from the nineteenth century to contemporary times of obstetric technology and violence against women. In sisterly unison, Shelley and Baines reveal how, yesterday and today, overreachers ravage pregnant/birthing patients and a Gothic son not ‘of woman born’, all of them converted into malleable matter in male hands. However, this essay examines how women reach power to avenge the law of the Mother, violated by unethical scientists.

Keywords: Childbirth, Cyborg, Obstetric Technology, Violence.

Highlights:

1- The paper sees Frankenstein as Mary Shelley’s feminist attack on men’s seizure of women’s reproductive power.

2- The paper shows how Elizabeth Baines’s The Birth Machine updates Mary Shelley's critique through modern obstetric violence and medical control.

3- The paper links biblical and Miltonic myths to the long history of patriarchy reducing women’s creativity to men’s intellect.

4- Using Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, the paper reads Baine's character Zelda as a cyborg who resists male domination through her hybrid body.

5- The paper concludes that Mary Shelley and Elizabeth Baines rewrite patriarchal myths to reclaim female power and voice in childbirth.

Devilish Whispers: Milton’s Influence on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman

Alicia Fernández Viña — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

This article analyses how in Neil Gaiman’s comic series entitled The Sandman, there is a great influence from the figure of Lucifer, the character at the core of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Furthermore, the article aims to engage with and portray a deeper understanding of how Milton’s epic poem echoes in Gaiman’s comic series, and especially how the characters of Morpheus and Lucifer are totally based on Milton’s models. Yet, Gaiman is adapting the Miltonian narrative for newer audiences in a reinvention of one of the classics of English literature. Using Linda Hutcheon’s A Theory of Adaptation and the main ideas of inter and transmediality, this paper will try to build a bridge between Milton and Gaiman to analyse the correlations between the two. Paradise Lost greatly influences The Sandman, especially in the description of its characters, the conceptualisation of Hell and the concept of storytelling. By analysing their similarities and differences, readers will understand Gaiman’s reinvention of the Miltonian Satan to illustrate how the frontier between good and evil might be blurrier than humanity tends to think.

Keywords: Paradise Lost; The Sandman; Adaptation; Transmediality; Intermediality.

Highlights:

1. This paper deeply explores the reconfiguration of the Miltonian narrative inside Paradise Lost within Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, delving into the complexly moral and rebellious identities of two of his main characters: Lucifer and Morpheus.

2. Through transmedial and intermedial theories, this study showcases how Milton's theological and narratological ideas are redefined through the visual language of the comic.

3. This paper enlarges Linda Hutcheon's adaptation theory by exploring how Gaiman's work does not only adapt Milton but also reinterprets his epic poem, adapting it for the contemporary reader's eyes.

4. This study deepens into the way in which the characters of Lucifer and Morpheus inherit and recast Milton's Satanic traits into a postmodern and contemporary articulation of rebellious autonomy.

5. Through the analysis of John Milton's Paradise Lost and its echoes in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, this paper builds a bridge between the restoration period and contemporary discourse, thus exhibiting the power of literature and showing how classical archetypes -even those representing evil- persevere across time, sometimes finding solace in the minds of authors as dark and twistingly interesting as that of Gaiman.

Graphic Literature Meets Classic Fiction: Discerning the Visual Language of Pride and Prejudice and Fahrenheit 451

Ayesha Ejaz, Azka Khan — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Abstract Visual language has gained importance with the acceptance of graphic novels as a literary genre. Visual Language studies the interaction between words and images to convey meaning (Cohn 2013). The current research explores how visual elements in comics combine to convey a cohesive message in graphic novels, especially focusing on visual morphology, visual narrative structure, and visual lexicon. The research relies on theories of visual language by Cohn to analyze the graphic adaptations of Pride and Prejudice (1984) and Fahrenheit 451 (2009). It explores the role of fewer words and a different writing style used in graphic novels to convey meaning in visual narratives. Discerning visual language in graphic novels is expected to add to the human understanding of communicating and comprehending meaning through the interplay of words and images.

Keywords: Visual Language, Graphic Novel, Visual Morphology, Visual Lexicon, Visual Narrative Structure, Panels.

Highlights:

1. Visual Language (VL) in Graphic Novels
Visual language (VL) is defined as the system of communication that uses graphic elements to convey meaning, messages, and ideas. It studies the interaction between words and images and is considered an evolving language.

2. Graphic novels (GNs) are self-contained, book-length works that utilize a captivating fusion of illustrations, text, and layout to create a rich narrative experience. Cohn proposes that when systematic consecutive images adhere to structured rules, they tangibly manifest as visual languages.
Systematic Parts of Visual Language

3. Research relies on Cohn’s theories of VL, analyzing three systematic parts that serve as analytical categories:

a. Visual Morphology: This involves investigating meaning-bearing units within the image. It refers to the rules used to convey meaning through visual design, including structural building blocks like line, shape, color, form, and angle.
b. Visual Narrative Structure: This relates to how visual elements, such as the arrangement of panels, combine systematically to form a cohesive message. Core categories in the narrative trajectory include Orienter, Establisher, Initiator, Prolongation, Peak, and Release.
c. Visual Lexicon: This includes symbolic elements holding a symbolic nature, such as emotion lines or circular stars showing dizziness. The most recognizable forms are "Carriers," which encapsulate text, like narrative captions, thought bubbles, and speech balloons.

Ahmad Matar's Fluctuating Watan Conception: An Interdisciplinary Study

Muhammad Agami Hassan Muhammad — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Ahmad Matar is an exiled Iraqi poet who applies himself to the cause of freedom. Experiencing internal exile in homeland, Iraq, and external exile in the UK, Matar suffered the traumatic consequences of estrangement. Predictably, the search for watan (Arabic for home) is one of the motifs in his poetry. However, his conception of watan fluctuates throughout his works from the immanent to the transcendental, and back to the immanent. Although many studies addressed different aspects in Matar's poetry, very few investigated the poet's conception of home. The article aims to identify the poet’s uncertainty concerning the concept of watan and explain the reason(s) for this oscillation through critical analysis of selected poems. The Individualistic approach of cultural psychology will be utilized to trace the poet’s different homes. The philosophical approach concerning cultural identity and the meaning of home will also be used to investigate this fluctuation.

Keywords: Ahmad Matar, Arabic exile poetry, concept of home/land, identity, cultural psychology

Orientalism as a Regulatory Episteme in William Beckford’s Vathek and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Issam Aldowkat, Haitham Talafha, Othman Ald-Dala’ien , Tamador Abu-Snoubar — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Abstract: The Orientalist engagement of William Beckford’s Vathek and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has already been considered within the same theoretical framework proposed by Edward Said. However, this study aims at deconstructing the epistemic foundation of Orientalism in both works. The creation of Vathek is not simply a conceptualization of a stereotypical figure that replicates typical Orientalized characters. He is rather the product of a fantastic quest that is epistemologically conditioned by overreaching disastrous knowledge. Vathek’s weird world is engineered within an epistemic framework whose discursive foundation can be tracked down in Orientalism. Likewise, the subjection of Victor Frankenstein to Orientalist practices whets his appetite for the type of experimentation whose ambiance is conjured up from the spirit of Orientalized tales like the Nights. Orientalism functions thus as an episteme filtering any ‘dispirited’ scientific objectives and transforming them into distorted fantasies. All in all, the realization of such fantasies and deviant epistemic quests, in both novels, eventually ends up in crafting a deformed artefact that echoes Orientalism itself in the sense that they are both deviant praxis drawn upon eccentric discourse and assumptions.

Keywords: William Beckford, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Vathek, Orientalism

Highlights:

1. The paper defines Orientalism as an episteme that informs and shapes the epistemological frameworks of knowledge quests within Vathek, Frankenstein, and beyond (i.e., their writing processes).

2. The paper seeks to demonstrate that Orientalism as displaced in Vathek and Frankenstein produces knowledge quests marked by overreaching unregulated, deviant, and disastrous knowledge.

3. In addition to explicating how Orientalism harbors the epistemological tools that fashion Vathek and Frankenstein enlightened pursuit of knowledge, the paper also discussed delineates how Orientalism simultaneously renders their enlightenment a formidable failure.

4. The paper’s discussion unfolds Orientalism as a transgressive pursuit of knowledge, a form of conquest that results in the production of licentious and monstrous knowledge.

5. The paper opens new horizons in Orientalist studies and expands its scope to incorporate epistemic and intellectual violations and quests within various Western cultural frameworks

Ideological Perspectives in Two Selected Persian Translations of George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Amin Amirdabbaghian, Krishnavanie Shunmugam, Mansour Amini — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0300

Ideology plays a vital role in influencing language use in Persian translation work in Iran. Hence, those who engage in Islamic-oriented discourse are treated with more respect and favor in the community, particularly after the revolution in 1979. This study aims to describe the ideological impact of the Islamic Revolution on the pre- and post-Revolution Persian translations of George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) and for this purpose two translations i.e., Amirshahi (1969) and Hosseini and Nabi Zadeh (2003) were selected. Farahzad’s (2012) three-dimensional textual analysis model was used for data categorization while van Dijk’s (1998) theory of ideology aided in discussing the ideological perspectives that manifest themselves in the Persian translations. The findings revealed significant differences in ideological perspectives of the pre and post revolutions translators. The study has several practical and theoretical implications for translators, and language learners as well as instructors.

Keywords: Translation, Ideology, Persian, Animal Farm.

Highlights:

1. Comparative Focus:
The study compares two Persian translations of Animal Farm, Amirshahi (1969) and Hosseini & Nabi Zadeh (2003), to reveal how Iran’s pre- and post-1979 political climates shaped translation ideology.

2. Theoretical Framework:
Using Farahzad’s (2012) three-dimensional textual analysis and van Dijk’s (1998) ideology theory, the paper connects linguistic decisions to socio-political belief systems.

3. Ideological Manifestations:
Differences in lexical, grammatical, and strategic choices, such as “Rebellion” vs. “Revolution” or “Sunday” vs. “Friday”, illustrate ideological manipulation at multiple textual levels.

4. Translator Background & Censorship:
The analysis highlights how translators’ socio-political positions and Iran’s Momayyezi censorship policies shaped word choice, tone, and adherence to dominant ideology.

5. Contributions & Implications:
The paper concludes that translation is inherently ideological, extending this discussion to Persian literary translation while offering pedagogical insight for translator training and ideological awareness.