Thesis (Bachelor of Arts in English)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10361/28414

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Systematic lexical variation’s role in cultural identity: A variationist sociolinguistic approach
(BRAC University, 2026-07-26) Sharmily, Proma; Rubaiat, Shakika; Department of English and Humanities
This paper discusses the lexical variation in Barishal dialect of Bangla with the aim of establishing the most commonly used lexical substitutions and how such variation depicts the culture and regional identity. The study has been developed based on variationist sociolinguistics to answer two important questions: First, the research identifies the most frequent lexical replacements in the dialect speech of Barishal. Second, the research explores the ways these variations can serve as culture-regional identity markers. Thus, a theoretical framework allows the study to explore the systematic relationship between language variation and social variables and its reflection of speakers' identity in a particular speech community. The information was gathered by means of semi-structured interviews and naturally occurring conversations with speakers of various age groups that belong to the Barishal speech community. The authentic use of language outside the interview environment was also recorded through the use of an observation checklist. The gathered data were transcribed in a systematic manner and analyzed using a mixed methods approach. According to the findings, the lexical substitution in Barishal dialect is not random. It is systematic and patterned. There is high consistency in high-frequency verbs and context-free expressions. Moreover, a large number of lexical items are directly related to the local culture, such as food habits, environmental factors, and social relations, which are the experiences of the community in action. This research also shows that these variations become significant indicators of identity, which strengthen social solidarity and cultural continuity. Sociolinguistic awareness is displayed through speakers when they vary their dialect and standard forms based on the situation. Although the standard Bangla is getting more exposure in the areas of education and media, the Barishal dialect is still linguistically powerful and socially significant. In general, the paper underscores the importance of dialectal variation as a component of linguistic diversity and locality. Finally, this research contributes to our understanding of sociolinguistics, language documentation, and the status of regional dialects in Bangladesh in education and cultural heritage.
Open Access
Adjunct city: A poetry collection with a critical commentary
(BRAC University, 2026-06) Abdullah Al Mamun; Mowtushi, Mahruba; Department of English and Humanities
The thesis combines a poetry collection called Adjunct City with a critical commentary titled “The Poetics of Being Beside.” “Being Beside” names the poems’ way of staying near the city while recognising the limits of what can be fully seen, known, or held. The collection approaches urban life through fragments, where the household and the street come into contact without forming a complete or fixed image of the city. The poems work through brief scenes and passing encounters. Their form follows the scale of attention, staying with a moment only as long as its image or sound can hold. Labour appears as a condition of everyday continuance, while objects carry the marks of use. Language moves between domestic speech, street sound, literary echo, and multilingual expression. The critical commentary examines these formal and thematic choices through close readings of selected poems. It considers how Adjunct City develops a poetics of nearness, restraint, and attention, where the city is encountered through partial moments and the marks everyday life leaves behind.
Open Access
The necessity of an English language preliminary course for the medical college students in Bangladesh: A need analysis study for an ESP course
(BRAC University, 2022-12) Tabassum, Rubyat; Sultana, Asifa; Department of English and Humanities
The purpose of this research is to assess the breadth and kind of difficulties faced by undergraduate students in various portions of English used in medicine. English is currently largely considered the international language of science, and in the case of medical science, there is hardly any book found in any other language except English. Teaching English in higher education institutions ignores individuals' unique characteristics, needs, goals, interests, and ambitions, independent of their fields of study. The most important and challenging question in teaching and learning is whether the course is effective. The course's efficacy is significantly tied to the learners' needs, deficiencies, and requirements. The essential insight into this approach is to suggest a course design by being attentive to target language learners' needs. In this respect, the English language needs of two medical college students in Bangladesh were investigated by means of a need analysis done on 10 students from two medical colleges with three different mediums of education in their higher secondary level. An open-ended questionnaire was adapted to interview the participants and know about their lacks, wants and suggestions to overcome the problems. The findings of the study suggested an ESP course designed for the students of medical college students before starting their academic life there. The medical jargon, complex sentences, pronunciation, and spelling teaching with the flow of speaking should be part of the course material that the students suggested. The self-evaluation done them shows their poor proficiency level in the English language. The implication of an ESP course would be the best way as came out of the study and the previous research. The course should be equally proper and advantageous specifically for medical college students.
Open Access
The existence and scope of power in females in an assortment of Shakespeare's plays
(BRAC University, 2022-12) Khan, Mahin; Chowdhury, Rukhsana Rahim; Department of English and Humanities
Shakespeare's vagueness piqued my interest, and when I understood how differently female and male authority functions, I felt driven to write my original opinions on the topic. I have selected Portia, Emilia, Paulina, Desdemona, Juliet, Helen and Rosalind as my Shakespearean plays' female characters for my thesis. I was researching the chosen figures and making an effort to comprehend respective identities inside this framework of the ideals prevalent in Shakespeare's day, that are also reflected in Shakespeare's persona in his writings. My work concentrates on women's components. Despite the fact that females continue to be the story's driving force and finish the production of the overall piece, female characters' significance is often undervalued in literary works. My thesis would examine the very essence and scope of power in females in an assortment of Shakespeare's works, considering the interpretation of both female and power. The portrayal of female characters equally validates and questions the formation of gender. Gender would be described inside the dissertation as gendered stereotyping regarding specific ways of speaking, reasoning and acting that are believed suited to the male or female gender. Main components of my argument include language, and action. Finally, I would want to conclude my argument by pointing out how female gender is concurrently built in the plays. I'll make the point that the formation of gender affects male characters as well. Despite the fact that this structure disproportionately affects women, males may also become victims as a result of it.
Open Access
The paradox of consumption and creation: K-Pop fandom in Bangladesh
(BRAC University, 2026-02) Apon, Nashita Mahbub; Zaman, Tabassum; Department of English and Humanities; Department of English and Humanities
This thesis examines the paradox of consumption and creation within K-pop fandom in Bangladesh, focusing on how fans negotiate between active cultural participation and passive consumption. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws on case studies, survey responses, interviews, and media and social media materials to analyze how Bangladeshi fans interact with K-pop as a cultural, social, and economic phenomenon. The research is guided by Marxist theory and Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model to understand fandom as a site of labor, consumption, and meaning-making within a Global South context. The findings show that active K-pop fandom in Bangladesh extends beyond entertainment into performance, skill development, community formation, and selective professionalization. The cases also reveal how global K-pop texts are locally interpreted and re-encoded through performance, negotiation, and embodiment. At the same time, the thesis highlights the central role of passive consumption in sustaining the K-pop industry. Survey and interview data from participants illustrate how listening, streaming, sharing content, purchasing merchandise, and consuming Korean-themed food contribute to commodity circulation and capitalist expansion without requiring creative participation or fan identity. Overall, the study argues that K-pop fandom in Bangladesh operates across a spectrum of engagement, where both active and passive practices play structurally important roles. By situating these practices within Marxist and Hall’s frameworks, the thesis demonstrates how fandom in Bangladesh enables identity formation, cultural translation, and selective mobility while remaining embedded within global capitalist and ideological structures.
Open Access
Insanity or mental strife: a psychological exploration of Hamlet and Macbeth’s downfall
(BRAC University, 2025-10) Tabassum, Amiya; Chowdhury, Rukhsana Rahim; Department of English and Humanities
Madness was more closely associated with its dictionary description during Shakespeare's time: the state of being mentally sick, frenetic or chaotic activity, or stupid action. In Shakespeare's time, becoming mad was frequently the narrative of a plot or the outcome of tragedy or sadness. Hamlet and Macbeth, the two tragic heroes of Shakespeare show signs of madness and mental illness right from the beginning of the play. Hamlet’s constant procrastination causes much suffering for himself and eventually leads to his tragic end while in Macbeth’s case, it was his unrestrained ambition that led to his downfall. The view of Hamlet as an Oedipus predicament stems from the fundamental concepts of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic psychology. Soren Kierkegaard’s existentialist philosophy resonates strongly with the character of Macbeth. Hamlet and Macbeth’s descent into madness is shaped by complicated psychological conflicts as Hamlet’s Oedipal tension and disturbed psyche reveal symptoms of depression and psychosis, while Macbeth’s repressed guilt and paranoia reflect signs of guilt-induced psychosis, illustrating how Shakespeare intertwines mental illness with the tragic downfall of his protagonists.
Open Access
Claiming a new citizenship on Dhaka’s walls: Gen Z’s visual self-expression in July movement graffiti and wall art
(BRAC University, 2025) Shahin, Fariha; Zaman, Tabassum; Department of English and Humanities
During Bangladesh's July Movement, students employed graffiti and wall art as a dynamic form of communication and resistance, transforming it from a purely political tool to a means of individual and collective self-expression. During this period of change, Gen Z turned public walls into sites that represented their identities, complaints, and aspirations by incorporating wit, internet culture, and symbols into graffiti. Despite having all the critical attention on the study graffiti of July, a significant research gap exists in understanding how it functions as a deliberate performance of a new, self-authorized political identity by Gen Z, rather than just a reactionary protest tool. This research aims to fill that gap by analyzing the protest graffiti and wall writings of the July Movement to identify the ways in which Gen Z creates a new vision of being a citizen. Hence, this study uses qualitative analysis by drawing on images collected through field documentation in Dhaka (July-August 2024) and applying frameworks from Roland Barthes and Charles Sanders Peirce to analyze aesthetic, textual, and rhetorical shifts. The key findings reveal a fundamental transformation in Bangladesh’s visual rhetoric of protest. The study identifies a shift from a tradition of centralized imagery to a new language of decentralized and culturally hybrid expression. This analysis shows that Gen Z’s artistic expression performs three arguments. First, they assert political legitimacy through directly showing themselves in action as “Auditor-Citizens.” Second, they lay out a proactive plan for an alternative nation by showing themselves as “the change.” Third, they demand their hybrid cultural identity to be accepted as a valid foundation for political action. The study’s conclusion states that their graffiti signifies the performance of a new, self-historicizing citizenship, signifying a departure from top-down political culture and reaffirming Gen Z’s position as Bangladesh’s future architects.
Open Access
Features of Bangla child directed speech: a sketch from observation of pre-school children and caregiver interaction
(BRAC University, 2026-03) Haq, Muntakimul; Rubaiat, Shakika; Department of English and Humanities
The mixed-method study examines the features of Child Directed Speech (CDS) within the Bangla language. The study employs naturalistic data collection from caregiver-child interactions in different families of the Bangla-speaking community. Children of five different age groups from 2-4 years were selected to observe the changes in CDS features as children develop. The features were categorized based on the functional aspect of the adult utterances. The parameters for the functions were set based on the researcher's own understanding of the language as a native speaker and existing literature on CDS features of other languages. The findings showed that there are indeed CDS features in Bangla; some of these features do show age-sensitive patterns. Furthermore, more the study also provides insight regarding the possible cultural influences a language has and how it is also observed in child-directed speech. Lastly, the study adds to the literature of CDS, especially Bangla CDS, which is quite understudied.
Open Access
Examination culture in Bangladesh: impact on students, teachers and society
(BRAC University, 2026-02) Akhter, Suhala; Amin, Md Al; Department of English and Humanities
The culture of examinations has long embedded in the education system in Bangladesh. Although examinations were first meant to measure the learning process, for a long time getting a good score in the examination become the primary aim of teaching and learning in the classroom. In Bangladesh context, the examinations, particularly the high-stakes examinations have a profound impact on teaching, learning, and society as a whole. This study explores the impact of this culture of examination on students, teachers and the society as a whole. Specifically, this study explores how examination-based education affects the learning behavior, motivation and psychological well-being of students, teaching to the test and the impact on the society. The study further investigates the role of family expectations and social pressure in strengthening exam dependence and advancing inequality in education. The study was conducted using the qualitative approach, taking the form of in-depth interviews with teachers, students and parents. This approach allowed me to document and present the experiences of the participants under the pressure of the exam and how they would see the learning and teaching under the exam-based system. The findings reveal that the high focus on examinations promotes memorization as opposed to in-depth knowledge and critical thinking. Guidebooks, coaching notes and model answers are used by students as a means of delivering good results and this limits creativity and independent thinking. The constant exam stress has adverse effects on the mental health of students, which causes stress, anxiety, emotional burnout, and low motivation to study. There is also pressure on teachers to give high performance in exams, which do not give them a chance to implement creative and student-centered teaching techniques. Furthermore, the curriculum is highly examination based and there is no room to develop skills and have holistic learning. The study also shows that the culture of exam has broader social implications since academic success associates closely with social status and family anticipations. It puts pressure on the students and parents and enhances inequality by prevalence of private coaching. The study concludes that excessive dependence on examinations restricts the real meaning of education and there is need to reform the assessment systems to encourage meaningful learning, creativity, and student wellbeing.
Open Access
The cultural impact of YouTube travel vlogging in Bangladesh: negotiating homogenization, hybridity, and youth identity
(BRAC University, 2026-02) Sayem, Rafin Rahman; Tabassum, Samirah; Department of English and Humanities
Digital media has emerged as a cultural force in the modern world which reshapes how individuals imagine the world, form their identities and consume entertainment. Among all digital platforms, Youtube is one of the central mediums where travel vlogging creates cultural flows, blending the local and global cultural aesthetics. This paper investigates how travel vlogging creates cultural homogenization, hybridity and creating a different youth identity formation in Bangladesh and the focus travel content creators are Nadir On The Go, Salahuddin Sumon, Md Fizz. The travel content creator Nadir On The Go, represents globalized travel content with national and international audience highlighting different destinations like Switzerland, Bangkok, Turkey showcases the cosmopolitan leisure practices and normalizes the consumption practices. Also, his narratives reveal Bangladeshi youth attracted to global aspirations of mobility, lifestyle and cultural emphasis on cultural homogenization. Salahuddin Sumon, in contrast, a travel journalist and vlogger illustrates Bangladeshi heritage, historical description and rural landscape. His works manifest cultural hybridization, blending global worldwide trends with local culture to create unique and genuine videos. Another travel vlogger is Md Fizz who make mixture of adventure, humour and lifestyle content to connect with audience. He offers digital storytelling which reflects hybrid youth culture shaped by the global media but in the local way. By analysing the case studies, the research highlights how Youtube travel vlogs have the mix effect on local cultures. They dilute culture by promoting global trends clothing, food and what is considered as fun also preserve culture by showcasing the local tradition, authentic food, community pride, helping to share and maintain unique cultural identities.
Open Access
The role of cooperative learning in developing communicative competence in ELT classrooms: a qualitative study of secondary-level students in Bangladesh
(BRAC University, 2026-01) Arpa, Zarin Tasnim; Tafannum, Atiya; Department of English and Humanities
Many students of Bangladesh struggle to reinforce their English communicative competence regardless of learning English for several years. Recently in Bangladesh, cooperative learning has been widely practiced in BLT classrooms. Nevertheless, its influence on learners' communicative competence remains insufficiently investigated. This qualitative study explores the role of cooperative learning in developing communicative competence while focusing on students' perspectives, peers' and teachers' roles, and experienced advantages and challenges during the cooperative learning process. Data is collected through semi-structured online interviews with ten secondary-level students from class 7 to class 10 aged 13-15 years studying in different schools in Bangladesh. The data is analyzed by applying thematic analysis to recognize repetitive patterns and core themes of the study. Findings illustrate that cooperative learning improves students' grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence with a slight limited enhancement of discourse competence. Learners emphasize peers performing as scaffolders, correction and feedback givers, and inspiring figures, whereas teachers' major role during cooperative learning is to monitor, facilitate, and provide feedback. The advantages of cooperative learning reported by the learners include instant correction and feedback and more opportunities to practice and expand knowledge, together with easy and comfortable learning. However, the results display challenges encompassing conflicts, unequal participation, domination, insecurity, and fear of judgement among peers. The study concludes that despite cooperative learning remarkably improving the communicative competence of learners in BLT classrooms, the effectiveness depends on equal and fair participation, proper formation of groups, language-based learning, and appropriate classroom management.
Open Access
Through the black colonial lens, viewing slavery and focusing on A Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass
(BRAC University, 2024-01) Abir, Md. Tasnimul Hasan; Mowtushi, Mahruba; Department of English and Humanities
In this paper, I will be exploring how colonialism spread and how colonialism has changed the world. When European colonizers settled in Africa and Asia, they established colonies and started ruling new foreign lands around the world. Through colonization, they controlled trade around the world. The colonized people had nothing to do with the powerful military approach of the colonizers, as the Europeans claimed to be more superior and civilized. The colonizers claimed that they would civilize and educate the savage natives. White colonizers settled in various parts of America and strengthened colonial rule. Plantations in colonial America required labor. Which they brought from Africa as the colonizers started trade with the African blacks. Thus, slaves had been brought in exchange for British goods. The slaves were transported through the middle passage, which is known by the name of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. So, I am arguing that colonial rule led to chattel slavery. Chattel slavery was different as it addressed slaves as private property and gave them no rights. The number of slaves involved in the trans- Atlantic slave trade makes it a significant event in American history. The slaves were treated like animals on the plantations; they were not even properly fed. The torture and beating slaves endured during the course of slavery cannot be explained in words. Slave masters had the power to do anything with their slaves and could order anything to be done. White masters had sex with the black slaves, which was a common practice among masters. A black woman could not do anything to protect her chastity, as she had no rights to do so. Inhumane treatment and harsh conditions only gave slaves agony and sorrow. Black slaves, who were men, could not even protect their wives or children from the master. If a master wanted to have sex with any slave, there was no stopping him; any slave could do nothing against him. For the slaves, the master was always right, no matter what. Until slavery was abolished, the suffering of the slaves continued. The abolition of slavery was not easy, as the Americans had a biblical justification for slavery and it was a source of free labor for their plantations. But the key fact here is that chattel slavery began in America as a result of colonialism. Fredrick Douglass was a slave himself who had nothing to wear or eat; he slept on the floor and suffered from the harsh realities of slavery. He had seen the cruelty of slavery with his own eyes and gave readers a glimpse of it in his novel A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. During his time as a slave, he saw how slaves suffered. He saw the suffering and inhumane conditions of slaves. But as he grew up, he started learning from a mistress and understood that education can bring some light into his dark. Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were like friends and had a profound impact on the abolishment of slavery. So, in this paper, I will be analyzing how Chattel slavery started from colonialism from a colonial lens, and through the analysis of A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, I will try to briefly analyze how slaves were treated in the plantation and what the life of an African slave was like. I will also be exploring things that helped British colonialism spread across the globe. Europeans used trade, education, religion, and weapons to colonize the natives of Africa and Asia. Other continents were bound to trade only with the British Empire, and this helped the Europeans control the economies of these regions. When white Europeans first came to Africa and Asia, they told the natives that the whites were civilized and educated, so they would civilize and educate the native people through colonialism. But their true purpose was to achieve their own interests and make slaves suffer in the process.
Open Access
Visible languages, invisible borders: exploring linguistic landscapes and class segregation in Dhaka, Bangladesh
(BRAC University, 2026-01) Munira, Sirajum; Al Amin, Md.; Department of English and Humanities
This research explores how linguistic landscapes both reflect and shape socioeconomic inequality in Dhaka’s urban space through a systematic comparison of signage in developed and underdeveloped areas of the city. The study uses qualitative thematic analysis of 32 photographs across eight categories of signs collected from neighbourhoods selected based on Islam’s (1996) spatial inequality framework. Employing an inductive analytic process by following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase approach, five major themes have been identified: Language Hierarchies and Spatial Class Differences, Material Quality as an Indicator of Social Class, Authority Structures and Religious Geography, Commercial Branding and Target Audiences, and Visual Hierarchies in Multilingual Signage. The findings show that English-dominant signs are concentrated in low-density elite areas and are produced with high quality materials that signal cosmopolitan identity. On the contrary, Bengali-dominant signs are concentrated in high-density working-class areas and are typically hand-painted, emphasizing local identity and cultural belonging. Overall, this study shows how linguistic landscapes actively reproduce inequality by presenting class hierarchies as differences in language use, and creating forms of “sociolinguistic apartheid” even within multilingual signage (Sultana, 2014). Methodologically, it demonstrates the significance of combining rigorous urban classification with linguistic landscape analysis to reveal micro-level segregation invisible in official spatial categories. Eventually, these findings highlight the role of linguistic landscapes as hidden mechanisms to reinforce spatial inequality, with important implications for language policy and urban planning in Bangladesh.
Open Access
Sketch emergence and acquisition order of Bangla nominal case markers and postpositions in pre-school children
(BRAC University, 2026-03) Quamarun, Tahsina; Sultana, Asifa; Department of English and Humanities
Language acquisition in children exhibits considerable and drastic changes between the ages of 2 and 4 years old, as they progress from producing one or two-word utterances to forming fully fledged sentences. While this phenomenon is more or less commonly observed across languages, children learn to acquire different grammatical properties based on the language to which they are exposed. English and Bangla are typologically different. English focuses more on word order and prepositions to express case relations, whereas Bangla uses inflectional markers. With the typological difference in mind, along with the fact that Bangla is an understudied language, this study aims to provide an approximate list of both the emergence and acquisition order of case marking and postposition. This is the first study on nominal morphology in Bangla with regard to child language acquisition. Spontaneous speech samples from six children ages 2;0 to 4;0 were observed in a mixed-method approach utilizing a cross-sectional research design. Results showed that both case markers and postpositions emerged in children quite early (by 24 months) with low error rates. Children are likely to acquire locatives and nominatives first, followed by genitives and objectives. Both commission and omission errors suggest that children are aware of inflections but they make errors due to some other underlying problem with syntax. The developmental trajectory in children’s use of Bangla case marking highly resembles that of Malayalam and Turkish-speaking children.
Open Access
Online versus face-to-face learning: do virtual classes offer the same learning benefits?
(BRAC University, 2025) Hossain, Kazi Iftekhar; Sultana, Syeda Farzana; Department of English and Humanities
This study explores whether online classes can provide the same quality of learning as face-to-face education in universities across Bangladesh. It examines how both learning modes influence student engagement, motivation, satisfaction, and academic performance. A qualitative research approach was used, where ten university students who experienced both online and in-person classes, were interviewed. Their responses were thematically analyzed to identify common patterns, attitudes, and experiences. The findings reveal that online learning offers flexibility, accessibility, and comfort, allowing students to attend classes from any location. However, it often leads to reduced concentration, weaker communication, and less emotional connection due to unstable internet, lack of privacy, and limited teacher interaction. Many students also struggled with technical problems and distractions at home, which affected their focus and confidence. In contrast, face-to-face classes encourage discipline, active participation, and stronger bonds with teachers and peers. Real-time feedback, group discussions, and the campus environment help students stay motivated and perform better academically. Overall, the study concludes that while online education has great potential to make learning more flexible and inclusive, it still cannot fully replace the traditional classroom experience in Bangladesh. A blended learning model—combining the convenience of online education with the engagement and structure of face-to-face interaction—appears to be the most effective and balanced way forward for higher education in the country.
Open Access
Speaking trauma: of being woman, of marginalization and reification of the body, and its reiteration in literature
(2022) Nahla, Tasnia; Amin, Seema N.; Department of English and Humanities
This thesis examines trauma not merely as singular rupture but as condition: as a structure of being that precedes event and inheres within the female body. Trauma theory has traditionally centered the catastrophic incident (war, violence, disaster), but I argue that women-authored literature often begins within the fracture rather than moving toward it. The trauma under examination here is not exclusively the spectacle of harm but the ambient, inherited wounding of inhabiting a body already marked by marginalization, gaze and containment. Drawing from Freud, Reich, van der Kolk and Rothschild, I trace trauma as first somatic (embedded in posture, silence dissociation and “character armor”) before it is narrativized. Through Cathy Caruth’s formulation of belated experience, I consider narration as “reactivation”: the moment in which the body’s unassimilated history becomes legible. Literature here functions as representation and embodiment i.e. fragmentation, absence, recursion, and unstable subjectivity mirroring the nervous system’s imprint of trauma. Applying this understanding to Morrison’s Beloved, Engel’s Bear, Cusk’s Outline and Second Place, Duras’s The Lover, Sontag’s journals, and other texts, this thesis posits that trauma operates as inheritance in women; that it is a maternal and historical transmission sedimented in the body. The female body emerges not as a whole and later fractured but as constituted through lack: a self formed within negation, surveillance, and inherited silence; assuming that in women’s narration, trauma is ontological, a condition of being rather than a deviation from it. This stands in direct contradiction to most accounts of male trauma narratives presupposing coherence disrupted by event. Ultimately, this study proposes that women-authored literature be read as trauma literature even beyond the confines of the “trauma novel” because it articulates the embodied residue of a marginal existence.
Open Access
From oral tradition to written form: a narrative structural and thematic analysis of Chakma folktales
(BRAC University, 2026-01) Chakma, Riya Moni; Mowtushi, Mahruba; Department of English and Humanities
The purpose of this thesis is to introduce Chakma oral tradition through an analysis of their oral folktales, focusing on their structure and themes. This thesis highlights the contemporary condition of Chakma oral storytelling in Bangladesh. The Chakmas are an indigenous group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. They have a rich literary background that has been passed on orally. The thesis examines fifteen Chakma folktales, with a focus on themes of love, sacrifice, and intellectual and spiritual correspondence between human beings and nature. It discusses how folktales are applied in the preservation of cultural heritage and provides an explanation of the Chakma worldview and social structure. Moreover, the thesis identifies key narrative structures of some selected Chakma folktales through following the equilibrium model by Tzvetan Todorov. The thesis further highlights the strategies of preserving and revitalising Chakma folktales as a community practice, systematic recording, and integrating oral traditions into education.
Open Access
When words survive war: trauma and the legacy of war poetry across World War I (1914–1918) and the Palestinian experience (1948 onwards)
(BRAC University, 2026-01) Piyal, Tasfia Rahman; Mowtushi, Mahruba; Department of English and Humanities
The poetic reactions that are produced as a result of war have always been in the face of suffering, loss, and psychological trauma. In addition to the physical pain, war makes people mute, whereas poetry is used to bring out and provoke those gruesome memories. The present paper is a comparative textual analysis of war poetry in World War I (1914-1918) and the ongoing Palestinian experience (1948 onwards) and how, in both cases, the personal trauma becomes a place of collective memory through poetry. The paper focuses on the works of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, poets in World War I, and also Mahmoud Darwish and Refaat Alareer, Palestinian poets. The thesis identifies the significance of war poetry as an ethical remembrance tradition by comparing World War I poetry to modern Palestinian poetry. The results of this thesis demonstrate that war poetry is not only a document of the psychological torment; it is also a kind of revolt against the prevailing social orders and cultural patterns.
Open Access
Moral monsters and religious corruption: an analysis of Nagabe’s The girl from the other side: Siúil, a Rún (2017)
(BRAC University, 2026-01) Amin, Farea Tayeba; Mowtushi, Mahruba T.; Department of English and Humanities
The purpose of the research presented is to examine the familial bond between Shiva and Teacher in the The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún while delving into the connection religion makes between monsters and immorality. Academic journals and books provide contexts on what defines a monster in literature, religious systems, and Japanese culture. An interview with the creator of the manga by Minako Nakamura provides insight into his intentions when designing his characters. Furthermore, the research will also primarily rely on Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s monster theory and the concept of dualism for its analysis. Upon assessing these sources, it becomes clear that designated monsters are not always morally inferior. Despite the clear contrasts between light and dark throughout the manga, it subverts expectations through making monstrous Outsiders less prone to “evil actions” than devout humans following a deity of light. The paper is a useful addition to the existing discourse about literary monsters, as it examines a found family dynamic and a story in which the monsters are empathetically more human and moral than society.
Open Access
The shape of absence
(BRAC University, 2025-12) Chandrima, Samiha Taschum; Chowdhury, Rukhsana Rahim; Department of English and Humanities
The Shape of Absence is a psychological novella about Samantha Gilbert, a therapist in Edinburgh, trying to escape memories of her traumatic childhood. To survive years of neglect and isolation, Samantha’s mind has created an illusion of a happy life. Her reality begins to crack when her husband and infant child disappear without a trace. As she searches for answers, the arrival of a mysterious teenage patient, named Nina, pushes Samantha to face the truth. The story shows that Samantha is an unreliable narrator dealing with schizophrenia. Her husband, baby, and patient Nina were not real people, but coping mechanisms created by Samantha to escape her loneliness and trauma. The novella explores themes of memory and the "inner split." It ends with a tragic confrontation where Samantha can no longer contain the "inner rain" of her reality.

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