The first quarter of the twenty-first century witnessed the rapid growth of digital technologies, yet their psychological impact on students and teachers is not fully understood. This research paper examines the prevalence of digital stress among students and presents the results of a pilot study using a multidimensional Likert Scale. Developed by Hall et al. (2021), the Digital Stress Scale consists of five components: Availability Stress, Approval Anxiety, Fear of Missing Out, Connection Overload, and Online Vigilance. Using purposive sampling, a mixed group of students, teachers, and working professionals (N=106) reported on the 24-item scale. The study also evaluated the feasibility and appropriateness of the scale in the Indian classroom context. Across the five subscales, 42-47% of all respondents reported typical experiences of digital stress, and approximately 15-20% experienced elevated levels of digital stress. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient demonstrated reliability and internal consistency of the subscales (?=0.83). The factor analysis (Principal Component Analysis) indicated digital stress as a common underlying construct and the Pearson correlation coefficient demonstrated the correlation between the five subscales. The findings suggest that DSS can function as an early, reliable psychometric tool that can inform and strengthen teacher observation of digital stress..
The term ‘Adivasi’ embodies a long history of colonial oppression, dispossession, and political struggle. Recognised as “Scheduled tribes” by the Indian Constitution, Adivasis continue to experience a disconnect between their identity that was shaped by colonial powers and their precolonial identities that they want to be identified with. The erosion of collective Adivasi consciousness during colonisation led to the loss of Dhumkudiya, or youth dormitory. Community members, Adivasi poets and intellectuals came together to mourn its loss, produce alternative knowledges, and disrupt the much-reified canon. These writers, unified by a movement resolved to return to their pre-colonial fold, which was trustworthy and superior. Drawing on Frantz Fanon’s concept of decolonisation, understood as a continuous process of overcoming colonial alienation, followed by cultural reclamation, this paper examines the contemporary revival of Dhumkudiya as a site of resistance and revival. Using Poka Laenui’s five-phase model of decolonisation, the study also analyses the artistic expressions of Adivasi intellectuals and interviews with members of the Oraon community to envision the renaissance of a lost institution.
This research aims to compare the perceived loneliness levels and experiences of elderly women living in urban and rural areas of Samsun province in T & uuml;rkiye. Methods: The study was conducted using a mixed research method, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative analyses. It is grounded in the theory of intersectionality, focusing on femininity and the intersecting experiences of elderly individuals living alone. Quantitative data were collected from 174 elderly women, while qualitative data were obtained from 16 of those women. The findings showed no statistically significant differences in any sub-scales of loneliness across different age groups of women. Additionally, interviews with participants indicated that social isolation and loneliness, limited access to social services for the elderly, and daily living challenges along with the need for physical assistance are common issues faced by lonely elderly women in both settings. Nevertheless, when analyzing the rural and urban groups separately, contextspecific themes emerged, indicating that women from these groups also face unique challenges. This point relates to intersectionality theory, demonstrating that aging and gender do not act in isolation; instead, they interact with structural and contextual inequalities, leading to diverse experiences of loneliness.
Migration threatens the continuity of a region’s indigenous literature by altering its demographic structures. Where individuals of productive age become disconnected from their native land and community, concerns emerge about the survival of local folk traditions. However, drawing on the definitions of folklorists such as Ben-Amos, Alan Dundes, and Richard Dorson, folklore is not a relic of the past but a dynamic expression of shared cultural and experiential knowledge. This paper argues that Garhwali folklore has adapted itself across generations and media, shifting from oral traditions to cassette recordings, music videos, and digital folk expressions like memes, proving that Indigenous literature remains dynamic through cultural hybridity and technological change. These transformations also reflect the evolving identities and hybrid cultural experiences of second and third-generation migrant Garhwalis. Although vastly different in medium, these modern expressions carry the same essence of collective experience, reinforcing the adaptability of folklore. This paper argues that instead of erasing cultural traditions, migration reshapes and transforms the forms of folklore in ways that find relevance in the times of globalization. By examining the visual and digital evolution of Garhwali folk expressions, this paper redefines Indigenous literature not as a vanishing tradition but as a continually evolving cultural experience, one that transcends geography, embraces hybridity, and asserts its relevance in the digital age.
Obiajunwa Wali predicted in the early 1960s that African literature could only emerge in African languages. However, in the late 1980s, African literature in English emerged as a new canon. Even the debate between Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Chinua Achebe over the use of the English language tilted in favour of Achebe. In this context, Simon Gikandi (2014) has argued how English has been ‘provincialised’ in Africa. In India’s Northeast too, there is a similar dichotomy of positions regarding the status of English. The paper examines the position of the English language in the Northeast, where it is not just a means of communication but is essentially a major social and literary capital, spawning what is mostly referred to as the ‘Northeast discourse’. It also looks at how and why the Anglophone literature of the region has evolved into a distinctive legacy and even a canon. Taking both literary and critical texts, the paper attempts to understand the role of Anglophone literature in shaping the distinctive identity and the literary landscape of the multi-ethnic and pluralistic literature of Northeast India.
