Twenty-Third International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Nowadays considered as one of the most important Polish writers, Andrzej Stasiuk is an author of numerous travel journals in which he describes his journeys to the countries of Eastern Europe. The writer’s fascination with the nomadic lifestyle of the gypsies and the countries he travelled through, characterized by a certain economic delay, become an opportunity to ask important questions regarding the changes that have taken place in the contemporary world, driven by the capitalism, about differences and similarities and finally about the national identities (his own et the others’). Firstly, this work analyses the role that travels play in Stasiuk’s prose, as well as the role of the mythology he creates around the lifestyle of the nomads and the meanings he attributes to them (freedom, space, independence of the concept of nationality, lack of borders). In second place, the author focuses on the geographical areas visited by the Polish writer and their way of functioning, standing in opposition to the way of life and the values of Western countries. The author will show, based on Milan Kundera's essay, that an East-West opposition of identities is being created in the works of Stasiuk. Finally, the present paper introduces the effects of such constructed literary world on the concept of national identities, among others on the image of Polish identity created by Stasiuk, built at the same time on opposition and similarity to the Other.

Oceanic Journeys

Alvin Joseph
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Yann Martel’s novel "Life of Pi" recounts the extraordinary survival story of Pi Patel, a young boy stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger as his companion. While the novel’s premise is grounded in a literal journey of survival against the ocean’s unpredictable elements, this paper explores how Pi’s oceanic voyage becomes a metaphorical and philosophical journey. The paper argues that the ocean functions as a dual symbol: it reflects both the external struggle for survival and an inner quest for meaning, faith, and transformation. Through his time at sea, Pi undergoes profound physical, mental, and spiritual transformations, facing the duality of reality and illusion, reason and belief, as represented by his two versions of the story. Drawing on theories of survival literature, postcolonialism, and the metaphysical, this paper examines how the oceanic setting in 'Life of Pi" functions as a space for the exploration of human resilience, existential inquiry, and the interplay between narrative and truth. Ultimately, the ocean in "Life of Pi" becomes a symbolic arena where Pi confronts both the forces of nature and the profound depths of his own being.

Analyzing the Absence of Malice Movie, Focusing on Facts Vs. Assumptions

Sonika Lamichhane
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

This study examines the interplay between facts and assumptions presented in the movie Absence of Malice 1981. A reporter, Megan Carter, writes a news story on the front page of the newspaper that links Michael Gallagher, a businessman, to a murder investigation without verifying the information. The movie has shown how the reporter, Megan Carter, wrote the story without seeking confirmation and how a lack of verifying the information and premature reporting harm the people. Through visual analysis, this study considers the characters, plot, dialogue, and facial expression of the movie to analyze the importance of fact in the news story and how assumptions, prioritizing speed to cover the story, and a lack of verification of news can hamper the people and break the journalistic principles, i.e., accuracy, balance, and credibility. Furthermore, this study also draws connections to real-world instances of journalistic practices. This study highlights responsible journalism and the importance of cross-verification of information to safeguard the trust of the public and to maintain the credibility of the media houses.

Of Sea, Space and Self-Reflexivity

Abhirami Ajith Kumar
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

In the labyrinthine depths of S., a contemporary experimental fiction, the Ship of Theseus serves as a vessel of self-discovery. Beyond a metaphor, sea is an idea, a medium and a space in the novel where the proverbial “ship” is occupied. Theseus, the mythical hero, after killing the Minotaur, is on an expedition on his ship and “Ship of Theseus,” the inner text of the novel, accommodates the conversations of the characters of the outer text, S., on its margins. In “Ship of Theseus,” the central character S. is an amnesiac who is trying to learn more about himself. S. copes with his memory loss by recreating his true disposition, only to be overshadowed by the remnants of the things he used to be, representing the metaphysical puzzle of the Ship of Theseus. The undercurrent that holds the narrative complexities, including the detachable paratextual elements in the text, is its characteristic self-reflexivity. The paper semiotically analyzes the experimental manifestation of the oceanic journey, while examining how the Ship of Theseus, both a physical object and a conceptual construct, embodies the paradoxes of identity, memory, and consciousness. It also looks at sea as a boundary, particularly between the known and unknown and several other binaries. The primary motive of the paper is to investigate the metaphorical, literary and symbolic significance of the ship in S. and its correlation to self-reflexivity as a narrative strategy.

Typography Tells a Different Story

İpek Köprülülü
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Typography is usually seen simply as a tool for conveying textual meaning, yet its power as a visual language capable of telling stories is often overlooked. This research challenges traditional views by showing how typography can go beyond just conveying words, becoming a medium for emotional expression that crosses language and cultural boundaries. Using Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar”as a case study, the project explores how a single sentence – five words and eleven letters – can be reimagined through typography to express the emotional journey of the novel. Through a combination of analog and digital techniques, these visual treatments offer new ways to interpret and experience the text, challenging conventional literary practices. Typography here becomes more than just text; the emphasis on its visual aspects allows the meanings embedded in the forms to tell their own story, connecting across languages and cultures. The findings show how typography can reshape communication, allowing for deeper emotional understanding and enriched literary interpretation. This research opens new avenues in the humanities, highlighting typography’s potential to evolve and engage in an increasingly interconnected world.

Narrative Strategies in Email Advertising

Rima Jamil Malkawi
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Storytelling has long been recognised as a potent tool for persuasive communication in broader email marketing and, precisely, email advertising. This study aims to bridge the gap in the literature by examining how Denning’s narrative patterns are used in marketing emails to attract customer’s attention and persuade them of products or services. Drawing on Aristotle’s persuasion theory and Denning’s framework of narrative patterns, we conducted a qualitative and descriptive quantitative analysis on a corpus of 200 marketing emails authored by email copywriting expert Ben Settle. This exploratory study, which examines the persuasive nature of the narrative strategies of storytelling within advertising emails, reveals that the most effective emails incorporate testimonials, utilise third-party narratives, and feature credible characters. In addition, the findings indicate that crafting stories that align with target customers' interests may increase engagement and sales, as observed in Settles’ emails. These strategies may also enhance the authenticity and credibility of the advertised products, thereby increasing the brand’s selling potential. These findings have practical implications for marketers, highlighting the importance of incorporating storytelling techniques, such as testimonials and third-party narratives, into advertising emails to enhance their effectiveness.

Virtual National Islands in the Cosmopolitan Ocean of Digital Dreams

Jan Waligórski
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

The dream of a post-national reality is rooted in the advent of the Internet and resurfaces with each new immersive realm of cyberspace, including social virtual reality (VR) platforms. Social VR platforms consist of thousands of interconnected, user-created 3D virtual worlds, which serve as spaces for various socio-cultural activities, such as gatherings, games, and work Social VR is often viewed by researchers as a site for forming post-national communities that transcend physical borders. However, this view is rooted more in the methodological assumptions of existing studies (methodological cosmopolitanism) than in the actual nature of these virtual cultures. First, field research has predominantly been conducted in English, thus privileging users fluent in international communication. Second, these studies often rely on “digital dualism,” a framework that treats physical and digital spaces as distinct. While some argue that the primary constraint of social VR is users’ imagination, this ethnographic inquiry seeks to question whether we can genuinely envision a post-national (virtual) reality. Social VR platforms offer a opportunity to pose anthropological questions: when users are given the freedom to create a new reality, what image of reality is deeply rooted in the human imagination? The aim of this paper is to present my findings from ethnographic studies on the reproduction of national identities in subtle ways within social VR. It describes how banal nationalism is unconsciously replicated in virtual landscapes and territories—often visualized as national islands surrounded by a virtual ocean—in conflicts, game narratives, and the very structure of social VR platforms.

Hawaiian Plantation Employee Records

Sonia Pacheco, Catherine Titzer
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

The Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum and the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives partnered in the mid-2010s in the only known effort to digitize and make available to the public a substantial collection of Hawaiian plantation employee records. This paper features a multi-disciplinary approach to these records and includes a discussion on the necessity of a comprehensive historical and sociological contextual understanding of the populations that the records document; the digital humanities work that has been done using the raw data from the records; and the digital future of the records.

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