JSSH

Attaining Women’s Agency: A Study of Women’s Repression in Women’s Memoir Writing

Qudsia Shami, Muhammad Ijaz, Zarina Akhtar — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This research project explores various strategies of claiming women’s agency in diversified backgrounds. It accounts ways of repression that certain social and cultural forces adopt to hamper claims of women’s agency. It examines repressive and ideological state apparatuses operating in different sociopolitical and cultural scenarios. Similarly, it focuses on the contribution of such apparatuses that hinder the women to claim their agency. Theoretical framings of Louis Althusser’s theory of repression seem plausible for content analysis of the selected texts. Althusser foregrounds the role of repressive and ideological and forces that restrict aspirations and freedom of the women in the society. Content analysis of this study is based on two memoirs that
include Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003) by Azar Nafisi and I Am Malala (2013) by Malala Yousafzai. The study finds that religion and family function as ideological state apparatuses in Nafisi’s memoir and the Taliban enact as Repressive state apparatuses in latter’s memoir.

The Phenomenon of Political Humor as a Strategic Tool in Comedy TV Shows in Pakistan

Zoya Aziz, Ayyaz Qadeer, Muhammad Ayub — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Humor, which is primarily designed to amuse, can occasionally be more serious than regular news when utilized with political intent. Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of humor in politics. Comedy programs are, therefore, the polar opposite of news programs, and attract a larger audience. People who are tired of difficult news discussions prefer fun political programs. It has been established that all types of political comedy programs are the primary source of political news for the public, particularly the younger age. We collected qualitative data of humorous nature for Pakistani perspectives on humor in comedy shows. Online sources have compiled the information about the selected episodes of the Atab Iqbal-hosted program. The obtained data is studied via the prism of Dmitry Chernobrov's strategic comedy theory. This study indicates that the Aftab Iqbal-hosted comedy series serves political aims and promotes a particular political leader and party by criticizing and imitating other parties and leaders.

Resurgence of Cold War (2.0) Rivalry in Latin America: Assessment of US-China Battle for Influence

Asma Rashid, Amna Shafique — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

After successfully surviving and braving the harsh blazing winds coming in from the giant of the eastern hemisphere, US has somehow relegated itself to the same position again but this time with an enemy hell bent on reducing US to dust as far as its title as a superpower is concerned. China is not only reading United States really well to counter it but is bring proactive by anticipating its moves and neutralizing it. China and United States are up against each other in every single field and corner of the world. Wherever one lays foot, the other tries to hoist its flag there. This version of cold war has crept into the South America and Central America which are already suffering politically and economically. United States for a long time incentivized these states to sing its praises by concluding Free Trade Agreements with the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Peru and Mexico. Due to other commitments, the last few decades saw the demotion of these states in the list of US’ priorities therefore limiting its role only to the promotion of security and democratic ideals. Meanwhile China used this opportunity to infiltrate deep into this region by striking Free Trade Agreements of its own with Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Per and Uruguay and is in talks with other countries one of which is Ecuador to join the list. This paper holds to pin point and then trace the path of these two major powers in navigating the Latin American front of the Cold War 2.0. It is set to be a qualitative study banking on primary and secondary data by accessing archives, journals, articles, newspaper, magazines, think tanks, policy makers etc.

Exploring the Nexus “between” “Corporate Social Responsibility” Persuasion and “Organizational Citizenship Behavior”: Evidence from Public Sector Employees

Syed Saqlain Raza, Syed Ali Raza Hamid, Usman Ghani — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)” has become a focal point of interest in contemporary times. While much research has focused on the impact of “CSR” on consumers, there remains a gap in understanding its effects on
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) amongst public sector employees. This study examines how “Employees' CSR persuasion (ECP)” influences job felicity and Responsive Assurance (RA) on “OCB” in the public sector. By considering the four dimensions of CSR—economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic—we explore the relationships amongst ECP, job felicity, RA, and OCB. Many countries are implementing public sector reforms to enhance government employees' OCB, which is vital for program success. We categorize “citizenship behavior” into “altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, civic virtue”, and “sportsmanship”. Our findings indicate a positive link between ECP and OCB (B=0.199, p<0.01), a negative association with External Job Felicity (EJF) (B=-0.412, p<0.01), and a substantial negative impact of EJF on OCB (B=- 0.158, p<0.01). Additionally, RA (B=0.274, p<0.01) and Inbuilt Job Felicity (IJF) (B=0.261, p<0.01) are positively and significantly related to OCB amongst
public sector employees in Pakistan. These results highlight the importance of CSR initiatives for public sector employees, as they have the potential to promote positive workplace behaviors.

FINAL ATTEMPT TO REVIVE CARAVAN OF DIALOGUE DURING THE COLD WAR:(Travelling with A. H. Dani in China and Soviet Central Asia)

Prof. Li Xiguang — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It has been recognized by some academics that Prof. Dani was the father of Pakistan archaeology, but this essay identifies him as the father of a brand-new Silk Road studies which is characterized by Prof. Ahmad H. Dani’s efforts to revive an inter-civilization, inter-faith and inter-value dialogues on the Silk Roads during the last two years of the Cold War. Prof. Dani was the scientific leader of three UNESCO Desert, Steppe and Maritime expeditions. Being a journalist at that that time, the author travelled with him along the three routes, studying and reporting on the Silk Road archaeology. Most of the chapters of the essay are diaries of the author's travels with Prof. Dani on the roads.