Editors’ Note (Spring 2017)
Greetings,
We welcome you to the newest issue of Asrar: Dialogues from the Diaspora!
After months of sleepless nights and tireless work, we proudly present to you the fruit of our labors, the Spring 2017 issue of Asrar! The pieces in this issue cover an array of topics and themes that span from eccentric literary interpretations and analysis, to logical, mindboggling linguistic theories, and to heart-wrenching, jaw dropping creative pieces. The dialogues within the pieces are ones that we hope may resonate with our readers from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, each piece carries a message in its own right.
In “The Liberation of the Language of the Literature VS The Marginalization of the Language of Media,” Inaas Mughis explores how media enchants and literature disenchants wars and liberates individuals in order to suit the needs of politicians and propagandists. Mughis analyses newspapers, broadcasts, and propaganda posters, and Dulce Et Decorum Estby Wilfred Owen (1920). Rose Kulsum-Binder’s “The Two Faces of Spring: A Stylistic Analysis of E. E. Cummings ‘in Just-’ and ‘(listen) this a dog barks’” discusses the topic of spring time in terms of graphology, lexis, semantics, pragmatics, and point of view. In the literary analysis section, the piece, “Tituba, Black Witch of Salem: A Multiply Refracted Character in World Literature” by Ayesha Burney, illustrates the underlying cultured experiences in Arthur Millers The Crucible (1952) and Maryse Conde’s I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem (1992). In the section of the research papers, we offer pieces that discuss varied topics like workplace gender inequality in India, influence of spiritual practices in psychological treatments, misrepresentation of Muslim women in North American and European media and much more. Our creative writing section, which also contains the first place winner’s piece from the CAS Creative Writing Contest Spring 2017, comprises of poems and prose on themes like home and gender.
We would like to congratulate all the students who are being published in this issue of Asrar! To quote from the previous Editors’ note, this is only the beginning of a great journey. We enjoyed reading and picking the best pieces in the lot. The Editorial Board hopes that you enjoy them too.
Warm regards,
Nadine Dalbani, Tasneem Massarweh, and Zarnain Abdul Samad