Arts and Social Sciences Journal

Most critical analysis of humor distinguishes among a few representative types, and one of them regards humor as a way to highlight and think about incongruity. This paper studies humor from the point of incongruity by applying an analytical framework which is based on the combination of three pragmatic theories: Speech Act Theory, Cooperative Principle, and Relevance theory. Some examples are chosen to provide a detailed illustration and explanation of the theoretical framework.

In this paper, it is of necessity to look at the background information concerning Africa in order to understand the statement that Egyptians were Negroes. It is of paramount interest to briefly explain the African heritage of history. The author enters this controversy as a proud disciple of Prof. Diop and other distinguished scholars who have relied on evidence rather than passion in their pursuit for the overall acceptance of their position by the moguls of Western academia; the author is inclined to follow this course. It is clear to the author that Western authority, as a whole has conspired to suppress, distort or ignore African history with the intent of perpetuating white supremacy and hegemony and this deeply entrenched practice will not give way to the truth simply because the truth is right, just or supported by solid evidence. Therefore, this paper is not intended as another debate with Western scholars over whether the ancient Egyptians as a general rule were black. The author’s opinion in this issue has been settled in the affirmative.

This article addresses the question of quality of education in undergraduate programs of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan through views and opinions of the students. The university is running undergraduate programs for the last two decades. Quality of a program is indeed like the worth of it. The population of this work comprised 705 BS students of Bahauddin Zakariya University half of which, randomly, were taken as sample. A questionnaire was administered carrying parameters of quality of education laid down by Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan. The opinion of the sample, as received through responses on questionnaire, was tabulated for application of statistical tools and analysis. Percentage and Mean were used as statistical applications to draw out concrete conclusions in qualitative and quantitative formats. The survey led to the facts that majority of students expressed positive opinion towards the quality of education in their respective programs.

This paper investigates the way Sudanese women interact in friendly talk in relation to Turn-Taking in conversation. It examines women’s use of interruptions in interactions. The main assumption the researcher has in mind is that Sudanese women’s linguistic behavior, considering interruption, has a role to play in creating cooperation and intimate social relationships among them. The analysis is based on recordings of naturally occurring talk among women friends in Khartoum, the capital state of Sudan. Recording was used in data collection as it is the most reliable method in such kinds of studies. The recording covered forty-one women from different age groups and educational levels. The subjects were divided into three groups (named as Maya, Malak, Homy) according to their ages. The total period of the recorded data was twenty-three hours and thirty minutes. One hour transcribed talk from each group was used in the process of data analysis (three hours in total). The selection of the samples was based on the occurrence of the linguistic devices to be examined. The data have been transcribed, transliterated, and translated (line by line) into English. The Conversation Analysis approach was adopted in analyzing the data. Results show that the subjects tended to break the rules of turn-taking by using interruptions. Results also suggest that the women in the sample adopted this linguistic form to co-operate in completing communicative tasks during natural interactions.

Modern technology has resulted in rapid communication over unlimited space and it must be understood as a network of human and non-human actors bound together in seamless web. In this context, understanding the Internet should be in terms of the relationship between different actors to serve for participatory democracy. Now many types of horizontal dialogues are possible through email, chat rooms, discussion boards, usenets, real-time audio and video conferencing. Public feel disappointed since their opinions, needs, and consumptions were not wellcovered and reported through the mainstream media. Dissident voices become dominant group in order to voice out their views. This study explores the social implications of using online alternative media towards participatory democracy in Malaysia. The method employed for the collection of data is through phenomenological study where the data were collected using online asynchronous interview via emails. The researcher used thematic analysis. Nine themes emerged for the data analysis which falls under social implication. Participants need to fulfill eight criteria of being selected as interview participants. The findings showed that there is high level of awareness among the general public to participate through online alternative media. They have tendency to contribute for participatory democracy. This study suggests to other researchers who are interested in doing the same area of this study to conduct a hyperlink study; to explore other websites or other resources to enable to see the whole macro picture about the implications of online media towards participatory democracy.

Background: Inspite of the body of knowledge which exists on mortality, the literature is void of a study on ‘Time-specific Mortality’. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate ‘Time-specific Mortality’ in Jamaica, the role of urbanization, and sexratio on mortality. Materials and method: The data were derived from various Jamaica Government Publications including The Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica; 2011 Census of Population and Housing report for Jamaica and the Demographic Statistics, and the Statistical Department of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Data were recorded, stored and retrived using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences for Windows, Version 21.0, as well as Microsoft Excel. The level of significance that is used to determine statistical significance is less than 5% (0.05). Results: The annual probability of mortality in Jamaica, for the studied period is 0.005 ≤ px ≤ 0.008. The probability of dying in Kingston and Saint Andrew is generally greater than that of Jamaica, which is equally the case in Saint James (i.e., 0.005 ≤ px ≤ 0.008), Manchester (i.e., 0.006 ≤ px ≤ 0.008), with the probability of dying being the least in Hanover (0.003 ≤ px ≤ 0.005). The majority of deaths occurred in January (9.8%), with the least being in December (7.8%). Although on average the least number of deaths occurred in December 2011 (7.8%), 11% of Jamaicans died in December compared to 8% in Feburary and 9% in August as well as April-to-June. Urbanization and the sex-ratio explain 88% of the variability in mortality in Jamaica, with urbanization explaining 79.9% of the variability and the sex-ratio contributing the remaining 8.1%. Conclusion: The results presented in this study speaks to the dominance of urbanization in the mortality discourse, urbanization’s role in reducing life expectancy and that the time as well as the sex-ratio, which offers some insights into changes in mortality. These findings offer policy makers critical information that can be used to develop intervention programmes as well as provide scholars with new insights into the mortality discourse.

This paper mainly deals with vocabulary frequency in the light of findings regarding depth of vocabulary learning, the cyclical nature of vocabulary learning, and vocabulary size and reading comprehension and concentrates on the number of Words and their cumulative Percentage of Tamil Textbooks for all the standards, namely, from first standard to fifth standard. A comparative study of Number of Words and Their Cumulative Percentage from 1st to 5th Standard Tamil Textbooks is also developed to find out what exactly is the area where concentration should be given for developing vocabulary in the students.

Globalization (or globalization) in literal sense is a process of transformation of regional or local phenomena into global ones. Globalization is making a considerable impact on all aspect of human life directly or indirectly in everywhere in the world and it is multidimensional. All the economic, technological, economic, socio-cultural, and political forces act combine in the process of transformation of lifestyle of any community in everywhere and at every level. Globalization process is also called modernization which include development of science and technology and, communication by which all the places are interconnected and people become more migratory. It also has tremendous impact on culture specially the indigenous culture of tribal society. The tribal, the original settler are mostly live in forest, hills and other naturally isolated regions which are rich in mineral resources. Their lifestyles are
conditioned by ecological setting they live. India is a land of diverse ethnic group (having 08.6% tribal population to total population in 2011) with diverse language, economy and socio-cultural system. Globalization also has negative impact as inequality, poverty, deprivation of land and forest area. The present study depicts how far the pattern and quality of living of socially disadvantaged people (the tribal people) have changed through globalization in West Bengal. The quality of life means the wellbeing of any society or individual. It also include physical, socio, and cultural sphere of life of people of West Bengal. In West Bengal the tribal people share 07.81 per cent to total population in 2011.

The nature of politics involves the coordination of peaceful human co-existence. Given its central place in human existence, politics has a great importance in fostering a better living condition of the people. But when wrongly pursued and exercised, political power becomes a destructive tool in the hands of political leaders.

In view of this importance, it becomes an imperative to subject those vying for political positions to psychological (personality) test in order to validate their fitness and usefulness in ensuring the purpose of politics which among others includes the coordination of human society.
This paper employs observatory, dialogical and discursive methods in examining the interlock between Politics and Psychology. It highlights some abnormal behaviors displayed by our political leaders and argues that the withdrawer of Psychology and Psychologists to the background in political matters in Nigeria spells doom for the country at large.
Thus, it recommends that there must be a deliberate fusion of politics (Political Science) and Psychology, beyond mere referencing them as belonging to the Social Sciences. In other words, there must be a deliberate intellectual merger of politics and psychology within the university system and the public sphere. It also recommends that Psychologists should get involved in national discourse not just as citizens but also as professionals who could provide answers to national issues especially in regards to analyzing the behaviors of political leaders and determining who and who are fit to lead. Finally, it holds that the civil society and Psychologists have a viable role to play in redressing the socio-political “madness” in the corridor of power in Nigeria.

The study examined and appraised the effects of the 1978 land use act on sustainable mining and petroleum industries in Nigeria. It identified the vital land policies that guaranteed smooth land acquisition, operation and management in these industries. The study attempted to find answers to the research questions by using a survey design and a precise sampling technique to collect data from 200 respondents with the aid of a 53 item questionnaire. Data for this study was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and the chi-square (x2) was used to test the two hypotheses posed for the research at a 5% significant level. The findings revealed that the 1978 land use act has enabled the government meet the land needs of Nigerian, especially for developmental need in mining, gas and petroleum industries. This was shown from the data analyzed through the question on whether the land use act has not endangered rapid urban and rural infrastructural developments where 43 (21.5%) strongly agreed, 88 (44%) agreed, 22 (11%) disagreed and 23 (11.5%) strongly disagreed to this. The study recommended the right sense of justice and fairness to be played by the government in terms of land use administration to greatly reduce further allegations and critics by Nigerians in terms of this act enriching government officers.

Catholic Social Justice teaching is the body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state. Its foundations are widely considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical letter Rerum Novarum, which advocated economic distributism and condemned both Capitalism and Socialism, although its roots can be traced to the writings of Catholic thinkers such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine of Hippo, and is also derived from concepts present in the Bible. Among the social issues addressed by the teachings is the place and relevance of work in human life. According to the teachings, Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected-the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative. How can these teachings be made relevant to the African context and Church? An attempt to answer this important
question is embedded in the dialogue between this body of doctrine and the African world view. Such a dialogue must consider the nature African thought systems and world-views as found in African Philosophy and more specifically the philosophies of Ubuntu and Communalism. This paper therefore discusses the responses of African Philosophy in contextualize the Catholic Social Teachings in Africa.

Garment industry developed in India, in real sense, from 1970 onwards. From a modest beginning in the
‘70s, it has grown into a gigantic industry spread over the entire country. It contributes significantly to employment
generation and export earnings; besides meeting the domestic demand for clothing. The Indian Garment Export Industry’s competitive strength was restricted by multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) Quotas.
Economic reforms were initiated in India in the year 1991, commencing the process of de-licensing, debureaucratization and de-reservation. The far-reaching changes initiated were expected to be reflected in increased exports of all the commodities and more specifically in the rise in the growth rate of Readymade Garments (RMGs), the subject of this study.
The present study is exploratory in nature. An attempt has been made in this study to analyze the industry’s export performance during the study period (1981-82 to 2000-01). As it is possible to divide this period conveniently into pre and post-liberalization periods (1981-82 to 1990-91 and 1990-91 to 2000-01) respectively, an attempt is made to compare the export performance of the industry during these two sub-periods.
An analysis of the performance of the industry as attempted in this study indicated that the expected improvement of its performance did not materialize in the post-liberalization period. This has been obvious from the fact that, while the growth rate of export of RMGs had declined in post-liberalization period, the rise in the share of export of RMGs in textile exports had also not been very significant.

The Arab Gulf States has been undergoing transitions, from traditional economies and societies to states of modern development over the past 40 years. The Gulf Coorpation council States(GCC) include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and United Arab Emirates. They are all located inarid region of the Arabian peninsula. They are small in area and population and major oil producers; their oil revenues have entirely dominated their economies in every facet of their national life sincelate sixties and early seventies. These States have experienced a tremendous total and urban population growth; the total population grew from 860,000 in 1965 to 2,100,000 in 1975 to 3,60,00,000 in 2008. About 90% of this total population are urban dwellers. The high growth rates has been the result of very high levels of immigration as well as natural increases due to oil revenues being invested in health, welfare, and educational facilities which have reduced mortality rates. The objective of this article is to shed light on
the serious problems that face urbanization in these states and the challenges of building sustainable urban strategy in the region.