From <i>Kabuliwala</i> to <i>Kesari</i>: Mapping the (Mis)representations of Afghans in Hindi films

<p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" dir="auto" id="d3587695e121">Indians and Afghans have shared memories, cultural and historical linkages. Besides Kabul being a part of the Mughal Empire for a long time, more than half of the Pashtuns living to the east of the Durand Line were part of undivided India (present-day Pakistan) during the British rule. With most Indian cities having significant Afghan residents, Afghans/Pashtuns got special attention in popular narratives, including in Hindi films. In movies like <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b47"> <i>Kabuliwala</i> (1961) </a>, <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b52"> <i>Khuda Gawah</i> </a> (1992), <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b46"> <i>Kabul Express</i> (2006) </a>, <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b51"> <i>Kesari</i> (2019) </a>, and <a class="xref-link" href="#reorient.9.2.0007-b66"> <i>Panipat</i> (2019) </a>, Bollywood has presented different shades of Afghans on celluloid. The popularity of Indian films among Afghans is well known, but there is hardly any academic deliberation on the representation of Afghans in Hindi films. Drawing upon Stuart Hall’s Representation and Edward Said’s Orientalism theories, the paper seeks to fill this gap. Using a semiotic approach and critical discourse analysis this paper flags the tropes of misrepresentation of Afghans in Hindi films. This paper foregrounds the majoritarian discourse around Afghans in the popular imagination in India drawing upon the binaries of loyal/traitor, rational/brutal, benevolent/vengeful, patriots/potential dangers, and sophisticated/tribal. The paper concludes that Islamophobia and the larger anti-Muslim rhetoric playing out in India have contributed to the vilification of Afghans on screen even though the two countries shared cordial political relations. </p>

A multi-country and region comparison of the news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

The study analysed news coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games in newspapers in 17 countries or regions (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Portugal, Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam). In addition, Facebook posts of the respective newspaper organisations were also analysed. This is a quantitative study and offers an extensive comparative overview of trends and patterns in media representation of the Games in different parts of the world. The results showed that the total number of articles and photographs varied greatly between countries and regions. Analysis of the Facebook posts showed a similar trend to newspapers. The subject of interest is predominantly still the male athletes, and particularly those competing in wheelchairs. In nearly all the publications sampled, media coverage featured more content of their local athletes than foreigners. Overall, there appears to be a great disparity in terms of coverage and content of the Paralympic Games between the 17 countries or regions.

How Signing Characters Help Deaf Children Learn Language

A lab at Gallaudet University is creating television shows with signing characters to increase literacy in both English and ASL.

Ignorance and Intolerance: The Alarming Disconnect in American Perceptions of the Arab World