Rethinking (from) the Islands

In this article the author critically reflects on his experiences while conducting qualitative liturgical research in local communities in South Africa. After a brief sketch of the context and introducing his approach, three types of examples are presented and reflected upon critically. In conclusion, an argument is presented for a specific kind of spirituality that is needed in order to undertake ethnographic-style participatory observation for liturgical research on African soil, namely a spirituality of liminality. For a researcher who is not a member of the tradition and culture in which the research is being conducted, this spirituality of liminality is necessary in order to develop an emic perspective without defining the people whose worshipping tradition is being researched as ‘other’. This spirituality of liminality is an important characteristic for a researcher who engages in qualitative ethnographic-style liturgical research in a postcolonial context.

Anuradha Sharma Pujari’s Iyat Ekhon Aranya Asil is a powerful critique of the effect of modernity on postcolonial ecology. The novel explores the relationship between modern city life and the loss of animal habitat in the surrounding hills and forests. The unnamed narrator, a journalist by profession, has been strategically used as a mouthpiece of the author in the novel to critique the underbelly of modern society where the ease of modern life could be sustained only by exploiting land and labour. Drawing from the findings made by decolonial critics like Walter Mignolo and Anibal Quijano on the connection between global modernity, global colonialism, and capitalism, we argue that in a postcolonial context, this double exploitation can be perpetuated only through consent and political manipulation of a complicit public. An ambivalent emotional response by the protagonist in the novel exposes the complicit nature of the privileged class which thrives on such exploitation. In this essay, we shall explore this complex networking which entangles modern life, politics, and landless squatters in a symbiotic relationship that utterly disregards non-human lives. We further argue, in this essay, that emotions like eco-anxiety and solastalgia are foreshadowed by survival needs in postcolonial contexts. Keywords: Solastalgia, Ecoanxiety, Ecopolitics, The Forest Wails, Assam, Colonial Modernity

PurposeThis study aims to delve into entrepreneurs’ perceptions and interpretations of short video marketing on TikTok.Design/methodology/approachIn light of the study’s exploratory nature, a qualitative approach was used. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 17 entrepreneurs to uncover their insights on short video marketing via TikTok. Data analysis was carried out using thematic analysis and NVivo, and rigorous measures were in place to ensure the quality of the study.FindingsThis study’s findings suggested that entrepreneurs’ usage of TikTok is customer-oriented, with the purposes of promoting their businesses, generating word-of-mouth and managing customer relationships. As such, the gratification of connection with their audience, entertainment and information provision needs motivate entrepreneurs’ use of TikTok for social media marketing. Additionally, entrepreneurs’ use of TikTok may also contribute to their gratification of creativity and spontaneity needs, which may otherwise be limited in the context of other social media platforms.Originality/valueThis study expands the previous literature on entrepreneurship, social media marketing and the uses and gratification approach by revealing the specifics, nuances and dynamics of TikTok marketing from the entrepreneurs’ emic perspective.

Rates of child maltreatment are higher in low‐ and middle‐income countries due to risk factors such as social inequities, economic adversity, and sociocultural norms. Given the evidence showing the effectiveness of parenting interventions to prevent child maltreatment, this study embarked on a cultural adaptation of an evidence‐based parenting program with the eventual goal of integrating it within a nationwide conditional cash transfer program for low‐income Filipino parents with children aged 2–6 years. We document the systematic adaptation of the Parenting for Lifelong Health for Young Children program that was developed and tested in South Africa, for low‐resource Filipino families using the heuristic framework for the cultural adaptation of interventions. We underscore the merits of conducting a multistage top‐down and bottom‐up process that uses a participatory approach among cultural insiders and outsiders to develop a parenting intervention that reflects the contextual realities and cultural values of end users. The adapted program, Masayang Pamilya Para sa Batang Pilipino, is the product of a delicate and deliberate effort to balance Filipino childrearing goals and values with the scientific evidence on components of parenting interventions known to promote positive parenting and prevent child maltreatment.

Code-Switching in the classroom across a range of curricular subjects is a widespread phenomenon in multilingual, language contact settings in Africa and, indeed, world-wide; yet it is not infrequently regarded unfavourably by educational policy-makers. This paper reviews the literature on classroom functions of code-switching in post-colonial contexts, commenting on the merits and limitations of recent research. It also examines some of the conceptions of language underlying official and lay attitudes. Finally, as befits a paper examining classroom codeþswitching from the somewhat unusual perspective of language planning in education, it evaluates a number of policy proposals addressing the issue of how code-switching might more effectively be exploited as a communicative and pedagogic resource in instruction. The paper overall is constructed so as to inform the attitudes, practices and policies of policy-makers, teacher educators and teachers.

Postcolonial ecocriticism is a new and rapidly growing field, characterized by a consciousness of the simultaneous depredation of subordinated people and land both during and after formal colonialism (see Huggin and Tiffin, Postcolonial Ecocriticism, 2010; eds. Deloughrey and Handley, Postcolonial Ecologies, 2011). Rhys is somewhat of a complicated case with regard to placement in colonial and postcolonial contexts, coming as she did from the plantocracy in Dominica, but living most of her adult life in economically straitened circumstances in Britain. In Rhys’s fictional world, nature is not a benevolent being or attractive ornament. It often aids and abets amoral power, but also when given the chance to escape the particularly British desire to turn wilderness into dependent, subservient gardens, nature can become a kind of parallel to Rhys’s anarchistic (if often outgunned and outlawed) protagonists. Rhys’s awareness of power disparities extends to her awareness of environment, and reading her work through the lens of ecocriticism allows us to see this clearly.

Postcolonial ecologies direct our attention to the specially environmental dimensions of literary works by focusing on the often overlooked nonhuman elements, ecological disasters and the inequitable distribution of resources and waste in developing nations. Decolonization has not solved the problems of poverty, corruption, pollution, disorder, and other vices that characterized colonial countries and has brought about little or no significant difference to the predicament of the environment and the masses in postcolonial countries. This situation is vividly demonstrated in Trinidadian-British writer V. S. Naipual’s In a Free State in which environmental problems as well as social issues continue to directly bear on the destiny of indigenous peoples. In this respect, this study discusses how the fate of the environment and indigenous peoples are intertwined, particularly in postcolonial societies with reference to the work of V.S. Naipaul’s novel. The paper engages with the subject of postcolonial ecologies in discussing the relationship between indigenous peoples and the forms of colonization and its impacts that Naipaul describes in the novel. The paper establishes the centrality of indigenous peoples to the modern colonial context while underscoring the continuity of its resulting environmental degradation in the postcolonial context.

This article explores briefly some phenomena of potential indigenization of the Portuguese spoken in Mozambique. Data for the study has been taken from work that is currently underway in Maputo, Mozambique, that was originally initiated to investigate contact varieties of Portuguese and to probe their educational implications. Speech samples comprise formal interviews and non-formal encounters from a socio-demographically representative sample of informants. The article first provides an inventory of some non-standard European Portuguese variants that are found in this data, and subsequently focusses upon a discussion of what contribution different linguistic processes make to indigenization, specifically the role played by processes of second language acquisition in a context of massive and diffuse language contact and change. Special attention is also paid to the social contexts in which different manifestations of language contact are found, and the importance of linguistic ideology for the form that language contact takes in particular cases is explored. The article concludes with the suggestion that the salient characteristics of types of non-native speech community such as Maputo require a reconceptualization of models and methods of contact linguistics and second language acquisition, and that this in turn carries implications for the terms of reference and analysis to which indigenization need be related.

Shifts in language presence are often predicated on the political and economic power of its users, where power level correlates with the longevity of the language. Further, during language contact, any resistance between the communities may lead to political and social conflict. The dominant language usually prevails, subjugating the weaker speech communities to the point where they adapt in various ways, processes which effect hegemonies. Language contact also motivates bilingualism, which takes effect over years. This paper suggests that, observing colonization through certain Asian countries, and centrally India, phonological influences have become conspicuous. Postcolonial contexts have selected language identities to assert local linguistic and sociocultural identities through specifying phonetic uniqueness. The study notes that economic trends alter this process, as do political factors. The study investigates how the role of English as an official language and lingua franca in India predicates the selection of certain phonetic patterns so as to legitimize identities of language communities. As such, Indian Englishes have developed their own unique varieties of language, through this process.

Research on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in Mexico is linked to geographical regions with the highest levels of biocultural diversity—for instance, Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Yucatan. Long-term historical and ethnographic research in Oaxaca suggests extensive interethnic conflict during precolonial times and subsequent Western interventions in colonial and postcolonial contexts, which might have contributed to knowledge loss in specific linguistic domains that have been the focus of classical ethnobiological studies—e.g., plant names. Here, we review some of the principal findings of a quantitative ethnobotany project carried out during the past decade on the loss of botanical knowledge in Zapotec communities located in the Tehuantepec Isthmus, and connect its conclusions to previous ethnobotanical and sociolinguistic research in the area. We discuss the scope of future investigations oriented to establish a link between historically informed cognitive anthropology/ethnobiology, comparative linguistics and TEK research in Oaxaca, and comment on some ethico-political dimensions of ethnobiology in the Tehuantepec Isthmus.

Indonesia’s multilingual landscape offers a dynamic site for exploring how language, identity, and education intersect in everyday life. This study examines how students in multilingual Pontianak, West Kalimantan, construct and negotiate their linguistic repertoires across school, home, and religious domains, and how these repertoires reflect broader ideologies of language and belonging. Employing a qualitative ethnographic approach within a multi-site case study design, the research was conducted in four secondary schools representing public, Islamic, and Catholic institutions. Data were collected through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, language portrait and mapping activities, and classroom discourse analysis involving students, teachers, and administrators. Findings reveal that students possess fluid and hybrid linguistic repertoires shaped by their sociocultural environments. While local Melayu dialects dominate informal communication, Bahasa Indonesia and English function as symbols of academic legitimacy and modernity, and Arabic indexes religious identity. Institutional language policies, however, often reinforce hierarchical ideologies that marginalize local languages. The study introduces the Multilayered Linguistic Repertoire Model (MLRM), which conceptualizes multilingualism as dynamic identity practice rather than discrete linguistic systems. The model advances theoretical and pedagogical contributions to language policy, literacy education, and sociolinguistic research in postcolonial contexts, underscoring the need for inclusive and culturally grounded approaches to multilingual education in Indonesia.

Young women in informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience significant health disparities. Despite growing understanding that population health outcomes are socially determined, the social determinants of health among young women in the informal settlements of SSA are not well understood. Furthermore, young women's emic perspectives on the pathways that contribute to health risk are rarely reported in scientific research. This research brief describes findings from a qualitative study and specifically addresses young women's insights into the social drivers of infectious disease transmission and treatment. We conducted focus groups including 60 young women participants aged 18 to 24 at three sites across Kampala, Uganda. Using thematic analysis, we identified four thematic clusters: (1) intersectional social injustices drive sexual exploitation and HIV transmission; (2) inadequate housing and sanitation contribute to the spread of infectious disease; (3) existing health care resources have limited capacity to address high infectious disease incidence; and (4) participants recommended building health promotion efforts on existing resources and developing community infrastructure to improve outcomes. This study highlights the social influences that contribute to the burden of infectious disease among young women living in Kampala's informal settlements. Young women named several ecological factors and resources which, if engaged, could promote health and well-being in their communities. Future research should engage young women in SSA's informal settlements as partners and peers in the development of community-owned research and intervention efforts to better understand community perspectives, address areas of most urgent need, and investigate barriers and facilitators to successful program implementation.

Tourists visiting the Indian Himalayan Region are categorized from an etic perspective; consequently, they are considered akin to the nature and congruity of the regional destinations. However, evidence indicates that an aberration has occurred in the region's tourism activities, adversely influencing the host communities' cultural and social context. From an emic perspective, this paper presents a new categorization of visiting tourists in the region. This research took a phenomenological stance, and 34 in‐depth interviews were conducted to collect the primary data. Subsequently, a thematic analysis was performed to analyze data. Findings demonstrate that, due to an aberration in the form of tourists, the cultural and social order of the region is experiencing antithetical issues, and host communities are becoming skeptical about the sector's existing tourism model and revenue aspirations; therefore, conflicts are intensifying between tourism development and revenue aspirations in the region. The study concludes by proposing future research directions.

Teacher talk is a prominent aspect that fosters active learning and student engagement in the ESL classroom. (Starr, 2017). Therefore, this study intends to examine the sociolinguistic dimensions of the language; employed by English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. The research also analyses teacher language (teacher talk) and behavior specifically in relation to bilingualism, code-switching and gender differences. Following a qualitative approach this study used classroom observation to gather data which were then analyzed using thematic analysis with an emic perspective. The findings of the study highlighted the usage of bilingualism and code-switching in between English (L2) and teacher’s native language (L1) Sinhala. Further, gendered language behaviors and the presence of speech act theories in teacher talk inside the ESL classroom is also analysed. Furthermore, this research examines how linguistic choices influence the dynamics of teacher-student communication and cooperation in the classroom. By contributing to an in-depth understanding of the symbiotic relationship between language use and sociolinguistics theories prominent in ESL teaching context, this study recommends further research in the fields involving instructional language in ESL classrooms and ESL teacher training.

This study explores what young Danish learners found anxiety-provoking or difficult in their English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Participants ( n = 32) were early and later starters (ages 8 years vs. 10 years) at two primary schools where children were not assessed in English. The qualitative inquiry aimed to examine what differences characterized 8- and 10-year-old children’s views and how their foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) changed over time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each child in one-on-one settings and the answers were analysed by thematic analysis. The emerging themes revealed three main categories of situations that made children anxious. The first one concerned being afraid of making mistakes. The second category comprised social situations in which children were asked to speak in English in front of their peers and they were anxious that other children would criticize them or laugh at them. The third category comprised situations in which children felt insecure, for example, they did not understand their teacher’s talk in the target language, did not know the meaning of words they were supposed to learn, did not understand the task at hand, or they had to do tasks they thought were beyond their abilities. Children who experienced a decrease of FLCA after one year of instruction indicated that appropriate support from the teacher had reduced FLCA in some of these situations. Pedagogical implications of the different causes of anxiety are discussed.