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journal of cultural studies Volume 11 – Issue 1 – 2026 Editor-in-Chief: Holger Briel

ISSN: 2187-4905

iafor The IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies Volume 11 – Issue – 1

IAFOR Publications IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies Editor-in-Chief Holger Briel Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC) Editor Marko Pajević Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France Associate Editor Andy Lihua Chen, Independent Researcher Editorial Assistant Jessie Yujiazi Zhou, Independent Researcher Editorial Board Senka Anastasova, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Republic of Macedonia Yasue Arimitsu, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan Sue Ballyn, University of Barcelona, Spain Gaurav Desai, University of Michigan, USA Gerard Goggin, University of Sydney, Australia Florence Graezer-Bideau, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland Donald E. Hall, Lehigh University, USA Stephen Hutchings, University of Manchester, UK Eirini Kapsidou, Independent Scholar, Belgium Graham Matthews, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Baden Offord, Curtin University, Australia Tace Hedrick, University of Florida, USA Christiaan De Beukelaer, University of Melbourne, Australia Katy Khan, University of South Africa, South Africa Published by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan Executive Editor: Joseph Haldane Publications Manager: Nick Potts Publications and Communications Coordinator: Mark Kenneth Camiling IAFOR Publications Sakae 1-16-26 – 201, Naka Ward, Aichi, Japan 460-0008 IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies • Volume 11 – Issue 1 • Published July 2026 IAFOR Publications © Copyright 2026 ISSN: 2187-4905 Online: jocs.iafor.org Cover photo: Jason Moyer, Unsplash

IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies Volume 11 Issue 1 Editor-in-Chief: Holger Briel Editor: Marko Pajević

Table of Contents From the Editor

Notes on Contributors

Visualising U = U (Undetectable Equals Untransmittable) in an HIV/AIDS Body Aneetta Alexander Sharon J

Ritual Pathways: Mizuko Kuyō and Memory Making in Perinatal Loss Maria Giovanna Loquercio Andrea Federico Montanari

Space, Soul, and Cosmos: The Interiority of Dalem in Javanese Omah Fidyani Samantha Hironobu Aoki Akira Ueda

Rasa Theory and Aesthetic Emotion: Bridging Indian Poetics, Culture, and Narrative Empathy Santanu Sarkar Anuradha Choudry

111

Stolen Childhoods: Intersectional Marginalities in Indian Picturebooks Aditi Bhardwaj Devjani Ray

135

Simulated Nature Design as a Cultural Form of Interstitial Existence Ezgi Tokdil

161

Hoods and Homies Beyond Borders: Translocal Solidarity through Black English in Marathi Rap Aditi Deshpande Snober Sataravala

187

From Stage to Stream: Documenting Dissent in the Digital Afterlives of FlipTop Filipino Rap Battles Patricia Mariz V. Hilao

207

Memory, Representation, and Adaptation in the Age of Climate Crisis: Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy Cristina Mirela Nicolaescu

229

Towards Preferable Futures: Enabling Communities to Shape Futures through Bardic Creativity Alec Shepley Tristian Evans

251

Exploring Traditional Business Rituals in Rural Bangladesh: Reviving Halkhata as Cultural Heritage Md. Roni Mridha Tabassum Akter Rami Amit Hasan Antor Sanjida Tahjib Ridi

275

The Price of Premium: A Case Study of “Ceremonial Matcha” and Social Media Myth-Making Stephanie Bucci Huynh Tan Gia Bao

303

Cultural and Creative Industries and Regional Development: Lessons from the Azores Pilar Damião de Medeiros Daniela Soares Isabel Soares de Albergaria Leonor Sampaio da Silva Beatriz Sousa

325

Evaluating Socio-Cultural Practices on Hotel Patronage in Adamaw State Metropolis Mary Gadzama Kambu Ngozi Ezenagu Chinonso Chiamaka Iwuagwu Olugbenga Mayowa Agboola Chidiebube N. Iwuagwu Ibikunle Olayiwola Ajisafe

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From the Editor Dear Readers, Welcome to the enlarged 11.1 issue of the IAFOR International Journal of Cultural Studies. While previous issues tended to be limited to 5 articles per issue (with the exception of the 10th anniversary issue, which was substantially longer), we are now receiving many more submissions, literally numbering in the hundreds for each issue. Of course, we are very happy with this, as it proves that cultural studies are as relevant as ever, perhaps even more so. However, this development is also proving to become a logistical challenge, as the editorial team and the reviewers need to assess many more articles than before. One of the outcomes of this increasing treasure trove is that we have decided to lift the five-articles-per-issue ceiling for now, as there are so many more interesting and deserving articles written and awaiting their readers. We are not sure how long we will be able to support this enlargement of the issues and are considering a change in the make-up of the editorial board to make this development more sustainable. More about this in the coming issues. Nothing has changed, though, regarding the tradition of the IAFOR IJCS, to include articles in this issue hailing from many different areas of the world, with an emphasis on the Global South. Contributors also come from a multitude of backgrounds and include emerging talents as well as senior professors, providing a healthy mix of solid academic work and exiting applications of older and newer theoretical frameworks. The issue commences with Aneetta Alexander and Sharon J’s “Visualising U = U (Undetectable Equals Untransmittable) in an HIV/AIDS Body”. They remind their readers that contrary to mainstream narratives, the HIV/AIDS crisis has not ended, but that it has taken a different direction regarding the cultural production of meaning. With the emergence of new medical knowledge in the field of HIV, allowing people living with HIV to suppresses the virus to the point that it becomes undetectable. The article explores what being undetectable means for people living with HIV through a critical analysis of selected visual narratives. The next article, “Ritual Pathways: Mizuko Kuyō and Memory Making in Perinatal Loss”, by Maria Giovanna Loquercio and Andrea Federico Montanari remains in the medical field and discusses issues surrounding perinatal loss which represents a profound challenge for parents, not only emotionally but also socially. The authors compare western coping traditions traditions of Memory Making (e.g., memory boxes, photographs, handprints) with Japanese Buddhist traditions, such as the Mizuko Kuyō ritual. Findings suggest that, despite their cultural differences, both Memory Making practices and Mizuko Kuyō share the function of legitimizing parental identity and creating a Continuing Bond. However, they diverge in their frameworks: medicalized and individualized in Western contexts, spiritual and collective in Japanese practice. The article also calls for greater attention to cross-cultural perspectives in designing bereavement, bridging anthropological insights with psychological and clinical implications.

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Fidyani Samantha, Hironobu Aoki, and Akira Ueda’s “Space, Soul, and Cosmos: The Interiority of Dalem in Javanese Omah” takes us to the Indonesian island of Java and interrogates how the traditional Javanese internal architecture, being deeply spiritual, has combined with an arriving Islam, crating hybrid spaces. In a further step, they discuss how these traditional spaces are faring in a modern-day environment with its decided lack of architectonic metaphysics. Santanu Sarkar and Anuradha Choudry’s “Rasa Theory and Aesthetic Emotion: Bridging Indian Poetics, Culture, and Narrative Empathy” takes its readers to India and investigates the central philosophical concept of Rasa. Traditionally grounded in classical Indian dramaturgy, this theory provides indispensable conceptual tools for understanding emotion as an embodied, affective, and culturally nuanced phenomenon. They argue that this approach enables Rasa Theory to function not only as a classical aesthetic model, but also as a versatile tool for interpreting emotional resonance in literature, modern art forms, and digital narratives. In “Stolen Childhoods: Intersectional Marginalities in Indian Picturebooks”, Aditi Bhardwaj and Devjani Ray stay in India and challenge a universalized notion of childhood through a critical recognition of intersectional marginalities in contemporary Indian picturebooks. Focussing especially on the depiction of Dalit the show how enlightened children’s stories are able to provide subaltern resistance to overarching national paradigms and foreground the seemingly “apolitical” space of children’s literature as a dynamic site of protest and transformative potential. Using qualitative content analysis and cultural mapping, their article bridges the gap between children’s critical literacy and multi-cultural and subaltern studies and examine the scope of contemporary Indian picturebooks within critical Dalit and minority studies. In her “Simulated Nature Design as a Cultural Form of Interstitial Existence”, Ezgi Tokdil examines how material nature is reorganized through digital technologies and transformed into culturally determined forms of interstitial existence, with a focus on light- and sound-based installations. Such simulated representations of nature transform physical reality and create a new degree of interstitial existence between the natural and the artificial, revealing critical ecological and ontological implications in the process. Her findings indicate that while simulated nature designs can foster positive awareness of ecosystems, they also carry the risk of reducing nature to a cultural object and rendering physical reality invisible. Aditi Deshpande and Snober Sataravala take us back to India again in their “Hoods and Homies Beyond Borders: Translocal Solidarity through Black English in Marathi Rap”. Their India is a very different one form the one discussed in the picturebooks and Rasa theory above, though as they ground western hip-hop firmly within Marathi practices. However, much of the lyrics still remain in Black English as the performances adopt its lexical, syntactic, and stylistic features thereby becoming a possible conduit to build global solidarity with rappers to express shared experiences of marginality and belonging, expressing and recontextualising translocal experiences. Remaining in the rap world, this time in the Philippines, Patricia Mariz Hilao’s “From Stage to Stream: Documenting Dissent in the Digital Afterlives of FlipTop Filipino Rap Battles” 2

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introduces readers to the Phillippine’s FlipTop rap battle league that has evolved from underground assemblies to one of YouTube’s most-watched performance archives. She combines archival historiography with digital performance analysis. She contends that FlipTop’s digital archive on YouTube does not only document dissent but performs it anew. Cristina Mirela Nicolaescu introduces her readers to Margaret Atwood’s “MaddAddam Trilogy, Analysing it Respective to Memory, Representation, and Adaptation in the Age of Climate Crisis”. She discusses Rob Nixon's notion of slow violence, Dipesh Chakrabarty’s views regarding the intersection of human history and planetary processes, and Ursula Heise charge that the concepts of extinction and biodiversity loss are culturally embedded narratives and then brings these to bear on her reading of Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy. She examines the entanglements of memory, representation, and cultural adaptation under the conditions of the contemporary climate crisis and foregrounds Atwood’s speculative fiction as a critical site of environmental ethics. Alec Shepley and Tristian Evans also stay within an environmental discourse but locate their research topic in Wales. In “Towards Preferable Futures: Enabling Communities to Shape Futures through Bardic Creativity”, they describe a project they conducted on Ynys Môn, an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It involved the deployment of three Welsh Bards to encourage children and young people to access their imaginations and co-create shared narratives about people and place in relation to climate change. They demonstrate that peoplecentred approaches make positive changes and empower local agency. Moving on the Bangladesh, Md. Roni Mridha, Tabassum Akter Rami, Amit Hasan Antor and Sanjida Tahjib Ridi explore the age-old tradition of Halkhata, the ritualised celebration of business openings. In “Exploring Traditional Business Rituals in Rural Bangladesh: Reviving Halkhata as Cultural Heritage”, they date the beginning of this practice back to 1584 CE and the introduction of the Bengali calendar. Their findings reveal a pronounced intergenerational divide: older businessmen and senior customers perceive Halkhata as a moral, cultural, and communal ritual, reinforcing trust, reciprocity, and community bonding. But many younger traders and customers are increasingly forgetting this ritual, thereby reflecting broader influences of urbanization, technological adoption, and exposure to Westernized leisure cultures. Their study offers valuable insights for heritage management, cultural policy, and intergenerational knowledge transmission. Moving to Japan, “The Price of Premium: A Case Study of “Ceremonial Matcha” and Social Media Myth-Making” investigates the recent matcha tea “craze” in many countries. Stephanie Bucci and Huynh Tan Gia Bao describe how social media and content creators constructed the category of “ceremonial grade matcha” in the first place through digital mythmaking and then explore the cultural, economic, and agricultural consequences of these representations. They implicate comparative marketing strategies as culprits in trying to authenticate products. In reality, though, they only flatten matcha’s cultural complexity and westernise it, creating a mere “consumable fantasy” and underscoring the broader dynamics of Orientalism and commodification in global food culture.

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Moving on to another archipelago, the Azores, Pilar Damião de Medeiros, Daniela Soares, Isabel Soares de Albergaria, Leonor Sampaio da Silva, and Beatriz Sousa’s “Cultural and Creative Industries and Regional Development: Lessons from the Azores” investigate the Azores’ Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) in promoting social, cultural, and economic development in non-urban and peripheral regions. Their article tries to answer the following questions: How do Cultural and Creative Industries contribute to regional development in nonurban territories; what structural challenges condition their peripheral territories; and what structural challenges affect their long-term sustainability in these contexts? In trying to answer these, they revealed the challenges of uneven support distribution, geographic disparities, inadequate long-term investment, and a lack of tailored place-based cultural strategies and policies. All of these, they contend, would need to be addressed before cultural tourism in the Azores could increase. Staying with the relationship between culture and tourism, Mary Gadzama Kambu, Ngozi Ezenagu, Chinonso Chiamaka Iwuagwu, Olugbenga Mayowa Agboola, Chidiebube N. Iwuagwu, and Ibikunle Olayiwola Ajisafe are addressing cultural roots of different hotel experiences in Nigeria. Their article, “Evaluating Socio-Cultural Practices on Hotel Patronage in Adamawa State Metropolis” focused on large hotels in the cities of Yola, Jimeta, and Mubi. In their large study, they questioned individuals regarding their hotel patronage, if any. Findings suggested that while social and cultural practices made little difference, religious practices did have a significant impact, with some respondents refusing to lodge at or patronize hotels in general. They recommend that “hotel operators engage local communities to address moral perceptions by repositioning hotels as family-friendly regulated environments and introduce women-friendly facilities to create socially acceptable environments for female guests, particularly those deterred by religious concerns, thereby reducing social stigma and enhancing patronage.” Happy Reading! Holger Briel Editor-in-Chief Zhuhai, July 2026

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Notes on Contributors Article 1 Visualising U = U (Undetectable Equals Untransmittable) in an HIV/AIDS Body Aneetta Alexander Aneetta Alexander is a researcher and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at Christ University, India. Her work primarily focuses on the intersection of culture and health, particularly examining the impact of viral diseases on sociocultural systems. Her doctoral thesis explored the complexities of the Indian cultural system in relation to HIV/AIDS. Notable among her contributions is the conceptual framework she developed to analyse viral identity in narratives. Email: aneetta.alexander@res.christuniversity.in Sharon J Sharon J is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at Christ University, India. She specialises in Postcolonial Studies and works broadly within the field of Cultural Studies. With over a decade of academic experience, she has supervised approximately six research scholars during her career. In addition to publishing in several academic journals, she has also been awarded patents for tools developed for literary analysis. Article 2 Ritual Pathways: Mizuko Kuyō and Memory Making in Perinatal Loss Maria Giovanna Loquercio Maria Giovanna Loquercio holds a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive and Psychobiological Sciences from the University of Padua. Her academic interests lie at the intersection of grief psychology and cultural anthropology, with a particular focus on perinatal loss, mourning practices, and the symbolic dimensions of contemporary rituals. Her research interests explore how rituals and material objects contribute to the social validation of loss and to the maintenance of continuing bonds. More broadly, she is interested in death and bereavement as objects of interdisciplinary study, and in the ways symbolic, cultural, and relational practices support individuals and communities in coping with loss. In addition to her research interests, she has gained professional training experience through internships in multicultural educational and social settings, working with children and families in early childhood and after-school contexts. Email: mariagiovanna.loquercio@studenti.unipd.it Andrea Federico Montanari Andrea Federico Montanari is an independent photographer and visual documentarian based in Italy. He holds a diploma as Maestro d’Arte from the Dosso Dossi Art Institute in Ferrara. Following his formal artistic education, he further developed his photographic practice through independent study, professional workshops, and field-based experience. His work focuses on anthropological photography and social documentary, with a particular interest in cultural diversity, ritual practices, and the symbolic use of space and material culture. Through travel5

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based photographic projects, he documents everyday and ritual environments, capturing material objects, spatial arrangements, and symbolic gestures that reflect the diversity of cultural practices. He approaches photography as a means of cross-cultural mediation, aiming to document and preserve the visual memory of cultural and ritual traditions while examining the evolving interactions between people and their sacred or domestic environments. Email: andreafedericomontanari@gmail.com Article 3 Space, Soul, and Cosmos: The Interiority of Dalem in Javanese Omah Fidyani Samantha Fidyani Samantha is a doctoral candidate at Chiba University, Department of Creative Engineering (Design Course), and a member of the Design Culture Laboratory. She has an academic background in interior architecture and design with a narrative approach. Her research focuses on spatial narratives, cultural identity, and human experience. She examines traditional Javanese houses as architectural and cultural entities, exploring how symbolic meanings of space are constructed. Her work aims to contribute to interdisciplinary discussions on architecture, interior design, and cultural studies. Email: fidyani.samantha@gmail.com Hironobu Aoki Hironobu Aoki is an assistant professor at the Design Research Institute, Chiba University. His research approaches design as a tool for improving the quality of life through regional revitalization. He focuses on fieldwork-based practices and the preservation and utilization of local resources. His recent work focuses on the digital documentation of historical artifacts, including 3D data acquisition and digital archives, to share regional cultural heritage with broader communities. Akira Ueda Akira Ueda is a professor and director at the Design Research Institute, Chiba University. His research explores “lifestyle design” through the re-recognition of local resources. He integrates surveys, fieldwork, and practical engagement to enhance everyday life. His recent interests include coexistence-oriented life design and co-creation design, bridging theory and practice. Article 4 Rasa Theory and Aesthetic Emotion: Bridging Indian Poetics, Culture, and Narrative Empathy Santanu Sarkar Santanu Sarkar is currently a doctoral scholar at the Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. His interdisciplinary research focuses on storytelling, emotional engagement, and comparative aesthetics and poetics, examining how different narrative structures evoke emotional responses in readers. Grounded in classical Indian theories of dramatics and aesthetics—particularly the Nāṭyaśāstra (a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts) and Rasa Theory—his work offers a 6

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comparative analysis of Western narrative frameworks, including Aristotle’s Poetics. He holds a BA (Hons.), MA, and MPhil in Sanskrit Literature. His research interests include Indian Knowledge Systems, classical Indian poetics and dramatics, Literary criticism, narrative theory, film aesthetics, and cultural studies. He has presented his researches at multiple international conferences: the IEEE International Conference on Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Memory Studies and Digital Technologies (India/UK, 2022); 9th World Conference on Social Sciences (World CSS), Berlin, Germany (2025); the 5th Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (Spain, 2024); the International Capital Conference on Multidisciplinary Scientific Research (Portugal/Turkey, 2022); the 2nd International Azerbaijan Congress on Life, Social, Health and Art Science (Azerbaijan, 2022); and the 2nd International Conference on Humanities, Education, and Social Science (Indonesia/Japan/New Zealand, 2022). Email: santanus383@gmail.com Anuradha Choudry Anuradha Choudry is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. With an academic foundation in Sanskrit, Psychology, and Yoga, she specializes in Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), Vedic psychology, and Indic approaches to happiness, development, and well-being. She received her PhD in Sanskrit from Pondicherry University and has since gained international recognition for her contributions to Indian psychology and cultural philosophy. Her interdisciplinary work emphasizes the relevance of classical Indian thought in contemporary global discourse. Dr Choudry edited Perspectives on Indian Psychology (2013) and co-authored Happiness: Indic Perspectives (2017), among other scholarly works. Her teaching and research integrate traditional Sanskrit texts with modern frameworks in psychology, linguistics, and sustainability. As Co-Principal Investigator, she is actively involved in several international research collaborations, including AQUAMUSE (IHE Delft), ENGAGE (Swiss National Science Foundation), and V2V (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada). Her current research explores Indic worldviews as alternatives to mainstream EuroAmerican paradigms, drawing upon primary Sanskrit sources to rediscover the contributions of Indian thought across diverse fields. Article 5 Stolen Childhoods: Intersectional Marginalities in Indian Picturebooks Aditi Bhardwaj Aditi Bhardwaj is an independent researcher of memory cultures in South Asia and postcolonial childhood studies. Her research interests also include transnational feminist studies, diaspora studies and digital humanities. She holds a graduate degree in English Literature from Miranda House, University of Delhi (India). Email: devjani0608@gmail.com Devjani Ray Devjani Ray is a Professor in the Department of English, Miranda House, University of Delhi (India). Her research interests lie in childhood studies and their intersections with other cultural projects, particularly critical literacy, pedagogy and nationalism. 7

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Article 6 Simulated Nature Design as a Cultural Form of Interstitial Existence (ID: 4750) Ezgi Tokdil Ezgi Tokdil is a faculty member in the Department of Fine Arts Education at Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey. Her research and artistic practice explore the intersections of visual culture, ecology, and technology. She focuses on digital environmentalism, artificial intelligence, and the aesthetic contradictions of sustainability discourses. Drawing on media ecology and posthuman theory, she investigates the entanglements between digital aesthetics, ecological awareness, and cultural memory in the age of environmental crisis. In addition to her academic pursuits, she is the editor-in-chief of ArtDesign Journal and the editor of the International Journal of Communication and Art. She also serves as a field editor and editorial board member in various other journals. Email: ezgi.tokdil@gmail.com Article 7 Hoods and Homies Beyond Borders: Translocal Solidarity through Black English in Marathi Rap Aditi Deshpande Aditi Deshpande is an Assistant Professor of English and a Research Scholar in the Department of English, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune. Her area of research is at the intersection of Cultural Studies, Language, Sociolinguistics, and Literary Theory, with a focus on how culture and language shape identity and representation in literature and media. Her teaching subjects include Popular Literature, Cultural Studies, and Contemporary Studies in English. Currently, she is working on her PhD research titled ‘Problematising the Implications of the Integration of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in Indian English Slang: A Study’. Email: aditinwcc19@gmail.com Snober Sataravala Snober Sataravala is an Associate Professor, Vice Principal and Head of the Department of English at St Mira’s College for Girls, Pune. She has published in South Asia Research and the Indian Journal of Gender Studies, where she also reviews books. She has presented at Newnham College, Cambridge, and completed an ICSSR-funded post-doctoral project, “How will the Parsis be Remembered?”, in 2018. She received a Tata Trust Grant for research on neutral minorities during India’s partition. Currently, she is also a research guide at Savitribai Phule Pune University and serves on the steering committee of the TISS PARZOR Culture and Heritage Studies Programme.

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Article 8 From Stage to Stream: Documenting Dissent in the Digital Afterlives of FlipTop Filipino Rap Battles Patricia Mariz V. Hilao Patricia Mariz V. Hilao is an Assistant Professor under the Communication Division, Department of Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños. She teaches Oral Interpretation and Critical Perspectives in Communication. She holds a BA in Communication Arts (Speech Communication) and an MA in Public Affairs (Education Management) from UPLB. Her work is grounded in an interdisciplinary engagement with communication studies, education, and cultural performance. She has been actively involved in theatre production and community-based performance initiatives in Southern Luzon. She cofounded a community-based theatre company that facilitated workshops for students and outof- school youth. Her research article on the Appreciative Inquiry approach and oral communication skills was published in MEXTESOL Journal in 2021. Her current research interests include performance studies, gender performativity, identity negotiation, and cultural resistance and subversion in local grassroots performances. Her scholarship highlights embodied practice as a site of meaning-making and social transformation. Email: phvalencia2@up.edu.ph Article 9 Memory, Representation, and Adaptation in the Age of Climate Crisis: Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy Cristina Mirela Nicolaescu Cristina Mirela Nicolaescu is a Professor in the Department of Western Languages and Literatures at Yozgat Bozok University (Türkiye). She specializes in English and Canadian Literature, General Linguistics, Semiotics, Discourse Analysis and Cognitive Narratology. With a focus on literature, linguistics, and cultural studies, her research has been presented at many international conferences and symposia, and several findings have been published in academic journals. She is the author of works such as English-Turkish Dictionary of Idiomatic Expressions and Other Phrases for Literary Translations (2021), Female Characters in Regency and Vıctorian Literature (2021), Technologies of Perspective on Contemporary Literary Texts (2022), The Figure of the 19th Century Convict in English and Australian Literature (2023), Iconicity and Arbitrariness of Linguistic Expressions in Speech Acts (2025), and showing her ongoing impact and commitment to promoting the research of literature, language, and education. Email: chris2013x@yahoo.com

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Article 10 Towards Preferable Futures: Enabling Communities to Shape Futures through Bardic Creativity Alec Shepley Alec Shepley is Professor of Arts and Society at Wrexham University, working as a multidisciplinary researcher and artist who bridges art practice, academic research, and community engagement. Alec’s research centres on creative methodologies that explore social and environmental themes through practice-based and site-responsive approaches. He focuses on connecting social inclusion and local democracy by co-creating community narratives with seldom-heard voices. His work has attracted funding from the AHRC, EPSRC, British Council, Arts Council England, Public Health Wales, and Arts Council Wales. He currently serves as Co-I on the AHRC-funded Public Map Platform and EPSRC-funded Ecological Citizens projects. Alec is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Senior Fellow of Advance HE, Full Fellow of the Royal Cambrian Academy. His artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally, with pieces held in collections across North America, Europe, and Asia. Email: alec.shepley@wrexham.ac.uk Tristian Evans Tristian Evans is a Visiting Researcher at the School of Art, Wrexham University and Community Mapper at the University of Cambridge, currently working on the cultural mapping strand of the Public Map Platform project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. His research interests and creative practices examine interactions between the arts, often encompassing themes surrounding the environment and wellbeing. Trained as a pianist and musicologist, and a Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music, he has developed expertise in various analytical research methods and has presented and published his findings internationally. Having co-worked on numerous academic projects involving aspects of Welsh culture, his research and creative interests have offered a wide range of opportunities to work with children, young people and community groups on educational and artistic activities. Creative collaborations include film and sound projects and engagements with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, Bangor University, Pontio Art Centre, the National Library of Wales and the British Library’s Unlocking our Sound Heritage project. Article 11 Exploring Traditional Business Rituals in Rural Bangladesh: Reviving Halkhata as Cultural Heritage Md. Roni Mridha Md. Roni Mridha is a Lecturer at the Institute of Social Welfare and Research (ISWR), University of Dhaka, with prior experience in research organizations, EU-funded projects, and higher education institutions in Bangladesh. His academic and research interests center on social development and well-being, women’s and youth welfare, community social work, and cultural preservation. He has published 19 articles in peer-reviewed international journals and a book chapter published in India, contributing to both local and global social discourse. Mr Mridha has participated in more than eight international and national conferences and 10

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completed five specialized research trainings at home and abroad. He has led and co-led over 13 government-funded action research projects as Chief and Co-Investigator. His work demonstrates a strong commitment to research capacity building, community-centered development, and professional social work education. Email: rony@du.ac.bd Tabassum Akter Rami Amit Hasan Antor Sanjida Tahjib Ridi Tabassum Akter Rami, Amit Hasan Antor, and Sanjida Tahjib Ridi are senior students of the BSS program at the Institute of Social Welfare and Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. They share a strong academic interest in socio-cultural studies and a collective commitment to knowledge generation. Rami is academically distinguished, having secured first position in her batch based on academic performance. Antor is a professional photographer with experience in producing documentary work focused on culture and everyday life. Ridi is a research-oriented and high-performing student with a particular passion for fieldwork and data collection. All three authors have published one to two articles in international journals and are actively engaged in multiple research projects, with a growing interest in scientific writing and research practice. Article 12 The Price of Premium: A Case Study of “Ceremonial Matcha” and Social Media Mythmaking Stephanie Bucci Stephanie Bucci is currently an independent researcher located in the United States. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Boston Massachusetts with a degree in Anthropology and International Relations. She went on to receive a Master’s degree from Waseda University, Graduate School of International Culture and Communications Studies in Tokyo, Japan. Her work focuses primarily on multimodal cultural understanding with an emphasis on architectural space, indigenous and museum studies. Email: Stephanie.bucci@akane.waseda.jp Huynh Tan Gia Bao Huynh Tan Gia Bao is a PhD Candidate at the Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies, Waseda University, Japan. His research focuses on queer studies, with particular attention to queer authenticity and mediated visibility in Southeast Asia. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches from anthropology and media studies, he examines how queer subjects negotiate identity, performance, and representation across cultural and digital contexts. His work engages with issues of embodiment, platform economies, and local epistemologies, highlighting Vietnam as a critical site for understanding contemporary queer life. He has presented his research at international academic conferences.

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Article 13 Cultural and Creative Industries and Regional Development: Lessons from the Azores Pilar Damião de Madeiros Pilar Damião de Medeiros holds a PhD from Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany (2007), an MA from Queen’s University, Canada (2003), and a BA with honors from Brock University, Canada (2001). She is currently an associate professor at the University of the Azores and an integrated researcher and local coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences, CICS.UAc/CICS.NOVA.UAc. Her research areas include cultural sociology and critical theory, intellectuals, activism, and the public sphere, as well as cultural and creative industries. She is currently engaged in two European projects, the IN SITU project and EUNIcoast: The European Alliance of Islands, Ports and Coastal Territories (co-funded by the European Commission). Email: pilar.sl.medeiros@uac.pt Daniela Medeiros Soares Daniela Medeiros Soares holds a PhD in sociology (2016) from NOVA University of Lisbon – School of Social Sciences and Humanities and is visiting assistant professor at the University of the Azores. She has several publications and participated in regional, national, and European research projects. Her published work has been mainly on the sociology of gender and on the sociology of health and illness. She is a member (and co-coordinator of the University of the Azores’s hub) of the Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences CICS.UAc/CICS.NOVA.UAc. Beatriz Sousa Beatriz Sousa holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in social policies and regional dynamics. She is a research assistant at the University of the Azores (UAc), actively contributing to the IN SITU project through the Azores Lab at UAc. Leonor Sampaio da Silva Leonor Sampaio da Silva, PhD, is an associate professor at the University of the Azores, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, and an integrated researcher at the CHAM - Humanities Center, NOVA/UAç. Her academic interests are mainly in the field of contemporary culture, including cultural studies, postcolonial narratives, translation studies, and the dialogues between literature and the arts. Besides her academic publications, which include a monograph on the 30 years of existence of the Academy of the Arts of the Azores (currently extinguished) among numerous articles and books, she is also a writer, distinguished with the Daniel de Sá Prize 2014 for a collection of short stories, and a teacher of creative writing, with publications on several literary genres, such as short stories, poetry, and a novel which was shortlisted for the LeYa Literary Prize in 2023. Isabel Soares de Albergaria Isabel Soares de Albergaria is an art historian, currently an associate professor at the University of the Azores, where she directs the Master’s Programme in Heritage, Museology, and Development. She holds a PhD in Architecture (IST, 2012) and an MA in Art History (NOVA FCSH, 1998). She is a researcher member at CHAM – Centre for the Humanities (NOVA 12

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FCSH/UAc), where she coordinates the research group on Art, History, and Heritage. She is a voting member of the International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes (ICOMOSIFLA, UNESCO). Her research focuses primarily on the history of architecture, gardens and landscape, and cultural tourism, fields in which she has authored over 80 publications. Article 14 Evaluating Socio-Cultural Practices on Hotel Patronage in Adamawa State Metropolis Mary Gadzama Kambu Mary Gadzama Kambu holds a Master’s Degree from the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. She is a lecturer in Hospitality Department in Federal Polytechnic, Mubi Adamawa state, Nigeria. Her research interest cuts across the field of accommodation, food and beverages, recreation, hotel operations and cultural studies. She is actively involved in students’ mentorship programmes. In the Federal Polytechnic Mubi, she has taught different courses in the field of Hospitality and has published articles in academic journals. Ngozi Ezenagu Ngozi Ezenagu is an advocate of African culture, researcher and a lecturer in the department obtained her PhD in Archaeology and Tourism from University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2018. Her research interests are in the area of Tourism, Events, Cultural Resources Management, Archaeology, Religion, Museums and Monuments, and Heritage Studies. She has published over thirty articles in academic journals and has participated in academic workshops and conferences. Her special area of interest is the preservation of intangibility of tangible African heritage, and the domestication of African museums. She teqches of Tourism courses and is actively involved in diverse research activities focusing on the revival of African cultural heritage. Chinonso Chiamaka Iwuagwu Chinonso Chiamaka Iwuagwu is a researcher and a lecturer in the Department of Tourism and Events Management, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. She obtained her PhD in Tourism and Events Management from Afe Babalola University Ado- Ekiti with a specialization in Medical Tourism and hold a Masters in Tourism Development from University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her research interests are in the area of Medical Tourism, Tourism Planning and Development, Recreational Facilities, Cultural Festival, Rural Tourism, and Heritage Studies. She has published articles in academic journals, participated in many workshops and conferences. She has won a grant in the Public Health Humanities and Writing Workshops from the Lagos Studies Associations. Her areas of research include medical tourism, health promotion, cultural preservation and promotion. She has taught courses on Tourism Planning and Development, tourism destinations and resources, Research Methods and Nigeria People and Culture. Email: chinonsosweet24@gmail.com

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Olugbenga Mayowa Agboola Agboola Olugbenga Mayowa is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti. His research interest cut across tourism development, hospitality management, ecotourism, biodiversity and wildlife conservation; with a strong interdisciplinary background in geography and tourism studies. He holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Geography and Planning Science, a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Geography, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Tourism and Hospitality Management. He contributed scholarly publications in both international and local peer-reviewed journals. In addition, he has presented research papers at numerous local and international conferences on tourism and hospitality. Chidiebube N. Iwuagwu Chidiebube N. Iwuagwu is an emerging scholar in English Language and Literary Studies. She obtained her BAEd from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and she is currently an MA student of the department of English Language and Literary Studies at Bayero University, Kano. Her research interests are rooted in African Literature. Her academic writing also explores broader literary traditions. Beyond research, she is passionate about education, language development, editing, and proofreading. She tutors English learners and help adults improve fluency in professional communication. Ibikunle Olayiwola Ajisafe Ajisafe Ibikunle is a lecturer in the Department of Media and Communication Studies, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti. He is a graduate of Applied Arts with a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism, a master's in mass communication and a PhD in Mass Communication from Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti. He specialises in Broadcast Media, with over 25 years' work experience acquired in key areas of Investigative Journalism, Media Studio Management and Design, Camera Operations, Still/Motion photography, directing, and crew management. He has published articles in academic journals and has taught in Media Studies. He is actively involved in research on media and society. He has also participated in numerous academic workshops and conferences.

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Visualising U = U (Undetectable Equals Untransmittable) in an HIV/AIDS Body Aneetta Alexander Christ University, India Sharon J Christ University, India

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Abstract Contrary to the mainstream narratives, the HIV/AIDS crisis has not ended. Instead, it has taken a different direction regarding the cultural production of meaning. With the emergence of new medical knowledge in the field of HIV, a prominent discourse has developed around the concept that “undetectable equals untransmittable”, abbreviated as U=U. This phenomenon applies to cases where a person is living with HIV, through consistent medications of antiretroviral therapy, suppresses the virus to the point that it becomes undetectable in standard testing. This scientific concept of U=U has sparked a critical movement within the sociocultural context of HIV/AIDS, which this article explores to understand what being undetectable means for people living with HIV. To achieve this, the research adopts a visual cultural studies approach, employing a visual-verbal video analysis method to examine video works created by artists, as part of Day With(out) Art. The article explores the cultural significations surrounding the scientific concept of U=U in the lived experience of people living with HIV, as expressed through visual art. The study continues the discourse on the AIDS crisis through a critical analysis of selected visual narratives. Keywords: AIDS crisis, HIV/AIDS, U=U, visual art, visual verbal analysis

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By 2025, 95% of all people living with HIV should have a diagnosis, 95% of whom should be taking lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of people living with HIV on treatment should achieve a suppressed viral load for the benefit of the person’s health and for reducing onward HIV transmission. In 2023, these percentages were 86%, 89%, and 93%, respectively (World Health Organisation, 2025). The tremendous revival of pandemic literature, driven by writers and artists, has brought HIV/AIDS-related work back into contemporary discourse, reminding the world of the ongoing crises that persist alongside COVID-19. The recent pandemic appears to have shifted the discourse on HIV/AIDS, as readers revisit pandemic cultures and draw parallels with past epidemics to gain a deeper understanding of the current existential crisis posed by COVID-19. Hence, the virus emerged as a new character that shaped the geopolitical crisis of the world (Sturm et al., 2021). Since HIV was first identified in the 1980s, it has taken a different turn in discourse, evolving from the past to the present. What initially was labelled as “gay cancer” gave rise to discourses of punishment in response to queer activism in the United States, which later evolved into the notion of HIV as an “African disease” (Bharat, 2002). Similarly, each time HIV has interacted with society, new cultural significations have intensified discrimination against people living with the virus over the past four decades. Against this backdrop, the statistics presented in the introduction, as reported by the WHO, highlight targets aimed at achieving universal access to health care for HIV patients, reducing virus transmission, and breaking barriers to equal treatment. In addition, the statement, “People living with HIV with an undetectable viral load cannot transmit HIV sexually”, has been declared by the UNAIDS Asia-Pacific (2020) as part of educating people living with HIV and the general public, as an eventual call to end discrimination. Based on this research, a movement called U=U (undetectable equals untransmittable) has emerged to fight against the discrimination and stigma that HIV/AIDS continues in the lives of people living with the virus. Further, the movement aims to challenge the past discourse in which the fear of virus transmission constructed the infected body as the “other”, perceived as dangerous, by both medical science and society. In the field of medical science, scientists have been fighting the virus for the past four decades, attempting to develop a cure for the disease that cripples the immune system and affects the daily existence of those living with the virus. Moreover, the viral load determines the replication rate of “CD4+ T-cell count” in the patient’s body (Glover & Dugas, 2016, p. 138). When the viral load falls below 200 copies per mL, the HIV test will fail to detect the virus. In its simplest form, this reduction in viral load is called an undetectable viral load (Cairns, 2023). The undetectability of viral load in the blood proved the impossibility of virus transmission through body fluids (Cairns, 2018). This phenomenon occurs when people living with the virus take medications such as ART (Antiretroviral Therapy) to suppress the virus in the body. This study brought hope to people living with the virus despite some studies denying the validity of the results. This disease was considered a death sentence before the invention of ART medication. People were often left alone to die in isolation rooms. Beyond infecting individuals, the virus impacted their daily lives, raising questions about their existence and

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survival (Schönnesson, 2002). The development of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), a combination of medicines that inhibit viral replication, brought hope of a prolonged life without the constant fear of death. While ART reduced the fear of death, the need for continuous medication to suppress the virus remained. The field of medicine advocates continuous ART to maintain a healthy life for individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus, as it also reduces viral load. Along with the WHO initiative to inform policymakers and organisations worldwide about the virus’s undetectability and its effect on reducing stigma, HIV/AIDS artists have also used their mediums of art and literature to disseminate the message of U=U (UNAIDS, 2021). The stories in HIV literature focused on the days of loss and mourning for loved ones. Coping with the virus during the early stages of the epidemic, along with the misconceptions surrounding it, is another theme artists have sought to address through their work. The virus triggered discussions beyond the disease itself. It became a subject of conversation from cultural discourse to the geopolitical crisis. As the timeline of the virus transmission changed, the discourse surrounding the affected individual was rewritten each time. Juhaz and Kerr (2022) in We Are Having This Conversation Now construct a dialogue about the illness, attempting to divide the timeline of AIDS. The timeframe before the 1980s, when the virus existed outside the discourse of the epidemic, is referred to as “AIDS before AIDS” (Juhasz & Kerr, 2022, p. xiii). Second, the period between 1981 and 1987 was a time of isolation, during which healthcare workers were identifying the characteristics of the illness. This time frame is called the “First Silence.” The third refers to when the “mass cultural production and discourse about HIV/AIDS” led to “...social, political, and medical breakthroughs” (Juhasz & Kerr, 2022, p. xiii). Then came the Second Silence, 1986-2008, marked by the arrival of antiretroviral therapy. The discourse around the disease was shunned again as the death rate declined. This was followed by a cultural production of texts revisiting the lost generation. The present, after 2016, marks a timeline in which AIDS is normalised like any other global issue in the world, and there is no longer a need to cope with the disease “placed into history. AIDS crisis is present but less definitive…” (Juhasz & Kerr, 2022, p. xvi). Is there an end to the discourse of AIDS when 39.9 million people are still living with the virus? (World Health Organization, 2024). Similarly, the artist Sunil Gupta critiques the term “post-AIDS era” as problematic, suggesting that the discourse is “culturally having a revival here” (Fatima, 2025). Currently, these discourses are addressed by artists through various art media to examine the relevance of this change in perspective on the disease and the infected body. This article attempts to understand the discourse of U=U through a series of video artworks created by artists and curated by the Visual AIDS organisation as part of the Day With(out) Art project. Visual AIDS is a platform for artists to raise their voices and engage with the disease through their art. The Day With(out) Art project, initiated in 2014, holds screenings of these videos on December 1st, which is recognised as World AIDS Day. The project brings together artists from around the world to reflect on the disease and supports artists living with the virus in creating their work.

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The Day With(out) Art presents, every year, curated videos of untold stories of HIV/AIDS, created by artists around the world. The artists participate in an open call, and the jury members compile the short videos by artists living with HIV into a presentation that will be further screened for the viewers. This project provides a platform for the artists who live with HIV to convey their expressions on living with a virus in a society with different cultural dimensions. The article analyses the last three video presentations to develop a contemporary understanding of the concept of U=U. Namely, Red Reminds Me (2024), Everyone I Know is Sick (2023), and Being and Belonging (2022). The post-COVID context is chosen as a framework for addressing shifts in HIV-related imaginaries, even though the understanding that antiretroviral therapies enable people to live as undetectable and untransmittable has been established for over a decade. This is especially relevant as the selected video presentations help in understanding the paradigm shift in perception of HIV/AIDS after COVID-19. Additionally, this framework will contribute to the current understanding of a disease that claimed many lives in the 1980s and 1990s. The discourse about the virus increased after the pandemic, leading to multiple cultural significations surrounding HIV. Similarly, there was a revival of artistic work regarding HIV/AIDS post-COVID-19. In addition, a geographical framework is not emphasised, as it would broaden the scope of the research. Therefore, a global approach narrowly focusing on the visual art produced on U=U is adopted. With the change in the cultural representation of the disease along with new dimensions of research and medication facilities, this article looks at what it means to be a person living with HIV now and today. HIV and Visual Art Visual art is used as a medium by HIV/AIDS artists to combat the fear and anxiety experienced by people living with HIV (UNAIDS, 2021) They believed that art brought awareness and understanding of the disease to society. Art gave a voice to a condition often viewed with scepticism and disdain. Emotions that were difficult to express in society began to be conveyed through art. The visual arts offered artists a platform to express their feelings of abandonment due to the virus. Visual artists came forward to raise awareness of the scientific aspects of the disease. Notable among them is Adrienne Seed (2006), an artist whose late HIV diagnosis inspired her to create visual works addressing the consequences of delayed diagnosis and the resulting lack of awareness about the illness. Through powerful imagery and words, Seed (2006) evokes the life she lives with the virus in her painting My Last Supper. Instead of food, medical pills are placed on the table, and the image of a couch carried by legless men suggests the inevitable fear of death. Seed (2006) transforms personal fears and nightmares into artistic works to convey the full extent to which the virus has taken over the life of the infected. Crimp (1987) discusses the impact of artworks produced by HIV artists in his article, AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism. Crimp (1987) examines how art is created as part of activism and how these artworks are directly connected to cultural production. Unlike science, art cannot save people’s lives, but its impact extends beyond medicine. It raises public consciousness as a form of activism (Crimp, 1987). SILENCE=DEATH (1987), a museum exhibition project through art practices called Let the Record Show…, featured various

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artworks by HIV artists that highlighted the need for safe sex methods and the ways in which viruses are transmitted. This project was taken to the streets by artists instead of a conventional museum exhibition to reach the masses more effectively. The title SILENCE = DEATH serves to remind people living with the virus that silence about the disease is dangerous and emphasises the need to raise awareness. Governments launch campaigns using artistic works to educate the masses about viral transmission and antiretroviral therapy. These artistic campaigns promote healthy dialogue and discourse on the illness. These campaigns may help reduce societal prejudices against people who survive the epidemic but continue living with the virus. The artists explore themes of self-acceptance and identity, as evidenced in David Wojnarowicz’s artwork. Through an interventionist style of collaging images and text, Wojnarowicz calls for the revival of sexuality in opposition to a morally judgmental society (Deb, 2014). Photographs are another form of visual media used to document the real-life experiences of people living with the virus. For instance, Sunil Gupta uses photography to explore the emotional turmoil of individuals within the gay and HIV/AIDS communities. His artwork Love, Undetectable, focuses on the emotional significance of reducing viral load and its connection to physical intimacy. In the post-AIDS era, Gupta turns the camera lens toward the unspeakable aspects of the virus and its undetectable status, using visual art as a tool for exploration. Regarding the AIDS crisis, artwork has been crucial in shaping the discourse. Thus, interpreting art provides a broader understanding of the disease. Visual AIDS is one of the contemporary platforms that provides space for artists addressing HIV/AIDS. It maintains archives and art registries that contribute to the discourse surrounding the ongoing AIDS crisis. The platform has raised voices for over four decades, continues to do so and emphasises that “AIDS is not over”. This online database is selected for the study with specific reference to the art project Day Without Art. The first collection, titled Being and Belonging, dates from 2022 and features artists from around the world who articulate what it means to live with HIV in contemporary society. From a global perspective, the artist highlights a paradigm shift in the experience of living with HIV. Secondly, Everyone I Know is Sick, curated in 2023, explores HIV in relation to disability, ageing, mental health, and also addresses life during and after COVID for people living with HIV. The artists expand the discourse on HIV to multiple diseases associated with it amid pandemics. Lastly, Red Reminds Me…, which premiered in 2024, presents a complex range of emotions associated with HIV through imagery and colour symbolism. Through critically assessing these curated video-based visual artworks, this article aims to decode the discourse surrounding U=U and examine the current AIDS crisis. Literature Review In the context of contemporary discourse, Bernays et al. (2021) argue in Remaking HIV Prevention in the 21st Century that biomedical treatments introduced for HIV—such as Prep, Tasp, and U=U—represent a redefinition of prevention strategies for viral transmission. By analysing the social dimensions of these treatments, the study points out the role of social enterprise in providing medical treatments for those living with HIV (Bernays et al., 2021). The book argues that these treatments are promoted for certain material gains, namely “pleasure, agency, and desire,” (p. 12) while overlooking the actual effectiveness of the

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treatments (Bernays et al., 2021). The study also illustrates the need for universal access to these treatments and emphasises the importance of social equity in healthcare. Furthermore, with the introduction of these treatments, a disruption in the biographical identity of the HIV community has been observed; this is studied through participant observation of the GBMSM community (Tan et al., 2019). In contrast, a study from Nigeria examines how the discourse surrounding undetectable equals untransmittable creates confusion due to the lack of disclosure of HIV status among partners (Ogunrotifa, 2022). In addition, it explains how U=U fails to achieve its goal of ending transmission due to the complex issues arising from the lack of global policies for resource allocation. Moving beyond the social issues in the study of U=U, Angel Ornelas (2021) explores the experience of undetectability through oral history and archival research. Through an ethnographic study, Ornelas (2021) understands the experience of Latino seropositive individuals and how their transition from HIV-positive to undetectable status altered their fear of sexuality. However, despite scientific advances in treating the disease, homophobic attitudes remain prevalent (Ornelas, 2021). Further, exploring the biomedical discourse on U=U in India, Rijneveld (2021) observes confusion among undetectable HIV patients regarding disclosing their status to their partners. As Rijneveld (2021) states, “Undetectability may contribute to the closeting of HIV rather than its de-stigmatisation—thereby precluding the forms of solidarity on which TasP relies for widespread engagement” (p. 728). The study highlights the complexity of biomedical discourse on U=U in a society less aware of the social phenomena involved. Furthermore, an article by Guta et al. (2016) problematises the division of the body into detectable and undetectable as a social issue concerning problems with HIV-positive bodies. In promoting treatments as prevention, medical science differentiates “between suppressed/unsuppressed bodies and communities,” thereby producing more binaries (Guta et al., 2016, p. 18). The research so far has examined the social conditions of the medical discourse surrounding U=U. From a literary perspective, Ledin (2021) analyses “retroactivism” (p. 179) in French films, arguing that literary production drawing from history provides a medium to envision the future. Considering the discussion, there appears to be a lack of understanding regarding the socio-cultural perspective of the concept of U=U. While it is a scientific concept, the cultural significance surrounding this phenomenon needs to be examined to comprehend the social impact of a person living with HIV, particularly when their status is termed undetectable. Methodology This research adopts a visual culture studies approach to examine the evolving meaning of U=U for individuals living with HIV. This approach evaluates the construction of meanings in a visual medium to understand the changing discourse of the AIDS crisis (Dikovitskaya, 2005). This methodological approach has taken multiple turns in scholarship over the years. However, this article focuses on the formal and semiotic analysis of the visual medium to understand the cultural contexts that have changed with the concept of U=U. This can be possible because a

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“visual representation is seen as part of an interlocking set of practices and discourses” (Dikovitskaya, 2005, p.17). This study draws on the discourse of visual culture scholar Nicholas Mirzoeff (2002), who argues that visual art functions as a form of differentiation. In addition, to understand the socio-political meanings embedded in the concept of U=U, the article draws on Lupton’s (2012) claims, specifically from Medicine in Culture, to examine how meanings are negotiated and produced in the context of HIV. The Method of Verbal Visual Video Analysis When social phenomena occur, they are represented through various media forms, one of which is the visual medium. Through moving pictures and still frames, artists have tried to bring images interspersed with text to convey the perspective of the social phenomena of HIV and its consequences. Thus, researchers have shifted from conventional textual analysis to visual images and words to interpret and conceptualise social problems (Harper, 2001). It is an artbased approach to a text through a semiotic analysis of the image and the word (Carpenter, 2020). The analyses of the visual text led to a visual narrative that resonates with the cultural narrative of the subject. Thus, the visual text becomes primary data that helps comprehend social conditions, especially when discussing social and medical research (Fazeli et al., 2023). This method helps characterise and organise video content for an interpretative process of the text. The videos used for this paper have been sourced from the Visual AIDS database. Before coding the data, specific elements, such as the representation of U=U and the medical images associated with it, were analysed. The verbal narrative is transcribed manually. The authors analysed the videos by breaking them down into units and themes to understand the discourse of U=U. Then, the details within the visual narrative were examined to interpret the message presented by the artists. The extraction matrices were divided by the screenplay’s year, the U=U discourse, and the visual imagery used, including colour, art forms, and objects. After coding the data, the interpretation led to patterns of attitudes, emotions, and perceptions regarding the discourse on undetectable equals untransmittable. The decoded elements of the visual text are then reported as an analysis in the article. The method helped to organise 20 short videos by artists that lasted around 8-9 minutes. The coding and interpretation through this method helped in understanding the multiple dimensions of the disease represented through visual-verbal art. Body, Virus, and U=U With the emergence of SDG goals, the initiative to end HIV by 2030 has triggered a societal belief that everything is acceptable for people living with the virus, reinforced by media narratives presenting it as such. This normalisation of the disease has only reduced the support provided by the government and has failed to give equality and fundamental human rights to people living with AIDS. Is AIDS normal? When does it become normal? These rhetorical questions need to be addressed, especially as governments are ending all assistance provided to HIV/AIDS patients. This paper attempts to analyse how art and representation of art can

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bridge this divide by examining the current discourse surrounding the undetectable HIV body. Thus, the aim is to understand the contemporary AIDS crisis in the context of advanced medical innovations. In the video titled “HIV Fell in Love With Me”, in Red Reminds Me (2024), the visual narrative explores the space of human sexuality in the life of a woman living with the virus. Through the lens of the documentary camera, the narrator takes the viewer on a journey through the range of emotions experienced while living with the virus. Further, the narrator states, “In May, it will be seven years that my body has been occupied” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 00:41). The narrator illustrates this through a series of body movements in a dark room, pacing in front of a screen and casting shadows on the walls. This visual sequence can represent how the unseen organism has taken over the body, entering a deeper, more introspective realm of life. The initial realisation of being infected brought about significant changes, particularly in the sexual life of the narrator. Before the diagnosis, a process that brought great pleasure in the past transforms into a feeling of disgust when occupied by the virus. The virus creates a deep pain within the narrator’s body, as she feels displaced into an “uncharted territory” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 1:15). Furthermore, the unknown space of the virus within the body creates an untold barrier. This can be further discussed in the context of Epstein’s (1992) observation that HIV/AIDS introduced a discourse in which the body became “a container that must itself be contained” (294). However, the narrator reflects on how this is lifted by the “scientific evidence of undetectable = untransmittable” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 3:18). The narrator views the U=U study as an opportunity to break the barrier created by the very thought of living with the virus. In addition, U=U, for the narrator, means that “we can feel confident that we cannot transmit to another person” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 3:28). Mitchell (2012) in Contagious Metaphor describes the ambiguity involved around the term “contagious” from a medical perspective, which means “the communication of disease from body to body” (p. 2). Moreover, from the visual narrative presented so far, it can be argued that the sexual liberation associated with U=U breaks down the notion of the contagious nature of the body that once HIV-positive individuals had to carry. Similarly, the body becomes an object for interpreting meanings (Casini et al., 2022). The narrator uses the body as a canvas to liberate the constrained HIV body and bring it to a new realm of hope. Likewise, liberation comes with the power of choice, as the narrator states, “I can freely decide about my body” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 7:17). The study of U=U has enabled the narrator to accept the virus within her body. She reminisces about the day of her diagnosis by saying, “HIV fell in love with me” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 7:32). The past has changed the present, with the hope of living a life like others. The notion of U=U marks a turning point of liberation in the life of a woman whose body was once seen as a territory filled with contagious fluids. This boundary is blurred, transforming the body into a haven for love. The body is embraced again, with the understanding that it is no longer a threat to society. This emotion of liberation is contrasted in the film essay by David Oscar Harvey, in the third chapter of Red Reminds Me (2024) titled “Ambivalence: On HIV and Luck”. In the form of a monologue, the narrator says, “I see the word Undetectable” (2:38). Although the narrator has

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no detectable traces of the virus in his blood, he remains sceptical of the scientific study, stating, “U=U—they are all facts, but sometimes I do not believe them” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 29:27). The narrator’s disbelief can be understood in the context of Lupton’s (2012) observation of the “biomedical model of understanding illness,” (p. 12) which relies on the external objectification of bodily symptoms to interpret disease. The speaker, while considering the factual study presented by the medical field, becomes concerned as his hair turns grey and wonders whether HIV is reasserting its presence as “Sometimes, HIV feels less like a virus and more like neuroses” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 29:06). Even when medical science claims that undetectable viral load creates less chance for transmission, the narrator keeps questioning the external features of body whether the virus would replicate again. The monologue is accompanied by visual reflections of the narrator’s body in mirrors and reflective surfaces within a home setting. These reflections contemplate the early greying and the physical changes that have occurred with the disease. Further, to convey the emotion of fear, the narrator of the monologue uses the symbol of a horseshoe, along with a dumble, to represent the concept U=U (Figure 1). The horseshoe, traditionally symbolising protection and luck, introduces ambiguity, as the narrator questions whether U=U is truly a scientific certainty or merely a matter of luck (Smith, 2021). The scepticism is filled with fear over the unknown meanings that U=U has introduced. The symbol of U=U can be interpreted as the narrator’s emotional attempt to evade the misfortune brought by the virus. Thus, U=U can represent “hope and despair, security and danger” simultaneously. The multiple meanings constructed by symbols can be associated with Barthes’ (1977) claims in Rhetoric of the Image, in which he discusses how images carry layers of meaning. In this context, the sign in Figure 1 of U=U, through its visual impact, contributes to decoding the meaning-making process of the concept of being undetectable. Figure 1 The Symbol of Luck from “Ambivalence: On HIV and Luck”

On the other hand, the narrator wonders whether these signs can evade the ill omen associated with the disease. The narrator’s fear resonates in the words when the speaker says, “Perhaps I am haunted by the ghost of some long-dead, ignorant, hateful right-wing scold… perhaps it is my inner child, precocious and dumb, popping up from the 1980s” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 29:40-29:46). The fear of the past—from the 1980s, when HIV was first detected and many people died and were stigmatised for having the virus—continues to haunt the narrator because, according to the speaker, the “virus lives inside my body” (Red Reminds Me, 2024, 32:47). Despite the social production of medical knowledge about the undetectability of HIV, the narrator’s fear is rooted in the past cultural discourse surrounding the body (Lupton, 2012). On

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the contrary, through the image of luck, the speaker acknowledges that the crisis is not over but has been accepted in the body and considers being infected a fortunate occurrence in life. Here, U=U changes the discourse surrounding the body, raising doubt about whether the virus will metaphorically reassert itself because the past traumas carried by every person living with the virus continue to evoke fear. The binary of being positive and negative becomes blurred with U=U, and this is explored through images that metaphorically represent the romantic relationship between the narrator and his beloved, who is negative for the virus. Jaewon Kim explores this binary relationship in the experimental video “Nuance”, part of the project Being and Belonging (2022). In the visual medium, Kim’s photographs are displayed behind a dimly lit wall that gradually brightens as the narrative progresses. Notably, Mirzoeff (2002) considers photographs not merely as depictions of constructed images but as meanings closely connected to the subject. In the context of “Nuance”, these pictures serve as testimonies to the relationship with the narrator’s HIV-negative partner. The narrator’s words are interspersed with the image. Through the imagery of darkness, the narrator describes the void between the speaker and the partner. This darkness emerges from the gap between them. These images imply that the author addresses the virus as a barrier between them. The virus creates a void between the two lovers due to the binary distinction of positive and negative in HIV test results. Through a verbal visual art of collective photograph, the narrator engages in a monologue with the partner in the form of visual poetry, saying, “Yet your eyes looking at me were still looking at that little gap that remained between you and me” (Being and Belonging, 2022, 1:18). The fear of the virus is the darkness between the partners. The disease is described as the black light separating them: “Anxiously I made every effort to stop it” (Being and Belonging, 2022, 1:30-1:33). The black light connotes the presence of HIV in the body, which further labels the person as positive. The binary oppositions that Kim experiences in his relationship reflect what Lupton (2012) discusses as the effect of dualism on the medicalised body (p. 23). This binary opposition frames Kim’s body as a carrier of the virus, which will threaten his partner. However, this fearful scenario changes with the U=U test result. The narrator says he no longer needs to worry or feel confused about being positive or negative, as the “boundary between ‘safety’ and ‘danger’ is becoming blurred” (Being and Belonging, 2022, 4:22). Then, the artist displays two hands held closely together to emphasise their romantic relationship. The video begins with a candle being blown out, leading to complete darkness, and ends with the candle being re-lit in reverse motion. The room is illuminated again, symbolising the end of darkness in their relationship through the knowledge of U=U. The poetic rendition by Kim highlights the difference in existence before U=U through a series of photographs displayed on the wall, which metaphorically depict the changes within them. The void they once carried between them is no longer “considered special”. This is emphasised by photographs of their current HIV test results (Figure 2), one indicating negative and the other indicating not detected. These two different test results testify to the difference between them, but the narrator’s test result blurs the distinction between them, showing an undetectable viral load. These test results are collaged with two other pictures: one is of the sky viewed from the land, and the other is of the land viewed from the sky. This visual pairing can be interpreted

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as an attempt to contradict society’s perceptions of their differences. The binary opposition constructed by medical knowledge before is deconstructed by the concept of U=U. The test results provide the hope that there will not be any “tangled meaning” between them in the future. The binary bodies of positive and negative created by the virus are broken down, allowing for multiple meanings in their relationship. The unstable boundary between them is beginning to blur, offering a clearer understanding of their connection. Figure 2 The Test Results in “Nuance”

The discourse surrounding the scientific study shifts with context, offering hope to people while simultaneously questioning the very existence of the virus in the body. The discourse around the contagious body fades, making the body equal in the context of medical science, as there is a significantly reduced threat of transmission from a person living with HIV. Correspondingly, Douglas (2003) discusses the ritual enactment of the body as a symbolic form of visible expression within society. Similarly, a ritualistic performative act by Sorias in Everyone I Know is Sick (2023) uses the Mexican dance form known as “The Dance of the Old Man” in the video Old Man/Sick Man/Shout to convey the life of an older man living with the virus. Through body movements accompanied by the song Flores de Lexington, Sorias creates a visual performance that conveys the sorrows of the HIV body. The dancer’s performance attire is embroidered with visual symbols, including the rod of Asclepius and a virus. The virus is depicted in red, symbolising the danger it poses to the body. Depicting the changes within a body occupied by the virus, Sorias introduces hope through the symbol of U=U embroidered on the sleeve cuff (Figure 3). The symbol is designed on the cuff, and Sorias uses the gesture of uniting both hands to illustrate the need for collective unity in releasing the body from the pain of the disease. The artist’s ritualistic dance reflects their life within a medical context and illustrates how the U=U symbol brings hope, helping to revive their former self. The concept of U=U is visualised through the performance, tracing the origins of medicine through the Rod of Asclepius and reflecting on how medical science has treated the body. With the emergence of the virus, the body was fragmented, reduced to a site of infection and control. However, U=U offers a shift, reimagining the body capable of healing. Throughout the performance, Sorias’s body is depicted as controlled by disease, and the medicine that cures also controls, even as it keeps it away from chaos and disorder. Moreover, the performance is an expression of the medicalised body. As Lupton (2012) argues, when in sickness, “the essential nature of the body is exposed,” challenging the structure of life and “eroding self-control” (p. 24). Sorias’s performance reflects this, as it lacks voluntary bodily control and instead illustrates external control. The ritualistic movements can be considered a medium for revealing the

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secrets of the body, with the joining of hands symbolising that these undetectable secrets are now being acknowledged and shared. Figure 3 The United Hand Symbol in “Old Man/Sick Man/Shout”

Body, Medication, and U=U Further, Sorias’s dance performance is accompanied by the sound of pills rattling in a container. The constant rattling adds to the atmosphere. Hence, the visual performance, including a pantomime of repeatedly taking pills, illustrates the daily need for HIV patients to remain on medication. When the scientific world provides a rationale for an undetectable being equal to untransmittable, the body with the virus must take medicine regularly, and the pills become essential to maintaining the undetectable condition. Through the performative act of taking medicine, Sorias reflects on the mundane life of an HIV patient, marked by a constant reliance on pills. As a matter of fact, U=U is not just a miraculous component, as discussed in the previous section. It restructures the life of a person living with the virus by filling the body with pills. The after-effects of the pills are portrayed through performative actions such as feeling nauseous and vomiting. The harsh effects of the medication on the body have taken a significant toll on the artist’s life. The visual presentation of the after-effects of pills through the older man’s dance conveys the impact of medicine on the body, as the persistent prescription of pills contributes to the ageing process. The performance of taking the pill is accompanied by the recurrent repetition of chanting the words “Defectivo Effectivo”. The rhythmic rendering of the words defective and effective emphasises the duality of U=U, where the non-contagious state of the body depends on a life of constant medication. Hence, the body is maintained with pills to remain U=U, and this can be discussed in the context of body commodification, which Lupton (2012) identifies as a control mechanism employed by the public health sector. The pantomime performance depicts the internal conflict surrounding the medication required to sustain life and emphasises the cyclic nature of treatment in the lives of people living with HIV. The imagery of medicine and pills is recurrently found in the discourse of U=U, symbolising the ongoing effort required to maintain an undetectable viral load. As Lili Nascimento says in That Child with AiD$ that “I’ve deciphered how AIDS develops: It makes copies of myself” (Everyone I Know is Sick, 2023, 9:09). The viral load is understood in the artist’s words as an intimate process that reproduces within the body. However, medications such as HAART work to prevent this replication and promote a healthy body (Eggleton & Nagalli, 2023).

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Consequently, this situates the body in various positionalities, including a sick body burdened by illness. Ensuring everyone has easy access to medicine becomes a critical concern when discussing medication. For instance, the video “Memoria Vertical” in Being and Belonging (2022) narrates her days of activism for the right to free medicine for verticals (those born with the virus). It highlights the inequality in access to medicine for children born with HIV, as provided by health departments and the government in South America. Arce questions this inequality as an adult who now speaks up on behalf of her caregivers and parents, who previously advocated for her. The video presentation is a recording of her activism advocating for the need for pediatric medicine for children who are infected at birth by their parents. Here, medicine becomes a problematic concern for HIV patients, as emphasised by the negative photographic image of pill bottles moving across the frame and drug tablets falling onto the screen (Being and Belonging, 2022, 3:26). This negative image frame serves as a rhetorical device within the narrative. With the arrival of antiretroviral therapy, inequalities emerged, as pharmaceutical medicine exerted power over the regulation and distribution of treatment (Lupton, 2012). U=U is not accessible to everyone, and the critical assessment shows that the discourse surrounding it takes on different meanings for different people, depending on their context. Camila fails to acknowledge the importance of U=U, as she envisions a body free from HIV— a life without the virus. As expressed in her words, “I want to imagine a life without HIV. Uninhabiting my medicated skin, I want to get into a skin that is more just. I want them to bring out the cure!” (Being and Belonging, 2022, 3:43). Although the virus becomes undetectable in the body, the life dependent on drugs and pills frustrates Camila, who wishes to be free from medication. The phrase “medicated skin” reflects the condition of a body undergoing HAART treatment. The body is under constant pressure due to the medication, which continually reminds it of its dependence on medicine. The speaker longs for skin free from the burden of medication and a body no longer marked by illness. Skin can signify a need for certainty or reassurance during illness, serving as an element that reflects identity. U=U creates ambiguity for a person by drawing a line between the presence of the virus in the body and its undetectability on tests. Additionally, based on Camila’s protest, it can be argued that due to the lack of universal access to medicine, U=U alone cannot solve the AIDS crisis. The side effects of the medicine on the body are further illustrated in the experimental video Los Amarillos by Santiago Lemus and Camilo Acosta Huntertexa, part of Being and Belonging, which shows that low-cost medicine provided by the health sector in Colombia causes a yellow tint to the skin. The video presents abstract bodies, combined with poetry, attempting to evoke the medical condition of AIDS patients undergoing medication. The yellow body symbolises the mark that medication leaves on the affected person as a side-effect of jaundice. Then, the frame shifts through multiple images of side effects to the word “Jaundice”. Yellow is used as a visual motif to represent the side effects inflicted on the body. The colour yellow can be seen as a visual circuit that helps visualise the transformation occurring in a medicalised body (Mirzoeff, 2002). The narrator guides the viewers through various images of yellow alongside the medical composition of medications such as Atazanavir, Ritonavir, and Efavirenz. These medicines are categorised as chapters in the video Los Amarillos.

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Further, contrasting a sunflower field with a person’s yellowed skin and eyes, the narrator desires to carry the sun in their hand. The yellow skin is compared to various images of yellow, such as the poisonous yellow frog that killed people and the yellow clock used to mark individuals dishonoured for heresy. The gaze directed at the tinted body reveals the face of yellow silence. The illuminated body is stained by the pills, “staining every cell, every millimeter of soft flesh” (Being and Belonging, 2022, 6:45). Moreover, to illustrate the impact of the medication on the body, the creators of the video introduce two abstract bodies with strips of pills positioned above them (Being and Belonging, 2022, 1:29) (Figure 4). As the strip gradually empties, normal skin becomes increasingly tinted yellow, symbolising the side effects of the medication. The abstract bodies carry the cultural meanings of a transformed sick body that, more than the virus, is filled with medicine. Further, as the visual narrative moves forward, a table stacked with medicine containers serves as a backdrop. At the same time, their abstract bodies paint their hands and faces with a red pill over their yellow skin to signify their HIV status. The yellow motif shifts to red, symbolising their HIV identity. Lupton (2012) claims that the powerlessness associated with medical side effects transforms the body into a foreign entity, leading to feelings of alienation. The yellow skin represents Lupton’s idea of transformation into an alien creature, which occurred due to medical intervention. At the same time, it invokes the cultural meaning of illness, while the artists associate the yellow with various elements of nature. The strips of pills above the heads can also be interpreted as a form of disciplinary power exerted by the health sector, representing self-regulation (Lupton, 2012). The constant need for ART connotes the medical sector’s regular monitoring of the body to maintain an untransmittable state. Figure 4 The Abstract Bodies in “Los Amarillos”

“I have taken more than 20,160 pills since I started treatment more than 20 years ago,” says Mariana Iacono, in the video “HIV Fell in Love With Me”, in parallel to her undetectable status (Red Reminds Me…, 2024, 6:28). The need to maintain a specific viral load in the body makes medication essential for daily survival. Iacono further explores the possibility of a cure, expressing a deep yearning to make love “without the urge to take medication (Red Reminds Me…, 2024, 7:41). The speaker’s longing for a life of normalcy, free from the constraints of medical science, is conveyed through her words. Although being undetectable alters one’s identity, the ongoing medication continues to categorise the body as sick. In the light of medication, David Oscar Harvey in “Ambivalence: On HIV & Luck” comments, “I know I understand my HIV medication as if an amulet against disaster” (Red Reminds Me…, 2024, 30:59). The speaker realises that medication is a shield against the impending problems of AIDS and that surviving the disease involves a constant negotiation between the pills and their

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side effects on the body. The HIV body, despite its undetectable status, is marked by medication as a body in constant need of care. The medication treats the body as a machine. From the critical assessment of the visual art in Figure 4, it can be understood that the essence of being human is lost in the sick, medicated body. The pills take over the body. Conclusion Is U=U truly a life-changing element for people living with HIV, as claimed by global health organisations? The rhetorical question remains unanswered. It can be observed through the analysis that U=U establishes a different notion of the body, one that is uncertain of its status. At the same time, artists embrace the scientific understanding of the untransmittable body, but the status of being undetectable shifts with the discourse. Artists view the concept of U=U as a blessing, as it breaks down the boundary established by the discourse surrounding the contagious body. However, these visual narratives explore the physical and psychological toll of medication on the body. As clearly demonstrated, the status of U=U comes with the continuous intake of medication, making pills a constant companion to the body. In this sense, artists have incorporated recurrent images of the pill as a reminder of the disease, with the mundane act of taking medication transforming into a pantomime in daily life. Besides this, the visual narratives help reflect the abstract emotions of people living with the virus within the context of U=U. From performative dance to real-life protest, the visuals drawn from these artists’ lives challenge prevailing attitudes toward the scientific understanding of U=U. In the end, the analysis answers the question of whether the AIDS crisis is over. The answer is no. This article demonstrates this by continuing the discussion and exploring the cultural significance of the phrase ‘undetectable equals untransmittable’. This paper aims to initiate an ongoing dialogue on the evolving discourse of U=U as a scientific concept that generates and accommodates multiple perspectives surrounding it.

Declaration on the Use of AI and AI-Assisted Technologies The manuscript is the original contribution by the authors. AI language tools were used only for language correction. Permissions and Acknowledgements Permission was obtained from the respective artists to reproduce the images in this article. The authors are thankful to the Visual AIDS online database for granting the necessary permission for this study.

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References Being and Belonging. (2022). A Day With(out) Art. Visual AIDS. https://visualaids.org/projects/being-and-belonging Bharat, S. (2002). Racism, racial discrimination and HIV/AIDS. Paper prepared for the UNESCO/OHCHR Workshop to Develop Educational Material to Foster Tolerance and to Eliminate Prejudice, Paris, France. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000129227 Barthes, R. (1977). Rhetoric of the image. In S. Heath (Trans.), Image, music, text. (pp. 32– 51). Hill and Wang. (Original work published 1964) Bernays, S., Bourne, A., Kippax, S., Aggleton, P., & Parker, R. (2021). Remaking HIV prevention: The promise of TasP, U=U, and PrEP. In Remaking HIV prevention in the 21st century. Vol. (5), 1–16. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69819-5_1 Cairns, G. (2018). Zero transmissions mean zero risk – PARTNER 2 study results announced. AIDSmap. https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-2018/zero-transmissionsmean-zero-risk-partner-2-study-results-announced Cairns, G. (2023). The amber light: The World Health Organisation’s position when an HIV viral load is ‘suppressed but not undetectable’. AIDSmap. https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jul-2023/amber-light-world-health-organizationsposition-when-hiv-viral-load-suppressed-not Carpenter, J. (2020). Arts-based methods. In the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 217–222. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-102295-5.10990-4 Casini, S., Cati, A. & Toshchi. D (2022). Sick and injured bodies: Medical imagery and media practices of care. Cinéma & Cie, 22(39), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.54103/2036-461X/19083 Crimp, D. (1987). Introduction. AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism, MIT Press, (pp. 3–16). https://doi.org/10.2307/3397562 Deb, S. (2014). A novella that ticks like a bomb. The Paris Review. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/07/22/a-novella-that-ticks-like-a-bomb/ Dikovitskaya, M. (2005). Visual culture: The study of the visual after the cultural turn. MIT Press. Douglas, M. (2003). Purity and danger: An analysis of concepts of pollution. Routledge. (Original work published 2002) https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203361832 Eggleton, J. S., & Nagalli, S. (2023). Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554533/ Epstein, J. (1992). AIDS, stigma, and narratives of containment. American Imago, 49(3), 293–310. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26304009 Everyone I Know Is Sick. (2023). A Day With(out) Art. Visual AIDS. https://visualaids.org/projects/everyone-i-know-is-sick

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Fatima, N. (2025, August 1). Sunil Gupta: Love and light, infinite possibilities through a queer lens. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/art/sunil-gupta-loveand-light-infinite-possibilities-queer-lens-retrospective-2025-chennai-photobiennale/article69095154.ece Fazeli, S., Sabetti, J., & Ferrari, M. (2023). Performing qualitative content analysis of video data in social sciences and medicine: The visual-verbal video analysis method. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22, Article 16094069231185452. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231185452 Glover, M., & Dugas, T. R. (2016). HIV-1 infection, antiretroviral therapies, and HIVassociated atherosclerosis. In F. N. E. Gavins & K. Y. Stokes (Eds.), Vascular Responses to Pathogens, 137–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801078-5.00011-X Guta, A., Murray, S. J., & Gagnon, M. (2016). HIV, viral suppression and new technologies of surveillance and control. Body & Society, 22(2), 82–107. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X15624510 Harper, D. (2001). Visual methods in the social sciences. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences, 16266– 16269. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b0-08-043076-7/00725-7 Juhasz, A., & Kerr, T. (2022). We Are Having This Conversation Now: The Times of Aids Cultural Production. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2vr9d4d Ledin, C. (2021). Retroactivism and futurity in 120 BPM and Théo et Hugo. Modern & Contemporary France, 30(2), 179–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2021.2000952 Lupton, D. (2012). Medicine in culture: Illness, disease and the body. SAGE Publications. (Original work published 1994) Mirzoeff, N. (2002). The visual culture reader (2nd ed.). Routledge. (Original work published in 1998) Mitchell, Peta (2012). Contagious metaphor. London, United Kingdom: Continuum. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472542335 Ogunrotifa, A. B. (2022). Undetectability does not mean untransmittability in the narratives of people living with HIV in Nigeria. SSRN. https://ssrn.com/abstract=4200493 Ornelas, A. (2021). Los indetectables: An examination of oral histories of HIV+, undetectable gay Latino men during COVID-19 and U=U (undetectable = untransmittable) era. (Publication No. 2665). [Doctoral dissertation, Claremont Colleges]. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2665 Tan, R. K. J., Lim, J. M., & Chan, J. K. W. (2019). ‘Not a walking piece of meat with disease’: Meanings of becoming undetectable among HIV-positive gay, bisexual, and

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other men who have sex with men in the U=U era. AIDS Care, 31(8), 993–999. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2019.1668534 Red Reminds Me. (2024). A Day With(out) Art. Visual AIDS. https://video.visualaids.org/Watch-Red-Reminds-Me Rijneveld, C. J. (2021). The biomedical closet? Undetectability among HIV-positive gay men in India. Medical Anthropology, 40(8), 718–731. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2021.1916741 Schönnesson, L.N. (2002). Psychological and existential issues and quality of life in people living with HIV infection. AIDS Care, 14(3), 399–404. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540120220123784 Seed, Adrienne. (2006). The last supper [Painting]. Saatchi Art. https://www.saatchiart.com/en-sg/art/Painting-The-last-Supper/94322/1167694/view Smith, L. (2021). The legend behind hanging lucky horseshoes. Wide Open Country. https://www.wideopencountry.com/lucky-horseshoe/ Sturm, T., Mercille, J., Albrecht, T., Cole, J., Dodds, K., & Longhurst, A. (2021). Interventions in critical health geopolitics: Borders, rights, and conspiracies in the COVID-19 pandemic. Political Geography. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2021.102445 UNAIDS Asia-Pacific. (2020). Joint statement: Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, World Health Organisation (WHO) and Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) https://unaids-ap.org/joint-statement-ministry-of-public-health-of-thailand-worldhealth-organization-who-and-joint-united-nations-programme-on-hiv-aids-unaids/ UNAIDS. (2021). ArtPositive—art to raise awareness around HIV-related stigma and discrimination. https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2021/october/2021100 1_artpositive UNAIDS. (2024). New UNAIDS report shows AIDS pandemic can be ended by 2030, but only if leaders boost resources and protect human rights now. https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/202 4/july/20240722_global-aids-update World Health Organisation. (2024). HIV estimates, July 2024. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/hq-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-library/hivestimates-ppt-2024-v2_mb-v3.pdf World Health Organisation. (2025). HIV statistics, globally. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/hq-hiv-hepatitis-and-stis-library/hivepi-fact-sheet-march-2025.pdf Corresponding author: Aneetta Alexander Email: aneetta.alexander@res.christuniversity.in

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Ritual Pathways: Mizuko Kuyō and Memory Making in Perinatal Loss Maria Giovanna Loquercio University of Padua, Italy Andrea Federico Montanari Independent Visual Documentarian, Italy

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Abstract Perinatal loss represents a profound challenge for parents, not only emotionally but also socially, as it is often accompanied by silence and lack of recognition. In recent decades, healthcare systems have developed practices of Memory Making (e.g., memory boxes, photographs, handprints) to validate parental grief and foster bonds with the deceased child. In contrast, Japanese Buddhist traditions, particularly the Mizuko Kuyō ritual, provide a spiritual and communal framework in which unborn children are honored through offerings, statues, and symbolic acts of care. This study combines a narrative literature review with a microethnographic visual analysis of ritual spaces in Tokyo and Nagano, and in three Italian hospitals. Field observations and photographic documentation highlight how symbolic elements—such as the red bibs and caps of Jizō statues, windmills, toys and offerings—express both remembrance and social acknowledgment of unborn children. The findings suggest that, despite their cultural differences, both Memory Making practices and Mizuko Kuyō share the function of legitimizing parental identity and creating what bereavement research conceptualizes as a Continuing Bond. However, they diverge in their frameworks: medicalized and individualized in Western contexts, spiritual and collective in Japanese practice. By comparing these approaches, the study emphasizes how rituals of remembrance serve as crucial social acts that counter silence, reduce stigma, and recognize perinatal loss as a legitimate form of bereavement. It also calls for greater attention to cross-cultural perspectives in designing bereavement, bridging anthropological insights with psychological and clinical implications. Keywords: bereavement, continuing bond, perinatal loss, ritual, Mizuko Kuyō, memory making

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Perinatal bereavement represents a form of loss that often remains socially unacknowledged and insufficiently supported, a condition described as disenfranchised grief (Lang et al., 2011). The literature, though expanding, remains fragmented, with most studies focusing on psychological outcomes – such as anxiety, depression, complicated grief, and PTSD—rather than adopting an integrated perspective (Berry, 2022; Herbert et al., 2022). This study addresses this gap by combining a narrative literature review with a visual micro-ethnographic analysis of two distinct bereavement practices: The Japanese Mizuko Kuyō ritual and Western hospitalbased Memory Making. The ethnographic component includes observations of Memory Making procedures in two Italian hospitals, as well as field documentation of Mizuko Kuyō sites in Japan. The analytical comparison presented in this study does not aim to substitute Italy for the entire Western context. Rather, the Italian case is used as an exemplary ethnographic example, representative of the Memory Making practices that characterize clinical approaches to perinatal bereavement in many Western settings. It is also essential to clarify that Mizuko Kuyō is a phenomenon specific to the Japanese cultural and religious context and cannot be generalized to the broader Eastern context. By comparing these practices, the article examines how symbolic acts validate loss, sustain parental identity, and facilitate grieving within different cultural and institutional frameworks. To guide the reader, the article is structured as follows: a review of existing literature on perinatal bereavement, a description of the methodological framework, presentation of findings through a comparative analysis of memory-making and Mizuko Kuyō, and finally a discussion of implications, limitations, and future research directions. Literature Review Perinatal Loss and its Psychological Consequences Perinatal loss is defined as the experience of parents that begins immediately after the loss of a pregnancy, which may occur through miscarriage, intrauterine death, or neonatal death (Berry, 2022; Cuenca, 2022). A miscarriage is defined as fetal death occurring up to the 20th week of gestation. Intrauterine death, by contrast, occurs from the 20th week of pregnancy until delivery. Finally, neonatal death is defined as the death of a newborn within the first 28 days of life following birth (Berry, 2022). Moreover, the literature demonstrates considerable variability in the way perinatal loss is defined and categorized, with some studies identifying as many as 80 different categories, often in contradiction with one other (Díaz-Pérez et al., 2023). Recent literature indicates that perinatal bereavement can have substantial and long-lasting psychological consequences (Berry, 2022; Thomson et al., 2024). It is characterized by feeling of sadness, anger, guilt and emptiness, as well as an increased risk of developing traumatic symptoms, such as flashback and nightmares (Thomson et al., 2024). Perinatal loss has been associated with increased rates of depression and anxiety (Herbert et al., 2022), as well as complicated grief and post-traumatic stress disorder, with up to 60% of parents receiving a diagnosis following a loss (Berry, 2022). Research also suggests that the effects of perinatal

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loss may persist for up to 12 years (Berry, 2022), and that after one year, the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder is approximately twice that of anxiety disorders (Berry, 2022). The presentation of persistent symptoms such as excessive worry, guilt, low mood, and heightened stress may signify the presence of complicated grief (Zhang et al., 2024). This condition has been associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, substance use disorders, and, in severe cases, suicide (Zhang et al., 2024). Complicated grief is characterized by a pronounced inability to accept the death and incorporate the loss into the ongoing course of life, resulting in sustained and profound psychological distress. Disenfranchised Grief Despite recent advancements in research, perinatal bereavement remains a socially underrecognized issue. This form of grief, often described as disenfranchised bereavement, reflects a lack of societal acknowledgment and support. The phenomenon is particularly pronounced in Western contexts, where funerary rituals are frequently absent (Norwood & Boulton, 2021), and parents are often discouraged from participating in commemorative practices (Berry, 2022; Lang et al., 2011). The distress experienced by bereaved parents is further intensified when they are denied opportunities to engage in culturally meaningful rites (Berry, 2022). Over time, parents continue to report feelings of isolation and abandonment by both social networks and professional support systems. Empirical evidence indicates that insufficient social support may lead to stigmatization, secrecy, and private grieving, and has been identified as a significant predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Berry, 2022). In contemporary society, pregnancy loss is often considered a taboo subject, as evidenced by parents’ tendencies to conceal their experiences and refrain from discussing them openly (Bute & Brann, 2015; Buyukcan-Tetik et al., 2024). Studies on complicated grief following perinatal loss indicate that parents frequently experience feelings of misunderstanding and social isolation, arising from a general societal unawareness of the grief associated with such losses. This lack of societal recognition may manifest through behaviors characterized by avoidance and reluctance to engage with bereaved parents (Zhang et al., 2024). Research has further shown that the quality of the marital relationship can significantly influence the risk of developing complicated grief. Adequate social, emotional, and informational support has been found to facilitate more adaptive coping with sadness and loss (Zhang et al., 2024). Additionally, seeking social support and participating in activities that foster social interaction have been identified as crucial factors in mitigating distress, alleviating anxiety, and promoting psychological recovery (Zhang et al., 2024). The Ambiguity and Stigma of being Mothers of a Dead Child Women experiencing perinatal bereavement often face difficulties in identifying with their maternal role, due in part to social representations that regard the fetus or newborn as a being that is "not yet" fully formed (Uncu et al., 2025). The literature indicates that such losses are

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frequently unacknowledged in the workplace (Ucar et al., 2025), leading to challenges in returning to work and significant alterations in the personal meaning attributed to professional activities (Meunier et al., 2021). Moreover, women in this context commonly encounter stigmatizing or minimizing remarks, such as being told they are "still young" or that they will "become pregnant again", which serve to invalidate their grief and reinforce a culture of silence and invisibility (Uncu et al., 2025). The absence of empathy and the presence of insensitive comments have been shown to contribute to the adoption of maladaptive coping strategies, including social withdrawal (Ucar et al., 2025). These mechanisms impede the grieving process and have been linked to challenges in the perception and reconstruction of maternal identity following perinatal loss (Uncu et al., 2025). The Ambiguity and Stigma of being Fathers of a Dead Child In the context of perinatal loss, fathers frequently report feelings of marginalization and a lack of adequate information (Mota et al., 2023). They often express grief in a concealed manner, constrained by societal expectations to assume a supportive role for their partner, which limits their emotional expression and access to psychosocial support (Mota et al., 2023). Consequently, fathers’ behaviors frequently align with prevailing norms regarding masculinity and socially sanctioned modes of grieving (Obst et al., 2020). Nevertheless, the profound impact of perinatal loss on paternal mental well-being warrants recognition. The repercussions are particularly salient within the familial context, as fathers experience an intense sense of protectiveness, which may, in turn, affect professional functioning (Mota et al., 2023). The literature further indicates that fathers often perceive dissatisfaction with healthcare professionals’ approaches toward their partners, resulting in a minimization of their own distress (Mota et al., 2023; Obst et al., 2020). Moreover, the societal under-recognition of their paternal role has been shown to exacerbate feelings of social isolation and emotional distress (Obst et al., 2020). Despite these findings, research specifically addressing fathers’ experiences of perinatal bereavement remains conspicuously limited (Mota et al., 2023). Guidelines and Good Practices for Assistance Despite the existence of international guidelines providing recommendations for bereavement care, significant inconsistencies persist in both the development and implementation of these guidelines, thereby increasing the risk of adverse outcomes for parents (Roberts et al., 2024). The diagnosis of fetal death is often made days or even weeks after the event, and parents are frequently excluded from decision-making processes concerning the fetus (Lang et al., 2011). Additionally, practitioners have been observed to employ dehumanizing terminology, such as referring to fetal remains as “debris in the uterus” which can be particularly distressing for parents who have recently experienced loss (Lang et al., 2011). A comprehensive review of the literature identifies at least five critical considerations for effective bereavement care. First, creating meaningful memories is essential for providing parents with a sense of purpose and connection in the aftermath of loss. Second, effective communication with healthcare professionals is crucial (Roberts et al., 2024). Third, parents should be actively involved in decision-making and provided with emotional, social, and spiritual support, including

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opportunities for funeral or commemorative rituals. Fourth, healthcare professionals must receive adequate training in bereavement care to ensure sensitivity and competence. Finally, auxiliary staff should also be appropriately prepared to support parents during this challenging period (Roberts et al., 2024). A Globally Disenfranchised Grief This disparity in the implementation of bereavement guidelines is evident across nearly all regions of the world. For example, in China, medical institutions rarely provide adequate support to families experiencing perinatal loss, particularly from a narrative perspective (Liu et al., 2024). As a result, parents are often deprived of the opportunity to articulate their experiences, make sense of their losses, and construct a personal narrative of grief, despite recent efforts to introduce narrative support in the country (Liu et al., 2024). In Japan, the psychological consequences and emotional pain following abortion remain insufficiently acknowledged within society (Endo & Saito, 2024). As Endo and Saito (2024) note, the lack of recognition of such losses, combined with limited social support resources, significantly heightens the risk of profound isolation for mothers. The literature further highlights the importance of spiritual support, broadly defined as any element perceived by the individual as a source of comfort. This may encompass events, perceptions, relationships, thoughts, or words that contribute to sustaining resilience in the grieving process (Endo & Saito, 2024). In Taiwan, perinatal death remains a profound social taboo, and parents are denied the opportunity for public mourning. Furthermore, a birth certificate is never issued, thereby invalidating both the child’s existence and the parental role (Tseng et al., 2018). The ashes of stillborn infants are often intermingled with those of others, with healthcare professionals managing the process entirely, excluding parental involvement (Tseng et al., 2018). In many cases, extended family members – particularly in-laws – make critical decisions on behalf of the parents, such as preventing the mother from seeing her deceased child (Tseng et al., 2018). In the United States, evidence indicates that not all hospitals consistently provide bereaved parents with access to grief counseling, assign a hospital contact for follow-up, or adequately address the grief of fathers and partners (Gold et al., 2023). These gaps are especially pronounced in smaller hospitals, where limited funding for bereavement care and staff education often constrains service provision (Gold et al., 2023). In Australia, studies reveal that healthcare professionals frequently harbor misconceptions regarding perinatal bereavement. For instance, some clinicians mistakenly consider reduced fetal movements toward the end of pregnancy as a normal occurrence, whereas in fact such reduction constitutes a critical clinical risk factor (Pollock et al., 2024). In India, women who experience perinatal loss are frequently subjected to stigma, blame, and discrimination, often resulting in diminished social status and mistreatment, particularly within

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low-income socioeconomic contexts (Roberts et al., 2021). Even though India records the highest number of stillbirths globally, the emotional experiences of bereaved parents are rarely acknowledged or integrated into healthcare practices (Devendran et al., 2025). In many cases, information regarding the baby’s critical condition or death is communicated primarily to the husband, in-laws, or the woman’s parents, while the mother herself is excluded on the grounds that she is perceived as too vulnerable to receive such news directly (Devendran et al., 2025). Another similar case is Thailand, where women experiencing perinatal bereavement are often judged and evaluated negatively, with the belief that they will be punished with an unhappy life (Punaglom et al., 2022). Women often blame themselves and are seen as primarily responsible for the loss, which disrupts their grieving process (Punaglom et al., 2022). Furthermore, many psychological models used to support grief in the West do not always reflect the needs of different cultures. For example, studies show that support models do not reflect the Thai belief in maintaining a connection with the deceased, based on the belief that a dead fetus or newborn can be reborn as the same mother's child in a future life (Punaglom et al., 2022). It cannot be ignored that the grieving process is in fact a sociocultural process (Punaglom et al., 2022), which therefore requires multidisciplinary studies (Cui et al., 2025), as well as adequate training for healthcare professionals in clinical and cultural perinatal bereavement care. In Italy, perinatal death continues to be regarded as a taboo subject, often associated with prejudices linked to infertility affecting both men and women (Testoni et al., 2020). Italian law explicitly grants parents the right to bury or cremate fetal remains at any gestational age (D.P.R. 285/1990, Art. 7). Despite this, access to these remains is highly variable, and parents are often not informed of their rights. No systematic national research has so far examined the psychological impact of restricted access to perinatal burial or the effects of regional disparities on parental grief trajectories. Bereavement and Continuing Bond The term Continuing Bond refers to maintaining an ongoing relationship with the deceased through memories, symbols, or ritual practices that facilitate the processing of grief, fostering adaptation and a sense of identity (Klass et al., 2014). This includes efforts to preserve the memory of the deceased, and the literature has demonstrated that Continuing Bonds can provide comfort and support, enabling an oscillation between the presence and absence of the deceased (Hewson et al., 2023). Research on this concept remains fragmented, and although several studies have examined its beneficial effects in the context of bereavement, the majority focus on losses occurring in adulthood. Nevertheless, recent scholarship has emphasized the importance of incorporating Continuing Bonds into grief support interventions, underscoring their potential relevance in diverse forms of loss (Hewson et al., 2023). In the Japanese context, studies confirm that ritual practices, such as the Mizuko Kuyō, actively sustain these bonds, providing bereaved mothers with a recognized cultural path to validate and reconstruct their maternal identity (Harrison & Midori, 1995).

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Ritual as a Coping Strategy and Social Recognition One of the adaptive coping strategies frequently employed by bereaved parents is the reliance on religious or spiritual beliefs (Ucar et al., 2025). Mothers who do not receive satisfactory explanations from healthcare professionals often turn to alternative sources of meaning, such as religion or superstition, to comprehend their loss (Fernández-Basanta et al., 2020). However, ritual should not be understood exclusively as a religious practice, but rather as any symbolic act that affirms the child’s existence and validates the parental role. Such practices emerge from the fundamental need to attribute meaning and significance to the experience of loss. Symbolic acts may take many forms, including lighting a candle, planting a tree, or even marking the body with a commemorative tattoo. Similarly, parents may rely on personal objects – such as pregnancy journals, memory boxes, or photographs—to sustain a continuing bond with the deceased child (Fernández-Basanta et al., 2020). Anthropological scholarship has long emphasized the central role of rituals as a fundamental resource for containing the existential crisis provoked by grief, facilitating the social sharing of pain, and reconfiguring the experience of loss (De Martino, 2021). Rituals, understood as cultural constructs that generate meaning, continue to occupy a vital place in death-related practices worldwide. They provide not only a structured means of transitioning into new social and psychological states but also a framework for sustaining an enduring connection with the deceased (Wojtkowiak et al., 2021). In recent years, empirical studies have examined the role of rituals, demonstrating that both formal and informal ritual practices can facilitate the grieving process and enhance psychological well-being (Fernández-Basanta et al., 2020; Uncu et al., 2025). Contemporary literature indicates that women who engage with their social environment through rituals or symbolic gestures tend to cope with grief more effectively than those who do not (FernándezBasanta et al., 2020). Moreover, the utilization of religious rituals and traditional beliefs by parents plays a crucial role in the healing process, providing emotional relief and fostering a sustained connection with the deceased (Uncu et al., 2025). These practices are significant and should not be underestimated, as they serve as tools for expressing grief, obtaining social support, and making sense of loss (Uncu et al., 2025). Rituals possess several beneficial characteristics: they are temporally bounded and enable individuals to externalize their pain. Such practices create a structured space for emotional expression – through symbolic actions such as observing a moment of silence, lighting a candle, or listening to a meaningful song – while simultaneously allowing a degree of psychological distance from the immediate intensity of the loss (Wojtkowiak et al., 2021). Rituals also help to address the void left by the loss, contributing to the restoration of maternal and child identity (Tseng et al., 2018). Furthermore, they foster social cohesion and solidarity, as the sharing of grief is experienced as comforting (Wojtkowiak et al., 2021). Accordingly, the literature highlights the psychological benefits of mourning rituals, not only in facilitating the

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expression of grief but also in promoting social validation and communal support (FernándezBasanta et al., 2020; Uncu et al., 2025; Wojtkowiak et al., 2021). Methods This study adopts an exploratory, interdisciplinary approach, combining a narrative literature review with a visual micro-ethnographic investigation. Its aim is to integrate theoretical and empirical evidence to examine how ritual practices (e.g., Mizuko Kuyō) and hospital-based interventions (e.g., Memory Making) facilitate the processing of perinatal grief from both psychological and anthropological perspectives. Narrative Literature Review Search Strategy The literature search was conducted using major biomedical, psychological and anthropological databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CiNii, J-STAGE) and supplemented by manual searches in open-access repositories (PubMed Central, DOAJ, CiNii, J-STAGE) and specialized anthropological and ethnographic databases. Searches included English, Italian and Japanese language publications. Keywords encompassed medical, psychological, and cultural aspects of perinatal loss, including: “perinatal loss,” “stillbirth,” “neonatal death,” “perinatal bereavement,” “Mizuko Kuyō,” “Memory Making,” “bereavement care,” “grief rituals,” “continuing bond,” “ritual and grief,” “perinatal grief stigma,” and “parents’ coping.” Boolean operators (AND, OR) were used to combine terms systematically. Targeted searches for key authors and manual review of reference lists of selected studies ensured comprehensive coverage. The author’s previous bachelor’s thesis (Loquercio, 2025) was included in the narrative review for its preliminary analysis of the literature, and it is clearly cited to distinguish it from the original ethnographic fieldwork and its subsequent contributions. Selection Criteria Inclusion criteria encompassed peer-reviewed articles and book chapters addressing perinatal bereavement, commemorative rituals, continuing bonds, Memory Making practices, and relevant ethnographic studies. Relevant clinical guidelines and institutional reports were also considered. Priority was given to studies published in the last five years, though sources from the past ten years were included to ensure contextual depth. Exclusion criteria involved materials not directly relevant, editorials lacking empirical or theoretical analysis, and sources without academic references unless they offered valuable firsthand testimony or contextual insight.

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Data Extraction and Analysis From the selected documents, information was extracted regarding type of loss, geographical and cultural context, type of intervention or ritual, reported psychological outcomes, and implications for bereavement care. Materials were critically reviewed and synthesized thematically using narrative thematic analysis, with recurrent themes including social recognition, continuing bonds, the role of rituals, and gaps in care provision. Visual Micro-Ethnographic Study Context and Period Field observation was conducted at two ritual sites in Japan: The Garden of Unborn Children at Zōjō-ji Temple in Tokyo and the Mizuko-Jizo-Son area adjacent to the Daihongan within the Zenkō-ji Temple complex in Nagano. Additionally, micro-ethnographic observations were carried out in three Italian hospitals: SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano hospital, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona hospital, and the Maternity Unit of AUSL Bologna. Access was granted by the directors of the Neonatal Intensive Care Units, allowing observation of Memory Making practices, discussion with staff, and documentation of procedures. Researcher Role and Positioning The study adopted a visual micro-ethnographic approach combining non-participant and participant observation. The research originated from a personal visit to Japan, where initial visual materials were collected out of an independent interest in Mizuko Kuyō. The interest later evolved into a formal academic inquiry, and the materials were subsequently purposes to support the present comparative study. In Japanese ritual sites, data collection relied primarily on non-participant observation, with the researcher documenting spaces, objects, and ritual environments without direct interaction with practitioners. Visual materials included photographs and short video clips. In Italian hospital context related to Memory Making practices, the researcher adopted a more participatory observational role. This phase, conducted under institutional access agreements, involved informal interactions with healthcare professionals to observe Memory Making procedures, collect procedural protocols and better understand the practical and relational dimension of bereavement care. This combination of observational approaches enabled a context-sensitive comparative analysis grounded in visual documentation and experiential insights. The researcher’s presence and cultural background were recognized as potentially influencing interpretations in both settings. Image Collection and Analysis Documentary photographs were taken primarily by a visual collaborator (A. F. Montanari, Independent Visual Documentarian). Images captured statues, offerings, toys, and symbolic elements in both Japanese sites and Italian hospitals. All materials were cataloged, with selected images included in the main text and the full archive referenced in Appendix. The visual

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materials were analyzed thematically to explore how objects and spatial arrangements reflect symbolic functions such as legitimization, continuing bonds, and social recognition. To ensure ethical compliance, photographic documentation in Italian hospitals was conducted exclusively in areas and under conditions authorized by the institutions involved. Specifically, photographs were taken within the SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano hospital, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona hospital, and the Maternity Unit of AUSL Bologna. In all sites, no identifiable personal items, medical records, or objects directly associated with patients or bereaved families were photographed. Only neutral materials related to Memory Making, neonatal care, or routine hospital use (e.g., blankets, infant clothing, soft toys) were documented. All images were produced and stored following institutional guidelines and were used solely for academic and non-commercial research purposes. It should be noted that at Legnano hospital, the memorial objects were created directly by the healthcare staff, while explicit consent was obtained from the ODV Mani di Mamma for the documentation and inclusion of their handmade donated items—such as crocheted octopuses, blankets and infant hats – used within the Memory Making protocols observed at Cona and Bologna hospitals. Methodological Limitations This study constitutes a narrative, rather than systematic, review and includes a limited-scope micro-ethnographic component. As such, its findings are not generalizable. Observations of hospital practices were restricted to a small number of Italian healthcare settings – three hospitals – and therefore cannot be taken as representative of all Memory Making protocols implemented nationally. Similarly, ritual practices associated with Mizuko Kuyō vary across temples and regions in Japan; the observations made in this study reflect only the specific sites visited and cannot be generalized to the full spectrum of ritual configurations. No structured interviews were conducted, and no original quantitative data were collected. The ethnographic insights derive from short-term, non-longitudinal field visits, which are inherently influenced by the researcher’s presence, positionality, and interpretative lens. Despite these limitations, the analysis allowed for the identification of two distinct procedural models within hospital-based Memory Making practices—Self-Paced Delivery and Guided Delivery—which offer a meaningful basis for comparison with the ritual logic of Mizuko Kuyō. Findings Memory Making in Western Hospital Context Memory Making techniques involve a symbolic process through which parents, with the support of healthcare professionals, create tangible memories of their lost child. Various practices can be employed; all aimed at collecting evidence of the child’s existence. These may include taking hand and footprints, capturing photographs, or preserving objects that evoke the child, such as clothing or toys (Payne et al., 2025). Such mementos can also be gathered within

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a Memory Box, a container designed to preserve keepsakes and memories. Although the contents of a Memory Box may vary, it typically includes hand and footprints, locks of hair, the identification bracelet, a hat, a blanket and toys (O’Sullivan, 2019). Perinatal palliative care and bereavement guidelines recommend supporting parents through memory creation; however, in practice, the collection of tangible mementos for perinatal bereavement remains limited (Thornton et al., 2020). Furthermore, recent literature has increasingly focused on the creation of tangible memories, while the use of the Memory Box itself has been addressed more marginally. Ethnographic Observations in Italian Hospitals The Italian context of perinatal bereavement care is characterized by the adoption of Memory Making practices, with particular emphasis on the use of the Memory Box and the integration of transitional objects as concrete tools to support grief processing. Observations showed that, although Memory Boxes are personalized according to the child’s clinical trajectory and length of hospitalization, they typically contain a core set of items that assume a symbolic function. These commonly include a blanket and cap, the hospital identification bracelet and admission tag, imprint kits, locks of hair, or a pacifier. Such materials transform the Memory Box into a tangible and ritualized archive of the loss. In addition to personalized and documentary elements, the analysis of operational protocols highlighted the inclusion of objects with therapeutic and transitional functions, such as a crocheted octopus. The octopus derives from the well-established practice of Octopus Therapy, used in neonatal intensive care. The object is placed in the incubator with the infant, providing something to grasp and mimicking the sensation of the umbilical cord; it also has an olfactory stimulation function. Before being given to the infant, the octopus is kept in contact with the mother’s skin so that it absorbs her scent. When the infant does not survive, this transitional object acquires an additional ritual significance: having remained in the incubator with the child, it becomes a material witness to the infant’s brief existence. It is often included in the Memory Box and serves as a symbolic connector for the parents. It was also observed that paired plush dolls of different sizes were used, with the larger one representing the parents and the smaller one symbolizing the deceased infant. In these cases, the smaller doll is placed in contact with the baby in the incubator and, following the infant’s death, becomes a tangible keepsake attesting to the child’s existence. Additionally, several bereavement support initiatives are implemented, including allowing parents to hold their baby after death and to spend time with them. Specific practices are consistently upheld, such as addressing the baby by name and ensuring that Memory Making remains as multicultural as possible, accommodating diverse beliefs and religious traditions. When requested by the parents, religious rites can also be performed within the unit. The analysis of operational protocols indicates that, although the Memory Box is prepared by healthcare staff in every case following the diagnosis of death, the timing and method of its delivery may differ, reflecting two distinct models of Post-Mortem Support. Given the absence

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of large-scale quantitative data, it is essential to note that insights regarding parents’ retrieval of the Memory Box derive from ethnographic observations and anecdotal testimonies from healthcare staff in three distinct hospitals. These observations do not aim to establish statistical prevalence but rather to identify latent operational models and the relational dynamics that shape their effectiveness. A Self-Paced Delivery model was identified, in which clinical timeframes are suspended and the pace of engagement is delegated to the family. In this model, the Memory Box is safely stored within the hospital and delivered only when parents express readiness to confront the material object. The timing of delivery is therefore variable, and in some cases may extend over several months or even up to a year. Medical documentation related to the diagnosis may be included in the box, allowing parents to integrate the clinical reality into their grieving process at a personally chosen moment. A second model, the Guided Delivery model, involves a significant waiting period (up to two months) and delivery occurs within a structured follow-up meeting with specialized staff. This encounter serves not only for the optional handover of the Memory Box but also for discussing the loss and the diagnosis in a supported clinical setting, while still allowing parents the freedom to accept the Memory Box as a tool for meaning making. However, the Guided Delivery model, despite incorporating clinical follow-up, appears to be associated—based on anecdotal reports from staff—with variable engagement, including frequent cases in which parents do not collect the Memory Box or do not attend the scheduled follow-up meeting. In contrast, anecdotal observations within the Self-Paced Delivery model indicate that failure to retrieve the Memory Box is extremely rare, even when storage extends over several months or up to one year.

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Figure 1 Smiles

Note. Detail of octopus designed to bring joy and reassurance donated by ODV Mani di Mamma. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital (November 2025). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 39; see Appendix).

Figure 2 All For Them

Note. Collection of handmade toys donated by ODV Mani di Mamma for neonatal tactile therapy. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital (November 2025). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 40; see Appendix).

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Figure 3 An Owl Forever

Note. Close-up shows owl motif for comfort and emotional support donated by ODV Mani di Mamma for neonatal tactile therapy. Maternity Unit of the AUSL Bologna (November 2025). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 45; see Appendix).

Figure 4 A Story in Memories

Note. Memory Boxes preserve symbolic items supporting families in neonatal bereavement created by Legnano Hospital Staff. SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital (December 2025). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 46; see Appendix).

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Figure 5 Like Mother and Child

Note. paired octopuses symbolize maternal closeness inside Memory Boxes created by the Legnano Hospital Staff. SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital (December 2025). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 48; see Appendix).

Mizuko Kuyō: Religious, Cultural and Ethnographic Context The Ritual and its Function Mizuko Kuyō is a Japanese Buddhist ritual dedicated to perinatal mourning. The term mizuko literally means “water child.” According to traditional Japanese belief, children who die prematurely find themselves on the banks of the Sai no Kawara (賽の河原), where they stack stones to atone for their perceived sins. They are protected from demonic entities by Jizō Bosatsu (地蔵菩薩), traditionally regarded as the guardian of deceased children and travelers (Nagaike, 2022; Ogawa, 2017; Zanetta, 2018). Statues of Jizō are central to the ritual landscape and are frequently placed in gardens or temple areas dedicated to Mizuko Kuyō. Another recurring figure is Kannon Bosatsu (観音菩薩), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who is often attributed a symbolic role as a maternal protector of children and their well-being (Zanetta, 2018). At least three broad variants of Mizuko Kuyō can be identified – local, private, and public – though significant contextual variation exists. The local form, often managed by women in the community, involves caring for roadside Jizō statues (Zanetta, 2018), a practice historically linked to the pacification of unconnected spirits and the prevention of potential curses (Hoshino & Takeda, 1987). The private form places the deceased child among the ancestors on the household altar (Zanetta, 2018). The public ritual, however, expanded significantly from the 1970s onward and coincided with notable spiritual redefinitions. Komatsu (2003) highlights

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how contemporary parents commission individual Jizō statues to be placed within dedicated temple spaces, is a practice increasingly influenced by New Age spirituality. These reinterpretations shift the ritual’s focus from placating vengeful spirits toward fostering acceptance, healing, and the possibility of spiritual continuity for both mother and child. In some temples, a single Jizō statue is surrounded by niches filled with toys and offerings, blending Buddhist chants with deeply personal expressions of care (Zanetta, 2018). Hibino (2008) similarly observes that private spiritual practices have diversified, with modern adaptations—including internet-based memorials—emerging as important mechanisms through which women maintain a continuing bond with the child and reconstruct their spiritual well-being outside institutional frameworks. Taken together, these forms underscore both the deep cultural embeddedness of Mizuko Kuyō and its remarkable adaptability. Despite their differences, all variants share a core function: addressing perinatal grief through symbolic continuity, caregiving practices, and the sustained maintenance of a meaningful relationship with the deceased child. Ethnographic Observations The following observations are drawn from a visual micro-ethnographic study conducted at two Japanese commemorative sites: The Garden of Unborn Children at Zōjō-ji Temple in Tokyo and the Mizuko-Jizo-Son area adjacent to Daihongan within the Zenkō-ji Temple complex in Nagano. These sites exemplify two different types of public Mizuko Kuyo rituals observable in Japan. Adjacent to Zōjō-ji Temple in Tokyo is the Garden of Unborn Children, where at least 1,000 small statues of Jizō Bosatsu have been commissioned (see Figure 8). The statues commemorate both deceased children and protection of living children. They are arranged on two levels of stone steps and share a similar appearance (see Figure 10). Each statue is adorned with a red cap and bib, although some wear actual children’s clothing. The faces exhibit gentle expressions, and the hands are joined in prayer (see Figure 7). Beside each statue, offerings of flowers are common, and occasionally food or toys, such as a brightly colored pinwheel that spins in the wind, can also be observed (see Figure 9). The garden is divided into two main sections. One section, adjacent to Zōjō-ji Temple, features a statue of Kannon Bosatsu and a small commemorative temple (Kannon-dō) dedicated to her. Visitors may ring the bell (Suzu 鈴) and light incense, practices through which the devotee attracts the deity’s attention. The second section, located at the far end of the garden, was closed to the public at the time of observation. In the background of this section, the Tokyo Tower rises prominently. South of Zenkō-ji Temple in Nagano, just before the Niōmon Gate, lies the Mizuko Jizo Son within the Daihongan Temple complex. Here, a large statue of Jizō Bosatsu embracing infant

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children is situated amidst the water of a fountain (see Figure 13). Wooden ladles (hishaku) are placed along the fountain’s edge for Mizukake (水掛け), the ritual of pouring water over the statue to establish connection, purification, and protection of the lost child’s soul. Behind the large statue, eleven smaller statues of Jizō Bosatsu holding a staff and a jewel are arranged on a marble structure adorned with Kamon, or Japanese heraldic emblems identifying families and lineages. Their presence suggests that these statues represent a personalized ritual, commissioned and funded by individual families. Offerings of food and toys are placed at the base of the statues. To the right, a stone fountain with flowing water features additional offerings in the form of toys and paper cranes for the children (see Figure 15 & Figure 16). Within the Zenkō-ji Temple complex gardens, six Jizō statues (roku-jizo) can also be observed, each adorned with a red cap and bib, representing the six forms of Jizō, including one holding a child. Additionally, there is a section featuring a Mizuko Kannon, a statue of Kannon Bosatsu focused on the protection of the lost child’s soul and the consolation of parents. The statue holds a child in her arms and is situated at the center of a pond where visitors may light incense and inscribe prayers or wishes on wooden tablets. Behind the Mizuko Kannon, further offerings of toys for lost children are placed (see Figure 19). Figure 6 The Scent of Incense

Note. Incense offering to Kannon Bosatsu. Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 3; see Appendix).

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Figure 7 In the Shade, at Rest

Note. Mizuko Kuyō statue in the shade. Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 7; see Appendix).

Figure 8 Pinwheels and Mizuko Kuyō Statues

Note. Pinwheels and Mizuko Kuyō Statues. Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 12; see Appendix).

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Figure 9 Tomodachi (Friends)

Note. Pair of mizuko statues side by side. Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 17; see Appendix).

Figure 10 Sunflowers and pinwheels

Note. Mizuko Kuyō statues with sunflowers and pinwheels. Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 19; see Appendix).

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Figure 11 Fragrance in the Dark

Note. Black-and-white view of incense smoke. Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 14; see Appendix).

Figure 12 Smiles and Lotus Flowers

Note. Kannon statue with lotus flowers. Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 21; see Appendix).

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Figure 13 Loving

Note. Jizō statue holding a newborn. Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 23; see Appendix).

Figure 14 Wisdom

Note. Detail of Jizō statue face. Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 25; see Appendix).

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Figure 15 Indelible Memories.

Note. Toys offered to unborn children. Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 26; see Appendix).

Figure 16 For Peace

Note. Origami cranes symbolizing peace. Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 27; see Appendix).

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Figure 17 Field of Pinwheels

Note. Pinwheels dedicated to unborn children. Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 28; see Appendix).

Figure 18 Prayers

Note. Jizō statue with prayer beads. Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 29; see Appendix).

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Figure 19 Maternal Love

Note. Kannon statue holding a child. Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano (December 2024). Photograph © A. F. Montanari (Catalog ID 32; see Appendix).

Discussion Although Memory Making practices and Mizuko Kuyō represent culturally distinct approaches to perinatal grief, studies in the literature indicate that they share many characteristics aimed at supporting grief processing. Both practices function to socially validate the child and the parental role (Harrison & Midori, 1995; Payne et al., 2025). They facilitate the construction or maintenance of a continuous bond with the lost child (Hibino, 2008; Payne et al., 2025), at times becoming a true extension of the child itself (Xu et al., 2024). However, both practices have important caveats regarding the setting, the objects used, and the timing, which should not be underestimated. Shared functions between Memory Making and Mizuko Kuyō Practices The literature highlights that Memory Making practices are crucial for socially validating the existence of the child and the parental role (Payne et al., 2025). The memories and tangible mementos collected serve as reminders and act as a bridge between parents and the painful experience of loss (Payne et al., 2025). Recognition of parenthood is essential, as it enables the creation of connection and shared experience with others (Payne et al., 2025). Through the creation of memories, parents establish a space for healing, often channeling altruism as a form of catharsis: many become mentors and sources of support for others who have experienced similar loss (Payne et al., 2025). Parents have also reported that having a space to express grief

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and receiving compassion for their loss allows them to care for themselves, and they benefit from the involvement of healthcare professionals who facilitate memory-making practices (Payne et al., 2025). Memory Boxes have been shown to help parents establish a bond with the deceased child. Parents perceive the box as a form of recognition of their child precisely because it contains objects that signify the child’s existence (O’Sullivan, 2019). Items such as toys inside the box have been observed to facilitate interaction with the Memory Box even for subsequent children (O’Sullivan, 2019). Furthermore, parents report positive outcomes from recreating mementos through photographs and keepsakes, which also facilitate sharing with others (Thornton et al., 2020). These items are often experienced as tangible extensions of the child and as proof of the child’s existence, promoting the creation of positive memories, validating parental status, and supporting the grief process (Xu et al., 2024). Photographs have been highlighted as an effective form of Memory Making. They are regarded as a method to honor the lost child and to share grief with others (Oxlad et al., 2023). This practice not only helps to keep the memory of the child alive but also fosters connection with siblings of the stillborn child (Oxlad et al., 2023). From the other side, Mizuko Kuyō offers mothers a second opportunity, allowing them to reconceive themselves as the mother of the lost child and to validate their parental role (Harrison & Midori, 1995). The ritual is seen as a symbol of social healing: perinatal grief is typically a silent and isolating loss, whereas the ritual transforms private sorrow into a shared narrative (Smith, 2013). Through Mizuko Kuyō, women create a bond with the unborn child, integrating their grief into both society and private life (Smith, 2013). This process becomes especially significant given studies indicating that women often experience very negative emotions toward their partners, frequently feeling abandoned during this process (Hibino, 2008). Many women also report that, through Mizuko Kuyō, they experience an intimate connection with their lost child and hope that the child may find peace and serenity in the afterlife (Hibino, 2008). For these women, participating in the ritual represents a way of ensuring that the child is not forgotten (Hibino, 2008). While Memory Making practices typically utilize photographs, footprints, transitional toys and memory boxes, Mizuko Kuyō relies on rituals, offerings, and the commissioning of Jizō statues. Both practices reduce isolation, fostering the sharing of grief and supporting its processing (Payne et al., 2025; Smith, 2013; Thornton et al., 2020). Objects related to the child and ritual actions acquire profound meaning, helping to transform grief into memory and identity (Uncu et al., 2025; Payne et al., 2025). Both practices promote social validation and provide a narrative framework, demonstrating that rituals—despite their differences—can reduce social stigma and offer transformative meaning to sorrow (Payne et al., 2025; Uncu et al., 2025).

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Despite the use of different objects within commemorative practices, a constant recourse to handmade or textile-based artifacts appears particularly significant, such as the crocheted octopuses placed in Memory Boxes or the caps and bibs placed on Jizō statues in Mizuko Kuyō. As highlighted by recent studies, textiles are often employed in mourning contexts to create objects that can become sources of meaning and connection with the deceased (Mock, 2025). In the context of perinatal loss, knitted garments of babies are frequently donated to parents as tools of comfort and support in the grieving process (Mock, 2025). Furthermore, the literature shows that creative activities, including textile practices, can be useful in processes of emotional reintegration following a loss. Activities such as crochet or knitting are often described as mean to cope with and endure traumatic life events, including the death of a loved one (Burns & Van Der Meer, 2021). This suggests that, across both cultures, the act of creating by hand responds to a universal need: to materialize care for those who are no longer physically present. For the purposes of the analysis, however, it should be noted that the ritual of Mizuko Kuyō expanded during the 1970s, although it began to acquire a negative connotation due to unscrupulous religious communities that exploited mothers’ feelings of guilt to persuade them to participate in the ritual (Hardacre, 1997; Komatsu, 2003). Focusing solely on this aspect, however, provides an incomplete picture, as the literature highlights other dimensions of the rite. Indeed, Mizuko Kuyō is shown to establish a continuous relationship with the soul of the unborn child, granting it a form of social existence (Harrison & Midori, 1995). Different functions between Memory Making and Mizuko Kuyō Practices It is important to note that there are substantial differences between the two approaches. One of the central analytical dimensions concerns how these practices are performed. In Memory Making, the infant’s physical existence is documented through the collection of tangible mementos, often assembled within a Memory Box. As observed in the ethnographic fieldwork, the collected material typically consists of objects that were in physical contact with the infant, and the box may be personalized depending on the length and nature of hospitalization. The transitional objects used in Memory Making are not only connectors between parents and the deceased child but also serve as a bridge between the child’s lived existence and the reality of loss (O’Sullivan, 2019). These objects are often the only items that have physically interacted with the infant and represent the sole material testimony of their brief life. They thus function as emotional substitutes, helping parents maintain an ongoing bond (O’Sullivan, 2019; Payne et al., 2025). In contrast, in the Mizuko Kuyō, parents commission the erection of statues of Jizō, the bodhisattva who protects children. Jizō acts as a mediator between parents in the material world and the child’s spirit in the afterlife. In Mizuko Kuyō the clothing, hats, toys, and offerings placed beside the Jizō statues are acts of care performed by the mother for her child, symbolic expressions of a continued bond that can no longer be enacted in life (Danely, 2015). Despite procedural differences—physical documentation versus spiritual care—both transitional

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objects and Jizō statues allow parents to continue to act in a parental role within the context of perinatal loss (Danely, 2015; Payne et al., 2025). Another important distinction lies in the setting in which these practices occur. Memory Making takes place within a hospital environment, where the task of collecting evidence of the infant’s existence is carried out by healthcare staff. The Memory Box or transitional objects are then delivered to the parents at a later moment. These procedures confine Memory Making to a clinical and private setting, even though they may indirectly facilitate social validation of the loss (Thornton et al., 2020). Mizuko Kuyō, by contrast, is a Buddhist practice embedded in Japanese cultural and religious traditions. It is performed primarily within temple grounds, where monks construct the statues at the request of parents. It is thus largely a sacred and public experience, although it can also hold a private dimension (Zanetta, 2018). Ethnographic observations of Mizuko Kuyō sites confirm this public nature of the ritual. Temporal organization also differs significantly between the two practices. Memory Making emerged within a clinical environment characterized by structured, punctual, and linear time. The collection of mementos is typically a one-time intervention that occurs at the moment of loss or shortly thereafter, although the timing and modality of delivery may vary. Mizuko Kuyō, by contrast, is a culturally rooted ritual embedded in sacred temporalities and operates on a continuous and iterative timescale. It is not a single event but an ongoing process: the ritual may be repeated for months or years. Here, ritual time is governed by the parent’s—often the mother’s—desire to renew her act of care (LaFleur, 1992). Convergence Between Memory Making and Mizuko Kuyō Despite substantial procedural and contextual differences, the fundamental affinity between Memory Making and Mizuko Kuyō lies in their shared function of validating the loss and sustaining a continuing bond with the deceased child (Hibino, 2008; LaFleur, 1992; Payne et al., 2025). The comparative analysis indicates that the effectiveness of both practices is intrinsically linked to the parents’ autonomous management of the temporal dimension of grief. Findings from the ethnographic observation of Memory Making protocols in Italy—though based on anecdotal evidence—highlight a critical paradox. Models based on Guided Delivery, which anchor the memorial act to a structured and mandatory clinical timeframe (within a scheduled follow-up appointment), exhibit highly variable uptake, with frequent cases of nonretrieval of the Memory Box. This suggests that when the maintenance of the bond is tied to an institutionally imposed obligation, the practice may be perceived as a task to avoid, thereby undermining the intended support for bereavement. By contrast, Self-Paced Delivery protocols, in which the institution acts as custodian while fully delegating the timing to the parents—even months or up to a year after the loss—display an almost universal retrieval of the Memory Box. This pattern suggests that, in Western clinical contexts, the acceptance of bereavement support depends less on the objects themselves and more on the freedom to access them at a self-determined moment.

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This dynamic reveals a significant functional convergence with Mizuko Kuyō. The Japanese rite is effective because parents retain full autonomy in deciding when and how often to renew the act of care, transforming the ritual into a self-directed expression of the Continuing Bond (LaFleur, 1992). Similarly, the success of Self-Paced Delivery indicates that even within clinical environments, the Continuing Bond is more effectively supported when the memory object is perceived as an available resource rather than an institutional requirement. In sum, the comparison suggests that both practices achieve maximal effectiveness when the institution acts as a facilitator and custodian while leaving parents with exclusive control over the emotional temporality of grief. Conclusion Conclusion and Original Contribution of the Study This exploratory study, employing an interdisciplinary approach integrating psychological and anthropological evidence, has highlighted that, although rooted in different cultural and institutional frameworks, both Memory Making practices and Mizuko Kuyō address a shared need: to validate the loss and maintain a symbolic bond with the unborn child (Hibino, 2008; LaFleur, 1992; Payne et al., 2025; Uncu et al., 2025). Evidence from these practices suggests that rituals – understood as any symbolic act aimed at socially validating the loss – transform grief and support bereavement processing (Endo & Saito, 2024; Uncu et al., 2025). In societies where perinatal grief is often stigmatized and unacknowledged, ritual functions as a crosscultural means to express sorrow and share it with others (Uncu et al., 2025). Although Memory Making and Mizuko Kuyō are sometimes presented as acts of closure, numerous qualitative studies report that parents perceive these practices as tools for maintaining an enduring connection with the lost child, reflecting the principles of the Continuing Bonds construct (LaFleur, 1992; Harrison & Midori, 1995; Klass et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2024). Unlike many previous studies that focus exclusively on the psychological effects of grief or on isolated ritual practices, this work combines a narrative literature review with visual ethnographic observations of rituals such as Mizuko Kuyō, documenting ritual spaces that remain underexplored, including the Garden of Unborn Children in Tokyo and the MizukoJizo-Son area adjacent to Daihongan within the Zenkō-ji Temple complex in Nagano. The study compared Western hospital-based Memory Making practices with the specifically Japanese ritual of Mizuko Kuyō. Acknowledging the religious cosmology that underpins Mizuko Kuyō clarifies that this ritual arises from a specific symbolic framework rather than representing a broader Eastern tradition. The original contribution of this research is the finding that the effectiveness of both practices is intrinsically linked to the parents’ autonomous management of the temporal dimension of

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grief. The observed success of Self-Paced Delivery protocols for Memory Making reflects a strong functional convergence with the iterative, non-obligatory nature of Mizuko Kuyō, suggesting that optimal support for the Continuing Bond is achieved when the memorial practice is viewed as an available resource and not an institutional requirement. Furthermore, this study offers original visual material and ethnographic observations of previously underexplored ritual sites in Japan (e.g., the Garden of Unborn Children in Tokyo and the Mizuko-Jizo-Son area in Nagano), providing tangible tools to enrich scholarly analysis and support professional understanding of these cultural practices. Implications for Practice and Policy The findings of this study carry several practical implications for the clinical management of perinatal bereavement and for health policy development. The narrative literature review revealed that Memory Making practices remain unevenly implemented at the global level (Roberts et al., 2024). A more consistent adoption of Memory Making is essential to help reduce the stigma surrounding perinatal loss. Based on the functional convergence observed, healthcare providers should prioritize SelfPaced Delivery protocols. This model more effectively supports parental needs by allowing parents to determine when they are ready to engage with memorial objects. Importantly, the Memory Box is always prepared by healthcare staff at the time of the child’s death, but it remains available to parents at a time of their choosing, rather than being tied exclusively to clinical follow-up schedules. Another key implication concerns the need to strengthen professional training in perinatal bereavement care, incorporating cultural sensitivity and an understanding of symbolic practices. Awareness of sociocultural backgrounds and of rituals such as Mizuko Kuyō— including the concept of Extended Parenting (Danely, 2015)—can facilitate the development of more respectful, adaptable, and culturally attuned approaches to care. Finally, this topic calls for broader multidisciplinary engagement. Rituals of bereavement should be understood as potential cross-cultural pathways for supporting grief, highlighting the importance of integrating academic research, clinical practice, and cultural knowledge in the care of families experiencing perinatal loss. Study Limitations This study is based on localized ethnographic observations and a narrative literature review. The review is not systematic and may be subject to selection bias, as some sources could have been excluded due to limited accessibility, lack of English translation, or an overrepresentation of Western studies relative to Eastern ones. Language barriers may also have constrained comparative access to local or recent publications that lack English abstracts.

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The ethnographic analysis was conducted in three Italian hospitals and at ritual sites in Japan. Consequently, the findings are grounded in visual observations and field notes and are not generalizable to all clinical, cultural, or geographic settings. Observations of Memory Making protocols pertain solely to a limited sample of three Italian healthcare institutions. The principal methodological limitation is the absence of quantitative data to rigorously measure the comparative effectiveness of different delivery models (Guided vs. Self-Paced). The analysis relies on anecdotal and qualitative data, which do not permit statistical validation. Observations of rituals in Japan were based on short, non-longitudinal visits and were not accompanied by structured interviews with bereaved parents or religious practitioners; therefore, ritual practices may vary across communities and some symbolic interpretations remain tentative in the absence of local informant confirmation. Future Directions and Recommendations Quantitative research examining the direct impact of commemorative practices on the Continuing Bond and on mental health outcomes remains scarce. Future research should include longitudinal and quantitative studies capable of rigorously assessing the long-term effects of ritual commemorative practices and Memory Making on parental mental health. It is also advisable to expand comparative ethnographic inquiry to additional ritual traditions—both within Japan and across other cultural contexts—to deepen understanding of how religious and sociocultural factors shape perinatal bereavement practices and outcomes.

Acknowledgments We would like to thank the SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital and the Maternity Unit of AUSL Bologna for their kind support and hospitality. The opportunity to meet and engage with their trained staff was invaluable for the preparation of this paper. A special acknowledgment is extended to the volunteers of ODV Mani di Mamma, who daily create handmade resources aimed at supporting care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and facilitating the perinatal bereavement process. Your dedication is invaluable and truly remarkable.

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Payne, E., Silverio, S. A., Fellows, R. E., Heywood, L. E., Burgess, K., Storey, C., Oza, M., Kent-Nye, F. E., Haddad, L., Sampson, A., PUDDLES UK Collaboration, & Knighting, K. (2025). From mourning to memorialising – a lasting connection through remembrance: The role of memory making in preserving the identity of parenthood amongst women who have suffered a perinatal bereavement. Women and Birth, 38(3), Article 101902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2025.101902 Pollock, D., Bailey, H. D., Hasanoff, S., Munn, Z., Valenzuela, C., Stern, C., Price, C., Marriott, R., Gliddon, J., Lewis, C., Michie, C., Bowie, M., Penny, M., Reibel, T., Warland, J., Farrant, B., White, S. W., & Shepherd, C. C. J. (2024). First Nations peoples’ perceptions, knowledge and beliefs regarding stillbirth prevention and bereavement practices: A mixed methods systematic review. Women and Birth, 37(4), Article 101604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2024.101604 Punaglom, N., Kongvattananon, P., & Shu, B.-C. (2022). Overcoming grief in Thai women experiencing perinatal death: A grounded theory study. Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research, 26(4), 627–641. https://he02.tcithaijo.org/index.php/PRIJNR/article/view/259267 Roberts, L. R., Nick, J. M., Sarpy, N. L., Peters, J., & Tamares, S. (2024). Bereavement care guidelines used in health care facilities immediately following perinatal loss: A scoping review. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 22(10), 2003–2089. https://doi.org/10.11124/jbies-23-00149 Roberts, L. R., Renati, S. J., Solomon, S., & Montgomery, S. (2021). Perinatal grief among poor rural and urban women in Central India. International Journal of Women’s Health, 13, 305–315. https://doi.org/10.2147/ijwh.s297292 Smith, B. L. (2013). Narratives of sorrow and dignity: Japanese women, pregnancy loss, and modern rituals of grieving. Oxford University Press. Testoni, I., Bregoli, J., Pompele, S., & Maccarini, A. (2020). Social support in perinatal grief and mothers’ continuing bonds: A qualitative study with Italian mourners. Affilia, 35(4), 485–502. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920906784 Thomson, G., McNally, L., & Nowland, R. (2024). Experiences and impacts of psychological support following adverse neonatal experiences or perinatal loss: A qualitative analysis. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 24(1), Article 569. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-024-06713-7 Thornton, R., Nicholson, P., & Harms, L. (2020). Creating evidence: Findings from a grounded theory of memory-making in neonatal bereavement care in Australia. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 53, 29–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2020.04.006 Tseng, Y., Hsu, M., Hsieh, Y., & Cheng, H. (2018). The meaning of rituals after a stillbirth: A qualitative study of mothers with a stillborn baby. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(5– 6), 1134–1142. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14142

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Ucar, T., Sabanci Baransel, E., & Çelik, O. T. (2025). From grief to resilience: A qualitative study of women’s reactions and coping methods after perinatal loss in Türkiye. BMJ Open, 15(5), Article e092544. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-092544 Uncu, B., Aktaş Reyhan, F., & Acaban, G. (2025). Understanding the mourning rituals of women who have experienced perinatal loss: A qualitative study. OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228251351225 Wojtkowiak, J., Lind, J., & Smid, G. E. (2021). Ritual in therapy for prolonged grief: A scoping review of ritual elements in evidence-informed grief interventions. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, Article 623835. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.623835 Xu, D., Zhang, G., Ding, X., Ma, J., Suo, Y., Peng, Y., Zeng, J., Liu, M., Hou, R., Li, J., & Hu, F. (2024). Bereaved parents’ perceptions of memory making: A qualitative metasynthesis. BMC Palliative Care, 23(1), Article 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904024-01339-0 Zanetta, M. (2018). Bambini d’acqua: I rituali Mizuko Kuyō nel Giappone contemporaneo. FrancoAngeli. Zhang, X., Chen, Y., Zhao, M., Yuan, M., Zeng, T., & Wu, M. (2024). Complicated grief following the perinatal loss: A systematic review. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 24(1), Article 772. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-024-06986-y Corresponding Author: Maria Giovanna Loquercio Email: mariagiovanna.loquercio@studenti.unipd.it

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Appendix Complete Catalog of Photographs and Metadata ID

Title

Description

Place

Date

Tematics

File name 001.dng

Jizō among the leaves

Jizō statue among autumn leaves.

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

29/11/2024

Nature and spirituality

002.dng

Towers and leaves

Autumn foliage with tower in the background

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Sacred architecture

003.dng

The scent of incense

Incense offering to the goddess Kannon.

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Ritual offering

004.dng

Pinwheel in the sun

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Memory and mourning

005.dng

Stone love

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Memory and mourning

006.dng

Purity

Mizuko kuyō statue with pinwheel and flowers. Statues of unborn children with pinwheels and red hats. Purification buckets for Mizuko statues.

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Ritual purification

007.dng

In the shade, at rest

Mizuko kuyō statue in the shade.

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Memory and mourning

008.dng

A thousand red pinwheels

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Memory and mourning

009.dng

Against the wind

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Transience and impermanence

010.dng

Eternal smile

Rows of unborn children statues with red pinwheels. Blurred pinwheel beside a Mizuko kuyō statue. Smiling statue of an

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Memory and mourning

Etnographic note Observing the ritual care of Mizuko statues among autumn leaves at Zojo-ji Seasonal foliage framing the temple and Tokyo Tower in the background Offering incense to Kannon deity during ritual prayers Mizuko statue with pinwheel and flowers in ceremonial display Memorial statues of unborn children with red hats and pinwheels

Credits

Ceremonial purification of Mizuko statues with water buckets Mizuko statue resting in temple shadows, quiet reverence Pinwheels honoring unborn children in ritual arrangement

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Pinwheel in motion beside Mizuko statue, symbolizing transient life Close-up of a smiling Mizuko

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Photo © Andrea

IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies

011.dng

Red of love

012.dng

Like pinwheels in the sun

013.dng

Invisible smoke

014.dng

unborn child. Red hat and pinwheel on Mizuko statue. Pinwheels and Mizuko kuyō statues.

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statue, symbol of eternal care Red hats and pinwheels as offerings to unborn children Cluster of pinwheels surrounding Mizuko statues at Zojo-ji Burning incense for Kannon deity, ritual devotion visible Black-andwhite study of incense offerings at Zojo-ji Portrait of Mizuko statue reflecting contemplation Unborn children statues lined in quiet temple space Two Mizuko statues placed together, “friends” in memorial Yellow flowers offered to Mizuko statues

Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Compassion and protection

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Memory and mourning

Burning incense sticks as offering.

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Ritual offering

Fragrance in the dark

Black-andwhite view of incense smoke.

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Ritual offering

015.dng

Thoughts of stone

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Memory and mourning

016.dng

Silence and wind

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Transience and impermanence

017.dng

Tomodachi (friends)

Stone Mizuko kuyō statue portrait. Statues of unborn children in the wind. Pair of Mizuko statues side by side.

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Friendship and remembrance

018.dng

Yellow flowers for you

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Ritual offering

019.dng

Sunflowers and pinwheels

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Memory and mourning

Pinwheels and floral offerings at Mizuko memorial site

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

020.dng

Illuminated

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Compassion and protection

Kannon statue illuminated, overlooking Mizuko statues

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

021.dng

Smiles and lotus flowers

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Compassion and protection

022.dng

Blue sky

Yellow flowers offered to Mizuko statue. Mizuko kuyō statues with sunflowers and pinwheels. Kannon statue with unborn children statues. Kannon statue with lotus flowers. Temple view with Tokyo

Zōjō-ji Temple Tokyo

01/12/2024

Sacred architecture

Lotus flowers and serene smile of Kannon statue Temple view with Tokyo Tower in

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

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Tower behind. Jizō statue holding a newborn.

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Compassion and protection

023.dng

Loving

024.dng

Peace

Jizō statue in peaceful pose.

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Compassion and protection

025.dng

Wisdom

Detail of Jizō statue face.

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Wisdom and spirituality

026.dng

Indelible memories

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Memory and mourning

027.dng

For peace

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Peace and remembrance

028.dng

Field of pinwheels

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Memory and mourning

029.dng

Prayers

Toys offered to unborn children. Origami cranes symbolizing peace. Pinwheels dedicated to unborn children. Jizō statue with prayer beads.

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Compassion and protection

030.dng

Listen

Jizō statue in prayer.

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Prayer and meditation

031.dng

All for them

Group of Jizō statues in prayer.

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Memory and mourning

032.dng

Maternal love

Zenkō-ji Temple Nagano

08/12/2024

Compassion and protection

033.dng

A Thousand Little Hands

Kannon statue holding a child. Knitted octopus

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital

27/11/2025

Knitted Therapy Toys

034.dng

The Face of Love

Octopus detail

27/11/2025

Knitted Therapy Toys

035.dng

Everything They Need

Cover set

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

27/11/2025

Neonatal Care Kit

distance, early light Jizo holding infant, Zenko-ji memorial context Jizo statue representing peace at Zenkoji Detail of Jizo statue symbolizing wisdom Toys left as memorials for unborn children at Zenko-ji Paper cranes offered for peace at Zenkoji Pinwheel field for Mizuko memorial at Zenko-ji Close-up of Jizo statue during ritual prayers Portrait of praying Jizo, symbolizing listening Statues in collective prayer at Zenko-ji Kannon holding unborn child, expressing maternal care Handmade octopuses comfort and soothe premature infants in neonatal care. Close-up shows care, warmth, and tactile support for newborns. Collection of knitted items for neonatal

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Photo © Andrea

IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies

036.dng

Warm as a Mother’s Touch

Knitted cap

037.dng

Closeness

Caps set

038.dng

Love Meant for Me

Handmade item

039.dng

Smiles

Smiling octopus

040.dng

All for Them

Knitted toys

041.dng

Of Dinosaurs and New Life

042.dng

043.dng

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(NICU) of Cona Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital

therapy and comfort.

Federico Montanari

27/11/2025

Neonatal Clothing

Handmade cap provides warmth and security for infants.

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

27/11/2025

Neonatal Clothing

Tiny caps symbolize closeness and protection for newborns.

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

27/11/2025

Miscellaneous Handmade

Crafted items offer comfort and emotional support to babies.

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

27/11/2025

Knitted Therapy Toys

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital

27/11/2025

Knitted Therapy Toys

Baby bodysuit

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital

27/11/2025

Neonatal Clothing

Little Suits of Love

Bodysuit detail

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Cona Hospital

27/11/2025

Neonatal Clothing

Smiles for Them

Octopus close-up

Maternity Unit of the AUSL Bologna

27/11/2025

Knitted Therapy Toys

Detail of octopus designed to bring joy and reassurance donated by ODV Mani di Mamma Collection of handmade toys donated by ODV Mani di Mamma for neonatal tactile therapy. Soft bodysuit supports warmth and gentle care for infants donated by ODV Mani di Mamma Close-up highlights handcrafted details for newborn comfort donated by ODV Mani di Mamma Knitted octopus detail provides tactile support and reassurance donated by

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

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044.dng

Loving Owls

Owl sleeping sack

Maternity Unit of the AUSL Bologna

27/11/2025

Sleeping Sacks

045.dng

An Owl Forever

Sleeping sack detail

Maternity Unit of the AUSL Bologna

27/11/2025

Sleeping Sacks

046.dng

A Story in Memories

Memory boxes

SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital

01/12/2025

Bereavement & Memory Care

047.dng

Tentacles of Love

Octopus detail

01/12/2025

Knitted Therapy Objects

048.dng

Like Mother and Child

Mother and child set

SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital

01/12/2025

Symbolic Companionship

049.dng

Thank You

Full memory box

SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital

01/12/2025

Bereavement Support Items

050.dng

Together

Duck plush pair

SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital

01/12/2025

Symbolic Family Figures

051.dng

I Will Always Be With You

Support message

SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital

01/12/2025

Emotional Care Practices

ODV Mani di Mamma Handmade sleeping sack keeps neonates warm and secure donated by ODV Mani di Mamma Close-up shows owl motif for comfort and emotional support donated by ODV Mani di Mamma Memory boxes preserve symbolic items supporting families in neonatal bereavement created by Legnano hospital staff Knitted octopuses used in therapeutic support within memory boxes. Paired octopuses symbolize maternal closeness inside memory boxes created by Legnano hospital staff Boxes contain commemorative objects offering comfort to grieving families. Plush ducks represent mother and child through symbolic imagery. Written message offers emotional comfort during delicate

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies

052.dng

We Will Not Forget You

Prepared memory boxes

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SC Pediatrics Unit of Legnano Hospital

01/12/2025

Bereavement & Memory Care

neonatal situations. Complete boxes created with care to support parents in difficult moments.

Photo © Andrea Federico Montanari

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Space, Soul, and Cosmos: The Interiority of Dalem in Javanese Omah Fidyani Samantha Chiba University, Japan Hironobu Aoki Chiba University, Japan Akira Ueda Chiba University, Japan

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Abstract The Javanese house, or omah, is a spatial construct that embodies meaning, lived experience, and the identity of its inhabitants. Within the dalem (inner house), each space fosters cultural relations tied to a sense of security, acquiescence, and inner experience in everyday life. Using a qualitative method that incorporates document study, narrative inquiry, and phenomenology, dalem is examined through historical perspectives, residents’ lived experiences, and the memories and perceptions embedded within the space. The interiority of dalem emerges through the interplay of context, container, and content, integrating domestic, symbolic, and sacred functions. The Javanese philosophical principle sejatining urip – sangkan paraning dumadi (living righteously in constant remembrance of God as life’s origin and ultimate end) forms the foundation for spatial context, situating human life in harmony with the cosmos. Spatial experience within the dalem thus extends beyond its function as a container; it serves not merely as a dwelling but as a vessel for organizing life, shaping character, and reinforcing emotional and spiritual bonds. The arrangement of content in the dalem is designed to regulate familial intimacy while connecting the human realm with ancestors and the divine. Kajogan (family space) functions as the center of family activities, social interaction, moral education, and cultural rituals, symbolizing prosperity and fertility. Senthong (inner chamber) emphasizes the sacred dimension as a space for prayer, ancestral veneration, and the safeguarding of heirlooms. Serongan (side chamber), as the most personal area, preserves familial privacy while conveying the cosmological meaning of the Javanese life journey. Together, these spatial elements of dalem fulfil physical, emotional, and spiritual needs in a unified whole that affirms the core balance of Javanese family life. Keywords: dalem, domestic space, interiority, Javanese culture, Omah Jawa

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A home refers to a particular concept within space, a concept that is often constructed over time through the spatial experiences of its inhabitants, both physically and emotionally. The presence of meaning, feelings, and emotions is further influenced by various factors, including the formation of spatial experiences and the daily traditions that unfold more intimately within everyday life (Lawrence, 1991). When linked to deeper spatial intimacy at home, it is referred to as interiority. Beyond the notion of living space, interiority is more profoundly influenced by the interior environment. Interiority is shaped by the internal environment of spatial experience (Ching & Binggeli, 2018). While spatial space may consist of boundaries (sides, top, and bottom), the interior environment embodies intentions, perception, and use, generating a more important meaning between space and its inhabitants. Interiority is also described as an intimate experience that emerges when humans interact with domestic space, shaping their lives (Bachelard, 1994). Furthermore, interiority is closely tied to the home interior, reflecting character and symbolizing the life of its inhabitants (Brooker & Stone, 2010). Together, these dimensions construct feelings, identity, meaning, and culture. In line with the concept of genius loci in interiors, it underscores that interiority is “the soul of place,” enabling humans to experience existential attachment to their home and its environment (Norberg-Schulz, 1980). The most dominant expression of living space or interiority in the Javanese house (omah Jawa) is found particularly in dalem (inner house). Enclosed and private, dalem is the innermost domestic space that articulates privacy, intimacy, and spiritual centrality in Javanese domestic architecture, serving as the household centre and family core, facilitating daily domestic activities (Ashadi, 2017). Unlike pendhapa (reception space), which is open and communal, dalem evokes intimacy, serenity, comfort, and security, embodying the deepest dimensions of dwelling experience. This condition resonates with the notion of the home as a place that nurtures intimate feelings of protection and psychological shelter (Bachelard, 1994). Accordingly, the dalem demonstrates how interiority emerges through cultural and cosmological values embedded within Javanese architectural tradition. The significance of the dalem extends beyond its domestic function. It is regarded as the heart of the omah, functioning not only as a private familial space but also as a sacred site of connection with God and ancestral spirits within Javanese belief systems (Prijotomo, 1984). Although dwelling spaces are generally understood as inherently personal (Coles & House, 2007), in the omah this personal dimension expands into sacred privacy through the presence of the senthong tengah (central sacred chamber). From the perspective of spatial organization in interior studies, which forms the essence of interiority, dalem embodies layered zones: a semi-public/semi-private area in kajogan (family space), a private and personal area in serongan (side chamber), and a private yet sacred area in senthong (inner chamber for worshiping and safekeeping of heirlooms). This study is guided by the main question: how can dalem (inner house) in the traditional Javanese house, omah, be understood as the most tangible representation of interiority, functioning as an existential container that mediates the relational, emotional, spiritual, and cultural dimensions of life. It further examines how spatial organization and functional zoning construct the multi-layered character of dalem, how interior spaces in dalem, such as senthong (inner chamber), serongan (side chamber), and kajogan (family space), shape lived experiences of privacy and harmony, and how spatial hierarchies, including furniture, atmosphere, and

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everyday practices, embody Javanese cosmology and social roles. By adopting a phenomenological and narrative approach, this research foregrounds the dimension of interiority that has received limited scholarly attention, positioning dalem as both an architectural form and a central interior space that unites individuals with family, ancestors, and God within the broader cultural structure of Javanese domestic life. In doing so, it offers a new contribution to the study of Javanese houses by shifting the focus from formal typology and structural configuration toward the lived, experiential, and existential meanings of interior space, thereby expanding the theoretical discourse on Javanese domestic architecture. Methodology The method employed in this study is qualitative, utilizing document analysis, narrative inquiry, and phenomenology through field research to explore the observation of behavior and experience in greater depth. This approach is applied to understand space through textual analysis and the lived experiences, along with the feelings of inhabitants. In this way, space within traditional Javanese houses or omah, particularly in dalem (inner house), can be interpreted through the meanings, functions, activities, and narratives that are formed and evolve within it. Document study was conducted because traditional Javanese houses employ numerous terms rooted in classical texts, such as Kawruh Griya, Kawruh Kalang, Serat Jarwasasana, Serat Centhini, Serat Atmawiyata, Serat Wulangreh, and Bausastra Jawa. These manuscripts offer insights into spatial organization, symbolism, and philosophical values, serving as historical foundations and theoretical references for field studies, as well as comparative sources against empirical observations. A narrative approach was employed to trace the stories embedded in the dalem’s spatial meanings and their functional uses. Narrative inquiry, which examines oral, written, and visual forms of storytelling, organizes experiences across time, place, role, relations, and memory, allowing the researcher to reconstruct inhabitants’ spatial experiences into coherent accounts (Coates, 2012; Hidayat, 2013). This method uncovers “interior narratives,” deepening the understanding of spatial interiority. Phenomenological research complements this by describing individuals’ lived experiences to capture the essence of phenomena shared among multiple participants (Creswell & Creswell, 2009). In architectural and interior studies, phenomenology explores meaning through perception and consciousness, emphasizing spatiality, time, and place as directly experienced by the body (Husserl, 1973; Merleau-Ponty, 2002). It reveals the philosophical dimensions of space grounded in tangible, perceived, and remembered experiences, thereby supporting narrative inquiry in uncovering the deeper significance of the dalem’s interiority. The exploration process was conducted through an initial screening phase, supported by information from local government informants who were familiar with the locations of remaining traditional Javanese houses, given their increasing rarity. From this search, only one house was identified as fully authentic and subsequently selected as the primary research site: the residence of Mr Mulyanto. He is the fourth-generation descendant of Mr Sotaruno, also known as Ki Lurah Sepuh Sotaruno, the first village head (lurah) of Bulakrejo in the 1800s.

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This house, built in the joglo typology (a traditional Javanese architectural form characterized by a pyramidal roof supported by four central pillars or saka guru) and estimated to be nearly 300 years old, is the only traditional Javanese house still standing in its original condition in Bulakrejo. The local community refers to it as Omah Mbah Lurah (the House of the Elder Village Leader). In addition to the primary research site, several other Javanese houses were identified, most of which adopt the limasan typology (a traditional Javanese architectural form characterized by a four-sided sloping roof structure): the residence of Mr Suparno (a limasan with modern renovations), Mr Karjo (a simple limasan), and Mr Sujimin (a simple limasan) in Bulakrejo, Sukoharjo; the residence of Mrs Suroso (a limasan with modern renovations) in Ngadirejo, Wonogiri; the residence of Mr Sukasni (a joglo with modern renovations) in Tremes, Wonogiri; and the residence of the late Mr Wahono (a limasan with modern renovations) in Ceper, Klaten. The study involved a total of seven families as research participants from the Surakarta Residency, specifically Sukoharjo, Wonogiri, and Klaten in Central Java. This research was conducted in two phases: August–September 2024 in Bulakrejo, Ngadirejo, and Tremes, and April–May 2025 in Bulakrejo and Klaten. After obtaining homeowners’ consent, data were collected through field observations, in-depth interviews, and visual documentation. Observations captured spatial layout, building orientation, activity flows, and social interactions, while also exploring how spaces are experienced and imbued with meaning within a phenomenological framework. In-depth interviews traced residents’ personal narratives, including memories, family traditions, cultural values, and events that shape the use and interpretation of space. Visual documentation, photographs, sketches, and floor plans, supported an understanding of the spatial structure, although some homeowners, such as the family of the late Mr Wahono, declined photography for ethical reasons, which was respected. Data analysis employed visual narrative mapping to identify storylines and relationships among events, people, and spaces, followed by descriptive narrative analysis to construct a coherent account of spatial experience and highlight key themes from residents’ perspectives. Results The findings indicate that dalem (inner house), as the core interior space of the Javanese house, displays a consistent organizational pattern across all participating households, characterized by the arrangement of senthong, serongan, and kajogan, which together establish a private– sacred spatial hierarchy. Observations reveal that the kajogan (family space) is the most actively used area, functioning as the centre of family interaction and as a domestic space predominantly associated with women. Activities such as eating, conversing, studying, resting, and receiving guests, particularly female visitors, take place in this space, positioning it as the primary site for shaping familial values and daily rhythms. Senthong (inner chamber) serves as the most sacred space within dalem. Historically, the central senthong functioned as the primary ritual locus of the Javanese house, where offerings and devotional practices rooted in a syncretic animistic–Hindu-Buddhist cosmology were performed (Mulder, 2005). With the spread of Islam in Java, particularly as many families became more observant Muslims during the 1980s and 1990s, these ritual practices gradually

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transformed (Mr Suparno, personal interview, September 5, 2024). Although the earlier offerings ceased, several informants noted that the central senthong continued to be maintained as a sacred space, now used for salah (Muslim ritual prayer). This transformation reflects a continuity of sacrality through religious adaptation rather than a rupture in spatial meaning. Practices formerly associated with the central senthong, including malam Jumat (Thursdaynight devotional ritual), sajen pancen (food offerings to ancestors), and metik (a harvest ritual), were once routinely performed and illustrate the spiritual traditions historically embedded within Javanese domestic life. Meanwhile, the right and left senthong are utilized for storing food supplies, heirlooms, and valuable items. In all informants’ houses, serongan (side chamber) consistently functions as a sleeping area. Although positioned as a lateral or peripheral extension of dalem, serongan accommodates everyday domestic intimacy, particularly as a space for rest. Its use as a sleeping chamber reflects the flexible adaptation of spatial hierarchy within the Javanese house, where peripheral zones may assume essential domestic functions. This recurring pattern across cases indicates that the serongan plays a stable role in sustaining daily life, complementing the more symbolic and ritual functions of the inner chambers. Symbolic elements, such as mirrors for ngilo diri (self-reflection) and gebyok patang aring (a wooden partition that functions as an interior divider between kajogan or family space and senthong or inner chamber), were also identified as part of the spatial boundary between the profane and the sacred. These findings demonstrate that the spatial composition of dalem integrates physical, social, and spiritual dimensions, making it a place where families instil values, sustain traditions, and maintain connections with their ancestors. Table 1 Findings from the Informants’ Houses Informant

House Type

Authenticity

Mr Joglo Original, Mulyanto (with ±300 years (Bulakrejo) pendhapa) old

Key Findings Complete dalem structure with patang aring (wooden partition) and mirror. Kajogan functions as the main family space. Central senthong was used for offerings, metik (a harvest ritual), and sajen pancen (a food offering ritual). Right/left senthong was used for storage; serongan was used as a bedroom.

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Informant

House Type

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Authenticity

Key Findings

Kajogan was used as the main family space. Central senthong was used for malam Jumat ritual (Thursdaynight devotional ritual) and metik ritual. Right/left senthong were used for storage. Serongan was used as a bedroom.

Modern Mr Limasan renovations, Suparno (with ±100 years (Bulakrejo) pendhapa) old

Mr Karjo Simple (Bulakrejo) Limasan

Kajogan was used as a guest area (due to the absence of a pendhapa) and as the main family space. Senthong was Original, ±32 actively used for storing rice, with no associated ritual years old practices. The central senthong was used for salah (Islamic prayer) since the house was built. Serongan was used as a bedroom.

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Informant

House Type

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Authenticity

Key Findings

Kajogan was used as a guest area (due to the absence of a pendhapa) and as the main family space. Senthong was used actively for storing rice, with no associated ritual practices. The central senthong was used for salah (Islamic prayer) since the house was built. Serongan was used as a bedroom.

Mr Sujimin Simple (Bulakrejo) Limasan

Original, ±39 years old

Modern Limasan Mrs Suroso renovations, (with (Ngadirejo) ±200 years pendhapa) old

Kajogan was used as the main family space. Central senthong was used for malam Jumat and metik ritual. Right/left senthong is actively used for storing rice, while serongan is used as a bedroom.

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Informant

House Type

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Authenticity

Key Findings

Kajogan was used as the main family space. Central senthong was used for malam Jumat ritual. Right/left senthong was used for storing heirlooms and rice. Serongan was used as a bedroom.

Significant Joglo modern Mr Sukasni (with (Tremes) renovations, pendhapa) ±83 years old

The late Mr Wahono (Ceper)

Limasan

The house is no longer in use. Kajogan served as the main Modern family space. Central senthong was used for malam Jumat renovations; and sajen pancen rituals. Right/left senthong were used for ±70 years old storing heirlooms and rice. Serongan was used as a bedroom. Not photographed.

From these houses, floor plans were obtained showing a similar spatial arrangement: kajogan as the family room, serongan as the bedroom, central senthong as the sacred space for prayer, and right or left senthong functioning as storage. This consistent spatial arrangement demonstrates the relatively stable organizational pattern of the dalem in traditional Javanese

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houses, reflecting the function, value, and level of privacy of each space. The arrangement is illustrated in the floor plan shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 Floor Plan of Dalem Area in Each Informant’s House (source: image by author)

Source: Image by Author

Table 2 Findings on Spatial Functions within Dalem Space

Field Findings

Meaning Dimension

Kajogan

Most active space; used for eating, sleeping, conversing, studying, receiving guests (if no pendhapa), receiving female visitors

Domestic-feminine space; center for family value education; family interaction space

Serongan

Private personal space

Resting, sleeping; transitional space between kajogan and senthong

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Space

Field Findings

Meaning Dimension

Senthong Tengah (Central)

Most sacred space; used for prayer, offerings, and sholat

Spirituality, ancestor reverence, wellbeing, and fertility

Senthong Kanan/Kiri (Right/Left)

Storage for rice, heirlooms, and valuables

Household safety; continuity of family economy

Dalem (overall)

Core space: organizes daily family activities

Physical–social–spiritual integration; Javanese spatial interiority

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Table 3 Activity and Ritual Patterns within the Dalem Activity/ Ritual

Location

Findings

Meaning

Family interaction

Kajogan

Eating, chatting, studying, sleeping; consistent across all houses

Character building, family closeness

Receiving female guests

Kajogan

Consistent across all houses

Domestic–private space designated for women

Friday-night ritual

Kajogan → Prayers, incense, and Continuity facing the flower offerings; present spirituality central senthong in several houses

Metik ritual

A bundle of rice is kept Rice field → and prayed over; present Fertility and gratitude central senthong in several houses

Sajen pancen (Eid)

Central senthong Offerings for ancestors; Honoring deceased or in front of it present in several houses family members

Wedding stage

Symbolic-colored In front of curtains, offerings; central senthong consistent across all houses

family

Family blessing symbol of a household

and new

Table 4 Physical and Symbolic Functions of Dalem Elements Element

Physical Function

Symbolic Function

Mirror (ngilo diri)

A tool for viewing oneself

Introspection, moral reminder

Gebyok patang aring (wooden partition)

Room divider

Boundary between the profane and the sacred; dalem aesthetics

Mat / wooden platform (tikar / amben)

Seating/resting surface

Modesty, spatial flexibility

Offerings (sesaji)

Ritual medium

Prayers for safety and well-being

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Figure 2 Physical and Symbolic of Dalem Elements

Source: Author’s Documentation

The presentation of this study’s findings aims to reveal how dalem, as the core space within the Javanese omah, articulates its functions and embodies a structure of values, symbols (including symbolic elements such as those illustrated in Figure 2), and everyday practices that shape spatial experience in Javanese life. A detailed explanation of spatial composition, encompassing the kajogan, serongan, and senthong, as well as the activities and rituals that occur within them, is necessary to demonstrate the consistency of spatial organization across the informants’ homes while also capturing functional variations influenced by social context, occupation, and changing times. Descriptions of each element and ritual practice provide a comprehensive picture of how domestic, social, and spiritual dimensions are interwoven in daily life. In addition, the accompanying tables highlight cross-house comparisons, presenting shared patterns and the distinctive characteristics of each informant, thereby reinforcing the analysis that the dalem is a space of interiority integrating everyday functions with symbolic and cosmological meanings. Through this detailed elaboration, the study can trace how space is not merely used but lived, experienced as part of cultural identity, the continuity of tradition, and the formation of Javanese family life. Discussion: Spatial Organization within the Dalem Based on the above visual displays, dalems are enclosed and private, encapsulating values of harmony, emotional ease, and a sense of security within a household (Subiyantoro, 2011). It also represents the deeper meaning of omah, including omah-omah (domestic life), somah (husband–wife partnership), and diomah (marriage), which underscores the home as the place where the family’s everyday life unfolds, particularly the daily practices of husbands and wives (Poerwadarminta, 1939). This understanding aligns with the statements of the informants, who emphasized that nearly all family activities take place in the dalem: maintaining marital harmony, gathering and conversing with children, and engaging in prayer to seek shared happiness. The pursuit of such happiness is also affirmed in the classical manuscript Serat Jarwasasana, which notes that the term omah derives from gomah, meaning to attain a sense of joy, highlighting the home as an emotional space oriented toward inner comfort (Iqbal & Widodo, 2021). In Bausastra Jawa, the term dalem is defined as ing sajroning, or inside,

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referring to the innermost and most private area of the house. The term is synonymous with kawula or kula, meaning “I”, which positions dalem as a personal space for the homeowner and their family (Poerwadarminta, 1939). The meaning of dalem as the center of family life is not limited to symbolic interpretation but is concretely manifested through its spatial arrangement, consisting of kajogan as a semipublic/semi-private area for family interaction; serongan as an intimate and highly private sleeping space; and senthong as a sacred room for worship and storage. These spaces form layered degrees of interiority within the Javanese house, regulating the rhythm of daily activities, privacy, and ritual practices. The roles of these spaces demonstrate the essential position of the interior environment, as most human activities take place indoors, particularly in dalem as the primary area where family life unfolds. The way interior spaces are created, designed, and inhabited plays a crucial role in shaping the quality of one’s presence and psychological well-being (Kilmer & Kilmer, 2014). From the perspective of interior design planning, the spatial planning process is shaped through the establishment of goals, the articulation of needs, the identification of activities, spatial organization planning, and design realization (Ching & Binggeli, 2018). This process is influenced by three primary components: context, container, and content (Coles & House, 2007). As a container, dalem is an integral part of the structural configuration of the Javanese omah. As content, it reflects the everyday needs of Javanese people in their daily lives. Contextually, dalem is shaped by Javanese cultural values grounded in the philosophical principle of sejatining urip – sangkan paraning dumadi, which conveys the idea of living righteously to attain spiritual perfection by continually remembering God as both the origin and ultimate destination of life (Zoetmulder, 1991). The concepts of sejatining urip (the essence of life) and sangkan paraning dumadi (the origin and ultimate return of existence) can be traced to pre-Islamic Javanese cosmology during the Hindu–Buddhist period, where ideas of cosmic origin and human–divine unity were already established (Mulder, 2005). With the spread of Islam from the sixteenth century onward, these concepts were reinterpreted within Sufi framework rather than replaced (Fitriyati & Widagdo, 2025). This is largely due to the adaptive and experiential nature of Sufism, which resonates with the existing Javanese cosmological worldview (Geertz, 1960). Sufi thought accommodates symbolic and cultural systems through processes of reinterpretation and localization (Woodward, 2011). Such reinterpretation extends beyond belief systems into spatial and cultural practices. Cosmological principles are translated into spatial order, where meaning is embedded in hierarchy, orientation, and spatial sequencing. This allows symbolic, hierarchical, and experiential dimensions of space to be preserved and rearticulated within an Islamic framework, enabling traditional spatial configurations to persist while acquiring new layers of spiritual meaning (Lefebvre, 1991). Contemporary studies continue to recognize sejatining urip – sangkan paraning dumadi as a foundational philosophical axis in Javanese cultural and spatial thought (Permadi et al., 2024).

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This principle shapes the character of the Javanese person: that life must be lived well and meaningfully to attain happiness and safety in both the material world and the afterlife (Kartono, 2005). God is regarded as the creator of the cosmos, and humans are therefore obligated to maintain harmony with one another, with the environment, and with the universe. Consequently, the Javanese orientation toward life centers on achieving balance, happiness, and holistic well-being, both physical and spiritual (Ronald, 2005). This cultural framework, which underlies the meaning and functions of dalem, explains how Javanese life values are translated into more concrete spatial needs. From this worldview emerges Javanese cosmology, which was established prior to the arrival of Islam and subsequently reinterpreted through ongoing cultural and religious transformations. This cosmology emphasizes balance in fulfilling life’s needs and directly influences the spatial organization of the omah. The needs of Javanese people encompass physical aspects (food and shelter), spiritual aspects (relationship with God), inner well-being (calmness, happiness, and safety), social togetherness, and harmony with nature (Koentjaraningrat, 1984; Magnis-Suseno, 1984). Within the spatial layout of the Javanese house, this cosmology is clearly manifested: pelataran (courtyard) reflects the relationship with nature, pendhapa accommodates social needs, and dalem fulfills physical, emotional, and spiritual needs through its internal divisions. Upon closer examination, these physical, spiritual, and emotional needs are mutually reinforcing. Food and shelter constitute two of the three basic human needs, sandhang (clothing), pangan (food), and papan (shelter), with papan realized through the house as a place to live and pangan as the sustenance necessary for survival (Ronald, 2005). However, for the Javanese, the continuity of life depends not only on food and shelter but also on the attainment of slamet, a state of safety characterized by freedom from misfortune and the presence of emotional and existential security (Koentjaraningrat, 1984). The concept of slamet (a state of existential security and safety from misfortune) is manifested through the presence of senthong, which serves as both a storage area and a place for prayer. The right and left senthong serve as storage for essential household needs, such as rice, fulfilling the physical aspect of sustenance, as well as heirlooms or weapons that symbolize protection and safety. The central senthong (senthong tengah) serves specifically as a prayer space. For the Javanese, slamet is achieved not only through material or physical protection but also through spiritual safeguarding. Accordingly, the central senthong is regarded as the most sacred space within the Javanese house, serving a dual function as a repository for valuable items and as a locus for spiritual engagement (Ashadi, 2017). Javanese people believe that well-being is attained through devotion to God, reverence for ancestors, and rituals directed to traditional deities, particularly Dewi Sri, the symbol of household prosperity (Kartono, 2005). The presence of the Divine is regarded as essential in every phase of life, as humans depend on God’s blessings while also being obliged to express gratitude for His gifts. As stated in Serat Atmawiyata (classical manuscript), this is reflected in the concept of panarimahing satitah or nrima (the acceptance of all sustenance granted by God) (Mumfangati, 2014). Thus, the central senthong stands as a sacred private space that characterizes dalem within the Javanese omah.

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In addition, dalem contains a highly personal private space, namely the side chamber, or serongan, which functions as a sleeping area. Its primary function aligns with that of bedrooms in general, as a place for rest. However, within the context of a Javanese omah, or traditional household, the bedroom, especially that of the husband and wife, holds a deeply intimate position, maintaining marital harmony and supporting generational succession (Prijotomo, 2006). The bedroom also functions as the most private area for discussing important or confidential matters, making other family members, including children, reluctant to enter without explicit permission (Ronald, 2005). Mr Mulyanto (personal interview, September 3, 2024) likewise recalled that during his childhood, he felt hesitant to enter his parents’ bedroom unless he had been granted permission. This experience suggests that the serongan can be understood as one of the most private spaces within the omah. Such spatial practices reflect the regulation of social interaction in accordance with Altman’s (1975) theory of privacy, which posits that individuals possess the ability to control the boundaries of social interaction. In this sense, the bedroom functions as a highly restricted domain, embodying a deeply personal and private space (Mr Mulyanto, personal interview, September 3, 2024; Altman, 1975). The only semi-public space within dalem is kajogan, the central area that serves as the main locus of family interaction. Kajogan serves as a family room that fosters household harmony through shared activities, and even close relatives or female guests are welcome to enter this area (Santosa, 2000). From an environmental psychology perspective, kajogan can be understood as a living, flexible, and user-personalizable space due to its multifunctional character. Such a space is capable of accommodating the inhabitants’ abstract needs, including emotional dimensions and social interaction, making it a well-designed and meaningful built environment (Namazian & Mehdipour, 2013). Cosmologically, kajogan occupies an important position because it lies at the centre of dalem, which in Javanese thought represents a balance between the sacred space (central senthong) and the profane spaces (serongan). Its central location signifies its role as a connector, a place where the family cultivates internal harmony while simultaneously maintaining cosmic order within the household (Prijotomo, 2006).

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Figure 3 The Spatial Organization of Omah, Especially in Dalem

Source: Image by Author

If incorporated into interior space programming, the primary objective of spatial planning in the Javanese omah is to achieve sejatining urip – sangkan paraning dumadi, namely the attainment of happiness, inner calm, and well-being. This goal is realized through the meeting of physical, spiritual, emotional, and social needs, all of which are integrated within the spatial configuration of dalem, as illustrated in Figure 3. In the context of interiority, spatial planning in the Javanese omah, particularly within dalem, demonstrates how an orderly spatial structure reflects the inhabitants’ inner, spiritual, and emotional experiences through the integration of life needs, cosmology, spirituality, and Javanese philosophy. The spaces explicitly reserved for family members render the dalem a private domain. This characteristic is reflected in Serat Wulangreh, where the concept of rumeksa kalayan wadi refers to protecting something in a concealed, private, or sacred manner. Accordingly, the dalem functions as a space that safeguards matters considered secret, personal, and sacred within Javanese domestic life (Susilantini et al., 1997). Kajogan: The Center of Family Life and a Symbol of Femininity While pendhapa (reception space) tends to represent male authority, asserting presence and roles in the public domain, dalem (inner house) is mostly considered to be the female domain. According to Kawruh Griya, dalem is referred to as sri, meaning “noble” or “beautiful,” symbolized by the fragrance of flowers. This metaphor elevates the interior space as refined and sacred, emphasizing its role as a protected domain for storing valuable possessions. The inclusion of female family members, such as the wife and daughters, within this protected sphere suggests a culturally embedded association between femininity, value, and interiority. Rather than merely indicating control, this spatial arrangement reflects broader Javanese

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notions of honor, protection, and moral order as materially expressed through domestic architecture (Prijotomo, 2006). Meanwhile, Kawruh Kalang describes dalem as griya wingking, meaning the rear house or main house, due to its location behind pendhapa, which serves as the residence for the parents and female children (Priatmodjo, 2004). From this emerges the notion of women’s roles in the Javanese household as kanca mburi or kanca wingking (rear companion), the life partner of the husband residing in the back house/dalem (Mrs Sri, wife of Mr Mulyanto, personal interview, September 3, 2024). Women are referred to as kanca wingking (rear companion) because they serve as their husband’s companion, household manager, and family educator (Hastuti et al., 2024). This is further emphasized in the Serat Centhini, which describes dalem as a domestic area where the wife serves the husband, prepares meals, and manages household needs: “Dedaleman pisan kawula tumangguh angyasakken ingkang panti miwah nyangga dhaharipun kantuna nadhah myang guling,” meaning, “in the dalem, I sit to prepare all the necessities of the house, serve the meals, and arrange the household items” (Yayasan Centhini Yogyakarta, 1991, p. 217). Therefore, dalem frames the identity and role of Javanese women within the family structure, positioning them centrally in maintaining both the material and moral harmony of the household. As a private space that supports women’s roles within the family, dalem contains a specific zone that serves as the focal point of activity: kajogan (Figure 4), located at the center of the house. The term derives from jogan, meaning the floor or surface of the house (jrambahing omah) (Poerwadarminta, 1939). It is called kajogan because it functions as the central area for family activities, such as eating, studying, conversing, and sleeping together, typically performed on the house floor, layered with mats or a large platform bed (amben), as shown in Figure 5. The flexibility of kajogan reflects the intimacy and organization of domestic life, which is primarily managed by women, while also symbolizing fertility and harmony within the Javanese cosmology of the house (Hastuti et al., 2024). Figure 4 Kajogan in Several Informants’ Houses

Source: Mr Karjo and Mr Sukasni’s House, Author’s Documentation

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Figure 5 Kajogan is equipped with amben for chatting with family

Source: Mr Suparno’s House, Author’s Documentation

In this context, kajogan functions as a multifunctional space that demonstrates how the Javanese optimize limited space to meet domestic needs (Kilmer & Kilmer, 2014). This area plays a significant role in shaping family character, particularly through the mother’s role as the primary caregiver who cultivates moral values in her children. The internalization of these moral values occurs through four aspects: speech (ilat), attitude (ulat), action (glagat), and the inner self (kemat) (Nardiati et al., 2023). This aligns with Javanese ethics, which emphasize the importance of upholding moral conduct to achieve a peaceful, harmonious, and prosperous life, as expressed in Serat Wulangreh, “ambeke kang wus utama tan ngendhak gunaning janmi amiguna ‘ing aguna sasolahe kudu bathi,” meaning that the highest or best character of a Javanese person is to avoid harming others, act beneficially in one’s endeavours, and ensure that every action produces advantage or usefulness (Ismawati & Warsito, 2021, p. 64). In the social structure of the Javanese house, pendhapa is used to receive male guests, whereas female guests are typically received in dalem. This spatial division reinforces both the social function of the house and Javanese norms of propriety (tata krama), in which women are regarded as the family’s heritage (garwo or sigaraning nyawa) whose dignity and honor must be protected from public view (Koentjaraningrat, 1984). This distinction is particularly evident in Javanese wedding traditions. Mr Mulyanto (personal interview, September 3, 2024) and Mr Suparno (personal interview, September 5, 2024) explained that male guests are generally received in pendhapa, while female guests remain in dalem, as illustrated in Figure 6. Mr Karjo (personal interview, September 9, 2024) added that if a house does not have a pendhapa, male guests are received in pelataran (courtyard) and female guests are welcomed in dalem. Pendhapa and the open, public courtyard (pelataran) emphasize social hierarchy and male presence in the public sphere. In contrast, dalem, as a private and sacred space, serves the family and female guests, maintaining privacy, propriety, and more intimate interaction (Santosa, 2000). This practice illustrates how the traditional Javanese house structure reflects the social, moral, and symbolic values internalized within each ritual activity (Subiyantoro, 2011). Furthermore, this spatial arrangement reinforces the symbolic function of the Javanese house as a representation of cosmology and social order: the pendhapa as an open, masculine

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public space, and dalem as a private, feminine space that safeguards the continuity of household life (Muqoffa, 2005). Figure 6 Zoning of Wedding Ceremony in Omah, Dalem, and Pendhapa

Source: Image by Author

From the foregoing discussion, in terms of interiority, kajogan functions as a multifunctional area, not only for daily activities but also as a space deeply associated with the role of women as kanca wingking (rear companion). It embodies and displays women’s social status, shaping a spatial structure that reflects norms of propriety, dignity, and the internalization of women as the family’s heritage. As Merleau-Ponty (1962, p. 114-115) suggests, “Its spatiality is not, like that of external objects or like that of ‘spatial sensations’, a spatiality of position, but a spatiality of situation.” In this context, “its” refers to the lived body as the subject of spatial experience. Merleau-Ponty emphasizes that spatiality is not merely defined by objective position, but by the situated and embodied experience of the body within space. Within this framework, domestic space in the Javanese house (omah) can be understood as a lived and experiential field. From this perspective, kajogan may be understood as a container of domestic functions and as a lived space constituted through embodied practices. Through habitual gestures, caregiving routines, and intimate gatherings, the space is inhabited and continuously produced, rather than merely occupied. Furthermore, kajogan serves as the center of spatial experiences that nurture emotional well-being, fostering intimacy and building emotional bonds, particularly among family members, thus forming the experiential core of household life.

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Senthong: A Space of Spirituality and Security Senthong is the most private space within dalem and holds a central role in Javanese domestic life. In Bausastra Jawa, senthong is defined as guthekan ing sajroning omah, referring to an inner chamber or room within the house (Poerwadarminta, 1939). Traditionally, a dalem contains three senthong: the central senthong, the right senthong, and the left senthong. The central senthong occupies the most important and sacred position, functioning as a place for prayer and the core of the family’s spiritual activities. This spatial hierarchy reflects the teaching of panarimaning satitah described in the Serat Atmawiyata, which emphasizes accepting and being grateful for God’s will in the course of life (Mumfangati, 2014). Meanwhile, the right and left senthong serve as storage spaces for valuables, family heirlooms, and food supplies, items regarded in kawruh kalang as raja brana, or treasured possessions (Priatmodjo, 2004). Collectively, these three senthong reinforce the role of the dalem as an intimate domain that integrates spiritual, symbolic, and practical dimensions of Javanese household life (Prijotomo, 2006). Figure 7 Senthong tengah is equipped with a cabinet for storing valuable items

Source: Author’s Documentation

All informants described the central senthong as the most sacred space within the dalem, a place dedicated to prayer and ritual devotion, also known as krobongan and petanen. The term krobongan refers to an inner chamber veiled with a curtain as a form of protection and reverence for its sanctity. At the same time, petanen is associated with the veneration of Dewi Sri, the rice goddess symbolizing fertility and family prosperity (Schoppert & Damais, 1997). According to Mr Sukasni (personal interview, August 18, 2024), central senthong is commonly used for praying for protection in life as well as to express gratitude. Rituals conducted in and around this space are closely linked to prayers for safety, sustenance, and blessings for all family members (Santosa, 2000). Consequently, the central senthong functions as the core of the Javanese house, a locus of wingit or revered mystical power (Nindita & Kurniawan, 2025). Families such as those of Mr Karjo (personal interview, September 9, 2024) and Mr Sujimin

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(personal interview, May 6, 2025), who were already devout Muslims when their houses were built, use the central senthong as a space for salah (Islamic prayer). Despite differences in ritual practice, the room continues to serve its essential purpose as a place for prayer and reflection. Additionally, the central senthong is used to store valuable possessions, equipped with a cabinet (Figure 7), further emphasizing its role as a space that bridges the physical and spiritual dimensions of domestic life. Overall, the central senthong is regarded as a narrative core of Javanese life, one that connects ancestral values, the lived present, and prayers for the future (Nardiati et al., 2023). Figure 8 Gebyok Patang Aring, which Serves as A Barrier between the Senthong and Kajogan

Source: Image by Author

In both daily and customary rituals, practices are not performed directly inside the central senthong, but rather in the kajogan area located immediately in front of it. Positioned at the centre of the dalem, kajogan serves not only as the focal point of family activities but also as an intermediary zone between the domestic and the sacred spheres, reinforcing its role as a transitional space that bridges everyday life with the spiritual dimension. To honor the sacred boundary between the central senthong and kajogan, a partition known as gebyok patang aring (Figure 8) is installed. The term derives from patang, meaning dark or dim, and aring, meaning illumination or light; thus, patang aring refers to the twilight-like condition between darkness and brightness (Poerwadarminta, 1939). This designation relates to the intentionally subdued

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atmosphere behind gebyok, which is made dimmer than other parts of the dalem to emphasize the distinction between the profane, everyday spaces and the sacred realm imbued with symbolic meaning, particularly the balance between light and darkness (Santosa, 2000). For this reason, patang aring is designed as the most ornate and majestic element within the dalem, serving as both a visual focal point and a marker of the senthong’s sanctity (Budiwiyanto, 2021). Rituals performed within the Javanese house include malam jumat, a safety ritual; the metik ritual before harvest; sajen pancen, an offering during Eid al-Fitr (a celebration marking the end of the holy month of fasting); and wedding rituals, as illustrated in Figure 9. The families of Mr Suparno, Mrs Suroso, and Mr Sukasni carry out their weekly rituals in kajogan, facing the central senthong. In the past, within Mr Suparno's household, Suparno’s grandfather led prayers every Thursday evening in front of the central senthong, burning kemenyan (incense) and preparing two bowls of kembang (flowers) as media for delivering prayers. In Javanese tradition, flowers symbolize harmony, while the fire and smoke from kemenyan (incense) represent spirit, hope, and the channel through which prayers are conveyed to the Divine (Shoikhin, 2010). After the prayer concluded, one bowl of flowers was placed in the central tengah to honor the most sacred space, while the other was set in front of pendhapa as a symbol of the connection between the inner and outer realms of the house. This ritual served as a means of seeking forgiveness, protection, and well-being for the family. Among the Suroso and Sukasni families, a similar practice is also carried out, although it is performed using incense alone, without the use of flowers. Figure 9 Various Rituals in Dalem

Source: Image by Author

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The metik ritual is performed two days before the harvest as an expression of gratitude and a plea for blessings on the yield. The ritual is led by the wife, symbolizing fertility and the domestic role of women. The offerings prepared include kembang (flowers), kemenyan (incense), traditional market snacks, sego golong, and ayam ingkung, each representing purity, prayer, sustenance, unity, and human submission to God. All offerings are carried to the rice field and placed at each corner of the plot as a request for protection over the crops. The wife then selects a bundle of rice stalks consisting of seventeen grains, corresponding to the Javanese calculation for the auspicious day of Kamis Pahing, to be presented in the central senthong to Dewi Sri (the rice goddess) as a petition for an abundant harvest (Mr Suparno, personal interview, September 5, 2024). As noted by Santosa (2010), this harvest ritual dedicated to Dewi Sri reflects a Javanese belief that such offerings can bestow prosperity, well-being, sustenance, and protection from famine upon the family. Sajen pancen (a ritual practice of presenting food offerings to ancestors during Eid al-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of the holy month of fasting) is a special practice performed exclusively during Eid al-Fitr, based on the Javanese belief that on this sacred day, the spirits of parents and ancestors return home to visit their families and join in the celebration (Mrs Miyati, personal interview, September 2, 2025). As an expression of respect, the family prepares the deceased's favourite foods and drinks, or cigarettes, accompanied by flowers and incense, which are then placed in or near the central senthong, the sacred space for ancestral prayer. These offerings are presented to the ancestors before family members are permitted to share a meal, reaffirming reverence for those who have passed away and maintaining spiritual etiquette within the household (Mr Mulyanto, personal interview, May 15, 2025). This ritual is also observed in the Wahono family in Klaten; however, in their practice, sajen pancen is placed directly inside the central senthong, while family members first pray for the souls of their ancestors in the kajogan before gathering for the communal meal. Symbolically, sajen pancen reflects the intimate relationship with the ancestral realm, serving as both a gesture of honor and a familial offering, while expressing the belief in the continuity of life between the living and the departed. In traditional Javanese wedding rituals, the bridal stage is placed in front of the central senthong to signify the senthong’s role as the family’s spiritual centre. Within the wedding ceremony, the central senthong functions as the primary site of prayer for the couple’s future happiness and prosperity in establishing their household (Prijotomo, 2006). All informants stated that the placement of the wedding stage also carries symbolic meaning, as shown in Figure 10, where the senthong serves as a ritual setting enhanced with a pair of pillows and bolsters, symbolizing the household and expressing the hope for many children. Curtains in red (symbolizing masculinity), white (femininity), yellow (virtue), or green (loyalty) are also installed to highlight the spiritual dimension of the wedding procession (Mr Rudianto, personal interview, May 17, 2025). Collectively, these symbols serve as a medium of prayer to Dewi Sri, the goddess of household prosperity.

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Figure 10 Central Senthong, Pillows and Bolsters Symbolizing the Household in the Wedding Ritual

Source: Museum Keraton Surakarta, Author’s Documentation (2025)

Figure 11 A Pair of Mirrors on the Upper-Left Wall of Central Senthong

Source: Mr Mulyanto’s house, Author’s Documentation

On the upper left side of the central senthong (as found in the house of Mr Mulyanto), there is a pair of old mirrors that has been preserved in its original position (Figure 11). The mirrors

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are oriented downward, directly toward the prayer area, allowing the occupants to engage in self-reflection while performing their devotions. According to Mr Mulyanto, the mirrors carry a profound philosophical meaning, serving as a symbolic reminder of human mistakes committed in worldly life and as an invitation for continual self-improvement; for this reason, they have been maintained in their original placement (Mr Mulyanto, personal interview, May 15, 2025). A similar interpretation was expressed by Mr Rudianto, who explained that mirrors inside the house are used for ngilo diri (self-reflection), emphasizing introspection and selfawareness (Mr Rudianto, personal interview, May 17, 2025). In aristocratic households or affluent families, mirrors were often arranged in pairs and placed symmetrically, not only for visual reflection but also to reinforce principles of balance, order, and spatial harmony (Schoppert & Damais, 1997). The right and left senthong function as flexible storage spaces, meaning their specific uses are not fixed to a particular side. These rooms are generally used to store rice, food supplies, family valuables, or weapons. In the house of Mr Mulyanto, for example, the right senthong is used to store weapons such as spears and a collection of keris (a traditional Javanese dagger), while the left senthong serves as a storage space for harvested rice (Figure 12). The spatial meaning of senthong is also associated with the symbolic orientation of the sun: senthong on the eastern side symbolizes success and the beginning of labour, aligning with the metaphor of sunrise marking the start of daily activities (Santosa, 2000; Nardiati et al., 2023), whereas senthong on the western side represents hopes for strength and renewed happiness, as sunset is understood as a sign of the coming day (Santosa, 2000). In Mr Suparno and Mrs Suroso's households, which were formerly engaged in farming, both senthong rooms were typically used to store rice. Figure 12 Right and Left Senthong for Storing Heirlooms or Rice

Source: Mulyanto’s house, author’s documentation (2025)

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From the discussion above, senthong, particularly central senthong, encompasses both inner and spiritual reflection. As Pallasmaa (2005, p. 40) asserts, “interiority is the capacity of space to invite inhabitation and introspection,” positioning senthong as a private-sacred space that provides security and comfort while serving as a conduit between humans, ancestors, and God. This sacredness is reinforced by architectural elements such as the gebyok patang aring, which creates a dimly lit atmosphere that emphasizes the boundary between profane spaces (the kajogan) and sacred spaces (the senthong). The presence of mirrors within the room further accentuates its reflective function, serving as a reminder for continuous self-introspection. Through Ching and Binggeli’s (2018) framework of interiority, intentions, perception, and use, the intentions of senthong are evident in the cultural and ritual significance assigned by Javanese society, situating it as a sacred centre and a symbol of well-being, security, and familial protection. Perception manifests in the spatial experience shaped by subdued lighting, the scent of incense, and the presence of heirlooms, which symbolically distinguish between the outer (kajogan) and inner (senthong) spaces. Use is observed in a variety of activities, ranging from weekly safety rituals and ancestral veneration to wedding ceremonies and the storage of heirlooms, food, and weapons. Overall, the interiority of senthong creates a deeply personal spatial experience, fulfilling spiritual and emotional needs while reinforcing the cosmological identity of the Javanese house as a connector between humans, ancestors, and the cosmos. In line with Norberg-Schulz (1980), such interiority constitutes the “soul of place,” enabling occupants to experience a profound attachment to their dwelling. Serongan: A Deep Meaning of Personal Space There are two serongan on the outermost right and left sides, functioning as bedrooms and equipped with amenities according to need, such as amben (bed) for sleeping and resting, and wardrobes for storing personal belongings (Figure 13). The term serongan derives from serong with the suffix -an, meaning slightly slanted (Poerwadarminta, 1939), referring to their position under the sloping edges of the dalem’s roof. This location highlights serongan’s role as a private and personal space accessible only to family members, particularly the room’s occupant (Santosa, 2000). The sense of privacy is most pronounced in the main bedroom of a married couple, which serves as the most personal space for physical and emotional interaction. In the Javanese domestic context, these side rooms, located at the “outermost edges,” function to maintain boundaries between the public and highly private spheres, providing emotional freedom and interpersonal intimacy for the couple (Kartono, 2005). Thus, the bedrooms become spaces for reinforcing family bonds and sustaining household harmony.

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Figure 13 Interior Design in Serongan

Source: Mr Mulyanto and Mr Karjo’s house, author’s documentation

In addition to serving the married couple, serongan can also be occupied by grandparents or children approaching adulthood. The symbolic orientation of the cardinal directions influences this allocation. The eastern serongan is generally reserved for the homeowners (husband and wife), as the east symbolizes the birth of a new day, productivity, and readiness to begin daily activities, a metaphor closely associated with couples in their productive years and the hope of having children (Ashadi, 2017). Conversely, the western serongan is designated for elderly parents, as the west represents the setting sun, symbolizing the twilight of life and proximity to death. This orientation conveys the importance of preparing virtuous deeds for the final journey while also symbolizing the continuity of life, as the setting sun signals the arrival of a new day (Santosa, 2000). This practice is observed in the households of Mr Mulyanto and Mr Suparno, where the western serongan serves as the final room for elderly parents during illness until their passing, reinforcing the symbolic meaning of the west as the conclusion of life’s journey. It exemplifies the broader understanding of space as an integral part of the life cycle. From the perspective of interiority and phenomenology, serongan constitutes the most intimate space within the house, where the room’s occupant manages boundaries of privacy through actions of opening or closing themselves off from others, simultaneously asserting personal territoriality (Namazian & Mehdipour, 2013). Serongan offers a warm, protected spatial experience, allowing occupants, particularly married couples, to experience emotional closeness and inner tranquillity (Pallasmaa, 2005). The added significance of the east–west orientation enriches the interiority of this space, as serongan becomes a representation of Javanese cosmology and the life-death cycle, serving as a reminder of the principle of sejatining urip – sangkan paraning dumadi (living righteously in constant remembrance of God as life’s origin and ultimate end).

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Conclusion The traditional Javanese house, both prior to and following the arrival of Islam, embodies the meanings, experiences, and identities of its occupants, with each space, especially the dalem, shaping cultural relations tied to security, intimacy, and inner experience. Rooted in earlier Javanese cosmology and later reinterpreted through Islamic values, each space, especially the dalem, reflects cultural relations tied to security, intimacy, and inner experience. To explore these meanings and their formation in domestic life, a qualitative study employing document analysis, narrative inquiry, and phenomenology was conducted, revealing how the dalem is shaped, inhabited, and interpreted across physical, emotional, spiritual, and cultural dimensions. Spatially, the dalem integrates domestic, social, and spiritual functions. Kajogan serves as the family activity centre, hosting meals, study, conversations, female guests, rituals, and weddings. The central senthong emphasizes the sacred core of the house for prayer, ancestral veneration, and heirloom storage, while the right and left senthong provide flexible spaces for sleeping or storage, maintaining symbolic meanings of security and hope. Serongan, as the most personal space, safeguards family intimacy and reflects the life cycle from birth to death through its spatial orientation. The interiority of the dalem is shaped by its context, container, and content. These dimensions show that the dalem not only organizes functional activities but also mediates human relationships with the environment. As the house’s core or context, it integrates domestic, symbolic, and sacred practices, embodying the Javanese principle of sejatining urip – sangkan paraning dumadi, which situates humans in cosmic harmony. The spatial experience (container) fosters character formation, emotional and spiritual bonds, and moral-cosmological values, while the arrangement of spaces and elements (content) positions the dalem as the family centre, regulator of intimacy, and mediator between humans, ancestors, and God. Overall, the dalem unites interaction, morality, spirituality, and cosmology, serving as a vessel of values and practices that strengthen family character and bonds while acknowledging the presence of God and ancestors. This study is limited by the number of informants and access to houses that still preserve intact dalem structures. Future research should examine regional variations, as house forms and spatial practices differ between Central, East, and coastal contexts. It should also investigate how Javanese houses are transforming over time. In response to modernization and shifting gender roles, certain architectural elements may be reconfigured or abandoned, or symbolically retained. For example, the senthong, particularly the central senthong, has been reconfigured into a bedroom or storage space, leading to the loss of its sacred function, although it continues to be perceived as an inner domain. Another example can be seen in the kajogan, which largely retains its role as a family space, yet has been influenced by modern living practices, such as the incorporation of television, transforming it into a more contemporary living area These cases illustrate how elements may be reconfigured or symbolically retained within changing contexts. Such studies would clarify which aspects of spatial hierarchy and interior meaning persist and which are reinterpreted in contemporary life. Looking ahead, the future of the traditional Javanese house may not lie in the literal preservation of its form, but rather in adapting its underlying spatial principles to modern contexts. As emphasized by the Indonesian architect Yori Antar, the preservation of Nusantara architecture should not focus solely on physical form but also on the values and local

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knowledge embedded within it, as well as on understanding architecture as a process that evolves from its cultural context (Supriyanto, 2024). This perspective suggests that the continuity of the traditional Javanese house resides not in static forms but in the ongoing transformation of its meanings and spatial principles. Figure 14 An example of a modern residential interior design inspired by traditional Javanese house concepts, created by designer Rudy Dodo.

Source: https://www.arsitag.com/project/residential-11

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References Altman, I. (1975). The environment and social behavior: Privacy, personal space, territory, crowding. Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Ashadi. (2017). Tentang Jawa [About Java]. Arsitektur UMJ Press. Bachelard, G. (1994). The poetics of space (M. Jolas, Trans.). Beacon Press. (Original work published 1958) Brooker, G., & Stone, S. (2010). What is interior design? Rockport Publishers. Budiwiyanto, J. (2021). The form and meaning of gebyok patangaring in relation to the sacred room at the Javanese house in Surakarta. Arts and Design Studies, 95, 40–48. Ching, F. D. K., & Binggeli, C. (2018). Interior design illustrated (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Coates, N. (2012). Narrative architecture. John Wiley & Sons. Coles, J., & House, N. (2007). The fundamentals of interior architecture. AVA Publishing. Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications. Fitriyati, H. B. N., & Widagdo, S. (2025). Psychosufistic dimensions of Serat Sastra Gendhing: A hermeneutic study of Javanese spiritual psychology. Sutasoma: Jurnal Sastra Jawa, 13(2), 234–245. https://doi.org/10.15294/sjsj.v13i2.36131 Geertz, C. (1960). The religion of Java. The University of Chicago Press. Hastuti, D. L., Santosa, I., & Syarief, A. (2024). Javanese women and their noble values: From Panca Wasta to Kanca Wingking in Mangkunegaran Principality, Surakarta, Indonesia. Kervan: International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies, 28(2), 463–489. https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/11501 Hidayat, J. (2013). Studi pendekatan naratologi dalam perancangan interior toko: Metode, citra, material [A narratological approach to retail interior design: Methods, imagery, and materials]. Universitas Pelita Harapan. Husserl, E. (1973). The idea of phenomenology. Martinus Nijhoff. Iqbal, K., & Widodo. (2021). Serat Jarwasasana: Representasi masyarakat Jawa dalam membangun rumah melalui perspektif Bourdieu [Serat Jarwasasana: The representation of Javanese society in house-building through Bourdieu’s perspective]. Jurnal Onoma: Pendidikan, Bahasa dan Sastra, 10(3), 2857–2870. https://doi.org/10.30605/onoma.v10i3.3901 Ismawati, E., & Warsito. (2021). Kearifan lokal Jawa dalam Wulang Reh [Javanese local wisdom in Wulang Reh]. Gambang Buku Budaya.

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Kartono, J. L. (2005). Konsep ruang tradisional Jawa dalam konteks budaya [The concept of traditional Javanese space in a cultural context]. DIMENSI (Journal of Architecture and Built Environment), 3(2), 124–136. https://doi.org/10.9744/interior.33.2.124-136 Kilmer, R., & Kilmer, W. O. (2014). Designing interiors (3rd ed.). Wiley. Koentjaraningrat. (1984). Kebudayaan Jawa [Javanese culture]. Balai Pustaka. Lawrence, R. J. (1991). Housing, dwellings and homes: Design theory, research and practice. John Wiley & Sons. Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space (D. Nicholson-Smith, Trans.). Blackwell. Magnis-Suseno, F. (1984). Etika Jawa: Sebuah analisa falsafi tentang kebijaksanaan hidup Jawa [Javanese ethics: A philosophical analysis of Javanese wisdom of life]. Gramedia. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). Routledge & Kegan Paul. Mulder, N. (2005). Mysticism in Java: Ideology in Indonesia. Kanisius. Mumfangati, T. (2014). Serat Atmawiyata: Kajian aspek moral dan didaktik [Serat Atmawiyata: A study of its moral and didactic aspects]. Patrawidya, 15(1), 135–166. Muqoffa, M. (2005). Mengkonstruksikan ruang gender pada rumah Jawa di Surakarta dalam perspektif kiwari penghuninya [Constructing gendered space in Javanese houses in Surakarta from the perspective of contemporary inhabitants]. DIMENSI (Journal of Architecture and Built Environment), 33(2), 87–93. https://doi.org/10.9744/dimensi.33.2.87-93 Namazian, A., & Mehdipour, A. (2013). Psychological demands of the built environment, privacy, personal space, and territory in architecture. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 3(4), 109–113. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ijpbs.20130304.04 Nardiati, S., Isnaeni, M., Widodo, S. T., Sumadi, Hardaniwati, M., Susilawati, D., Winarti, S., Suyami, Endardi, J., & Zalmansyah, A. (2023). Cultural and philosophical meaning of Javanese traditional houses: A case study in Yogyakarta and Surakarta, Indonesia. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 9(2), 1–10. Nindita, E. D., & Kurniawan, K. R. (2025). Demystifying wingit: A Javanese concept in the architecture of the sacred. In Proceedings of the International Conference of Religious Architecture (ICRA 2024) (Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, Vol. 923, pp. 46–60). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476420-4_5 Norberg-Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. Rizzoli. Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The eyes of the skin: Architecture and the senses. Wiley.

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Permadi, D. P., Teguh, & Kholis, N. (2024). Punjering ngaurip: Understanding the Yogyakarta Palace on the philosophical axis of the Yogyakarta Palace in the perspective of cultural philosophy. Asketik: Jurnal Agama dan Perubahan Sosial, 8(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.30762/asketik.v8i1.1327 Poerwadarminta, W. J. S. (1939). Bausastra Jawa [Javanese dictionary]. J. B. Wolters Uitgevers Maatschappij N.V. Priatmodjo, D. (2004). Makna simbolik rumah Jawa [The symbolic meaning of the Javanese house]. In J. Adiyanto (Ed.), Naskah Jawa: Arsitektur Jawa (pp. 67–82). Jurusan Arsitektur Fakultas Teknik Universitas Merdeka Malang. Prijotomo, J. (1984). Ideas and forms of Javanese architecture. Gadjah Mada University Press. Prijotomo, J. (2006). (Re-)Konstruksi arsitektur Jawa: Griya Jawa dalam tradisi tanpa tulisan [(Re-)constructing Javanese architecture: Javanese houses in an oral tradition]. Wastu Lanas Grafika. Ronald, A. (2005). Nilai-nilai arsitektur rumah tradisional Jawa [The architectural values of traditional Javanese houses]. Gadjah Mada University Press. Santosa, R. B. (2000). Omah: Membaca makna rumah Jawa [Omah: Reading the meaning of the Javanese house]. Yayasan Bentang Budaya. Schoppert, P., & Damais, S. (1997). Java style. Periplus Editions. Shoikhin, K. H. M. (2010). Ritual dan tradisi Islam Jawa [Rituals and traditions of Javanese Islam]. Narasi. Subiyantoro, S. (2011). The interpretation of joglo building art in the Javanese cultural tradition. Mudra: Jurnal Seni Budaya, 26(3), 221–231. http://repo.isidps.ac.id/id/eprint/1694 Supriyanto, Y. (2024, February 5). Eksklusif Yori Antar: Menjaga & melestarikan rumah adat demi keberlangsungan arsitektur Nusantara [Exclusive with Yori Antar: Preserving traditional houses for the sustainability of Nusantara architecture]. Hypeabis. https://hypeabis.id/read/33381/eksklusif-yori-antar-menjaga-melestarikan-rumah-adatdemi-keberlangsungan-arsitektur-nusantara Susilantini, E., Mumfangati, T., & Suyami. (1997). Konsep sentral kepengarangan KGPAA Mangkunegara IV [The central concepts of KGPAA Mangkunegara IV's authorship]. Eka Dharma. Woodward, M. (2011). Muslims in global society series: Java, Indonesia and Islam. Springer. Yayasan Centhini Yogyakarta. (1991). Serat Centhini Latin 1 [Serat Centhini (Latin Script), Vol. 1]. Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Direktorat Jenderal Kebudayaan, Direktorat Sejarah dan Nilai Tradisional, Proyek Penelitian dan Pengkajian Kebudayaan Nusantara.

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Zoetmulder, P. J. (1991). Manunggaling kawula gusti: Pantheisme dan monisme dalam sastra suluk Jawa [Manunggaling Kawula Gusti: Pantheism and monism in Javanese suluk literature]. Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Corresponding Author: Fidyani Samantha Email: fidyani.samantha@gmail.com

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Rasa Theory and Aesthetic Emotion: Bridging Indian Poetics, Culture, and Narrative Empathy Santanu Sarkar Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India Anuradha Choudry Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India

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Abstract Rasa Theory, as articulated in Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra, offers a comprehensive model of aesthetic experience, highlighting how emotional states are evoked, transformed, and shared through performance and narrative. Traditionally grounded in classical Indian dramaturgy, this theory continues to provide valuable conceptual tools for understanding emotion as an embodied, affective, and culturally nuanced phenomenon. The present study engages with the relatively limited integration of Rasa theory into global discourses on emotion, empathy, and intercultural narrative aesthetics. It presents a conceptual inquiry that engages closely with Sanskrit aesthetic texts and places them in interpretive dialogue with contemporary scholarship in intercultural aesthetics, narrative psychology, and affect theory. This approach enables Rasa Theory to function not only as a classical aesthetic model but also as a versatile tool for interpreting emotional resonance in literature, modern art forms, and digital narratives. By focusing on key elements such as bhāva (emotional states), sādhāraṇīkaraṇa (universalization), and the sahr̥daya (empathetic spectator), the study repositions Rasa theory as both a rooted South Asian epistemology and a globally relevant aesthetic paradigm. The study’s contribution lies in showing how Rasa, as an indigenous aesthetic framework, can enrich global discourse on emotion, narrative, and cultural meaning by bridging classical poetics with contemporary aesthetic forms across diverse cultural contexts. Keywords: Aesthetic Emotion, Indian poetics, intercultural aesthetics, narrative empathy, Rasa theory, sādhāraṇīkaraṇa

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Poetics is usually demarcated as an internal theory of literature that defines, explains, and judges the variety of literary works. Poetics also lays down certain general principles and models applicable to different literary works to understand them, to know their commonalities and distinctions. Indian literary theory, rooted in ancient traditions, is a cornerstone of poetics and drama, with its aesthetics continuing to thrive and evolve as a vibrant field of study in the twenty-first century. Its dynamism reflects centuries of contesting constructions, reinterpretations, and innovations that continue to shape how art and aesthetic experience are understood and expressed (Paranjpe, 2005; Pollock, 2016). The Nātyashāstra is the earliest treatise on dramaturgy in the Indian literary aesthetic tradition, serving as an encyclopaedic work on the principles and ideas of drama as an art form. Its composition date remains controversial in Sanskrit literary history, with some scholars placing sage Bharata in the 2nd century BCE and others in the 2nd century CE (Gnoli, 1956; Masson, 1970). Regardless, the Nātyashāstra has been the foundational text for numerous literary theories in Sanskrit poetics, which have evolved throughout two millennia. Historically, Sage Bharata first conceived the Rasa theory in the context of theatre, which was subsequently extended to other areas. Of course, references to Rasa do exist in Vedic hymns, in which Rasa is considered as a stream of consciousness, as illumination, and as offering oneself to the universal self (Misra, 2016; Sinha, 1961). In subsequent developments, Rasa has become a core and all-pervasive concept cutting across various domains, including literary criticism, dance, and visual arts (Bilimoria & Wenta, 2020; Kapur, 1990; Lynch, 1990). Rasa is translated into English variously as emotion, meta-emotion, sentiment, or mood and has become a critical tool for analysing how artistic expressions evoke and shape affective experiences. Scholarly engagements with Rasa Theory span a wide disciplinary spectrum. Classical philological studies such as those by Gnoli (1956), Lidova (2013), Pollock (2016), Masson (1970), and Pandey (1959, 1995) offer foundational analyses of the Nāṭyaśāstra and Abhinavabhāratī, shedding light on Bharata’s original formulation and Abhinavagupta’s interpretive expansions. Their analyses offer insight into the structural and performative logic underlying early textual traditions. Contemporary scholars have reinterpreted Rasa through broader aesthetic and philosophical lenses, with Chakrabarti (2016) and Chakrabarti & Weber (2015), exploring Rasa’s epistemological and phenomenological dimensions, and Paranjpe (2009), Pandey (2016) and Misra and Mishra (2022) reframing the theory respectively within psychological and cognitive frameworks. Further contributions by Dalal (2014) and Sinha (1961) investigate the affective dimensions of Rasa in lived human experience, while Kapur (1990), Lynch (1990), and Murty (2018) explore its embodiment in cultural performance, social context, and neuroaesthetic analysis. Kapur’s ethnography of the Ramlila ritual illustrates Rasa in communal drama, Lynch situates emotion within Indian social constructions, and Murty compares classical aesthetics with neuroscience, revealing Rasa’s neural basis. Comparative studies such as Shweder and Haidt (2000) and Sinha and Naidu (1994) consider Rasa’s potential resonance with Western emotion theories and cultural psychology. Finally, interdisciplinary engagements by authors such as Bilimoria and Wenta (2015), Misra (2004a, 2010, 2016), Misra and Mishra (2024), and Ramaprasad (2013) frame Rasa Theory in

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conversation with cognitive science, psychology, and emotion studies. At its core, Rasa Theory illuminates how human emotions by contextualizing them within the reception of creative works, such as poetry, drama, and other art forms. Originally grounded in gustatory metaphor (rasanā), Rasa refers to the relishable essence that arises from the interplay of emotive elements in a work of art. Bharata’s primary concern was the conceptualization of emotional experience on the part of the spectator (prekṣaka) while witnessing a dramatic performance on the stage or reading poetry (Masson & Patwardhan, 1970; Misra & Mishra, 2022). Furthermore, Sage Bharata assigned emotional values to musical notes (svaras) and melodic patterns (jātis/rāgas), making musical sounds suggestive of Rasa (Misra & Mishra, 2024). In Indian dance, hand gestures, glances, and body movements express moods and mental states, while footwork and poses enhance the narrative (Kapur, 1990). Similarly, Rasa is conveyed in paintings and sculptures, reflecting its universal application. Conceptually, Rasa is also seen as a blissful state of mind, akin to the enjoyment of Brahman (Chakrabarti, 2016). While rooted in classical Sanskrit dramaturgy, Rasa Theory’s enduring relevance lies in its capacity to illuminate how emotions are performed, aestheticized, and shared across cultural contexts. Recent scholarship emphasizes the need for analytical frameworks that bridge indigenous aesthetic systems with global theories of emotion and cultural production. Despite its conceptual richness, much of the existing literature continues to frame Rasa primarily as a classical or regionally bounded aesthetic theory, with limited engagement in broader global conversations on emotion, empathy, and narrative. While recent interdisciplinary scholarship has begun to recontextualize Rasa through contemporary frameworks—such as affect theory, cognitive science, and narrative psychology—its integration into mainstream global theoretical discourse remains limited. For example, Hogan (2003), Misra & Ramanathan (2024) and Pandit (2024), explore the cognitive and social dimensions of emotional experience, while Bhangaokar (2024) and Dalal and Misra (2012) examine related concerns through Indian psychological and aesthetic frameworks. Earlier contributions by Sinha (1961), Kumar (2010), and Menon (2000) further illustrate how emotional universals are shaped and articulated through culturally specific artistic practices. Despite such efforts, a significant gap remains, particularly in relation to how emotional experiences are mediated through narrative and artistic forms across diverse cultural contexts. Although affect studies and narrative psychology have gained prominence in the humanities and social sciences, these fields are largely shaped by Euro-American intellectual paradigms. The possibility that a non-Western epistemological system like Rasa Theory could contribute meaningfully to global frameworks of aesthetic emotion and intercultural spectatorship presents a compelling opportunity for inquiry. This study capitalises on that opportunity by examining how Rasa Theory can serve as a transcultural conceptual framework for understanding aesthetic emotions and empathetic engagement across literature, contemporary art forms, and digital storytelling. By bringing Sanskrit poetics into interpretive dialogue with contemporary scholarship in intercultural aesthetics, affect studies, and narrative psychology, this paper positions Rasa theory not as a historical artifact but as a dynamic and living system of thought with global relevance. The theoretical structure of Rasa—rooted in the interplay between bhāva (emotional states),

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sādhāraṇīkaraṇa (universalization), and Rasa experience (aesthetic emotion)—offers a distinctive lens through which to explore how emotion is enacted, received, and shared across mediated cultural forms. The central argument of this paper is that Rasa Theory, when critically reinterpreted, provides a conceptually rich, non-Western model for understanding emotional engagement in narrative and performative contexts. Rather than conceiving emotion solely as individual affect or biological response, Rasa theory theorizes it as a culturally mediated aesthetic process— unfolding through the triadic relationship among artist, spectator, and artwork. In this way, Rasa theory functions as a productive bridge between classical Indian aesthetics and contemporary global discourse on emotion, narrative, and empathy. To advance this argument, the study adopts a conceptual and interpretive approach, emphasizing hermeneutic engagement through close textual readings of foundational Sanskrit texts such as the Nāṭyaśāstra and Abhinavabhāratī. These readings are placed in comparative conversation with selected works in affect theory, narrative psychology, and intercultural aesthetics. Rather than applying empirical methods, this essay synthesizes insights across disciplines to demonstrate how Rasa illuminates transpersonal emotion and aesthetic response. In doing so, the study contributes to ongoing efforts to deprovincialize aesthetic thought and foreground the role of South Asian knowledge traditions in global discourse. Ultimately, it affirms the value of indigenous aesthetic systems in enriching contemporary understandings of emotion and meaning—not through assimilation, but through conceptual rigor, critical engagement, and epistemological diversity, offering cross-cultural insight into the co-constitution of art, emotion, and human experience. Rasa as Aesthetic Mediation: Bridging Emotion and Cultural Expression Rasa is an interaction between a work of art and its audience, as we have seen in the above discussions. The question, “Where does Rasa come from?” inquires about its origin. However, any attempt to explore the origins of Rasa leads to countless further questions, making such an endeavour complex and inconclusive. Instead of tracing its origin, it is more practical to investigate the concept of Rasa based on the evidence and interpretations available to us. The idea of Rasa has permeated the cultural and intellectual air of ancient India for millennia. As Patnaik notes, “Rasa is mentioned in the Rigveda and appears in ancient treatises on chemistry and medicine. It has likely been a part of human discourse for at least five thousand years, perhaps even earlier, as a term used in everyday conversations” (Patnaik, 1997, 2004). However, the specific aesthetic concept of Rasa that we focus on today emerged much later and was first articulated in Bharata’s Nātyashāstra. This seminal work on art in general, and dramaturgy in particular, marks the first extant use of Rasa in an aesthetic context and with an aesthetic purpose (Chakrabarti, 2016; Gnoli, 1956). What is the meaning of Rasa in the aesthetic context? Beginning with the Nātyashāstra, where Rasa was first conceptualized as an aesthetic category, we can trace its development through the writings of later scholars who have commented on and reinterpreted Bharata’s ideas (Masson, 1970). Finally, we can attempt to reinterpret Rasa in a modern idiom. The expression

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of emotions and feelings is an innate human desire, stemming from our everyday actions and observations. The beauty of the rising sun and moon, the drama of clouds and lightning during rainfall, the vibrant colours of spring, or the bare trees of autumn—all of these experiences evoke emotions. Similarly, the joys and challenges of domestic life often compel us to share and articulate these moments, whether through conversation or written narratives. Such expressions, when crafted into literature or art, allow others to share in our pleasures and experiences (Chakrabarti, 2016). Ami Upadhyay illustrates this beautifully through an example from Kalidasa’s Meghadūta, in which the exiled Yaksha sends a message to his beloved through a cloud. He describes the landscape with poetic imagery: O cloud, you will see the river Narmada, Spread out at the foot of the Vindhya Mountains, Rough and full of rocky hills, Looking like the decorations on an elephant’s body, Made by scattered marks of painted strokes... (Upadhay, 2010) This verse demonstrates how poetry becomes effective through precise diction and imaginative language. The question often arises: Why do people enjoy literature? The answer lies in the pleasure it offers. Literature allows readers to escape the monotony of daily life and immerse themselves in unique and enriching experiences. As they read, they feel transported, encountering new emotions and perspectives that momentarily liberate them from their routine. According to Indian literary theory, this pleasure, this emotional and aesthetic experience, is called Rasa (Patnaik, 2004). Satya Dev Chaudhary (2010) explains: When we read a piece of creative literature, whether in lyrical or epic form, or composed in other genres like drama, story, novel, or even an elegantly written essay, we experience pleasure as readers. Similarly, when we watch a drama or a one-act play on stage or screen, we enjoy it as spectators. This kind of pleasure, according to Indian poetics, is termed as Rasa, which in English is translated as aesthetic pleasure, aesthetic enjoyment, aesthetic bliss, poetic pleasure, poetic relish, poetic delight, poetic delectation, and even sentiment. The concept of Rasa is intricately woven into the fabric of Indian culture and literature, serving as a guiding principle across various facets of life. Spiritually and religiously, Paramātma (the inner soul of living beings) is often described as Rasa (Misra & Mishra, 2024; Shweder & Haidt, 2000). Similarly, in literature, Rasa embodies the poetic pleasure derived from creative works (Misra, 2002). While the concept of Rasa may seem abstract or elusive, understanding it requires delving into its theoretical framework and exploring the foundations of these experiences, which will be discussed in the following sections. The Empathic Spectator: Sahridaya and Aesthetic Reception In the Nāṭyaśāstra, Bharata designates the sahr̥daya—literally “one with heart”—as the ideal spectator, one who is sensitive, empathetic, and deeply attuned to the emotional essence of

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drama (Masson & Patwardhan, 1970). Abhinavagupta expands on this by locating the rasa experience within the viewer’s predispositions (cittavṛttis), which are awakened by artistic representation and transformed into a universalized aesthetic experience through sādhāraṇīkaraṇa (Gnoli, 1956; Pollock, 2016). This process enables the viewer to transcend individual subjectivity, adopting a witness-like stance (sākṣibhāva) that dissolves ego-bound identity and culminates in aesthetic bliss (ānanda), wherein one experiences emotions such as sorrow or joy as contemplative realizations rather than personal feelings (Misra, 2010; Menon, 2000). Central to this transformation is hṛdayasaṃvāda—a resonance between the artist’s inner vision and the spectator’s heart-space—not as psychological reflection but as ontological communion, making the sahr̥daya a co-creator in the aesthetic process. To explain varying degrees of aesthetic receptivity, classical theorists propose a triadic hierarchy: the prekṣaka (casual observer), the sāmājika (culturally attuned participant), and the sahr̥daya (awakened aesthetic subject). While the former two perceive or participate, it is only the sahr̥daya who achieves full aesthetic identification (tādātmya), experiencing art as a shared unfolding of consciousness and attaining anubhūti—a transpersonal, contemplative realization beyond individual emotion. Although originally grounded in live performance, this classical framework demands reinterpretation in digital ecologies where emotional engagement is increasingly shaped by algorithms, interface design, and interactivity, renewing the relevance of concepts like sahr̥daya, sādhāraṇīkaraṇa, and anubhūti. In today’s media-saturated cultural landscape, the role of the perceiver has become more complex and distributed. Streaming platforms, social media narratives, and immersive experiences such as virtual reality reconfigure how emotions are shared, evoked, and regulated. In such spaces, Rasa Theory offers a valuable lens to understand the spectator as sahr̥daya—not a passive observer, but an emotionally responsive participant. In digital formats, for instance, streaming platforms, web series, and immersive VR experiences, the sahr̥daya must now be theorized as a distributed subject whose aesthetic receptivity is modulated by technological interfaces and user agency (Sundar, 2008). While certain digital forms evoke śānta rasa through meditative pacing or minimalism, others—like serialized web content—intensify emotional engagement via algorithmic modulation, thereby reshaping the conditions under which sādhāraṇīkaraṇa occurs. Rather than merely adapting classical categories to new media, it is analytically useful to examine how digital modes transform key aspects of Rasa Theory. The tripartite hierarchy of prekṣaka, sāmājika, and sahr̥daya can now be reinterpreted through the lens of media literacy, cultural fluency, and digital attention economies. Casual viewers (prekṣakas) may scroll or skim without narrative immersion; culturally literate users (sāmājikas) engage with platform-specific aesthetics, but only a digitally situated sahr̥daya—one attuned not just emotionally but also to media form— achieves the depth of empathetic identification Bharata envisioned. Contemporary media theorists have highlighted the role of emotional design and immersive technologies in shaping user affect (Damasio, 1999; Taylor & Choi, 2022), and these mechanisms echo the structuring of bhāva and Rasa in classical texts. Importantly, the role of the algorithm in curating emotional resonance mirrors the dramaturg’s role in staging bhāvas, opening new terrain for comparative insight. Moreover, the notion of anubhūti—a

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transpersonal contemplative realization—requires reinterpretation in light of digitally mediated aesthetic experience. Unlike traditional performance spaces that encourage shared temporality, digital content often promotes individualized emotional journeys shaped by interface design and participatory culture (Jenkins, 2006). Yet this divergence does not negate the possibility of Rasa; rather, it reconfigures the coordinates of empathy and narrative absorption. The continued relevance of Rasa in digitally mediated, algorithmically curated environments hinges on addressing evolving dynamics of audience agency, temporality, and affective labour—dimensions increasingly explored in recent scholarship (Franz, 2015; Singh, 2025). Fully theorizing Rasa in these contexts requires moving beyond descriptive parallels toward a deeper conceptual integration—one that interrogates how classical affective structures are being reshaped by contemporary technologies and global cultural networks. To extend this inquiry, the discussion shifts from the dynamics of reception to the internal architecture of Rasa Theory, focusing on how emotional experience is structured and aesthetically realized through the interplay of bhāva, vibhāva, anubhāva, and their supporting elements. Emotional Structuring in Rasa: Bhāva, Vibhāva, and Anubhāva Sage Bharata encapsulates the essence of this psychological phenomenon in a single sutra (aphorism): Vibhāvanubhav-vyabhichāribhav-samyogādRasanispattih. (Nātyashāstra, Chapter VI) This foundational aphorism, meaning “Rasa arises from the combination of determinants (vibhāva), consequents (anubhāva), and transient emotions (vyabhichāribhava),” has been extensively analysed and elaborated upon by philosophers and rhetoricians throughout Indian literary history. Notable among these scholars are Bhatta Lollata, Sri Shankuka, Bhatta Nayaka, and Abhinavagupta, each contributing significant insights into the theory of Rasa (Chakrabarti & Weber, 2015; Dasgupta, 1932; Gnoli, 1956; Pollock, 2016). According to proponents of Rasa theory, the primary objective of literature and art is to evoke Rasa, or poetic pleasure, in the audience. This pleasure arises from the emotional resonance of the work with the perceiver. A piece of art achieves this only when the writer or creator effectively represents the bhāvas (emotions). The Rasa theorists classify bhava into two categories: sthāyibhāva (permanent emotions) and sanchāribhāva (transitory emotions). Sthāyibhāvas are stable, long-lasting emotions that gradually develop and remain in the heart for a long time. Examples include love, disgust, and enthusiasm (Gnoli, 1956; Masson & Patwardhan, 1970). On the other hand, sanchāribhāvas are fleeting, momentary emotions that surface like lightning and then quickly dissipate. Anger, laughter, and fear are examples of such transient emotions. This classification finds a strong parallel in modern psychology, which distinguishes between “emotions” and “sentiments” (Patnaik, 1997; Shweder & Haidt, 2000; Sinha, 1961; Misra & Mishra, 2024). Emotions are defined as temporary, heightened states of feeling, while sentiments are organized systems of emotional dispositions cantered around a particular idea or object (Shweder & Haidt, 2000).

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The term bhāva originates from the root “bhū,” meaning “to be.” Bhāva thus refers to “that which brings about being,” encompassing existence, a condition, or an ultimate meaning. Bharata asserts that art forms like dance, poetry, and drama act as catalysts, activating the latent bhāva (emotion) already present in individuals. In daily life, people experience various bhāvas, and the traces (vāsanās) of these experiences linger within them. Sthāyibhāvas are enduring emotional dispositions or cittavṛttis. When these bhāvas are recognized through selfawareness, they transform into Rasa. This transformation occurs as a sequence of emotional events, and when these events are enacted in a text or on stage, the reader or spectator relishes the Rasa. Satya D. Chaudhary (2010) explains that sthāyibhāvas are dormant instincts in the human mind, nurtured by auxiliary or transitory emotions (sanchāribhāvas). They serve as the foundation upon which other emotional responses build, akin to a king surrounded by subordinate ministers who depend on his authority (Masson and Patwardhan, 1970). Bharata identifies eight primary sthāyibhāvas: love (rati), mirth (hāsya), grief (śoka), anger (krodha), enthusiasm (utsāha), fear (bhaya), disgust (jugupsā), and surprise/wonder (vismaya). Later scholars expanded this list, adding emotions such as nirveda (detachment from worldly life), Bātsalya (maternal affection), Śānta (Peace/Tranquillity) and sneha (companionship). Each sthāyibhāva manifests through its corresponding sentiment; for example, love transforms into the erotic sentiment, while fear manifests as the terrible sentiment. In contrast to sthāyibhāvas, sanchāribhāvas are fleeting, context-dependent emotions that emerge and dissipate quickly. The term sanchāribhāva derives from sanchari, meaning “moving” or “wandering,” signifying their transient nature. They are also known as vyabhichāribhāvas because they do not linger for long but briefly influence the mind. There are 33 recognized sanchāribhāvas, including nirveda (indifference), glāni (weakness), sankā (apprehension), mada (intoxication), cintā (anxiety), harsa (joy), visāda (despair), and many others (Gnoli, 1956; Rangacharya, 2005). Unlike sthāyibhāvas, these emotions are not inherent; instead, they are born out of specific emotional contexts. For example, bashfulness may arise from love, and depression from sorrow. Interestingly, some sanchāribhāvas may attach themselves to multiple sthāyibhāvas. Emotions like longing, madness, or despair may be associated with love, fear, or grief, depending on the context (Chaudhary, 2010). Additionally, sāttvikabhāvas—involuntary physiological responses such as trembling, tears, or fainting—serve as a vital bridge between mind and body, intensifying the emotional resonance for the audience. Together, the components of bhāva, sthāyibhāva, sañcāribhāva, and sāttvikabhāva form a dynamic emotional matrix that, when enacted in performance or conveyed through text, transforms latent affect into Rasa, enabling the spectator to experience a unified and elevated aesthetic emotion (Misra & Mohanty, 2002; Misra et al., 2024; Sinha & Naidu, 1994). The Nāṭyaśāstra articulates this soma–psyche continuum, wherein physiological responses such as trembling (vepathu) or sweating (sweda) are not mere bodily symptoms but expressions of deeper mental states or chittavṛttis (Sharma, 1964). This integrative view aligns with Menon’s (2000) argument that while emotions are grounded in the body, they transcend pure physicality. As such, sāttvikabhāvas embody the organic unity of cognition and affect, underscoring the holistic nature of emotional experience in Indian aesthetic theory. Furthermore, Vibhāvava, the determinants of emotion, serve as stimuli that transform sthāyibhāvas (durable emotions) into Rasa by evoking emotional responses. These

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determinants, as outlined by P. Patnaik (1997), are sensory-perceivable elements that act as catalysts for generating emotional states (bhāva) and their corresponding effects (anubhāva). Vibhāva is divided into two types: alambana vibhāva (substantial excitants), referring to central characters or entities, such as lovers in a story, and uddipana vibhāva (enhancer excitants), comprising external environmental factors like moonlight or scenic settings that amplify the emotional experience. Together, these elements shape the emotional framework of a narrative, creating the foundation for audience engagement. Anubhāva denotes the observable physical or emotional reactions triggered by vibhāva, such as weeping or mourning in response to sorrow (śoka). While neither vibhāva nor anubhāva is are emotion itself, they function as indispensable catalysts and indicators of emotional states, enabling the audience to connect deeply with the narrative. As P. Patnaik explains, vibhāva causes the bhava, while anubhāva manifests as the effect of the bhava—responses that are perceptible to the senses (Patnaik, 1997). S. N. Dasgupta provides a comprehensive commentary on Rasa theory, highlighting its psychological and aesthetic aspects. He explains that Rasa is not merely any emotion but an emotion that is artistically evoked. For instance, when a young man falls in love, the raw emotion alone does not qualify as sringāra Rasa. For an emotion to be classified as Rasa, it must be evoked within an artistic framework, crafted through imaginative circumstances and not just real-life experiences (Dasgupta, 2011). Bharata’s explanation of Rasa through the union of vibhāva, anubhāva, and sanchāribhāva, all in relation to a sthāyibhāva, clarifies the process of aesthetic manifestation. For instance, in the context of a specific Rasa, these components come together to evoke the intended emotional response in the audience. However, the transformation of these elements into aesthetic experience depends on sādhāraṇīkaraṇa— the process by which individual emotions are universalized. The next section examines how this mechanism universalizes personal affect into shared aesthetic experience, allowing for deeper emotional engagement and empathetic resonance. Universalization and Transpersonal Emotion: The Theory of Sādhāraṇīkaraṇa The emergence of Rasas from the components of bhāvas has been a topic of extensive debate, with two primary hypotheses. The “intensification” hypothesis, championed by Lollaṭa and later by Bhoja, posited that Rasas arise when bhāvas are experienced with intensity. According to this view, even unpleasant emotions like fear or rage, if fully experienced, could lead to wellbeing. However, Abhinavagupta, a tenth-century Kashmiri Śaiva and Tantric master, rejected this hypothesis, emphasizing the transformative nature of raw emotional experiences rather than their mere intensification. In his commentary on the Nāṭyaśāstra, Abhinava developed a process framework of rasānubhava (the experience of Rasa) from the perspective of the spectator, offering profound implications for understanding emotional well-being and its relevance to psychological practice. In the dramatic context, rasānubhava begins with sadṛśkaraṇa—the presentation of emotional content in a way that is familiar and relatable. Through the creative sensibility (manodharma) of the performer, the emotional depth and interpretive possibilities are expanded, allowing for alternative perspectives and meanings. This leads to sādhāraṇīkaraṇa, where specific and personal emotions are generalized and universalized. The theory of sādhāranikaran, proposed

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by Bhattanayaka and elaborated by Abhinavagupta, explains how spectators derive Rasa from characters and performances, even when preconceptions such as reverence, devotion, or hatred exist. Sādhāranikaran universalizes individual emotions, transforming particular sentiments into shared, universal experiences that transcend individuality and biases. The audience, experiencing emotions collectively, perceives them as nonpersonal affects, creating a shared, dense emotional state known as ānandakaghana (collective emotional bliss) (Gnoli, 1956, Pollock, 2016; Misra & Gergen,1993; Murty, 2018; Misra & Mishra, 2024). This process involves three linguistic functions (shabda-vyāpāra): 1. Abhidha-vyāpāra: The conventional meaning of words evokes traditional associations, allowing the spectator to grasp the sense of the text. 2. Bhavakatva-vyāpāra: Emotions associated with specific contexts (vibhāva, anubhāva, sancharibhāva) are stripped of individuality, enabling universalization. 3. Bhojakatva-vyāpāra: The final state of enjoyment, where generalized emotions are experienced as Rasa, free from personal prejudice. This universalization process ensures that the spectator transcends biases and prejudices, engaging with art in a state of pure, detached enjoyment. It creates the conditions for the maturation of stable emotions (sthāyibhāva) into Rasa, facilitating the realization of poetic pleasure. Moreover, the distancing provided by the stage ensures that even difficult emotions like anger or disgust do not overwhelm the spectator, instead allowing for the recognition of emotions as universal aspects of human existence. This process culminates in samvid (selfknowing or self-recognition), where the spectator attains insight into the universal nature of emotional experiences. At this point, the connection between the performer and the audience reaches a state of sahṛdaya (shared hearts), creating hṛdayasaṁvāda (a dialogue between hearts). Here, the performer mirrors not only the emotional residues of the spectator’s past but also the full spectrum of possible emotional experiences, fostering a relational and empathetic connection. The four key steps of this framework—sadṛśkaraṇa (recognition), sādhāraṇīkaraṇa (generalization), samvid (insight), and sahṛdaya/hṛdayasaṁvāda (relational connection)—resonate with modern concepts of empathy, intersubjectivity, and emotional insight. Abhinava emphasized that Rasa leads to well-being by enabling spectators to engage with emotions at a distance, allowing for nonjudgmental acceptance and compassionate understanding (Misra & Gergen, 1993; Misra & Mohanty, 2002; Misra et al., 2024; Pollock, 2016). This paradoxical experience, termed camatkāra (paradoxical wonder), involves being both immersed in and detached from the emotional content, transforming raw emotions into self-recognition and deeper awareness (Coomaraswamy, 1918). Through this transformative journey, spectators find compassion not only for themselves but also for the characters portrayed, demonstrating how art facilitates emotional growth and universal connection. As observed by Paranjpe (2005), in the spiritual and religious domains, the analysis of aesthetic experience highlights the uplifting quality of art. This perspective emphasises how emotional experiences, when relished, facilitate a distancing of the ego from mundane life concerns, resulting in self-transformation (Bhangaokar, 2024; Pandit, 2024, 2011; Pandit & Misra, 2013). This aligns with the Vedantic view that all experiences of pleasure, pain, satisfaction, and

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dissatisfaction are rooted in the involvement of the ego, or ahamkara. From the spectator’s point of view, the emotions involved in aesthetic appreciation do not directly engage the ego. These emotions are neither purely pleasurable nor threatening, yet the work of art or drama resonates deeply within the individual. They are relished without being personally painful or pleasurable, even when involving negative emotions. This non-involvement of the ego with the depicted event is akin to the state of being a witness, or sākṣī. It explains why emotions such as pain, sadness, fear, or disgust, which are typically unpleasant, can still be enjoyed and relished in dramatic performances. Aesthetic emotion, as theorized by Abhinavagupta and Bhaṭṭanāyaka, is thus neither the actor’s nor the spectator’s personal feeling, but a universalized experience—detached from individual identity, temporal specificity, and contextual immediacy (Paranjpe & Bhatt, 1997). Through the process of sādhāraṇīkaraṇa, Rasa becomes a disinterested yet immersive emotional state, allowing the spectator to enter a shared affective space beyond egoic boundaries. This conceptualization aligns with Indian psychological frameworks that emphasize ego-transcendence and self-dissolution as essential to transformative emotional and aesthetic experiences (Misra, 2004). Ramaprasad (2013) extends this understanding by emphasizing that emotions, in Indian traditions, arise from egoic attachments to desires and external objects. Drawing from Yoga Shastra and the Bhagavad Gītā, she argues that suffering results from the misidentification with transient experiences. Emotional regulation, therefore, involves dissolving the ego (ahamkāra) through awareness, not suppression. This complements Rasa Theory, where aesthetic experience facilitates egotranscendence via sādhāraṇīkaraṇa and empathetic detachment. Indian traditions of art, music, and drama have long acknowledged art’s capacity to transcend egocentric emotional experience (Bhangaokar, 2024; Misra et al., 2024). As Sinha (1961) notes, in aesthetic enjoyment, there is a unique state of ‘Make-belief’—where the spectator feels the emotion as both their own and not quite their own, creating a space of deep empathy. Artistic experiences like music, dance, and drama thus become meditative practices that foster self-transformation and spiritual refinement. Moreover, in aesthetic enjoyment, there is a peculiar sense of make-believe, by which the emotion felt by the spectator is experienced as his own and yet not quite his own, and as another’s and yet not quite another. This state of empathy allows the spectator to emotionally engage with the performance without being overwhelmed by personal attachment or distress. Art forms such as classical music, dance, and drama are viewed as spiritual activities, akin to a form of meditation, often used as a means of self-transformation. Although desires are seen as the root cause of suffering, the scriptures do not condemn desiring itself but caution against becoming a slave to uncontrolled cravings. When desires are unchecked, they can manifest as negative emotions like greed, anger, and fear, leading to mental agitation and suffering. However, emotions and affective experiences are not inherently harmful. When directed universally and not rooted in selfish motives, emotions can be beneficial. For instance, love, when free from attachment and possessiveness, fosters harmony with the world. When it becomes self-centred, it leads to negative emotions such as greed, jealousy, and sorrow, which are states of suffering. This philosophy is reflected in Bharata Muni’s Nātyashāstra (the science of dramatics), where the emotions expressed in drama and the emotional experiences of spectators are generalized and shared widely (Pandit & Misra, 2013). This universality makes these emotional experiences non-threatening and

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allows them to be enjoyed, whether they stem from negative or positive emotions. Thus, the affective experience in art and drama, including empathy, allows emotions to be relished without causing personal pain or pleasure, offering a transformative experience that transcends individual ego and connects the audience to a broader human experience. Unlike Western frameworks that focus on neurotransmitters and categorize emotions as positive or negative based on hedonic responses, Indian thought situates emotions within relational and ecological contexts, emphasizing their potential for transformation and meaningmaking. Emotions, shaped by past experiences (saṁskāras) and expressed through actions (vṛttis), foster well-being by integrating cognition, emotion, and motivation into everyday life (Bhangaokar, 2024; Gomez, 2009). The Indian approach challenges the perception of wellbeing as solely transcendental, asserting its relevance in addressing contemporary challenges through emotional creativity and collective compassion. While modern scholarship has begun exploring Rasa’s applications, its full potential in enriching global psychological and emotional understandings remains underexamined, offering a powerful framework for transformative well-being (Pandit, 2024). Furthermore, emotion regulation is vital not only for managing negative emotions but also for regulating positive ones, such as shame, lust, peace, humour, and heroism, which are crucial for mental health and social harmony (Dalal & Misra, 2012; Kumar, 2010; Menon, 2000). Traditional research has primarily focused on negative emotions, often overlooking positive emotions, especially those valued in collectivist cultures (Hogan, 2003; Mesquita & Ellsworth, 2001; Mesquita et al., 2016). Indian frameworks, like Rasa theory and sthāyibhāva (stable emotions), offer unique insights into regulating positive emotions and fostering societal well-being. Incorporating both Western and Indian perspectives can create an integrative framework for understanding emotional experiences, benefiting health, relationships, work, and social engagement, while fostering personal growth and social responsibility. Furthermore, the classical process of sādhāraṇīkaraṇa—the universalization of particular emotions into shared aesthetic experience—acquires renewed significance in digitally networked cultural ecologies. In contrast to traditional stage performance, where emotional universality emerged from co-present spectatorship, contemporary media environments enable global audiences to participate in affective communion through disparate and asynchronous modalities. Subtitled cinema, viral poetic forms, and interactive transmedia storytelling—including AI-generated content—become vehicles for cross-cultural emotional resonance. In these instances, individualized affect is refracted through digital channels into widely shared emotional experiences that retain narrative specificity while acquiring global legibility (Jenkins, 2006; Sundar, 2008). This dynamic calls for deeper analytical engagement with how Rasa functions not merely as a theory of aesthetic emotion but as a framework for mediated intercultural empathy. While traditional bhāvas (emotional states) were transmitted via gesture, language, and rhythm, digital media restructure these mechanisms through interface design, algorithmic curation, and participatory engagement (Sundar, 2008; Singh, 2025). The translation of aesthetic affect into digital form demands a reassessment of Rasa Theory’s key concepts in terms of reception aesthetics and digital semiotics. In this expanded context, sādhāraṇīkaraṇa operates not only as a performative device but as a cultural mechanism for transforming and transmitting emotion across linguistic, geographic, and technological boundaries. This analytical reframing allows Rasa Theory to contribute

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meaningfully to emerging debates on digital empathy, emotional design, and global cultural communication. Building on this, the discussion now shifts to conceptual frameworks in Indian poetics that further illuminate the cognitive and empathic dimensions of emotional experience, especially as mediated through narrative representation. Experience and Aesthetic Cognition in Indian Philosophy Emotions, integral to human behaviour, influence actions, thoughts, and social interactions by blending physiological and cognitive elements (Ekman, 1992; Izard, 1991). Modern theories, such as those by Ekman (1992) and Izard (1991), identify universal basic emotions— happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise—supported by studies on facial expressions across cultures. These emotions are believed to exhibit distinct response patterns and universal facial expressions. However, critiques like Mesquita, Frijda, et al. (2001) and Mesquita, Boiger, et al. et al. (2001, 2016) emphasize the influence of cultural norms and interactions in shaping emotions, underscoring the need to explore culture-specific emotional ideals alongside universal aspects. Indian aesthetics, particularly Bharata’s Nātyashāstra, shifts the focus from emotions as mere communicative signals to their experiential and aesthetic dimensions, which modern theories often overlook (Misra, 2002). The Nātyashāstra introduces eight dominant emotions (bhāvas), including mirth, sorrow, fear, anger, disgust, and wonder. Wonder, distinct from Ekman’s “surprise,” arises from the extraordinary rather than the unexpected. These emotions are transformed into Rasa—an empathic aesthetic experience for the audience (Pollock, 2016). Bharata’s integration of emotions, facial expressions, and aesthetic experience formed the foundation of classical Indian drama and actor training. The universal facial expressions identified by Ekman align with the principles of the Nātyashāstra, highlighting the connection between emotion, expression, and narrative performance (Hogan, 2003; Green & Brock, 2000). The Sanskrit aesthetic theory does not require the emotions specified in its framework to be “basic” in the strict sense. Instead, it emphasizes their special place in aesthetic experience. This distinction is significant because it highlights that the focus of Sanskrit theorists is not merely on the emotion (bhāva) itself, but rather on its aesthetic transformation into Rasa, an empathic version of the emotion. In the context of narrative, Sanskrit aesthetics emphasizes the agent’s emotional journey and narrative portrayal. For instance, in classical Indian drama, the audience does not experience direct fear of a dragon but instead feels “empathic fear” for the hero. Additionally, in the context of narrative portrayal and performance, Sanskrit tradition places greater emphasis on the agent’s journey, their emotional responses to goals and obstacles, and the communication of these emotions through narrative and performance. Regardless of the classification of emotions as “basic” or not, both systems agree on the centrality of empathy in the communication of emotion within a narrative context. Drawing on these insights, Rasa Theory offers a cross-cultural analytical framework that synthesizes emotional cognition, narrative empathy, and aesthetic experience, thereby enriching contemporary understandings of affect across diverse modes of storytelling.

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Rasa and Narrative Emotion: A Cross-Cultural Analytical Framework As we have discussed, Rasa theory offers a comprehensive framework for analysing emotional engagement with narratives, integrating physiological, cognitive, and emotional dimensions. Unlike Western theories, which often compartmentalize emotions, Rasa theory emphasizes transforming raw emotions into Rasa—aesthetic emotions experienced by audiences. Rooted in classical Indian aesthetics, its universal approach aligns with psychological frameworks like Ekman’s theory of basic emotions, facilitating cross-cultural comparisons of narrative structures, such as Aristotelian and Nāṭyaśāstra traditions. While Aristotelian narratives focus on climactic catharsis (Hogan, 2003; Goold, 1961; Nussbaum, 1986), the Nāṭyaśāstra emphasizes a layered emotional journey of the protagonist through stages like prāptsambhāva (possibility of attainment) and phalaprāpti (attainment of the goal). A key strength of Rasa theory lies in its focus on empathy through the sahridaya (empathetic spectator), paralleling contemporary studies on narrative empathy (Oatley, 2016). The framework systematically categorizes emotions into sthāyibhāvas (permanent emotions), vyabhicāribhāvas (transitory emotions), and sattvikabhāvas (involuntary physiological responses), enabling a nuanced analysis of narrative impact. It explores how narrative elements (vibhāvas, or stimuli) interact with emotional responses (anubhāvas, or observable reactions) to evoke Rasa, offering insights into emotional engagement across cultural contexts. Rasa Theory’s emphasis on sādhāraṇīkaraṇa (generalization) transforms individual emotions into shared aesthetic experiences, making it particularly valuable for interpreting aggregated experimental data. For instance, emotions like “wonder” in the prāptsambhāva stage correspond to adbhuta Rasa, while fear or sadness in climactic moments aligns with bhayānaka (fear) or karuṇa Rasa (compassion). This structured approach can deepen the understanding of emotional dynamics in storytelling and enrich experimental research on narrative engagement. Moreover, a fruitful comparison can be made between Bharata’s conception of Rasa and Aristotle’s notion of catharsis, both of which seek to explain the emotional impact of dramatic performance. While Aristotle emphasized the purgation of fear and pity as a moral or psychological release for the spectator (Poetics, trans. Goold, 1961), Rasa Theory offers a more expansive view of emotional transformation, emphasizing the universalization (sādhāraṇīkaraṇa) and aesthetic relishing of emotions beyond mere discharge. Unlike catharsis, which often treats emotion as something to be expunged for ethical clarity, Rasa centres emotion as an experience to be savoured, shared, and refined through artistic engagement. This distinction underscores a deeper philosophical divergence: Western traditions have often approached emotion with ambivalence, whereas Indian aesthetics elevates it to a medium of transcendence and empathy. Similarly, Sinha’s (2022) comparative analysis of Bharata and Longinus further highlights this transcultural aesthetic vision. While Bharata envisions ānanda (bliss) as the culmination of synthesized determinants (vibhāva), consequents (anubhāva), and transitory states (vyabhicāribhāva), Longinus describes the sublime as an emotional-intellectual elevation achieved through poetic grandeur. Such parallels suggest that Rasa theory, while deeply rooted in indigenous epistemology, also contributes to a global discourse on emotional transcendence in art. In this light, Rasa Theory contributes not only to indigenous aesthetic scholarship but also to global debates on affect, narrative

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immersion, and the psychology of audience engagement—fields that increasingly seek to balance cognition with emotion, and universality with cultural specificity (Dalal & Misra, 2012; Hogan, 2003; Kumar, 2010; Menon, 2000; Mesquita et al., 2016). Its integrative model challenges dominant Eurocentric paradigms and opens space for pluralistic, experience-based understandings of emotional life in contemporary storytelling and mediated culture. Contemporary media platforms—including film, streaming series, video games, and interactive storytelling—offer fertile ground for applying Rasa Theory to analyse audience engagement and emotional design (Roy, 2017). These formats frequently deploy emotional arcs that mirror sthāyibhāva (enduring emotions) and vyabhicāribhāva (transitory emotions), structuring narrative progression around resonant emotional experiences. For instance, romantic tragedies often revolve around Śṛṅgāra (erotic) and Karuṇa (compassionate) Rasas, while horror and thriller genres invoke Bhayānaka (terrifying) and Raudra (furious) Rasas. Additionally, in immersive media, such as video games or interactive virtual environments, players do not merely witness emotions—they perform and embody them, assuming the role of sahridaya in real-time. The generalization of emotion across visual and participatory modes echoes the process of sādhāraṇīkaraṇa, where personal affect is transformed into aesthetic experience. Rasa Theory thus provides a valuable framework for decoding how emotion is scripted, distributed, and collectively experienced in a digitally mediated world. Its integration of cognition, affect, and empathy anticipates many of the goals of current media psychology, suggesting that ancient aesthetic principles remain vital in understanding how contemporary culture moves and connects its audiences. However, Rasa theory does not explicitly address motivational pathologies; it aligns with Indian psychological frameworks that emphasize emotional transformation over suppression. Emotions such as kāma (desire), krodha (anger), and moha (delusion), classified under arishadvarga, are not viewed as disorders but as energies to be refined through aesthetic and spiritual practices (Ram, 2000). This perspective resonates with yogic traditions that promote detachment, sākṣī bhāva (witness-consciousness), and heightened self-awareness. Rasa thus offers therapeutic insights grounded in indigenous models of well-being. Within this framework, Kumar (2010) envisions Indian psychology as a practical science of consciousness focused on emotional balance, self-regulation, and the alleviation of suffering. He argues that reclaiming indigenous epistemologies is vital not only for cultural identity but also for generating universal psychological insights. Viewed through this lens, Rasa becomes a powerful tool for inner alignment and cross-cultural engagement, aligning closely with the transformative aims of Indian psychology. Moving beyond its classical foundations and comparative analyses, the theory now invites contemporary reinterpretations across diverse aesthetic forms, reaffirming its relevance in shaping intercultural and interdisciplinary conversations on emotion, narrative, and aesthetic experience. Reimagining Rasa: Contemporary Applications and Global Resonance Critics of Rasa Theory often argue that it was originally designed for dramatic performance and found its most natural application in poetry. They also challenge its rigid formulation of

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eight or nine aesthetic emotions. However, the theory’s strength lies in its emotive essence— its ability to evoke profound emotional responses in diverse art forms, such as music, painting, and virtual art (Dalal & Misra, 2012; Hogan, 2003; Kumar, 2010; Menon, 2000). This adaptability suggests that Rasa Theory has the potential to claim universality, provided its application is guided by a clear definition of universality, a detailed articulation of its unique features, and context-sensitive guidelines (Chakrabarti, 2016). The quest for universality becomes crucial when cultures interact, assuming shared elements as a foundation for intercultural exploration. Indian aesthetics, though open to diverse interpretations, must retain coherence to prevent the terms “Indian” and “aesthetics” from losing meaning (Devy, 1992). While national identities and theories like Indian aesthetics are often idealized and critiqued for neglecting alternative perspectives, they are historically and contextually constructed. Nevertheless, there is ample reason to assert that, despite valid criticisms, certain theories— such as Rasa Theory—have endured over time, influencing diverse traditions across centuries, not only in Sanskrit and regional languages but also extending as far as Java (Walton, 2007). Intercultural aesthetics assumes that aesthetic theories from different traditions can be compared and applied to each other’s works, provided contextual conditions are met. This involves identifying shared patterns in literature and art across traditions, moving toward a form of universality. While the universal remains an aspirational ideal, two critical forms of universality support successful aesthetic theories: their ability to remain relevant across time within the same culture despite shifting worldviews, and their resonance across different cultures. Rasa Theory can exemplify both. Since Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra, it has persisted and evolved through the contributions of thinkers like Ālaṅkārikas, Ānandavardhana, and Abhinavagupta, maintaining its influence until the disruptions of the colonial period. Yet, its adaptability and resonance across diverse contexts affirm its enduring significance as an aesthetic framework. The enduring appeal of Rasa Theory lies in its focus on emotions. Unlike many other traditions that treat emotions with suspicion—Plato advocated their suppression, while Aristotle sought their purgation—Indian aesthetics elevates emotions to ‘Extraordinary’ levels (Bahm, 1995; Lidova, 2013). Abhinavagupta, for instance, equated aesthetic emotions with the alaukika (extraordinary) and spiritual ecstasy. Arindam Chakrabarti underscores the centrality of līlā (play) in aesthetic enjoyment, bridging the pain-pleasure dichotomy and culminating in viśrānti (repose) (Chakrabarti, 2016). This journey, from artistic creation to transcendental rapture, reflects the philosophy of ānanda (bliss) embedded in Rasa Theory. The concept of camatkāra (surprised delight or wonder) further transforms ordinary pleasure into a near-spiritual experience, affirming Rasa Theory’s unique approach to aesthetics. In contrast, Western aesthetics often problematizes emotions, valuing rationality while viewing emotions as obstacles or weaknesses. Responses such as “disinterestedness” and “reasoned evaluation” are emphasized, sidelining emotional engagement. Despite this, emotions remain central to aesthetic responses. Aesthetic objects evoke emotions like wonder, awe, and admiration, bridging self and other through sympathy rather than cognition (Hogan, 2003). Unlike ordinary emotions, which are often categorized as pleasant or unpleasant, aesthetic responses encompass

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a full spectrum—joy, sadness, fear, anger—while remaining enjoyable, a paradox that underscores Rasa Theory’s profound relevance (Misra, 2002; Pollock, 2016). Rasa Theory’s focus on the emotional core of aesthetic experience positions it as a cornerstone for historical and intercultural aesthetic dialogues. While, as Ganesh Devy notes in After Amnesia, Indian aesthetics has faced discontinuities over the last 300 years, its potential for renewal lies in reinterpretation (Devy, 1992). Indian aesthetics thrives on re-contextualization, as seen in the sūtra-bhāṣya tradition, where timeless texts are revitalized through interpretive commentaries. Similarly, Rasa Theory requires contemporary reinterpretations to address modern contexts and challenges. Recent decades have seen both Indian and European scholars revisit Rasa Theory, expanding its theoretical scope and practical applications. Traditionally confined to Sanskrit studies, the theory now informs fields such as communication, film scriptwriting, and leadership studies (Gómez, 2009; Pandey, 1959, 1995). Efforts like K.C. Pandey’s (1963) A Bird’s-eye View of Indian Aesthetics and P.J. Chaudhury’s Catharsis in the Light of Indian Aesthetics have introduced Indian aesthetics to global audiences, while comparisons with Western traditions lend it broader credibility (Chaudhury, 1985). Additionally, Rasa Theory has been applied to cross-cultural studies, influencing playwrights like Girish Karnad and informing interpretations of works by Wole Soyinka. Contemporary theatre and dance in Kerala illustrate its interplay with Indian and Western aesthetics (Misra, 2002). However, recent applications of Rasa Theory risk becoming overly mechanical. Studies like Kausik Adhikari’s application to Tennessee Williams’ plays and Naveen K. Mehta’s comparison of Abhijñānaśākuntalam and Hamlet often focus narrowly on attributing Rasas without engaging deeply with context or broader implications (Chakrabarti, 2016). Similarly, rigid comparisons, such as Fernando’s (2001) dissertation on Indian and Western literary theories, highlight the limitations of formulaic applications. To maintain its vitality, Rasa Theory must transcend superficial uses, embracing nuanced, context-sensitive explorations that adapt its principles to contemporary questions, enriching both Indian and global aesthetic discourse. Conclusion This study repositions Rasa Theory as a dynamic and evolving framework. Rather than being a mere static historical construct, it mediates between tradition and modernity, regional specificity and universal affect, and cognition and emotion. Its journey from classical Sanskrit dramaturgy to contemporary relevance in narrative theory, psychology, media studies, and intercultural aesthetics reveals a theoretical resilience grounded in its capacity for reinterpretation. This dynamism invites renewed scholarly engagement—attention not only to Rasa’s classical formulations but also to its capacity to navigate tensions between cultural rootedness and global relevance, and between affective and cognitive dimensions of experience. In rearticulating Rasa within contemporary interdisciplinary discourses, the study affirms its value as both a cultural-historical product and a catalyst for ongoing theoretical innovation. The implications of this inquiry extend well beyond Indian aesthetic discourse, offering a viable framework for intercultural engagement with emotional meaning-making. As cultural

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narratives and affective grammars are increasingly shaped by global media flows, Rasa Theory’s emphasis on empathetic spectatorship, universalization (sādhāraṇīkaraṇa), and affective resonance provides a compelling lens for understanding aesthetic experience across traditions. Recent developments in cultural psychology and intercultural aesthetics further support the need for such indigenous-yet-universal models to interpret how emotional experiences are constructed, shared, and transformed across contexts. By combining sthāyibhāvas (enduring emotions), vyabhicāribhāvas (transient emotions), and sādhāraṇīkaraṇa (universalization), Rasa Theory offers a framework to understand shared aesthetic experiences across individuals and cultures. Framing Rasa within its South Asian intellectual lineage is essential not only for historical fidelity but for preserving its epistemological integrity. The theory exemplifies a distinctly Asian way of conceptualizing emotional universality—one that synthesizes art, consciousness, and spiritual insight. Its intellectual durability and continued relevance affirm the conceptual vitality of Indian aesthetics within global cultural studies. The study’s findings highlight Rasa Theory’s potential in fostering narrative empathy, enhancing emotional regulation, and bridging the relationship between art and audience. By interfacing classical thought with contemporary theories in aesthetic psychology, audience reception, and experiential meaning-making, Rasa Theory emerges as an adaptable paradigm for analysing emotion and aesthetic response in diverse cultural and media environments. This synthesis of classical and modern perspectives expands the scope of Rasa Theory into areas such as cross-cultural narrative analysis, digital aesthetics, and emotional well-being. However, the study is limited by its conceptual and textual methodology; it does not include empirical validation or audience-based research that might substantiate its theoretical claims across lived experiences. Future research could extend this work through empirical studies in cross-cultural viewer response, experimental aesthetics, or digital storytelling contexts. Nonetheless, this renewed engagement with Rasa affirms its relevance as a dynamic and pluralistic framework— capable of enriching global aesthetic discourse, fostering intercultural empathy, and informing future theoretical and applied inquiries that bridge tradition and modernity.

Declaration of Use of AI and AI-assisted Technologies in the Writing Process The author used ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/) for proofreading the manuscript, with minimal use in the Literature Review section. ChatGPT, an AI language model, assisted in identifying typos, grammatical errors, passive voice, redundancy, and unnecessary adverbs. The final output was further refined to maintain the author’s original intent and writing style.

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Misra, G. (2002). Knowing the Indian tradition. In G. Misra & A. K. Mohanty (Eds.), Perspectives on indigenous psychology (pp. 181–208). New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Misra, G. (2004a). Culture, self, and emotions: The case of antecedents of emotion experiences. Indian Psychological Abstracts and Reviews, 11(1), 1–27. Misra, G. (2004b). Emotions in modern psychology and Indian thought. In K. Joshi & M. Cornelissen (Eds.), Consciousness, Indian psychology and yoga (pp. 426–435). New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations. Misra, G. (2010). The cultural construction of self and emotion: Implications for well-being. In U. Kim & K. Yang (Eds.), Personality, human development, and culture (pp. 111– 128). London: Psychology Press. Misra, G. (2016). Self, emotions, and the pursuit of well-being: Some cultural perspectives. In M. M. Cornelissen & G. Misra (Eds.), Qualitative research on illness, well-being and self-growth (pp. 23–44). New Delhi: Routledge India. Misra, G., & Gergen, K. J. (1993). On the place of culture in psychological science. International Journal of Psychology, 28(2), 225–243. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207599308247186 Misra, G., & Mishra, I. (2022). Selfhood and pathways to well-being: Some Indian perspectives. Mind and Society, 11(3), 9–16. 10.56011/mind-mri-113-20222 Misra, G., & Mishra, I. (Eds.). (2024). Emotions in cultural context. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46349-5 Misra, G., & Mohanty, A. K. (Eds.). (2002). Perspectives on indigenous psychology (Vol. 3). New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Misra, G., & Ramanathan, P. (2024). Emotions in cultural contexts: An Indian perspective. In G. Misra & I. Mishra (Eds.), Emotions in cultural context (pp. 33–56). Cham: Springer International Publishing. 10.1007/978-3-031-46349-5_3 Misra, G., Pandey, N. M., & Mishra, V. (2024). Indigenous perspectives on happiness: Insights from Indian traditions. In G. Misra & I. Mishra (Eds.), Emotions in cultural context (pp. 315–328). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46349-5_18 Murty, G. R. K. (2018, June). India’s doctrine of Rasa and neuroaesthetics: A comparative analysis of Bharatamuni’s ‘subjectivity’ and Ramachandran’s ‘universality’ of Rasa. (Paper presentation) 11th Annual International Conference on Literature, Athens, Greece. Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER). https://ssrn.com/abstract=3306929 Nussbaum, M. C. (1986). The fragility of goodness: Luck and ethics in Greek tragedy and philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Oatley, K. (2016). Fiction: Simulation of social worlds. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(8), 618–628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.06.002

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Shweder, R. A., & Haidt, J. (2000). The cultural psychology of the emotions: Ancient and new. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 397–414). New York: Guilford Press. Sinha, D., & Naidu, R. K. (1994). Multilayered hierarchical structure of self and not-self: The Indian perspective. In A.-M. Bouvy, F. J. R. van de Vijver, P. Boski, & P. Schmitz (Eds.), Journeys into cross-cultural psychology: Selected papers from the eleventh international conference of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (pp. 138–146). Lisse, Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger. Sinha, J. (1961). Indian psychology. Vol. II: Emotion and will. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Sinha, K. K. (2022). A comparative study of Bharata’s theory of ‘Rasa’ and Longinus’ concept of ‘Sublimity’. Ars Artium: An International Refereed Research Journal of English Studies and Culture, 10, 10–24. Singh, A. (2025). Rasa theory paradigm for content creation and storytelling. Scribd Digital Publications. https://www.scribd.com/document/889775886 Sundar, S. S. (2008). The MAIN model: A heuristic approach to understanding technology effects on credibility. In M. J. Metzger & A. J. Flanagin (Eds.), Digital media, youth, and credibility (pp. 73–100). MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.1162/dmal.9780262562324.073 Taylor, S. H., & Choi, M. (2022). An Initial Conceptualization of Algorithm Responsiveness: Comparing Perceptions of Algorithms Across Social Media Platforms. Social Media + Society, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221144322 Walton, S. P. (2007). Aesthetic and spiritual correlations in Javanese gamelan music. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 65(1), 31–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-594X.2007.00235.x Corresponding Author: Santanu Sarkar Email: santanus383@gmail.com

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Stolen Childhoods: Intersectional Marginalities in Indian Picturebooks Aditi Bhardwaj Delhi University, India Devjani Ray Delhi University, India

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Abstract This paper explores the deconstruction of a universalized notion of childhood through a critical recognition of intersectional marginalities in contemporary Indian picturebooks. By understanding Dalit and indigenous marginalities in children’s stories as distinctly experiential and locating in them the nuances of subaltern resistance and the multiculturalist politics of recognition respectively, it foregrounds the seemingly “apolitical” space of children’s literature as a dynamic site of protest and transformative potential. An examination of the subjectivity of the Dalit/indigenous child and the experience of a non-normative childhood within the larger hegemonic socio-cultural structures not only brings these picturebooks within the purview of Dalit/indigenous critical studies but also subverts the established mode of children’s stories itself—from the western bourgeois bildungsroman and postmodern individualism to a recognition of the individual’s story within the community’s history. Using qualitative content analysis and cultural mapping, this paper aims to bridge the gap between children’s critical literacy and multi-cultural and subaltern studies and examine the scope of contemporary Indian picturebooks within critical Dalit and minority studies. Keywords: caste, critical literacy, Indian picturebooks, indigeneity, intersectionality, multimodality, marginal childhoods

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Traditionally, childhood is perceived as a universal monolith of idealised innocence, neatly separated from the adult world and its complications. The “normative grids” (Sreenivas, 2011) of viewing childhood have naturally also shaped how literature portrays children and constructs their world as unadulterated with complex social realities fraught with inequities. Because of its overreliance on simplistic binaries and a tendency for homogenising the experience of childhood, young children’s literature by and large has also been overlooked as an apolitical didactic tool for early literacy and moral education. However, multiple scholars across cultures have probed both notions of childhood and the scope of fiction, which has unsettled the domain of children’s literature, previously regarded outside the purview of critical cultural studies. John Stephens argues that “fiction must be regarded as a special site for ideological effect, with a potentially powerful capacity for shaping audience attitudes” and that writing “for children is usually purposeful, it intends to foster in the child reader a positive apperception of some socio-cultural values which, it is assumed, are shared by the author and audience” (Stephens, 1992, p. 3). At the same time, the very imagination of a uniform and universal childhood is at best deeply flawed and at worst a deliberate ideological violence against the marginalised children who exist outside the pigeonhole of middle-class and upper-caste childhood. A critical enquiry into the construction of childhood in children’s literature, therefore, especially in a multicultural context, is essential. Stories for children, including picturebooks, offer a “social studies framework providing children access to learning cultural, geographical, ethical and historical literacy” (Narahara,1998, p. 4). In multicultural societies with vast inequalities at the levels of access and representation, as is the case with India, there is a need for recognizing multiple childhoods and actively engaging with stories which depict the complex ways in which marginalised children like those belonging to avarna castes, indigenous tribes and other minorities negotiate with the ‘material conditions’ of their marginality (Sreenivas, 2011). Contemporary Indian publishers like Pratham, Tulika, Katha and Eklavya have published multilingual picturebooks that fit into this multiculturalist discourse, attempting to destabilise the bourgeois notions of childhood by portraying non-normative experiences of children. Questions of historical marginalisation and the complex networks of exercising power in socio-cultural macrostructures may exceed the scope of pedagogy for children, however, the spaces that children inhabit and the extra-familial relationships they form certainly carry the implications of these structural inequalities along the lines of caste, gender, class and religion, among others, as they trickle down through their family and community socialisation. Picturebooks, with their multimodal scope, can introduce children to these complex issues that govern their social interactions and community experiences through diverse stories that become mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors (Bishop, 1990) for diverse children in the classroom. This paper aims to critically examine the contemporary Indian picturebooks that portray characters from Dalit and indigenous backgrounds and analyse their engagement with issues of intersectional marginalisation and social justice. Through picturebooks like Soumya Rajendran’s Bhimrao Ambedkar: The Boy Who Asked Why (2015) and Sagar Kolwankar’s My Name is Gulab (2021), complex issues like caste-based discrimination, untouchability and social ostracization of Dalits are introduced to children who may recognize the exclusionary

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practices depicted in the stories from their personal experiences and also to the urban middleclass and upper-caste children who remain oblivious to the persistence of caste around them. Similarly, stories such as I Will Save My Land (2017) by Rinchin and Takes Root (2020) by Jeyanthi Manokaran do not just introduce the readers to indigenous tribes (like the Bhotiya from Uttarakhand), but also sensitise them to the issues of their systemic marginalisation and the occupation of their natural habitats. An examination of how such non-normative childhoods reconfigure the notional construction of childhood and make the seemingly “apolitical” space of children’s literature a dynamic site of protest may help bridge the longstanding gap between children’s critical literacy and multi-cultural studies and examine the scope of contemporary Indian picturebooks within critical Dalit and minority studies. By examining sixteen picturebooks from publishers like Pratham, Tulika, Eklavya, Katha and Duckbill, this article aims to analyse the discursive engagement of picturebooks with the ideas of marginal identities and childhoods. Since Dalit literature extends Dalit politics and activism into the literary domain, it becomes a literary site of protest and an undoing of mainstream history and historicity. Can picturebooks engaging with Dalit childhoods be examined using literary and cultural theories of Dalit writing? If yes, then a thorough examination of Dalit politics and aesthetics in the multimodality of picturebooks becomes crucial. As noted by Sreenivas (2011), “multiculturalism is grounded in a politics of recognition” (p. 317); therefore, inclusion of the marginalised castes and indigenous peoples in the domain of literature is to register their historically disenfranchised, erased and forgotten histories. Going back to the enduring history of erasure and re-membering the marginalised within children’s literature then not only brings these picturebooks within the purview of Dalit/tribal critical studies, it also subverts the established mode of children’s stories itself—from the western bourgeois bildungsroman and the postmodern individualism to a recognition of the individual’s story within the community’s history. The stories chosen for this study often locate the Dalit/tribal child protagonist within their community and foreground both systemic marginalisation and suffering as well as the transformative possibilities of community resistance. Ultimately, the picturebooks aim at democratising the space of childhood and its representations through diversifying standpoints from which childhoods are looked at, for critically understanding childhood as a heterogeneous category with inherent inequalities and challenging realities, and for enabling empathetic recognition of differences and diversities in children to foster inclusive spaces—in classrooms and in literature—for all. This article then aims to study the representations of caste and indigenous marginalities in sixteen contemporary Indian picturebooks. The multimodality of picturebooks imbues them with a potential to develop critical as well as visual literacy in children. Therefore, a qualitative content analysis of picturebooks can show what representations include and omit, what they prioritise and discard, and what kind of differences they create between people, things and cultures. (Jewitt & Leeuwen, 2000) At the same time, a cultural mapping of these picturebooks with an emphasis on the complex transactions between visual literacy and cultural ideology can open up not just the textual narrative but also the illustrations to a critical scrutiny to assess the underlying ideologies of intersectional marginalities operating in the picturebooks.

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By puncturing a universalized idea of childhood and examining the portrayals of marginal childhood experiences in picturebooks, the paper specifically examines caste and indigenous representations and their intersectionality with the structural inequalities of gender and class. It uses the available scholarship on Dalit politics and aesthetics to assess the construction of a Dalit childhood in the picturebooks and draws on the critical issues of dehistoricization and invisibilization of indigenous populations to explore the conflicts between colonial modernity and Adivasi cultures. Finally, it explores the intersectionality of caste, class and gender experiences in the space of marginal childhoods to advocate for diversity in standpoints to challenge the “cognitive imperialism” (Battiste, 2005) that continues to shape our perceptions of “difference” in hegemonic ways. By consciously avoiding the conflation of caste marginalities and indigenous diversities for oversimplified and reductive advocacy for acceptance, the paper addresses both within their distinct contextual nuances and discursive interventions—that is, the subaltern anti-caste politics and the multiculturalist politics of recognition, respectively. It utilises Sandra Harding’s (2003) Standpoint Theory to explore the nuances of representation, address and “gaze” in Dalit representations in picturebooks. Moreover, based on the fundamentals of relational co-existence and socio-cultural interdependence, the paper also draws from Dwayne Donald’s (2016) theoretical intervention of “ethical relationality”, ultimately arguing that representation matters, and that social justice in multicultural societies with systemic inequities necessitates a fracturing of hegemonic structures of exclusions in culture as well as within literature. Critical scholarship on childhood and its cultural construction has acknowledged the role of ideology in the experientiality of childhood. Joseph Zornado (2021) argues that children’s stories are not innocent—“rather, their innocence is an ideological projection” (p. 3). Therefore, there have been active attempts by scholars to delink childhood from the notions of a universalized innocence and deconstruct the intended reader as well as the represented child—belonging to primarily middle and upper-middle-class societies, thereby perpetuating a “built-in exclusion of other Indian children who lack the financial, geographic, and linguistic means to access this body of literature” (Superle, 2011, p. 28). In the Indian context, caste, class and gender inequities work in an intersectional nexus to produce marginal subjectivities, and a recognition of these subjectivities challenges the “normative grids” through which one dominantly views Indian childhood (Sreenivas, 2011). In literary and cultural discourse, there has been a special space carved out for the Dalit experience, and the domain of Dalit literature has attempted to humanise this experience and reposition Dalits as subjects of analysis rather than objects of interpretation. With its preoccupation with a distinct “Dalit consciousness” (Limbale, 2004), Dalit literature has been seen as an extension of Dalit politics as a corrective to the mainstream history (Gajarawala, 2011) which has historically been “a history of white pages” (Ilaiah, 2004, p. 227). At the same time, the marginality of indigenous communities has been explored by scholars by looking at its reduction to “an isolated, a historical and pre-political entity, enabling the infinite reproduction of the “modern” as the tribe’s necessary other” (Banerjee, 2006). Prasad (2004) warns one against this modern, urban myth about Adivasi cultures and people. Imprisoned in a “culturalist format” (Banerjee, 2006) and victims of marginalisation, indigenous

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communities continue to partake in a “politics of recognition” that critically deal with their conflicts with colonial modernity, (Xaxa, 1999) raising questions about land, property, ecology and sovereignty. Ultimately, the intention is to devise a counter to what Dharavath (2021) calls the hegemonic curtailment of indigenous cultures in a “timeless, historical space” (p.2), and encourage a recognition of the indigenous ways of life based on “ethical relationality” (Donald, 2016). There is a scarcity of critical engagement with these issues of marginality in children’s literature, particularly picturebooks. Through an assessment of the representations of Dalit and minority characters in picturebooks, Sreenivas (2011) deflates the presumed “universality” of childhood and locates the characters from marginalised communities within the broader politics of exclusion. (Sreenivas, 2011) Mehra (2018), and Dandapat and Tripathi (2020) also study the complex nexus of caste, class and gender in Indian picturebooks, reinforcing the heterogeneity of the notion of childhood and re-conceptualizing individual and collective marginal identities to assert their rightful position in a multicultural society. Like the nascent domain of multicultural picturebooks, the critical scholarship on the multimodality of contemporary picturebooks in India and their engagement with intersectional socio-cultural identities and diversity remains scarce. While there has been a recent interest in Dalit literary representations, a critical exploration of Dalit marginalities in picturebooks using the conceptual theories of Dalit literature, aesthetics and politics remains absent. Similarly, the tendency has been to homogenise Dalit and Adivasi experiences in an umbrella of marginality without a thorough engagement with the specific historical, political and cultural distinctions between their respective experientialities. At the same time, a focused study of the multimodality of picturebooks and questions of children’s responses and pedagogical needs is largely absent. This paper seeks to fill some of these gaps and examine the contemporary trends in Indian picturebooks engaging with caste and indigenous marginalities with intersectional and multimodal perspectives. Marginal Childhoods In the very opening pages of Bhimrao Ambedkar: The Boy Who Asked Why (Rajendran, 2015), little Bhim is shown standing beside a ladder (Figure 1) which represents the world as he recognizes that people like him “belong to the lowest step…[who] cannot even be touched”. Barely clothed, he observes other children from a distance as they fly kites, and while the rest of the students sit on benches in the classroom, he sits on a gunny sack in a corner, visibly alienated and othered (Figure 2). Through such incidents of Babasaheb’s childhood, narrated and illustrated in the picturebook, the “everydayness of caste and untouchability [that] is essential for the caste system to reproduce itself” (Kumar, 2018, p. 65) is delineated in the seemingly “innocent” space of childhood. Even before the reader begins to understand the nuances of caste in Ambedkar’s life story, the very distinctions portrayed between those like him and the rest of the children add a note of dissonance in one’s understanding of childhood as a universal category. It is this “everydayness” of the ways in which caste permeates and informs children’s lives—the children who are immured at the bottom of the social ladder and those who remain oblivious to caste because of their social capital—and reproduces rigid and

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exclusionary social networks in children’s spaces that makes it invisible and, to the urban “secular” self (Dhareshwar, 1993), also defunct. Figure 1 The Boy Who Asked Why

Figure 2 The Boy Who Asked Why

Picturebooks like A Home of Our Own (Gupta, 2018) puncture this secular narrative by portraying childhoods that are often bowdlerised from children’s literature. The children in this picturebook recreate the traditional children’s game of playing house, but there is a tragic difference—Dulari brings a sack of old plates and bowls in exchange for sweeping outside a house, Sunehri pulls out empty bottles for the kitchen from her sack of rag collected from the railway station, Deepa usually gets food from the discarded boxes of leftover food outside a hotel, Manohar brings scrap pieces from the mechanic’s shop for utensils, Salman brings a paint bucket to use it as a chair, Aseem pulls out a cardboard box to make it their television, and Reshma brings the flowers for decoration that nobody bought from her at the traffic signal. Together, these “traditionally disenfranchised” (Superle, 2011, p. 28) children, far removed from the protection of homes and dispossessed of their childhoods, become each other’s family as they scramble inside an abandoned car and go to sleep in “a home of their own” (Figure 3). This story challenges what Nodelman and Reimer (2003) understand as “a well-intentioned impulse in children’s literature… [which embodies a] symbolic defiance of a more complicated knowledge of the constrictions of reality” (p. 210). It carries an “alien note” into the neat ideological separations between work/play and childhood innocence/adult struggles as the identities of these children are consolidated not in the typically thought idyllic experiences of

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childhood but “through [their] involvement in adult negotiations and struggles” (Sreenivas, 2011, p. 322). Figure 3 A Home of Our Own

Ju’s negotiations with a childhood marked by scarcity of resources and her mother’s struggles as a domestic worker in Ju’s Story (Zacharia, 2009/2013) embody a similar life-world that is seldom reflected in children’s books. Ju’s only access to new things—books, schoolbag, skirts, blouses, and so forth—is through the hand-me-downs that her mother brings from the homes in which she works. The caste-class overlap which largely informs the lives of children like Ju, and Dulari, Deepa, Manohar and others from A Home of Our Own, takes on poignant narratorial layers through these stories as Ju expresses disbelief upon getting to breathe in “the delicious scent of new clothes” for the first time in her life, or when Dulari and her friends’ game becomes an evocative reminder of marginal childhoods that are marked by social ostracization, economic privation and cultural erasure. A challenge to the systematic encapsulation of the marginalised in the social peripheries where such individuals become practically invisible to the rest necessitates representations that disrupt hegemonic cultural notions of childhood and highlight the crevices in this cultural narrative—crevices that are filled with children like Ju and Dulari. The Lasting Shadows of Caste While this disruption of hegemonic modes of viewing childhood is important, the conditions and implications of these marginalities cannot be understood in abstractions. Caste, which is often understood in what Dhareshwar (1993) calls “experience-distant” (p. 219) terms, and as an antiquity which has no place in the modern-secular vocabulary, remains a persistent marker of one’s socio-cultural location. Recognizing childhoods that are shadowed by the experiential contours of caste and representing them in literature is indispensable for expanding the conceptual boundaries of childhood. Picturebooks like Bhimrao Ambedkar: The Boy Who Asked Why (Rajendran, 2015) and My Name is Gulab (Kolwankar, 2021) do precisely that by delineating Dalit childhoods, not as timeless and “depoliticized differences” (Sreenivas, 2011, p. 315) but as historically constituted and socially reproduced. My Name is Gulab (Kolwankar, 2021) represents the inherently political nature of children’s spaces and experiences, as Gulab, who is teased by the name “stinky gulab” because her father

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cleans gutters, learns how caste renders any social mobility impossible to the likes of herself. As her father notes, “...this is the only work we have been allowed to do for many, many years. Because of caste. My father, my grandfather, his father…”, one learns that the ostracization that Gulab suffers at school and the piercing visual of her father looking up, covered in filth, at the municipal officers who wouldn’t even touch him to give the money (Figure 4) are both generational implications of a water-tight system of social stratification that continues to sustain itself on the labouring bodies of the “untouchables” who suffer what V. Geetha (2009) calls the “curse of labour”: It is significant that the untouchable is associated in different ways with waste, trash, refuse…. the stigma of pollution which attaches to the untouchable is, most cruelly, one which he bears for the well-being of a commonweal that has no use for him. He takes on, literally and figuratively, the weight of what is ejected after use, and thereby becomes himself an object that can be expanded…. Ironically, the dirt that becomes untouchable and renders him unworthy of touch is not his. This simple but often disregarded fact shows up the artifice of untouchability, its elaborate fictions and the sophistry they embody. (p. 4) Thus, as Kumar (2018) notes, “the bahiskrit (ostracised) labouring body is both inside and outside” (p. 55), filthy but socially necessary, and thus trapped in a vicious cycle of slavery and repudiation. This also ties to the question of dignity of labour, which makes Gulab make a prototype of a machine that would clean gutters and note, “[the machine] is not like my Baba. My Baba has feelings and this machine doesn’t’ (Figure 5). Finally, naming her machine “Gulab”, she wonders if a machine could also clean “the filth of people’s minds”, implying that caste is not limited to professional hierarchies. It is also a systematic encapsulation of people on the various steps of the social-ladder (as recognized by Bhim in Bhimrao Ambedkar: The Boy Who Asked Why). Figure 4 My Name is Gulab

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Figure 5 My Name is Gulab

Kancha Ilaiah (2007) explores the question of labour in depth in Turning the Pot, Tilling the Land, as he introduces various artistic and scientific skills of the Adivasis, cattle-rearers, leatherworkers, potters, farmers, weavers, dhobis and barbers as dignified labour and then problematizes the hierarchies that a caste society imposes on labour, embedding it in false notions of an organic dignity of “upper” caste labour and the lack thereof in the socially essential labour of Dalits and indigenous communities. Written like a textbook with chapters, it not only explains the scientific basis and socio-economic utility of these professions but also locates them historically in the questions of caste, gender and community. Addressing Dalit childhoods innately brings in questions of Dalit politics and the language of protest. However, the centrality of this subaltern politics lies in its historical experientiality and, thus, in literary representations, it is the underlying politics of representation and the narratorial perspectives that characterise categories as politically shaped as subaltern or Dalit Literature. Marginalised childhoods can be and have been addressed in the registers of pity, charity and victimhood. A particular text becomes a site of protest only when it moves away from such worldviews and transforms its gaze towards questions of agency, resistance and a conscious reclamation of space. Mother (2009) by Ilaiah, who is a foremost Dalit-Bahujan intellectual-activist in India, stands out as a subaltern site of protest and reclamation as it devises countercultural aesthetics, language and politics taking shape from his subaltern positionality and moves away from the western bourgeois bildungsroman and postmodern individualism to locate the erased subjectivity of the marginalised within a larger community history in an autobiographical fashion. In Mother (2009), Ilaiah locates his (and his mother’s) story within his community as he describes his “mother’s world” through her close cultural linkages and the nexus of power operating between diverse communities like Baindlas, Mandichulas and Garadis, and the upper caste Patels and Patwaris. This coalescence of the self with the community is characteristic of the Dalit consciousness (Limbale, 2004) that Dalit literature represents and evokes. The two picturebooks that trace Babasaheb Ambedkar’s life-story, Soumya Rajendran’s Bhimrao Ambedkar: The Boy Who Asked Why (2015) and Yogesh Maitreya’s B.R. Ambedkar: A Life in Books (2021), also situate the quotidian marginalisation of young Bhim within his community as he goes on to become the voice of millions of disenfranchised Dalits. From a child sitting

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on a metaphorical question mark, who questions the ostracization he faces in all domains of life (Figure 6), to becoming a pillar of strength for the lowest rung of society (Figure 7), Babasaheb’s journey ties together the motivations and aspirations of Dalit politics. By challenging the historicity of hegemonic cultural notions that have largely informed Indian children’s literature and uncovering the experientiality of marginalised childhoods like Dalit childhood, these picturebooks fracture the longstanding canon of children’s literature for which caste has remained invisible and make cultural interventions in issues of social justice. Figure 6 The Boy Who Asked Why

Figure 7 B.R. Ambedkar: A Life in Books

Recovering the Indigenous Voice Social justice in multicultural societies necessitates recognition and representation of diversity to counter what Adichie calls “the danger of a single story” (Adichie, 2009). Representations of indigenous populations, which make up 8.6 percent of India’s population according to the 2011 census, are essential for equipping children with a critical vocabulary to counter the erasure of indigenous voices from literature and the reduction of their distinct cultures into consumable “artefacts” in contemporary urban societies. In mainstream cultures, indigenous

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people are presented “in a timeless, historical space, untouched and unperturbed by complex changes in society, politics and culture” (Dharavath, 2021, p.1). Outsider perceptions range between fetishized exoticization and criminalization with no actual engagement with the people and their lives. Picturebooks, through their multimodality, can make space for diverse indigenous narratives as well as visual aesthetics to sensitise children to the vast world that surrounds them and enable them to construct democratic and inclusive meanings of “difference”. The Trickster Bird (Rinchin, 2016) portrays the organic synergy between indigenous people and nature, and the rupture of the indigenous ecosystem in the contemporary Anthropocene epoch. Renchu and her family, residing in a jhuggi (a makeshift house), live a life of destitution as ragpickers because of their forced dislocation from the jungle, which had earlier been home to their community- the “Paardhis”. As her Daadi (grandmother) now recollects the “teetarobater story” (meaning partridge-quail, two endangered birds) about her Dadda’s (grandfather) whimsical experience of hunting a bird one day, the readers learn about various things peculiar to their culture—like the whistle made of deer horn—and daadi’s tale becomes a metaphorical expression for the symphonious relationship that indigenous communities share with the forests they inhabit as one reads the conversation between the “teetar” and Renchu’s dadda. Dotted Lines (Bhil, 2019), a visual autobiography of Bhuri Bai, a Bhil artist, similarly introduces the reader to the cultural and religious customs of the Bhil tribe of Madhya Pradesh, including the yearly ‘Rakhi Pithora festival’ in which people paint their houses with scenes of nature, and the intricacies of Bhil Pithora painting, both of which similarly evoke a distinct association of religion with nature in the Bhil culture. An acknowledgement of these distinct communities and their linguistic, regional and religious cultures with an underlying harmony with nature counters the colonial homogenization of diverse Adivasi communities under the umbrella of “tribe”, whose implications have been long-lasting. As Xaxa (1999) notes, Colonial administrators used the term tribe to describe people who were heterogeneous in physical and linguistic traits, demographic, size, ecological, conditions of living, regions inhabited, stages of social formations, and levels of acculturation and development. The need for such a category was necessitated by a concern to subsume the enormous diversity into neat and meaningful categories for both classificatory purposes and administrative convenience. (p. 2) A re-cognition of these differences is embedded in a postcolonial multiculturalist politics of protest combating colonial modernity and mainstream historiography which have together rendered the Adivasis victims of what Banerjee (2006) calls “sterile temporality” and “putative pastness” (p. 15). By recovering their claim to history, one also faces the enduring questions of land, ecology and sovereignty that have shaped the Adivasi politics. Picturebooks like Chipko Takes Root (Manokaran, 2020), The River of Life (Sengupta, 2016) and I will Save My Land (Rinchin, 2017) address the contention between colonial modernity and indigenous ways of life and foreground the essence of the relationship Adivasi communities share with their land and natural resources. Chipko Takes Root (2020) delineates

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the historical contribution of Uttarakhand’s Bhotiya tribe in the Chipko Movement; The River of Life traces the implications of the Narmada Valley Project on the lives and livelihood of tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat; and I will Save My Land envisions a little girl’s anxiety about losing her land to a coal mine in tribal Chhattisgarh. While Dichi (Chipko) loses her Dada (father) to the raging waters of Alaknanda flooded due to rampant deforestation, Kanti’s community (River) loses everything—their “homes, fields, the forest, [and their] cattle”—to the Narmada Valley Project. In all three stories, the sarkari officers (that is, the government officials appointed for executing the ecologically disruptive projects) become apparatuses of reckless state intervention in the guise of development and the instruments of modern technology are represented as “monster machines [that] eat up [their] land” (Figure 8), thereby delineating the fraught relationship between notions of technological and developmental modernity and the indigenous ecosystems. As a response to these reckless interventions, one observes a shared assertion of the rights of the indigenous people—Ramua Kaka (uncle) in The River of Life asserts, “we are called Adivasis because we are the first people to live here”; the children in Chipko Takes Root collectively hug trees and sing, “soil ours, water ours, ours are these forests too, our forefathers raised these, it is we who must protect these too” (Figure 9); and Mati, in I Will Save My Land, says, “mein mor jameen la bachavat haun. I am saving my land” as she lies on the land and clutches her phaawda (spade). Dichi’s initiative of hugging trees to protect them and Mati’s resilient determination to hold on to her land ultimately embody the aboriginal communities’ demand for their right to land, ecological sustenance and sovereignty. Figure 8 I Will Save My Land

Figure 9 Chipko Takes Root

It is pertinent to note that while it is important to register the experiences of diverse indigenous communities, a significant mode of their cultural expression and assertion continues to be their

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distinct art forms. Bhuri Bai Bhil’s illustrations in Dotted Lines take the traditional Pithora art from the walls of Bhil houses to the print format (Figure 10), Sadiq Wants to Stitch (Nainy, 2020) illustrates the vibrant Bakarwal embroidery which is slowly dying out (Figure 11), the illustrations in The Girl Who Loved to Sing (Karthik, 2021) are inspired by the Pardhi Bhil art, and the Gond illustrations (by Durgabai Vyam) in Turning the Pot, Tilling the Land (Ilaiah, 2007) elevates Ilaiah’s exploration of dignity of labour across castes and communities (Figure 12). Additionally, Pratham’s Adikahani series delves into the rich repertoire of oral stories from tribal Odisha and uses Saura and mural style illustrations which are common to the tribes these stories represent. In the picturebooks, these tribal art forms become extensions of indigenous rituals and cultures and also strengthen their “politics of recognition” by inverting the anthropological gaze. As nature acquires prominence in these stories, mirroring the relationship Adivasi communities have with the natural world, like the elephants surrounding the globelike nature (Figure 13), enveloping life as they go on dancing around it (in The Elephants Who Liked to Dance (Munda Writers Group, 2014, from the Adikahani series), the indigenous worldview transgresses its cultural peripheries and becomes as much a part of the world that the child-reader is exposed to as his/her own. At the same time, through such representations, the indigenous art forms become more than “cultural artefacts” as they embody a distinct politics of registering their diverse cultural heritage. Figure 10 Dotted Lines

Figure 11 Sadiq Wants to Stitch

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Figure 12 Turning the Pot, Tilling the Land

Figure 13 The Elephants Who Liked to Dance

Intersectionality and Social Justice For exploring the issues of social justice in picturebooks, it becomes important to look at functioning factors like gender, class, and community not as isolated categories of experiential hierarchies but as coalesced into an intersectional network that positions individuals in complex power dynamics. For instance, Dalit and Adivasi women have historically endured intersectional oppressions of caste/community, class, and gender, which are interlocking in nature. (Sharma & Kumar, 2020) The domain of picturebooks has recently also opened up to literary explorations of such experiences of Dalit/Adivasi womanhood which complicate the reader’s understanding of marginalisation. Picturebooks like Ju’s Story (Zacariah, 2009/2013), Mother, I Will Save My Land (Rinchin, 2017), The Why-Why Girl (Devi, 2003), The Girl Who Loved to Sing (Karthik, 2021) and Dotted Lines explore the nexus of caste/community and gender that shapes a distinct kind of marginality of Dalit/Adivasi women. Ju’s mother, a domestic worker with meagre resources, embodies the precarious state of social and financial instability of working-class women in the society. The historical overlap between class and caste adds another layer of vulnerability for women like Ju’s mother for whom social mobility becomes impossible. As a result, they are encapsulated in a generational cycle of deprivation and challenges in accessing educational opportunities and social inclusion, as delineated in Ju’s childhood. I Will Save My Land also exposes the patriarchal contours within marginalised communities as Mati (whose name herself means soil) is told by her father, “girls don’t have fields”, and her Ajji (grandmother) repudiates

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her son, reminding him of her long struggle to keep her field in a community where women have not had the right to inherit land. As the story portrays the quotidian implications of Brahmanical patriarchy for marginalised women, it also foregrounds their resistance, as Ajji fights a judicial battle against the casteist and patriarchal property rules of the society. Mati embodies a similar resilient spirit as she learns about the “big monster machine” that would convert her land into a coal mine and sneaks out to sleep on her doli—her land—as she clutches her phaawda (spade), to save her land. Like Mati’s tale, several stories foreground women who resist their subjection to caste, class and gender hegemonies. Instead of yielding to servility like others, Moyna (The Why-Why Girl) persistently questions the myriad ways in which people like her (the Shabars) are marginalised and oppressed. As noted by Dandapat and Tripathi (2020), “her endless ‘why’s expose the atrocities of marginalising the “first people” because of the “post-settlers,” the nexus between the feudal lord and the landless tribes, the machinery of the social hierarchy, the inequality of land distribution and labour, both the social discrimination and economic marginalisation” (p. 42). The biographical accounts—of Ilaiah’s mother’s (Mother) resistance to her exclusion from the Bonalu festival and her subsequent victory as she carries the bonam (offering to the Mother Goddess), and the first vermillion bottu (dot) touches her forehead while the first sacred thread is tied on his father’s wrist, Bhuri Bai Bhil’s (Dotted Lines) determination to challenge the prohibition of girls from engaging in the Pithora Pooja and its Bhil painting rituals by becoming the first female Bhil artist, and Teejan Bai’s (The Girl Who Loved to Sing) struggles against all adversities and her community’s incessant attempts “to teach her to be silent” to become the world’s foremost Pandvani performer—all these stories locate the systematic marginalisation as well as the resilience of Dalit and Adivasi women in real histories and cultures, allowing the readers to be cognizant of the cultural manifestations of the subaltern politics of protest. At the same time, picturebooks like Kali Wants to Dance (Karthikeyan, 2019) and Sadiq Wants to Stitch (Nainy, 2020) expose the ways in which Brahmanical patriarchy also confines boys like Kali and Sadiq to the “masculine” roles sanctioned to them. When Kali Veerapathiran exhibits his mastery of Bharatanatyam, he is told by his peers, “only girls dance, you’ll become girlish”. Similarly, when Sadiq expresses his keenness to learn stitching, his mother tells him, “in our community, it is the women who stitch. Men tend to the sheep…have you ever seen any other boy in our community stitch?” Kali, a Dalit boy, transgresses the “permissible” limits of his being Dalit and a boy by learning a classical dance form traditionally performed by upper caste women (Figure 14). Sadiq also challenges his community’s mandate of men tending to the sheep and goats and women undertaking embroidery as he learns the vibrant and slowly dying art of Bakarwal embroidery and, to her mother’s surprise, makes a beautiful rug all by himself (Figure 11). These stories delineate the fragility of the barriers of gender and caste/community and envisions transformative possibilities for individuals to break out of them and redefine their subjectivity on their terms.

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Figure 14 Kali Wants to Dance

Discussion The dominant constructions of childhood in media, literature and cultural discourse are often “invested in [an] anxious maintenance of the adult–child boundary” (Sreenivas, 2011, p. 322), and predicated upon a normative child who is “in school, not at work, playing, carefree and sheltered from the wicked, sordid facts of adult life” (Bissell, 2003, p. 56). In the modern Indian context, such “universalized, adultist” (Banerjee, 2006, p. 65) notions have legitimised a very narrow idea of an implicitly middle-class and upper-caste childhood as “normative”, and dismissed “the many complex, labour-filled, hungry and “marginal” childhoods experienced by Indian children [as existing] in a distant, colonial past” (Balagopalan, 2014, p. 67). When reproduced in children’s literature, such representations fail the multicultural and diverse classrooms where only a handful of children see their experiences acknowledged and a multitude of others become “anomalies” in the constructed monolith of an ideal childhood. Therefore, a critical engagement with texts that disrupt the exclusionary discourse on childhood by acknowledging marginalities—of caste, class, community, gender and race, among others— and their implications on the experiences of childhood becomes essential. Locating Dalit Politics and Aesthetics in Picturebooks Among the various scholarly interventions on caste, Teltumbde’s (2010) elaboration is comprehensive: “caste as such is a form of social stratification involving a mode of hierarchically arranged, closed endogamous strata, membership of which is ascribed by descent and between which contact is restricted and mobility impossible” (p. 12). Addressing the persistence of caste in contemporary society and its longstanding implications on the various aspects of one’s life in children’s literature is a challenge faced by writers and publishers alike. Dhareshwar’s assessment of the “non-availability” and a certain opacity of caste in the “narrative milieu of the secular self” (Dhareshwar, 1993, p. 115) in India still holds true despite a rigorous critical engagement with caste in the last three decades. The discourse on caste has exceeded the bounds of a strictly political categorization towards an “experiential category” with a consolidation of the rightful space for Dalit voices in literature and culture; the “language of caste” (Dhareshwar, 1993, p. 119), however, continues to be conveniently dismissed as “too

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political” in the secular self-fashioning of the modern nation. As noted by Kumar (2018), “the secular–modern individual in India represents him/herself as if it has transgressed the markers of class, caste, gender, regional and linguistic divisions. It represents itself as truly modern in a society whose modernist credentials are always under suspicion” (p. 57). Naturally, the apprehensions regarding thinking and talking about caste deepen even further when one considers including children in the discourse. Addressing the complexities in introducing caste through children’s picturebooks, especially to the children who belong to these secular-modern societies, Soumya Rajendran (2018), the author of The Boy Who Asked Why notes, “the readers who pick up an English picturebook are likely to be urban, middle to upper-middle class children. And to most of these young children, caste is invisible” (para.3). Therefore, making the experientiality of caste, which inevitably informs their world but often remains “invisible”, intelligible to children becomes challenging but nevertheless important. This is where the picturebooks examined for this study prove to be relevant and impactful. Poignant explorations of the ways in which the caste, class and gender positions of children shape their experiences of marginality—as shown through children like Gulab, Ju, Dulari and others navigating their caste and class locations and the struggles they beget—as well as moments of transformative assertion of one’s peculiar subjectivity beyond the experience of oppression—like Babasaheb’s battle against the systematic othering of avarnas and other marginal groups, Ilaiah’s poetic portrayal of his mother’s resistance against Brahmanical patriarchy, and Kali Veerapathiran’s determination to learn Bharatanatyam against all caste and gender barriers—go against the grain of dominant subjects of picturebooks and “resist those patterns and tendencies which represent caste in the public sphere as if [it] was merely a remnant of the past” (Kumar, 2018, p. 65). This leads us to a critical question: can picturebooks engaging with Dalit childhoods be seen as a part of the larger body of Dalit literature? With the 1970s Dalit Panther Movement and the concurrent rise in Dalit writings, the term Dalit has acquired a radical meaning of “self-identification”, embodying an “oppositional consciousness” (Rawat & Satyanarayana, 2016, p. 2). Thus, defined by a distinctly Dalit consciousness which portrays “the sorrows, tribulations, slavery, degradation, ridicule and poverty endured by Dalits” (Limbale, 2004, p. 30), Dalit literature is concerned with a “historical resurrection, representation, and revision” (Gajarawala, 2011, p. 577), thereby extending Dalit politics into the literary domain and embodying Dalit aesthetics. For intersectional experiences and narratives to be authentic, the standpoint from which they are voiced becomes important. Extending the nexus Foucault establishes between knowledge and power, Sandra Harding (2003) defines “standpoint” as a conscious political position which examines how knowledge and power are related, and notes, “standpoint theory’s focus on the historical and social locatedness of knowledge…makes a distinctive contribution to social justice projects as well as to our understanding of preconditions for the production of knowledge” (p. 10). The marginalised standpoint, thus, unfolds the power politics operative in structures of caste, class, gender and literature, and thereby becomes an emancipatory tool for the language of subaltern politics.

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Characteristically marked by issues of authenticity and historicity, Dalit narratives locate the individualistic self as the locus of autobiographical writing (Kumar, 2018, p. 60) while simultaneously positioning the individual experience within the community’s experience of marginalisation. Assessing the picturebooks chosen for this study on the grounds of a) the authenticity of authorial voice, and b) a historically conscious coalescence of the individual “I” with the collective “we” in the stories reveals that while these stories effectively introduce the intricacies of marginality to children, barring a few exceptions, like Ilaiah’s autobiographical engagement in Mother, they largely remain literary productions about the Dalit subjectivity by savarna writers. This is where the questions of Dalit consciousness and standpoint—marked by the historicity of the subaltern experience of the author—complicate an easy conflation of all stories about Dalit protagonists with the larger body of Dalit literature. Ilaiah’s exploration of the shared nature of Dalit experience in Mother and Turning the Pot, a foregrounding of Ambedkar’s experience within the collective experiences of the Mahars in The Boy Who Asked Why (Rajendran, 2015) and B.R. Ambedkar: A Life in Books (Maitreya, 2021), and a recognition of the generational ostracization of the likes of Gulab and her father in My Name is Gulab (Kolwankar, 2021)—all of these depictions successfully contextualise the individual’s marginalisation within a much larger history of their community’s Dalit experience. However, the authenticity of the subaltern experientiality which characterises Ilaiah’s (2007) autobiographical work (Mother) and remains absent in many other picturebooks discussed also reflects on the peculiar aesthetic and linguistic approach which distinguishes a story like Mother from the others. What is also pertinent to note is the possible implication this may have on the question of address—that is, the gaze to which these aesthetics and narratives are addressed. While an unkempt, alienated and lost portrayal of Bhim in The Boy Who Asked Why (Figure 1) may be necessary to educate the middle-class, upper-caste child about Babasaheb’s Dalit identity and the hierarchies in a caste-society, Dalit children in many parts of the country may be used to a more politicised visual culture, representing Babasaheb as a harbinger of selfrespect and equality for the Dalits. This implies that the literary and visual representations of caste marginalities and Dalit subjectivities in picturebooks take shape around standpoints and perspectives, making the question of Dalit consciousness in the discussed picturebooks nuanced. Ultimately, it is through an inclusion of the marginalised castes at all stages— authorship and production, representation as well as readership—that the questions of Dalit politics and aesthetics can be more seriously addressed within the space of picturebooks, and children’s literature at large. The Politics of Recognition in Indigenous Representations The essence of a multiculturalist revision of canons of literature and history lies in a recognition of “difference” contextualised within the systemic hegemonies of caste, class and gender, among others. Indigenous communities have historically been either exoticized or criminalised—but perpetually othered—under colonial and internal-colonial ventures of active exploitation and erasure of the histories of the aboriginals. The questions of land, ecological cultures, sovereignty and sustenance associated with indigenous communities across cultures and nations rupture the dominant discourse on indigenous cultures which is one of an “imputed

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pastness… [which is] a mere pastness of anachronism” (Banerjee, 2006, p. 17). Therefore, a recovery of the historicity of these cultures is principled upon the politics of recognition. In Indian children’s literature, and picturebooks in particular, there have been attempts to bring up the quotidian struggles of indigenous communities to cope up with the imposed modernity of a very lopsided idea of “development”. The picturebooks selected for this study educate the readers about marginalised cultures and encourage in them a respectful recognition of diversity along with a critical engagement with the structural othering of communities. A sincere engagement with indigenous histories and cultures reveals “that the very concept of land must be reimagined as ecology rather than land per se, that is, as inclusive of forest, field, minerals, water and animals on the one hand and of specific modes of habitation of and relation to such land on the other” (Banerjee, 2006, p. 14). Picturebooks like I Will Save My Land (Rinchin, 2007), Chipko Takes Root (Manokaran, 2015) and The River of Life (Sengupta, 2016) represent the synergy between indigenous peoples and their natural habitats, and the ramifications of rampant intrusion of the state into their lives and livelihoods. As a representative of the Adivasis of Chhattisgarh, Mati delineates their “cumulative anxieties over losing their lands” (Dandapat & Tripathi, 2020, p. 45). Similarly, Dichi makes her ash tree an organic extension of her body as she hugs it to protect it from the axemen, figuratively and literally becoming one with nature. As noted by Banerjee (2006), “an ‘other’ history of land— via the story of tribes—challenges us to rethink complexly differentiated forms of property, ownership, usufruct and access rather than think right to land only in terms of the conventional state/private binary” (p. 13). The Trickster Bird also sheds light on the plight of the Paardhis and their social stigma of being labelled as “criminals” as well as their forced dislocation and their subsequent life of destitution, thereby exposing the state-sanctioned tribulations that Adivasi communities continue to undergo to pay the price for a “modernity” that operates against their interests and invisibilises them. A recognition of diverse indigenous cultures is incomplete without a recognition of their aesthetics and distinct art forms. Indigenous visual art is not only an aesthetic stimulus but also a gateway for the child reader into diverse indigenous cultures that would otherwise remain the alien “other”—unknown and subsequently “erased”. Reversing the “anthropological gaze”, picturebooks like Dotted Lines (using Bhil illustrations), Turning the Pot, Tilling the Land (with Gond visuals) and Sadiq Wants to Stitch (with the Bakarwal embroidery patterns) embody the ‘inclusion’ of indigenous ways of life not just in discourse but also at the level of aesthetics. The politics of the marginalised inevitably carries an essence of protest, and using visual cultural art forms becomes a political assertion of the marginalised subjectivity as well as a register of its protest. In most indigenous illustrations, vibrant colours and distinct patterns delineate the symphonious association of the Adivasis with nature without divorcing this association from the historical and developmental upheavals that have shaped their current status; therefore, when combined with narratives of marginalisation and indigenous resistance—like that embodied in the stories of Bhuri Bai Bhil (Dotted Lines) and Teejan Bai (The Girl Who Loved to Sing)—the distinct cultural aesthetics challenge the ways in which indigenous art is reduced to “cultural artefacts” for consumption and becomes a seamless component of indigenous politics. Art here becomes a medium of expression—of pain and

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resistance—and presents a counterpoint to statist or developmental discourses, ultimately transgressing regional and cultural boundaries to become a part of the reader’s world and expand their visual and critical literacies. Sensitising children to these issues may prove transformative and catalyse the process of encouraging a sense of “ethical relationality” (Donald, 2016) in children coming from diverse backgrounds. Devised as a postcolonial response to the “colonial logics that disregard Indigenous peoples’ knowledges and perspectives” (Kerr & Fergusen, 2021 p. 6) and informed by Cree teachings, “[e]thical relationality is an ecological understanding of human relationality that does not deny difference, but rather seeks to understand more deeply how our different histories and experiences position us in relation to each other” (Donald, 2012, p. 103). The interactions between the non-indigenous world and indigenous cultures can only be nonintrusive and respectful if there is a conscious recognition of a “human relationality” that is principled on co-existence, thereby acknowledging indigenous cultures and knowledge systems as valid. By embodying a conscious politics of recognition of diverse cultures, picturebooks can disrupt the “cognitive imperialism” (Battiste, 2005) that continues to distort children’s (and adults’) perceptions of indigenous communities. As more and more Adivasi voices find space in the domain of children’s literature, the subsequent movement from erasure to acceptance of diversity may enable children to forge empathetic solidarity across differences with each other. Intersectional Experiences Command Intersectional Representations Scholars across cultures have identified crevices in the movements for social justice which are unidimensional in their approach to marginality. Kimberle Crenshaw’s (1991) critique of mainstream feminist theory as concerned with only one form of marginalised identity (gender) and neglecting the intersection of multiple operational identities exposes the exclusive nature of the very movement which has historically strived for equality. In the Indian context, as the mainstream Dalit movement remained largely masculine and the feminist movement essentially catered to savarna women, leading to a “Savarnization of womanhood” (Rege, 2003, p. 91), women and gender minorities from marginalised sections remained, to borrow Patricia Hill Collins’s term, “outsiders within” (Collins, 1986), ghettoised in the “mutual bracketing” (Guru, 2002, p. 112) of caste and gender. Therefore, as subaltern movements challenge the hegemonic structures of power in society and culture, recognising that the subaltern is also never a monolith becomes indispensable for true social justice. Representations of marginality need to reflect this nexus of identities which forms subjectivities, and a study of the same in children’s stories becomes necessary to assess whether the world they create is truly inclusive of all kinds of childhoods. Out of the sixteen picturebooks analysed in this paper, eleven include female protagonists whose marginalisation is “stimulated by the triple power structures of class, caste and gender, which alienate a Dalit [or Adivasi] woman thrice, attempting to make her ‘a Dalit among the Dalit and the downtrodden among the downtrodden’” (Manorama, 2008, p. 450). The portrayals of girls like Moana, Mati, Dichi, Ju and Dulari “emphasise the relevance of representing a Dalit[/Adivasi]

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girl as the protagonist” (Dandapat & Tripathi, 2023, p. 6), for their experiences of marginality are not limited to their caste/class locations. It is Brahmanical patriarchy which complicates Mati’s fight to save her land, Bhuri Bai’s struggle to be a Bhil artist and Ilaiah’s mother’s experiences of oppression. Naturally, their resistance can beget a transformation only if it encompasses the intersectionality of their marginalisation. This also implies that an invocation of multiple subjectivities renders the relationship between an individual and their community “neither direct nor unproblematic” (Beth, 2019, p. 5). At the level of representation in children’s literature, this means that we need as many diverse voices as possible to critically mobilise the ways of thinking about childhood, marginality and social justice. The question of including multicultural representations also ties to the issue of language and class. Meenakshi Mukherjee (2000) argues that the use of English in literature is a complex issue “entangled with questions of class, mobility and readership” (p. 169), whereas Svati Joshi (1994) contends that English enables “the intelligentsia’ to ‘evolv[e] its agenda of inventing tradition,’ ‘history,’ ‘culture,’ and forg[e] an ideological hegemony” (p.6, qtd. in Superle, p. 28). Therefore, attempts for making regionally and culturally diverse stories accessible to all have to be cognizant of the role language plays in culture. Pratham’s Adikahani series proves exemplary in this regard with its multilingual approach to telling stories. Ultimately, diverse representations are necessary for all children—for the upper-caste, middle-class children for whom they become “windows” and “sliding glass doors” (Bishop, 1990) to step into the world of those who do not have their privileges, and for the children from marginalised communities to make sense of their experiences by feeling seen and represented. To make this happen, the question of accessibility, in terms of language, affordability and outreach need to be seriously considered. Conclusion The politics of “ethical relationality” is based in an empathetic recognition of difference, which necessitates diversity at the level of representation, combined with a sensitive pedagogy. Picturebooks for children are never apolitical; they are instead a “significant means by which we integrate young children into the ideology of our culture” (Nodelman, 2003, p. 116). If we want this culture to be diverse, empathetic and marked by critical awareness, then the standpoints from which their stories are told need to be diverse too. When “difference” is perceived as an exclusion from the abstract notion of a universal childhood, a resolution uncritical of the very constructedness of this universal category “forecloses the range of radical possibilities its subjects may have” (Sreenivas, 2011, p. 321). Therefore, picturebooks need to deflate the very essentialist ideas of childhood which disallow explorations of troubled, atypical and difficult childhood experiences, and shift the very “structure of its address” (Sreenivas, 2011, p. 321) from the urban, middle class child to all children—including both, those who embody the notions of protected and privileged childhoods and those who exist on the fringes of society. The “truth” of childhood, much like adulthood, is not singular. Therefore, stories written about and for children need not be palatable to an assumed unintellectual naivety in children. They must recognize children’s experiences and represent them truthfully.

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Contemporary picturebooks have been successful in not only unsettling the adult/child binary to reveal the contours of social injustice in the multifaceted experiences of childhood, but also in giving a voice to the marginalised childhoods and rendering them as valid standpoints for the exploration of diversity and marginality in children’s worlds. Though nascent, the field encompasses a transformative potential, and when combined with right pedagogy, it can help foster a democratic culture that encourages children to ask critical questions and forge empathetic solidarities.

Acknowledgement Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), Delhi, for funding the study.

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References Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The danger of a single story [Video]. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_stor y Balagopalan, S. (2014). Inhabiting ‘childhood’: Children, labour and schooling in postcolonial India. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137316790 Banerjee, P. (2006). Politics of Time: ‘Primitives’ and History-writing in a Colonial Society. Oxford University Press. Battiste, M. (2005). You can’t be the global doctor if you’re the colonial disease. Teaching as activism, 121–133. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773572348-013 Beth, S. (2019). Dalit autobiographies in Hindi: The transformation of pain into resistance. Swedish South Asian Studies Network. Bhil, B. B. & Mukherjee D. (2019). Dotted Lines. Katha Publishers. Bishop, R. S. (1990, March). Windows and mirrors: Children’s books and parallel cultures. In California State University reading conference: 14th annual conference proceedings (pp. 3–12). Bissell S. (2003). The social construction of childhood: A perspective from Bangladesh. In Kabeer N., Nambissan G.B. & Subrahmanian R. (Eds.). Child Labour and the Right to Education in South Asia: Needs versus Rights?, 47–72, Sage. Collins, P. H. (1986). Learning from the Outsider-Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought. Social Problems, 33(6), 14–32. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1525/sp.1986.33.6.03a00020 Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039 Dandapat, S., & Tripathi, P. (2020). Representation of the Adivasis: An Intersectional Study of Gender through Select Indian Picture Books in English. New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship 26(1-2), 38–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13614541.2021.1972750 Dandapat, S., & Tripathi, P. (2023). Rethinking Resilience: Addressing Dalit Childhood in Selected Indian Picturebooks in Contemporary Voice of Dalit 15 (2), p.1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X221150164 Devi, M. (2003). The Why -Why Girl. Birdword Books. Dharavath, M. (2021). Articulating Difference: Self, Identity and Representation. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 13(4). https://dx.doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.08 Dhareshwar, V. (1993). Caste and the Secular Self, Journal of Arts and Ideas, 115–126. Donald, D. (2012). Forts, colonial frontier logics, and Aboriginal-Canadian relations: Imagining decolonizing educational philosophies in Canadian contexts. Decolonizing philosophies of education, Brill, 91–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-6878_7

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Donald, D. (2016). From What Does Ethical Relationality Flow? An ‘Indian’ Act in Three Artefacts. Counterpoints, 478, 10–16. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/45157205. Gajarawala, T. J. (2011). Some Time between Revisionist and Revolutionary: Unreading History in Dalit Literature. PMLA, 126(3), 2011, 575–91. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41414131. Geetha, V. (2009). Bereft of Being: The Humiliations of Untouchability, In Gopal Guru (Eds.). Humiliation: Claims and Context. Oxford University Press. Gupta, M. (2018). A Home of Our Own. Tulika Publishers. Guru, G. (2002). Dalits from Margin to Margin. India International Centre Quarterly, vol. 27(2), pp. 111–16. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23005493. Harding, S. (2003). Introduction. In Harding S (Ed.). The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies, New York: Routledge, 1–16. Ilaiah, K. (2004). Caste or Class or Caste-Class: A Study in Dalit-Bahujan Consciousness and Struggles in Andhra Pradesh in 1980s. In Mohanty M. (Ed.). Class, Caste, Gender. Sage Pubs. India, 227–55. Ilaiah, K. (2007). Turning the pot, tilling the land: Dignity of labor in our times. Navayana. Ilaiah, K. (2009) Mother. Eklavya-Parag Publishers. Jewitt, C., & Leeuwen, T. V. (Eds.) (2000). The handbook of visual analysis. The Handbook of Visual Analysis. Sage Joshi, S. (1994). Rethinking English: An Introduction. In Joshi S. (Ed.). Rethinking English: Essays in Literature, Language, History. Oxford UP, 1– 31. Karthik, L. (2021). The Girl Who Loved to Sing. Duckbill Publishers. Karthikeyan, A. (2019). Kali Wants to Dance. Pratham Books. Kerr, J., & Ferguson, K. A. (2021). Ethical relationality and Indigenous storywork principles as methodology: Addressing settler-colonial divides in inner-city educational research. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(6), 706–715. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077800420971864 Kolwankar, S. (2021). My Name is Gulab. Tulika Publishers. Kumar, R. S. (2018). The politics of Dalit literature. Dalit literatures in India. Routledge India, 49–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780429489563-5 Limbale, S. (2004). Towards an Aesthetic of Dalit Literature: History, Controversies and Considerations, Mukherjee, A. (Trans.). Orient Blackswan. Maitreya, Y. (2021). B.R. Ambedkar: A Life in Books. Pratham Books. Manokaran, J. (2020). Chipko Takes Root. Pratham Books. Manorama, R. (2008). Dalit women: The downtrodden among the downtrodden. In M. E. John (Ed.), Women’s studies in India: A reader. Penguin Books, 445–452. Mehra, D. (2018). Representing marginalised childhoods in contemporary graphic novels and picture books in India. Childhoods in India: Traditions, trends and transformations. London, 181–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315098395-9 Munda Writers’ Group. (2014). The Elephants Who Liked to Dance. Pratham Books.

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Mukherjee, M. (2000). The Perishable Empire: Essays on Indian Writing in English. Oxford UP. Nainy, M. (2020). Sadiq Wants to Stitch. Karadi Tales. Narahara, M. M. (1998). Gender Stereotypes in Children's Picture Books (ED419248). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED419248 Nodelman, P., & Reimer, M. (2003). The Pleasures of Children’s Literature. 3rd ed. Allyn. Prasad, A. (2004). Environmentalism and the Left: Contemporary Debates and Future Agendas in Tribal Areas. Social Scientist. Rajendran, S. (2015). Bhimrao Ambedkar: The Boy Who Asked Why. Tulika Publishers. Rajendran, S. (2018). ‘Behind the Scenes: The Boy Who Asked Why’. Behind the scenes: The Boy Who Asked Why. Kitaab World. Rawat, R. S., & Satyanarayana, K. (2016). Dalit studies: New perspectives on Indian history and society. Duke University Press. Rege, S. (2003). A Dalit Feminist Standpoint. In Rao A. (Ed.). Gender and Caste. Kali for Women, 90–101. Rinchin. (2017). I Will Save My Land. Tulika. Rinchin. (2016). The Trickster Bird. Wordbird Books. Sengupta, S. (2016). The River of Life. TERI Press. Sharma, B., & Kumar A. (2020). Learning from ‘the outsider within’: The sociological significance of dalit women’s life narratives. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 21(6), 22–34. Sreenivas, D. (2011). Telling different tales: Possible childhoods in children’s literature. Childhood, 18(3), 316–332. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568211407531 Stephens, J. (1992). Ideology and Language in Children’s Fiction. Longman. Superle, M. (2011). Contemporary English-language Indian children’s literature: Representations of nation, culture, and the new Indian girl, Routledge. Teltumbde, A. (2010). The persistence of caste: The Khairlanji murders and India’s hidden apartheid. Zed Books. Xaxa, V. (1999). Transformation of Tribes in India: Terms of Discourse. Economic and Political Weekly, 34(24), 1519–1524. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4408077. Zacharia, P. (2013 Reprint). Ju’s Story. Tulika Publishers. Zornado, J. L. (2021). Inventing the child: Culture, ideology, and the story of childhood. Garland Science. Corresponding Author: Devjani Ray Email: devjani0608@gmail.com

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Simulated Nature Design as a Cultural Form of Interstitial Existence Ezgi Tokdil Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey

Editor’s Note: The individual artworks and historical exhibitions referenced throughout this manuscript serve as contextual and historical examples. In accordance with editorial guidelines, these mentions do not function as discrete, standalone sources, and separate entries have intentionally been omitted from the reference list. Full historical details, including creator names and relevant dates are provided directly within the narrative text.

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Abstract This study examines how material nature is reorganized through digital technologies and transformed into a cultural form of interstitial existence, with a focus on light- and sound-based installations. These simulated representations of nature, reconstructed through digital projections, algorithmic surfaces, and artificial objects, transform physical reality and create a new degree of interstitial existence between the natural and the artificial. In a time when ecological crises are becoming increasingly evident, the significance of such digital nature productions extends beyond their purely aesthetic aspects, encompassing critical ecological and ontological implications. This study aims to reveal that simulated nature designs are multilayered practices producing ontological consequences in the context of ecological pressures and the virtualization of material nature, by examining how they redefine the material integrity of nature and the intervention areas that transform human–nature relationships. The works sampled for the study were analyzed through conceptual analysis, systematic visual analysis, and critical discourse analysis. The interactions between the works and their surfaces, the transformative effects of projection technologies on natural existence, the discontinuous and temporary nature of the represented environment, and the ways the works generate ecological awareness or aesthetic romanticization were examined. The findings indicate that while simulated nature designs can foster positive awareness of ecosystems, they also carry the risk of reducing nature to a cultural object and rendering physical reality invisible. In this sense, the study presents both the critical and supportive dimensions of simulated nature, offering a unique contribution to the literature on digital environmentalism and post-digital ecology, and emphasizing the necessity of considering the cultural, ecological, and ontological dimensions of digital nature representations together. Keywords: algorithmic systems, digitalized nature, digital technologies, simulative reality, ontological dimension, interactive art

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Design and narrative strategies that reorganize material nature into a cultural form of interstitial existence may resemble the 1960s earth artists’ rejection of the spatial boundaries of the gallery, their movement of art beyond gallery walls, and the subsequent alteration of nature through new physical arrangements. However, what is at stake today is clearly the displacement of nature’s state as natural. This displacement, defined as the digitization of the natural, is created through virtual images designed by using codes and algorithmic systems that replace the initially absent material nature. While these images are transmitted to the viewer via the screen, they have increasingly begun to intervene in physical reality itself, with their state of being simulated through technological tools such as projections and sensors. Although these works may not explicitly harm nature, through urbanization, industrialization, or mining activities, it is clear that they do cause temporary and, in some cases, partially permanent effects on the natural ecosystem in the region. Additionally, another point to be discussed regarding these creations is the aestheticization of ecological destruction and its romanticization or transformation into a spectacle, as in the landscape paintings of 19th-century painters, which obscures the issue requiring urgent political action. Of course, the importance of these new spatial realities in making humanity understand what it stands to lose by highlighting the concrete existence of nature and ecosystems facing the threat of extinction through light and sound is also one of the significant issue in contemporary debates. Existing literature mostly addresses digital nature designs in terms of cultural representation, digital aesthetics, or the visual potential of technology; however, these studies do not provide a comprehensive and multilayered analysis of the ontological status of simulated nature, its interstitial character, or the ways it intervenes in natural ecosystems. Research analyzing how light- and sound-based installations affect both the physical environment and the cultural positioning of natural existence is particularly limited. This gap necessitates evaluating the effects of digital technologies on nature not only in cultural terms but also in ecological and existential dimensions. This study approaches simulated nature designs not only as a form of cultural expression but also as multilayered practices that intervene in the integrity of material nature and reorganize the boundaries between physical and virtual, offering a unique framework that simultaneously analyzes ecological and ontological dimensions, which are often neglected in the literature. The core argument of this research is that digital nature productions operate as simulative arrangements that transform the state of being of nature, compress material reality into forms of interstitial existence, and extend beyond mere aesthetic representation. Accordingly, the study first discusses the concept of simulated nature within a historical and conceptual framework, then analyzes how digital layering, projection-based interventions, and algorithmic reproduction transform the relationship between nature and space through selected examples. The final section discusses the ecological, cultural, and ontological implications of these new forms of interstitial existence. The common thread in these discussions is that simulated nature productions constitute a multilayered form of intervention that transforms the status of material nature. Therefore, these simulated nature designs, which can be considered a cultural form of interstitial existence, must be analyzed from multiple perspectives, including their aesthetic

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context, their intervention in the natural world, their ecological dimensions, and their ontological dimensions in terms of the reorganization of being. Literature Review A Cultural Approach to Simulated Nature Design: Before and After The history of reality being altered by the artist’s hand, intervening in its natural existence independent of humans, and reorganizing it in a way that leads to its inclusion in a new category of existence, can be traced back to the elimination of the physical conditions of space-time continuity, followed by the redesign of material nature outside of space. Among the bestknown examples in the process of questioning physical boundaries, which began with Duchamp and continued with modernism’s “white cube” phenomenon, are Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau, which rearranges the known dimensions of space in a strange complexity; Yves Klein’s exhibition Le Vide (1958), in which the gallery’s white empty walls become the artwork itself; and Fernandez Arman’s Le Plein (1960), which presents a gallery so full that it cannot be entered as an art object, in response to Klein. This trajectory continues with Dennis Oppenheim's Gallery Transplant (1970), in which the gallery is displaced as a cultural unit and relocated into the natural environment, thereby exceeding the physical and conceptual limits of the white cube through direct spatial intervention. From the 1960s onwards, with the widespread use of fluorescent lamps, neon lighting, lasers, and holography, and light art becoming a recognized movement, the dynamics of creation began to change again, and it can be seen that light installations by artists such as Dan Flavin, in particular, redrew the boundaries of the physical reality of space (Clarke, 2010, p. 143; Yayan & Şahin, 2022, p. 473). Although these installations took place within architectural spaces, it is possible to describe them as precursors to the digital works of today’s artists, who use light to reconstruct nature. On the other hand, during the same years, amidst the cultural diversity of the postmodern era, it can be seen that some artists played with the physical reality of nature rather than space, reorganized its natural existence, and presented this material reality as a work of art through these arrangements. Some of the artists who attempted to re-create nature in the 1960s made permanent interventions in its physical reality, while others did so for a limited period of time. Others attempted atmospheric interventions through unnatural objects they placed in nature. Almost all of them try to effect a permanent or partially temporary change in nature as an entity, and transform the physical into a new reality. Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970), where liminality occurs directly on a geological scale, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Surrounded Islands (1983) or Running Fence (1976), where the natural ecosystem is surrounded by the synthetic, and Walter de Maria’s The Lightning Field (1977), where the natural process is forced to change through human intervention and the energy of nature becomes part of the work, are considered among the earliest known examples of permanent or temporary interventions in nature. In these works, “nature is treated solely as a material and a tool upon which thought is built, in contrast to the critical and activist perspectives of artists who came after them” (Tokdil, 2022, p. 48). In the ongoing process, it can be seen that some artists,

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through environmental and ecological interventions, have focused on environmental losses and offered experimental solutions or developed prototypes based on the idea of restoration. These artists performed a critical and activist identity during a period in the 1970s when environmental art movements were on the rise, the first reports on ecological problems began to be presented to the public, efforts to take action began, and the consequences of the destruction of nature by human hands reached a palpable level. As Lynton (1989) emphasizes, these works are “a striking response to the 20th century’s defining characteristic of materialistic, urban-based consumer culture, to construction and destruction, and to human arrogance in the face of nature and time” (p. 286). Agnes Denes’ Wheatfield - A Confrontation (1982) is considered one of the first and most important examples of environmental art taking on an activist identity (Brown, 2014, p. 14). Some environmental art actions undertake interventions in nature to restore it, for example, Joseph Beuys’s 7000 Oaks (1982), where he began planting trees, or Mel Chin’s Revival Field (1991), which was designed to improve the sustainability of the plant ecosystem by focusing on remediation. The latter, which tested the potential for green remediation using special hyperaccumulator plants to remove heavy metals from contaminated soil, is a particularly notable example. Following this period, which brought the environmental and cultural context of the act of transforming nature to the fore, by the time the 21st century arrived, it became apparent that human intervention in nature no longer occurred within its own reality, as it had initially, but rather on a larger scale and through the metaphor of displaced nature. In some works, natural forms were artificially reconstructed. While concretizing humanity’s destructive impact on nature, this period brought with it a diversification characterized by countless environmentally focused art creations that unknowingly contributed to this destruction. As ecological problems increased, art’s pressure on the environment began to increase at an equal rate. Olafur Eliasson’s Weather Project (2003), which redefines the perception of urban nature through artificial intervention, the Waterfall Project (2008), consisting of giant artificial waterfalls, and Ice Watch (2014), which critiques human impact on the natural world through the phenomenon of melting polar ice caps, are among these examples. It can be argued that these works add an interstitial layer to the relationship between nature, culture, and technology while transforming nature through technological tools or perceptual interventions, and that they not only change nature as a material entity but also reconstruct it perceptually and experientially. From the early 2000s onwards, environmentally focused art practices began to appear increasingly in the field of digital art, with forms of intervention in nature being redefined. While these cultural representations, created in a digital environment and conveyed to the viewer through technological tools, bring ecological issues to the fore, on the other hand, the energy consumption and carbon footprint of the technology used cause ethical dilemmas, and many digital creations clearly reveal this contradiction. Helen Evans and Heiko Hansen’s project Nuage Vert (2008), consisting of a green laser light projected onto the smoke coming out of a power plant’s chimney, which changes size depending on the city’s electricity consumption, consumes a significant amount of energy, while material nature is reduced to a mere data visualization tool. Studio Roosegaarde’s Waterlicht (2015), which creates a virtual flood simulation through laser and light projections to reference rising water levels, is based

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on climate crisis awareness, but it falls into the trap of its own ecological footprint due to the use of energy-intensive technologies. On the other hand, it can be argued that since the postmodern era, strategies for transforming nature have diversified into different categories. Chief among these are strategies that involve projecting images, placing artificial objects in natural environments, and manipulating the physical conditions of nature. These strategies began in the 1960s, predominantly with artificial objects, and then gradually evolved towards the manipulation of physical conditions and natural processes, and finally, with the proliferation of digital technologies in the early 2000s, virtuality and reality were replaced by coded images and algorithms. While strategies for transforming nature in past environmental art movements took place on a material plane, in today’s digital designs, nature is transformed into a simulational form of existence through digital layers and algorithmic surfaces. This change reopens the ontological question of what nature is, the ecological aspect of technology’s invisible costs, and the cultural dimension of nature’s forms of representation in collective memory. While digital technologies serve as an important catalyst for environmental awareness by making the invisible visible, it can also be argued that they reduce nature’s material reality to simulation, facilitate significant energy consumption in this process, and carry the risk of cultural commodification. Therefore, human history can actually be considered a history of destruction and reconstruction. While nature has been seen as a resource for humanity in almost every period, it has also been accepted as a trigger and starting point for cultural production for artists. The artist-nature relationship, which initially began with explicit intervention, gradually changed, with intervention giving way to restoration with a cautious approach, and subsequently to a field of sensory learning, along with the emergence of conditions that increase resource use in the technology-culture dialectic. In this context, it is clear that the reorganization of nature through artistic intervention can be considered both an ecological responsibility and an ontological problem. As nature is recreated as a simulation using different tools and techniques, material reality is redesigned and replaced by a new substitute reality. This change redefines the ontological status of nature as an entity and brings with it ecologically contradictory conditions. Therefore, in order to accurately analyze the current conditions of existence in simulation-based nature design, it is important to begin the research with the history of forms of intervention in nature and then analyze the new state of existence as a cultural liminal space. Nature as a Form of Existence: A Cultural Interstitial Zone between Simulation and Reality At the core of the ontological debate about what nature “is” lies the replacement of reality with the virtual and/or the transformation of material nature into a new state of being through digital interventions, creating an interstitial zone between reality and simulation. In this research, the focus of the debate is the relationship between “representation” as a simulated new design of nature and actual reality, and the ecological and cultural balance of losses and gains. Representation, a virtual reality or an interstitial layer projected from a projection, which is nothing more than an appearance that, in Alain Badiou’s definition (2002/2020), “has a degree of existence situated between non-existence and absolute existence,” (p. 247) ontologically

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represents not reality itself, but an ideological and technical construction of reality, a simulacral state of being. As Smithson’s physical intervention in material nature suggests, it can be surmised that the natural environment, redefined through technology and digital-algorithmic interventions, is neither direct virtual reality nor a material surface, and that its status is in question. However, what needs to be emphasized here is that an artificial digital image projected onto the natural ecosystem superimposes reality and the virtual, redefines the boundaries between the two states of being (reality and representation) to varying degrees, and reshapes cultural and ecological meaning. In this sense, it can be argued that digital technologies and algorithmic interventions alter nature’s status as a purely biological reality, placing it in an interstitial degree of existence reconstituted through visual layers, simulation possibilities, and technological actors. Nature has not “yet” died in the physical sense, but its physical existence has been transformed by human hands, thus ontologically replacing its state of being with a new degree of interstitial existence. In this sense, although there is no physical death, the new reality created by the artistdesigner has led to the symbolic death of nature, creating a new cultural interstitial zone in its place, reducing nature to a conditional state of existence, dependent on the mechanical continuity of the installation, where reality and simulation overlap. In this context, before moving on to strategies for transforming material nature, it is important to analyze the ontological framework of the subject through different forms of thought and systematically discuss the state of being, forms of representation, hybridization, and hyperreality narratives to define the theoretical background of the research focus. In digital art practices, how nature is represented almost always possesses complex ontological patterns that extend beyond the aesthetic context. As seen in Heidegger’s (1950/2002) framing, his Gestell approach, nature’s association with technology removes it from being-in-itself and reduces it to a source position, Bestand. According to Wrathall (2021), “technology discovers what entities are by compelling them to take a form that allows everything to be gathered and ordered and set on call in a way that maximizes their ready usability,” which essentially means “forcing the natural world to submit to the demands of the technological order” (p. 434). Thus, as a ready-to-use resource, material nature becomes a data set open to restructuring in the hands of the creative artist-designer, where material reality/quality is transformed into digitized data/quantity, and this resource forces the natural entity to be represented again at a level of simulacral inter-existence. Therefore, the concept of digital environmentalism can be understood as a framing practice that transforms nature into energy, data, and/or algorithmic information. In the modern era, Hegel and Nietzsche are important thinkers who question “what existence is” from different perspectives. Hegel’s “absolute reason in the absolute metaphysics of subjectivity” is a clear counterpart to modern technology, which, according to Pippin (2024), is “almost literally the attempt to make the world our own” (p. 68). Hegel’s emphasis on “the conscious reconstruction of the world,” regarding the fundamental ontological characteristics of the technological age, corresponds to Nietzsche’s idea of “the will to power and the eternal

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recurrence of the same” (Wrathall, 2011, p. 232). Therefore, everything encountered essentially brings with it the idea that humans have infinite freedom to reorganize and rebuild, which leads to the misconception of nature as a “resource” ready for consumption. In Baudrillard’s (1981/1994) theory of simulation, this transformation and reorganization is addressed in a more radical way, where reality no longer exists behind a model, but rather the model itself takes the place of reality, and technology “begins to destroy both the relationships between people and the relationships people establish with reality” (1970/2008, p. 251). The existential reality of nature has given way to representation and representational aesthetics, and technology has thus established a new regime of hyper-reality. Nature has now become substitute-nature, and simulation has replaced reality, making the emergence of a new state of being beyond the degree of inter-existence inevitable. It is therefore possible to define digital representation forms as ontological forms of being that replace reality itself, beyond being aesthetic tools that make nature visible. Furthermore, the next step in this discussion is Badiou’s conceptualization of existence as an event and multiplicity, and his assertion that art has the potential to create events. According to him, art “makes visible the as yet unnamed order of being,” and consequently, representations of nature digitally transferred to the plane of reality create plural and temporary forms of existence, “An event … ‘mobilizes’ the elements of its site, but adds its own presentation of itself” (Badiou, 1988/2005, p. 99). Thus, while the material reality of nature is transformed, not only are existing elements rearranged, but its own existence also participates in this transformation. This approach allows the multiple and temporary forms of existence created by digital art through the simulation of nature to be understood as ontological “events.” Latour, on the other hand, focuses on a different aspect of the nature-culture relationship, arguing that the idea of nature as a passive object that can be studied and manipulated by humans is a product of modernity. He rejects any superiority in the human-nature relationship and defines what Badiou refers to as an “intermediate degree of existence” as nature-culture hybrids (Latour, 1991/2012). Thus, as the distinction between nature and culture disappears, humans and non-human actors, including algorithmic systems, artificial intelligence models, and databases, produce hybrid entities that can be defined as a new state of being. This clearly reveals that digital art representations of nature are cultural hybrids, ontologically positioning their state of being in a new cultural inter-region. Digital representations of nature, which can be read as a field of radical questioning about what nature is, how it is known, and under which regimes of being it is defined, also offer important examples of Haraway’s (2016) approach to nature-culture hybrids. These representations gain a new status of being through technology and can be defined as opening up hybridized ontological fields. Therefore, whether through digital layers, algorithmic surfaces, or artificial object placements, representation, as manipulated or redesigned material reality, eliminates the distinction between humans, technology, and nature, positioning it in a hybrid state of being, a new degree of existence. On the other hand, Morton’s (2013) concept of the hyperobject can be defined as serving a pragmatic purpose in showing how these hybrid representations intersect with states of being that transcend perception and experience in terms of time and space, such as the climate crisis. The re-creation of nature through digital tools invalidates the

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boundaries of knowledge by representing the epistemological-technical construction of nature rather than nature itself. It can be argued that this transformation in the ontological status of nature representations in digital art is also grounded in Deleuze’s virtual-real relationship. The replacement of material nature, repositioned in the digital plane, with the virtual also redefines nature’s potential existence as a continuous flow and transformation rather than a fixed entity. In the sampled works where nature is simulated through art, the continuity of nature, which is in a flow and change independent of humans, is made visible by explicitly intervening in this flow through technological tools and algorithms. As Deleuze (1968/1994) notes: “The real is nothing other than the actualization of the virtual. The virtual is not opposed to the real; it possesses a full reality as such” (p. 211). Approaching the subject within this framework, it is seen that the virtual is inherent in existence beyond being merely a possible state, and therefore, this idea redefines the ontological status of nature as a variable, plural, and temporary existence. While it can be argued that most of these thinkers, who initiated the ontological debate on the state of nature, defined the theoretical framework of different aspects of digitized or simulated nature designs, it is important to remember that the studies sampled in the analysis process were not addressed solely in an ontological context. It is equally important to note that the ecological and cultural contexts are included in the discussion. When the philosophical basis of the installations is analyzed in general terms, Hegel’s idea of the conscious reconstruction of the world forms a philosophical foundation for all the light and sound installations sampled within the scope of this research. Nietzsche’s will to power, on the other hand, can be identified as the starting point for the problem underlying Daan Roosegaarde’s installation Grow (2021). Similarly, teamLab’s Digitized Nature (2021) and Studio Lemercier’s All The Trees (2023) light installations, which embody the altered status of nature through light, are seen as outcomes of the “attempt to make the world human-centric”. The idea of nature being reduced to a resource through technology, as expressed in Heidegger’s (1950/2002) framing approach, is the main reason behind all algorithmic representations. It also forms the philosophical background of Javier Riera’s series Light Projections in Forest (2017), where reflected geometry is superimposed onto the landscape, and nature is positioned as a new cultural interregion at an in-between level of existence. Baudrillard’s (1970/2008) theory of simulation is seen as broadly applicable to all nature representations in the sampled works, where digital technologies (virtual reality) replace the material and generate new ontological entities. The concept of nature–culture hybrids, central to the philosophical approaches of Latour (1991/2012) and Haraway (2016), is clearly connected to the replacement of material nature with a new technological/post-nature, eliminating the nature–culture distinction. In this way, nature’s given “reality-in-itself” gives way to a human-designed, reconfigured virtual nature; hence, Bruce Munro’s Field of Light (2019) and Roosegaarde’s Grow (2021) can be clearly understood as manifestations of this idea. Similarly, Deleuze’s (1968/1994) conceptualization of the virtual as an immanent mode of existence aligns with Riera’s light installations, which reveal hidden geometries in nature, creating a parallel narrative.

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This theoretical framework is directly related to the central argument of the study: nature representations reconstructed through digital projections and algorithmic surfaces transform into interventions that redefine the material status of nature, its cultural positioning, and its ontological boundaries, going beyond mere aesthetic meaning-making. Heidegger’s (1950/2002) framing approach highlights the risk of reducing nature to a usable resource, while Baudrillard’s (1981/1994) simulation theory explains the ways in which representations displace reality. Latour (1991/2012) and Haraway’s (2016) discussions on nature–culture hybrids demonstrate that these digital nature representations create a hybrid realm in which human, technological, and natural elements are intertwined. Within this framework, the works examined can be understood not only as representations of nature but as cultural and technical inter-regions that actively reconfigure its state of being. At this point, a significant gap in the existing literature becomes evident. Studies on environmental art, digital ecology, and simulation theory mostly focus on historical and aesthetic contexts of environmental art practices or on the experiential and cultural dimensions of digital technologies (Brown, 2014; Miles, 2014; Paul, 2016). Only a limited number of studies systematically analyze digital installations as interstitial spaces that transform the material status of nature (Morton, 2018) and redefine the boundaries between physical and virtual. Digital ecology discussions generally address how the environment is incorporated into data production processes (Gabrys, 2016), the new visual regimes established by digital aesthetics (Paul, 2016), the cultural transformations signaled by computational art practices, the material layers of digital representations (Kirschenbaum, 2008), and the ontological implications of technological imaging processes (Zylinska, 2015). Holistic approaches that treat simulated nature as a practice capable of simultaneously generating ecological awareness while also reducing nature to a cultural object and rendering material reality invisible are largely absent in the literature. This study aims to deepen these theoretical discussions through selected examples, highlighting the ontological tensions of digital environmentalism and the multilayered effects of post-digital ecology, while proposing a novel perspective that considers cultural, ecological, and ontological dimensions in a comprehensive framework. Methodological Framework Analyzing the forms of interstitial existence produced by simulated nature on cultural, ecological, and ontological levels requires addressing not only visual representation but also the conceptual, discursive, and technical dynamics that underpin these productions. Accordingly, this research is based on a qualitative and interpretive approach that examines how material nature is reorganized through digital technologies and transformed into a form of interstitial existence. The methodological framework of the study relies on the integrated use of conceptual analysis, visual analysis, and critical discourse analysis, enabling the evaluation of both the visual layering that emerges in the simulatively reproduced nature through projections, light, and algorithmic systems, and the discursive and conceptual background of these works.

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The works analyzed were selected using purposive sampling, adhering to three main “inclusion criteria” to ensure representativeness: the reconfiguration of nature through digital means (conceptual relevance), the prominence of technological mediation in the work’s meaningmaking (technical-aesthetic mediation), and the creation of an interstitial state between the physical and virtual (discursive quality). The selected examples, therefore, consist of works in which digital interventions on the material integrity of nature are clearly visible and in which the viewer’s experience is reshaped spatially, temporally, and perceptually. During the analysis, visual data were examined in terms of the relationship between light and surface, the manner in which projections transform space, how digital layers redefine material nature, and the discontinuous, temporary, and fragile character of the represented reality. These findings were evaluated in relation to the theoretical axes of simulation, digital materiality, ontological intervention, and interstitiality. In parallel, artist statements, curatorial texts, and cultural discourses surrounding the works were analyzed through critical discourse analysis, enabling an understanding of how the transformations revealed by visual analysis intersect with the ideological, ethical, and ecological contexts of the works. This integrated methodological approach allows simulated nature designs to be treated as multilayered practices, extending beyond aesthetic representation to include ecological pressures, cultural mediations, and ontological shifts emerging from the virtualization of material nature. As this study offers a qualitative, interpretive, and conceptual analysis, the findings are not intended for generalization. The sample was determined based on theoretical suitability and the targeted aesthetic-discursive characteristics of the study rather than representativeness. Since the analysis involves the researcher’s interpretive engagement with textual and visual materials, the researcher’s positionality may influence the analytical framework; reflexivity was therefore considered. The results of the study are limited to the contextual, aesthetic, and technological framework provided by the selected examples and do not claim generalizability beyond these boundaries. The Transformation of Material Nature through Art: Digital Layers, Algorithmic Surfaces, and Artificial Object Installations Although nature simulations encompass a wide variety of narrative forms, such as robotic research, biotechnology studies, artificial intelligence-based digital designs, and interactive storytelling, this research specifically analyzes changing realities and states of being through light and sound placements. In this sense, technological intervention in the human–nature relationship has made the ontological framework clearly visible. In almost all of the sampled studies, it is observed that the surface dimensions of nature created beyond matter, the vitality, movement, and potential for change inherent to nature itself, are altered through light and color projected via projection or digitally through algorithmic systems and/or artificial objects. This process constructs a new realm of reality and a new state of being. While each work differs in terms of factors such as the intensity of light, the interaction with the biological character of the surface, the adaptation of the projection on the surface, the duration of the visual layers, and the level of intervention of representation in reality, almost all of them transform nature as a material entity into a new form of interstitial existence. They position it at an interstitial level

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between the physical and virtual dimensions and incorporate physical reality into the virtual. Thus, through projection, nature itself becomes a “living surface,” relinquishing its place as a location of existence to be rebuilt as an “active entity.” This new active nature is now a dynamic nature that creates a new time–space (space–time) within biological continuity. Figure 1 © Studio Lemercier (Juliette Bibase and Joanie Lemercier), All the Trees, Lyon Fête des Lumières, 2023, Lyon, France. Courtesy of the studio.

In 2023, as part of Lyon Fête des Lumières, a festival featuring public artworks displayed in various locations in and around Lyon such as Place des Terreaux, Tête d’Or Park, La Duchère, Saint-Jean Cathedral, and the Saône riverbanks, Studio Lemercier’s artwork All the Trees, realized through laser projection onto the trees in Tête d’Or Park, stands out as a significant example of the physical reality of nature being transformed by humans as an entity. The artwork explores the shapes and intertwinements created by the tree branches by the lakeside in the darkness of night (Figure 1). While not directly damaging the physical integrity of nature, it intervenes in the habitats of non-human living beings with powerful projection lights, romanticizing the natural ecosystem with moving lights, and turning it into a spectacle. This confronts us once again with the reality that lies at the root of ecological problems: humans see themselves as superior to nature and accept it as an object or resource that can be consumed, even in a cultural context. On the other hand, while the work, designed to be energy-autonomous, does not occupy an ethically problematic position, unlike other digital storytelling works, it is observed that the main issue stems from the loss of value in the status of existence due to the digitization of nature (Lemercier & Bibasse, 2022). As a section of a tree ripples under powerful beams of light reflected from a light source, it both transforms the ordinary and makes it visible, while also virtualizing it as an in-between existence within material reality. The tree itself clearly becomes the surface of the projection and/or the screen onto which the image is transmitted, a strategy that also transforms nature into an active carrier. However, given the transience of this intervention in reality as reflection, this role also serves the purpose of making the invisible visible. It enables visitors to become aware of the natural ecosystem around them, experience it as part of themselves, renew their attention, which has become neutral toward the familiar, and perceive the tree’s life speed and movement, which has a growth cycle different from that of humans, thus reminding them that these forms are living beings. According to Lemercier

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and Bibasse (2022), who emphasizes that the primary purpose of the project is to question our relationship with living beings and to make visitors realize the necessity of protecting life “as a ritual” through low technology, the sound and light installation in question aims “to question our use of technology in a world of perpetual change where the possibility of life on Earth is threatened.” The project also prioritizes “rethinking artistic production methods” (Lemercier & Bibasse, 2022). Studio Lemercier’s installation concretizes the concept of interstitial existence discussed in this research through the transformation of the material surface via light projection, generating a dual mode of being in which nature becomes both the represented and the representational substrate. This mode of being is positioned between Heidegger’s (1950/2002) notion of nature being “framed” and reduced to a resource through technology and Baudrillard’s (1981/1994) concept of the reality–representation displacement highlighted in his theory of simulation. The tension between the project’s claim to generate ecological awareness and the risk of reducing nature to a cultural image highlights the central contradictions of contemporary debates on digital environmentalism. Accordingly, Lemercier and Bibasse’s intervention directly contributes to the study’s central argument by revealing the multilayered structure of simulated nature designs, which create an ontological inter-zone while producing ecologically debatable outcomes. Figure 2 © teamLab, Ever Blossoming Life Tree – Giant Taro Cedar, Digitized Nature, 2021, Kairakuen Garden, Ibaraki, Japan. Courtesy of teamLab.

Like Lemercier’s light installation, the sound and light installation titled Ever Blossoming Life Tree – Giant Taro Cedar, part of teamLab’s 2021 Digitized Nature project at Kairakuen Garden1, one of Japan’s three largest gardens, was also developed based on the idea of “how immaterial digital technology can transform nature into art without harming it.” Flowers created in real time by digital technology and shown onto the tree, known to be approximately 800 years old, constantly change, reducing the continuity of space–time and nature’s life–death cycle to a cognitive dimension. The flowers bud and bloom forever, just as they do in the natural life cycle, in parallel with the existence of the work, and then wither and scatter into 1

teamLab has transformed the Kairakuen Garden, a vast cedar forest created in the late Edo period (around 1842) and built around a pond, into an interactive art space. The garden is home to three thousand cherry trees of one hundred different varieties, famous for their blossoms in spring. Along with Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa and Korakuen Garden in Okayama, it is one of Japan’s three largest gardens (teamLab, 2022).

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nothingness (teamLab, 2022). Thus, while the projection transforming material nature turns the tree itself into a canvas and positions it at a new level of inter-existence, the cyclical flowers create a virtual layer within this new level of existence, transporting the placement into a multidimensional plane. Nature exists both as a material entity and as an algorithmically reconstructed entity, creating a dual layer of reality. This multidimensionality adds technology to the relationship between humans and nature, ontologically transforming existence (the material reality of nature/the tree) into a simultaneous hybrid revealed in the natural–digital opposition. On the other hand, the virtual reflection superimposed on reality blurs the boundaries between reality and simulation, turning the physical reality of the tree into a “framed entity” and reorganizing it as a usable resource for aesthetic experience within this frame. Therefore, although the installation is designed as a temporary intervention with a dynamic image reflected from a light source that leaves no permanent mark on nature, it concretizes the ecologically contradictory nature of cultural representation. By contributing, even unconsciously, to humanity’s perspective of accepting nature as a consumable object, it uses nature as a screen for the transmission of algorithmic representation. While criticism of this strategy applies to all light and sound installations sampled in this research, the placement of digital screens within the natural environment can be seen as a clear intervention of the artificial object into the natural; the transformation of nature itself into a digital interface brings much more complex problems. Although the concrete indicator that each work seeks to convey in its subtext may differ, they can be defined as the cultural counterpart of the misconception that lies at the root of ecological problems: the perception of nature as an infinite resource. In this sense, although the aforementioned aesthetic representations related to digital environmentalism play a strategic role in the destruction of the natural environment, they have a positive value in terms of awareness, as in the example of industries that use greenwashing strategies to conceal this damage and continue their current destructive activities. While they may have positive value in terms of awareness, in terms of impact, they visually concretize the already broken bond between humans and nature, and, by falling into this trap themselves, unwittingly, and turning nature into a spectator object, they clearly disrupt the balance that should be based on reconciliation between humans and nature in favor of humans. On the other hand, when approached from a cultural perspective, in terms of purely aesthetic value and analyzed from an ontological and ecological critical approach, the project reveals significant insights into the definition of time and space. It is possible to describe how teamLab’s artworks, within an accelerated flow of time, enables humans to experience a continuity that extends beyond their own time (physical perception), leading them to become aware of the vitality of entities outside themselves, the relativity of time, and the inevitability of change. As the collective emphasizes, “there is a boundary in our understanding of the long continuity of time. The forms and shapes of nature have been created over many years and have been molded by the interactions between people and nature” (teamLab, 2022). We can perceive the continuity of the past in these forms of nature and explore beyond the limits of our perception of time through these forms. While the life-death cycle of reflected flowers continuously occurs beyond the human lifespan, this reality overturns the Anthropocene era’s perspective that views itself as superior to nature and sees it as an object of exploitation. As a non-human entity, nature exists independently of humans and, despite the destructiveness of

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human actions, is not a battleground but an absolute entity that will continue to exist. Although this new state of in-between existence aims to convey this truth, while falling into the contradiction of redefining its status of existence in the process and, consequently, raising awareness, awareness alone is not sufficient for real change (behavioral change or the resolution of larger problems). At this point, art and/or environment-focused artworks, taking into account the criticisms outlined above, can function as a “catalyst,” as Loye (2020) emphasizes, offering an “alternative means of communication” and making the complex information and computational systems theories presented by science understandable through art. However, despite the awareness-focused educational role of public art and its power to guide attitudes toward social change, it should not be forgotten that perception develops in line with the individual’s experience and cultural context (Gibson, 1986/2015; Hall & Robertson, 2001). As Heft (1989) states, “One can say an affordance only enables action because of the culturally learned behavior or pre-existing knowledge of an individual” (p. 18). Therefore, understanding the underlying intention behind teamLab’s interactive artwork2 and the other light installations sampled, and their role in facilitating the development of environmental awareness, is only possible with the presence of experience and knowledge. Otherwise, these installations remain limited to the dimension of intervention in nature and cannot transcend being mere objects of spectacle. Another example of the creation of a new interstitial plane of existence through the rearrangement of nature’s material reality by human hands and algorithmic systems created in the virtual dimension or through direct light reflections, and the resulting intervention in the natural continuity that exists independently of humans, is Spanish artist Javier Riera’s Light Projections in Forest series (Figure 3). As in other works sampled, the vegetation and landscape are transformed into a new and unnatural form by the light reflected from the projection. However, unlike the others, this time the effect of light on nature occurs on its structural characteristics (form) rather than color change, and of course, this change remains a temporary intervention depending on the emergence of natural light (the natural flow of time). “With the growing exterior light, that means the image which remains visible, that of Nature, gradually burns itself out until it disappears, as earlier it had obscured from the growing clarity

Designed as an interactive digital nature, the light installation titled Life is Continuous Light – Plum Trees, the walking area titled Resonating Forest – Cherry Blossom and Maple, part of teamLab’s outdoor art exhibition created through digital technology. A Forest Where Gods Live (2020) at Mifuneyama Rakuen Park, is also among interactive simulation-based nature designs with a similar creative mechanism. Although it is an important strategy regarding the continuity of time and the impact of humans on entities other than themselves, it is evident that nature’s physical reality is being interfered with, its natural state is being reorganized, and in doing so, nature is being aestheticized through interventions of light and color. This intervention is not limited to tree ecosystems in the collective’s light installations. In the installation Universe of Water Particles on a Sacred Rock, also featured in the same exhibition, a simulation of water flow reproduced in virtual space was projected onto the rock formations surrounding a small temple, creating the image of a waterfall that does not actually exist. In the installation Ever Blossoming Life Rock, a simulation of seasonal flowers in the region, constantly changing, is projected onto a rock. In the work Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and Boats, a pond surface is covered with artificial color and light particles that change in response to movement (Koi fish projected and made interactive via digital technology) cover the pond surface. Flowers Bloom When the Waves Rise- Sea of Izura, on the other hand, distances the sea water from its material reality with flowers made visible by the presence of waves (teamLab, 2020).

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of the dodecahedral figure thrown from a projector (normally fed by a portable generator) onto the vegetable mass of pines” (García, 2010, p. 12). Figure 3 © Javier Riera, Landscape Light Interventions 1, Light Projections in Forest, 2017 (Photography: Javier Riera). Courtesy of the artist.

Another difference in Riera’s light placements concerns the geometric structure of the simulated new reality that is reflected. While geometric forms illuminate the details of the vegetation and terrain “as if they were transmitters of energy and didn’t just limit themselves to interrelate symbolically with the natural”, these forms function “as metaphors of thought that direct their force at the energy that exists outside of them” (García, 2010, p. 12). The “imposition of reflected geometry onto the landscape” not only alters the perception of reality but also redefines the relationship between humans and nature, rendering meaningless the human perspective that views itself as superior to nature by revealing the multiplicity of layers that constitute the natural world. This concerns the reorganization of nature through the transience of light reflection rather than through physical intervention, and just like the geometric reflection that is visible for only a short time, human existence is also dependent on the survival/preservation of the natural environment around it, which is already under threat. The apparent simulation reveals the hidden geometry and, depending on the change of time, captures the temporary, making the permanent visible. This is essentially the revelation of what is hidden in nature and human thought and the constantly renewed energy, which, although clearly produced by humans, is a new definition of reality doomed to disappear according to the natural world’s own flow of time, a degree of cultural inter-existence. However, this new state of being is created without physical intervention, as in the past, and/or without nature being subjugated to the human mind, and while it becomes permanent through photography, it disappears in the material reality illuminated by the natural flow of time. This disappearance can also be clearly defined as philosophically similar to the concept of trace and the approach of origin (différance) that form the basis of Derrida’s deconstruction theory. Deconstruction is accepted as “the unveiling of the transcendental signified, which has alwaysalready been hidden,” while here it is accepted that “the always-already existence of features that appear to exist before perception” and “the acceptance of the absence of a being as a sign of a present moment that has always-already been present” (Derrida, 1967/1970, p. 254). The trace is not an entity, like Riera’s geometric light reflections; it is an imitation of the entity, an

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empty simulation. As Derrida (1967/1973) also defines it, “it has no place in the strict sense, because erasure belongs to its very structure” (p. 141). In Riera’s project, it is clear that appearances are limited to the moment of pure experience, that the projection light leaves a trace as it fades away through the viewer and the documentation processes, even if it is not physically permanent, and that this concretizes the fragile, transient existence of art in contrast to the essential continuity of nature from an ontological perspective. In this sense, the geometric forms reflected onto nature transform the state of existence of material nature, positioning it at an interstitial level of being. Nature both preserves its own existence through light and makes it visible by carrying it into a new formal potential, revealing it, in Heidegger’s (1950/2002) view. Revelation (aletheia) is one of the fundamental propositions in Heidegger’s philosophy and is accepted as one of how “the work of art allows the being of the existing to attain its openness, its emergence from concealment”3; it makes visible what is hidden or concealed in the universe of being and/or removes the veil covering it (Quigley, 1998/2008, p. 325). When Riera’s works are examined from Heidegger’s perspective, which argues that the nature of art is “the truth that makes the existing real, transforming it into a work of art” and that a work of art is “not a reproduction of an existing thing, but the reproduction of the general essence of things,” it is seen that these light installations are based on a process that reveals, even if only briefly, the hidden formal potential of nature (Gültekin & Tokdil, 2017, p. 484; Quigley, 1998/2008). Nature is both the same in its own reality and transformed into a new state of being in the geometric layer of light, gaining visibility as a new dimension. This interstitial form brings with it an ontological contradiction between nature and culture, material and virtual reality, permanence and transience, opening the door to a new discussion about the essence of being4. In this sense, Riera’s temporary light intervention can be seen as concretizing the interstitial state emphasized in the study’s central argument, attributing a new visibility to material nature without permanently transforming it.

In his 1950 text The Origin of the Work of Art, Heidegger explained the concept of truth in art and “things” using van Gogh’s painting A Pair of Shoes (1885), which depicts a pair of peasant shoes. According to him, the painting “reveals the world of the peasant walking on earth with these shoes” (Heidegger, 1950/2002; Quigley, 1998/2008, p. 325; Schapiro, 1968). 4 Using a strategy similar to Riera’s temporary intervention in the material world, Ella Chedburn’s 2017 project Forest Projections, designed in Longleat Forest, also manipulates reality. While Riera reveals nature’s hidden geometry, in Chedburn’s Forest Void series, this geometry is positioned as a “trace” that conceals material nature, while the Forest Light series superimposes virtuality onto reality, and in the light installation titled Tree Code, nature is transformed into a mechanical entity operating through code-based algorithmic systems. Here, trees as natural ecosystems exist with their own biological reality while simultaneously transforming into a digital nature simulation through artificial images of light, becoming a new state of inter-existence. In this sense, material nature becomes a “state of becoming” that goes beyond being a fixed entity, constantly changing, multiplying with new reflections attached to it, and reproduced with a virtual layer. In Friedrich van Schoor and Tarek Mawad’s Bioluminescent Forest project, carried out in a forest in Germany, it can be observed that projections reflected onto natural surfaces create a digital-artificial ecosystem, virtualizing the real, redefining its status of being, and ontologically differentiating reality. In this sense, nature’s inherent potential is clearly brought into being through technology, and nature, appearing as a hybrid hyperobject, is “revealed” in the Heideggerian sense.

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Figure 4 © Daan Roosegaarde, Grow, 2021, Netherlands (Photography: Daan Roosegaarde). Courtesy of the artist.

Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde, known for his installations that bring people and technology together to improve daily life in urban spaces and combat the climate crisis, has created an installation called Grow. While similar to others in terms of altering reality through light reflection, it stands out by exemplifying the functional use of art for ecological agriculture (Figure 4). After planting leeks (Allium porrum) in an agricultural field, the installation projects red, blue, and ultraviolet light vertically and distributes it evenly across the area. Inspired by photobiology5 light science technologies that show that “pesticide use can be reduced by 50%” for more sustainable plant growth, the light reveals a community of plants dancing in the dark, while the artwork, “exists not as a utopia, but as a protopia that develops step by step” (Studio Roosegaarde, 2021). While this technology, commonly used in greenhouses, is now the focus of many contemporary artists such as Susan Anker, Tega Brain, Maria Thereza Alves, and Lauren Berkowitz, who produce ecological art, Roosegaarde’s installation can be described as a prototype that offers the opportunity to test the potential of this technology on a large scale6. In this sense, Roosegaarde’s project can be seen as an experimental field focused on potential environmental benefits, where nature is restructured through technical intervention and the experience becomes a functional tool for ecological awareness. This strategy shifts the human– nature conflict (socially, the destructiveness of human actions; culturally, synthetic intervention in the natural) to a new ground where participatory and sustainable agriculture can be evaluated in terms of environmental justice and political debate. The ontological uncertainty that emerges at the intersection of nature’s autonomous biological existence and technical intervention is related to nature’s transformation into a conditional interstitial form of existence defined by human–technology interaction and its conditional creation in the light–darkness opposition. It is no coincidence that the contrast between light 5

The field of photobiology, which studies the effects of light on living organisms, and agricultural biotechnology research show that “certain light combinations not only enhance plant metabolism, but also build resistance against both animals that harm plants and diseases” (Merdim, 2021). 6 As emphasized in Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking 1962 book Silent Spring, which documented the environmental damage caused by a type of pesticide used indiscriminately by soldiers during World War II, “pesticides have significant harmful effects on biological diversity, one of the foundations of sustainability.” However, certain ultraviolet lights can break this cycle by activating plants’ defense systems, playing a decisive role in their nutritional value and supporting their growth processes (Merdim, 2021).

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and darkness is part of the process in all the artists’ simulated nature designs sampled here and forms the basis of the philosophical underpinnings of their work. Tillet (as cited in Boecking, 2016) states, “It’s after dark. I see my world differently. I act differently. Now, a new set of rules governs my behavior and that of everyone around me. My brain is on high alert and in a nervous dialogue with itself” (p. 8). The media’s dialogue with light and these works’ presentation of nature as a new reality beyond the public sphere are dependent on the presence of darkness and, consequently, the loss of visibility in the redesigned landscape. This connection also reveals the hidden/invisible collaboration between the artist and nature; the redefinition (rendering visible) of boundaries by the artist is clearly a phenomenon related to design, but when darkness gives way to light, the right to speak over it is reclaimed by nature as an entity. While in other cases this mutual agreement is based on different intellectual foundations and opens the door to different sensory learning areas, in Roosegaarde’s installation, it clearly exists as an experimental process that works in favor of nature. While the studies examined transform nature’s physical reality into a new form solely through reflected light, Bruce Munro’s 2019 Field of Light installation in the US intervenes in reality by placing unnatural/non-natural objects within a natural ecosystem. In this way, material existence is reorganized, and nature’s status of existence is transformed into an interstitial state by human hands. In this sense, it is possible to describe the physical reality, which has clearly lost its status, as transporting the lost nature to a new, simulated position. However, in Munro’s new reality, nature stands out not for the richness of its ecosystem, unlike others, but for the loss of its vegetation cover. In this sense, it is seen that the work mediates the artist’s intention to restore nature, beyond the effort to make it visible. As new hybrid entities replacing the lost vegetation, light spheres (plant stems and flowers) sway in the desertified terrain7, and the strange image that emerges devalues the status of being and turns new possibilities that could replace extinction into reality itself. The natural terrain has been transformed into a field of light with thousands of light spheres, which can also be defined as a transformative experiential space created by the coexistence of natural forms and artificial objects. This seemingly infinite field “completely transforms” the landscape (the physical reality of nature) in a unique way through plants that, in Morris’s words (2014), “glow like bio-luminescent seeds that change color and intensity through a futuristic nervous system and in response to the rising and falling of light” (p. 366). This fundamentally differs from the qualities and philosophical approaches of the works of James Turrell, who redefines the dimensions of space with natural and artificial light but does so by questioning spatial reality rather than nature, and/or Linnaea Tillett, who uses light as a tool for functional spaces and focuses on the idea of “animating darkness”; in Munro, however, the transience and singularity of the installation are emphasized, and it is clearly nature itself that is transformed, rather than objects belonging to nature (Boecking, 2016). In these installations, the natural continuity of light is pushed into the background, managing perception, and it is clear that this strategy also facilitates the replacement of the real with simulated nature as a hybrid entity; in this way, nature is redefined, creating an immersive 7

It is known that the foundation of the Field of Light installations, which bloom at twilight with the soft rhythm of light and have since been created in many versions, was “the embodied form of this experience”: the artist’s 1992 journey to Uluru through the red desert of Australia, during which he was deeply influenced by the energy and heat of the desert landscape (Shen, 2022, p. 30).

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experiential space. Thus, the installation is directly related to the study’s central argument, as it simultaneously makes visible the tension between its ecological potential and the transformation of nature into a cultural–technical object, and it concretizes the interstitial state, which is central to the discussion, by reorganizing the material existence of nature beyond a purely technical intervention. In terms of transforming the physical structure of nature, Munro’s work is fundamentally no different in structure from Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s environmental art piece The Umbrellas, which they simultaneously realized in the United States and Japan in the 1990s; in both cases, a temporary intervention has been made in the physical structure of nature. While Christo’s work involved placing blue (Japan) and yellow (California) umbrellas across the landscape, Munro created an artificial field of light by positioning light spheres consisting of solar-powered illuminated fiber optic cables and LED lamps across the landscape. Both involve intervention in nature, achieved through the use of artificial objects, and are limited to a specific period of time, as in the works of Riera, Studio Lemercier, or others, depending on the projection being turned off, the day brightening, or the objects being collected. Although they do not cause permanent damage to nature, it is important to note that these installations embody the human impact on nature, making visible humanity’s impact on and destruction of natural systems. While teamLab does this by illuminating trees that resist time, Munro makes the plant cover that disappears over time visible by redesigning it, even if artificially, and in this sense, evaluates the issue of ecological problems from different perspectives. Figure 5 © Bruce Munro, Field of Light, 2019, Paso Robles, California, USA (Photography: Serena Munro). Courtesy of the artist.

However, alongside the ecological debate that arises from the placement of non-natural materials in nature and the transformation of material reality, when Munro’s light installations are approached from a cultural perspective, it is also seen that these light fields consciously use light to “evoke an emotional response” in the viewer and, in this respect, can be considered a “sensory learning environment” that invites emotional interaction with natural systems and processes, as Healy also emphasizes (Healy, 2016, p. 89). This can also be considered an important threshold for raising awareness about natural processes and ecological losses, as well as for directly confronting the consequences of human intervention in living and non-living entities outside of oneself; again, in an artificial ecosystem created through this intervention.

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In this sense, the installation can be described, similarly to the other works sampled, as making visible, on a material level, how the interstitial state, which constitutes the study’s central argument, is produced by reorganizing the physical integrity of nature through artificial objects. Although all the light and sound installations sampled are generally similar in character, it is evident that almost all of the works that transport nature into a new reality have their own unique dimensions of experience and transmission in their subtexts, and in this sense, their transformation strategies, interstitial forms of existence, and ontological frameworks also differ. In the works of Studio Lemercier and Riera, a hybrid plane of existence is created between the natural form of the tree and technological intervention, where the tree both remains/preserved as a natural entity and is transformed into another form of nature through light. In these installations, where natural forms are redrawn through laser projections, trees transcend being biological entities and become recoded entities; nature remains within its own existence while simultaneously being redesigned with algorithmic lines. The transformation occurs by creating a virtual layer within the material reality of nature, as in other cases, so that both natures (real and virtual) are experienced simultaneously. Therefore, it is possible to state that the simulation takes place in nature itself, not on a virtual screen. In teamLab’s work, due to its interactive nature, nature is seen as a living partner rather than a passive backdrop and, unlike others, is transformed into an experiential space. Nature, redesigned with projection and interactive light technology, is positioned/experienced as both a material and digital entity at the same time, while the digital layers (color and light placements) added to the physical space ontologically lead to nature being perceived as a dual entity and/or interstitial existence, or evolving into a post-nature form through a technological interface. In this sense, while experience comes to the fore in teamLab’s installations and the continuity of time beyond perception is made visible, Studio Lemercier and Riera’s light installations, with their critical approaches, also highlight ecological contradictions (such as light pollution and indirect human impact on ecosystems), inviting reflection on the relationship between nature, humans, and technology (the interaction between the viewer’s movement and nature’s digital layers). Roosegaarde and Munro’s works, on the other hand, differ from the others in a number of ways, but also share similarities in terms of transforming nature and elevating it to a new state of being. Roosegaarde’s installation evolves into a functional aesthetic by its lighting supporting the growth cycle of plants in agricultural fields, while nature has also been transformed into a technological entity in terms of biological processes. However, unlike the others, nature has become a functional hybrid through technology that affects its production capacity, expanding as a biotechnological participation. Munro’s simulated nature design through artificial objects (optical fiber flowers) can be defined as differing from the others in that it is not the projection of a coded image, but rather the physical transformation of unnatural objects positioned within nature, resulting in nature becoming a hybrid entity with the artificial elements attached to it. Thus, it distinguishes itself from others in that the form of inter-being is designed through objects rather than digital interfaces. Despite the different modes of intervention in each installation, all of them reorganize nature on both material and representational levels, situating it simultaneously within real and simulated realms of existence. In this way, the case studies

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collectively illuminate the central ontological question concerning the status of nature in digital culture. Conclusion: The Future of Art, Nature, and Interstitial Forms of Existence In the 21st century, art has become a tool that redefines nature beyond representation by transforming its ontological status. While nature is being reconfigured with technological tools, it is being processed algorithmically and transformed into a cultural interstitial being transported to different layers of existence with light and/or artificial objects. This transformation reveals the ecological and cultural contradictions of digital art through the commodification of nature, while also exposing the tension between material reality and the virtual (simulational surfaces); nature is no longer a fixed entity, but a dynamic and fluid field of reality that is constantly being reconfigured, a cultural form of inter-being. In this context, the research presents three key findings based on the analysis of the light and sound installations. (1) Digital projections and light interventions transform the physical surface of nature into a screen or network carrier, producing a hybrid realm of existence that simultaneously preserves and recodes material nature. (2) In all examined cases, nature is positioned not merely as an aesthetic object of representation but as a cultural form of interstitial existence, reorganized through technological intervention, making the offered awareness and generated ecological/ontological tensions simultaneously visible. (3) Although methods and objectives vary across the works, in each case, the status of nature is transferred to a transient, temporary, and technologically mediated level of reality, concretizing the transformative yet contradictory character of digital environmentalism. When the findings are evaluated collectively, it becomes evident that the examined light-based nature constructions diverge ontologically to a degree that prevents them from being evaluated under a singular aesthetic category. In particular, data-driven and highly simulation-based approaches produce a more epistemically problematic ground, since they carry the risk of rendering material reality invisible and repositioning the status of being, by tending to reduce nature into an object that can be encoded and reproduced. In contrast, projection and light installations are grounded in direct spatial intervention, because the intervention remains at the level of light and retains the potential to generate awareness, reveal the relationality between nature and perception, and these works are evaluated within the scope of the research as positive (productive) nature/digital art approaches carrying a stronger experiential and critical potential. In this respect, the value of simulated nature practices is determined less by the images of nature they represent than by how they position nature itself and what kind of perceptual and ecological relationship they establish with the viewer. Therefore, these works should not be regarded as structures that can be affirmed equally, but rather as practices situated within states of interbeing that contain varying degrees of critical capacity and reductive risk. Nevertheless, these findings complement the existing literature on digital ecology and environmental art, which has predominantly focused on representation, aesthetic experience, or technological mediation (Gabrys, 2016; Miles, 2014; Paul, 2016), while also making visible the ontological dimension of how light- and sound-based installations transform the status of nature, offering an original contribution to the underexplored discussion of “simulative interstitial existence.”

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The relationship between art and nature and predictions of interstitial forms of existence suggest that, from an ontological-theoretical perspective, this tension will increase further, with artificial intelligence and algorithmic design processes making representations of nature more complex, autonomous, and unpredictable. In this sense, in terms of current technological tools and usage preferences, the future prediction is seen to broaden the discussion to include simulation layers, hybrid nature experiences through augmented reality, and new narratives developed based on ecological responsibility as an extension of both. It can be argued that in the future, nature will cease to be a fixed reality and become an aesthetic surface “rewritten with infinite variations” through self-updating algorithmic systems. Furthermore, augmented reality and biotechnology-based art forms could transform nature into hybrid experiential spaces where physical and virtual dimensions merge. Therefore, while the physical presence of natural ecosystems can be experienced in augmented forms through digital additions, this may lead to a rupture that directly alters the human–nature relationship at an existential level. However, this techno-aesthetic transformation, as seen in today’s digital art creation, also brings ethical and ecological issues/responsibilities, potentially deepening existing problems. Energy costs, carbon footprint, and digital waste of the technological tools used will necessitate an ethical examination of the future state of environmentally focused digital art. In parallel, art will take on an integrated cultural role beyond being a surface that simulates nature, encompassing sustainability policies, accountability strategies, and ecological-environmental justice. In this context, it is clear that the relationship between art and nature will be discussed in the future from two different perspectives: “the deepening of aesthetic experience through the simulational plurality of nature” and “the re-assumption of responsibility for this experience in ecological and ethical context.” Therefore, in the future, art will function as a cultural laboratory that determines the ontological orientations of the human–nature relationship, rather than focusing solely on representing nature and recreating it at different levels of existence. Since human existence is dependent on the existence of the natural world in which it lives, it is also important to understand that these issues and responsibilities are already accepted realities, beyond being a prediction for the future. To build a sustainable future and leave a livable world for future generations, we must take action today and rebuild our social and cultural actions accordingly. In this way, the idea of viewing nature as a resource can be replaced by the foundation of protecting nature, making it sustainable, and establishing ethical ties with it.

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References Badiou, A. (2020). Varoluş ve ölüm [Existence and death] (A. Gelmez, Trans.). In G. Ateşoğlu (Ed.), Varoluşçuluk, fenomenoloji, ontoloji (pp. 237–249). Ayrıntı Yayınları. (Original work published 2002) Badiou, A. (2005). Being and event (O. Feltham, Trans.). Continuum. (Original work published 1988) Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation (S. F. Glaser, Trans.). University of Michigan Press. (Original work published in 1981) Baudrillard, J. (2008). Tüketim toplumu: Söylenceleri ve yapıları [The consumer society: Myths and structures] (H. Deliceçaylı & F. Keskin, Trans.). Ayrıntı Yayınları. (Original work published 1970) Boecking, E. (2016). EnLIGHTening the landscape (Publication No. 5327) [Master’s thesis, Auburn University]. AUETD Home. https://auetd.auburn.edu/handle/10415/5327 Brown, A. (2014). Art & ecology now. Thames & Hudson. Clarke, M. (2010). Oxford concise dictionary of art terms. Oxford University Press. Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and repetition (P. Patton, Trans.). Columbia University Press. (Original work published 1968) Derrida, J. (1970). Structure, sign, and play in the discourse of the human sciences. In R. Macksey & E. Donato (Eds.), The structuralist controversy: The languages of criticism and the sciences of man (pp. 247–272). Johns Hopkins Press. (Original work published 1967) Derrida, J. (1973). Speech and phenomena: And other essays on Husserl’s theory of signs (D. B. Allison, Trans.). Northwestern University Press. (Original work published 1967) Gabrys, J. (2016). Program earth: Environmental sensing technology and the making of a computational planet. University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctt1b7x5gq García, A. (2010). Geometry and landscape. In J. Riera, Secuencias (pp. 9–12). Museo Barjola.https://www.museobarjola.es/upload/publicaciones/CAT_javier_riera_secuenc ias_DEF1170.pdf Gibson, J. J. (2015). The ecological approach to visual perception. Psychology Press. (Original work published 1986) Gültekin, T., & Tokdil, E. (2017). Heidegger’s philosophy of art and the relational analysis of the concept of aletheia with performance art. Felsefi Düşün, 8, 480–497. Hall, T., & Robertson, I. (2001). Public art and urban regeneration: Advocacy, claims and critical debates. Landscape Research, 26(1), 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426390120024457 Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822373780 Healy, S. (2016). A brief foray into the Field of Light: Possibilities for generating affective data. In H. Mitcheltree, B. Cleveland, & W. Imms (Eds.), LEaRN (pp. 89–97). University of Melbourne.

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Heft, H. (1989). Affordances and the body: An intentional analysis of Gibson’s ecological approach to visual perception. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 19(1), 1– 30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1989.tb00133.x Heidegger, M. (2002). The origin of the work of art (J. Young & K. Haynes, Trans.). In Off the beaten track (pp. 1–56). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1950) Kirschenbaum, M. G. (2008). Mechanisms: New media and the forensic imagination. MIT Press. Latour, B. (2012). We have never been modern (C. Porter, Trans.). Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1991) Lemercier, J., & Bibasse, J. (2022). All the Trees. Studio Lemercier. https://joanielemercier.com/all-the-trees/ Loye, V. (2020, October 20). From art to ethical design; Studio Roosegaarde’s quest for a sustainable and aesthetic future. Masters of Media. https://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/2020/10/from-art-to-ethical-design-studioroosegaardes-quest-for-a-sustainable-and-aesthetic-future/ Lynton, N. (1989). The story of modern art (2nd ed.). Phaidon. Merdim, E. (2021, January 19). Tarlayı dinamik bir sanat eserine dönüştüren aydınlatma tasarımı: Grow [Grow: Lighting design that transforms the field into a dynamic work of art]. Arkitera. https://www.arkitera.com/haber/tarlayi-dinamik-bir-sanat-eserinedonusturen-aydinlatma-tasarimi-grow/ Miles, M. (2014). Eco-aesthetics: Art, literature and architecture in a period of climate change. Bloomsbury Academic. Morris, N. J. (2014). Bruce Munro, Field of Light. The Senses and Society, 9(3), 366–370. https://doi.org/10.2752/174589314X14023847039593 Morton, T. (2013). Hyperobjects: Philosophy and ecology after the end of the world. University of Minnesota Press. Morton, T. (2018). Being ecological. MIT Press. Paul, C. (2016). (Ed.). A companion to digital art. Wiley-Blackwell. Pippin, R. B. (2024). The culmination: Heidegger, German idealism, and the fate of philosophy. The University of Chicago Press. Quigley, T. R. (2008). Sanat yapıtının kökeni: Bir özet [The origin of the work of art: A summary] (M. S. Erer, Trans.). In A. Aydoğan (Ed.), Heidegger (pp. 321–331). Say Yayınları. (Original work published 1998) Schapiro, M. (1968). The still life as a personal object: A note on Heidegger and van Gogh. In M. L. Simmel (Ed.), The reach of mind: Essays in memory of Kurt Goldstein (pp. 203–209). Springer. Shen, Z. (2022). How can we understand the relationship between artists and their materials in the production of art glass through modern technology?. Art and Society, 1(3), 23– 37. https://www.paradigmpress.org/as/article/view/331 Studio Roosegaarde. (2021). Grow. https://www.studioroosegaarde.net/project/grow

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teamLab. (2020, July 22). A Forest Where Gods Live. https://www.teamlab.art/e/mifuneyamarakuen2020/ teamLab. (2022, February 1). teamLab: Digitized Kairakuen Garden 2022. https://www.teamlab.art/e/kairakuengarden/ Tokdil, E. (2022). Ecological problems and contemporary art’s search for solutions in the context of relational aesthetics. In Ö. Demirel & E. Düzgüneş (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress on Mountains and Ecology in the Framework of Sustainable Development (MEDESU2022) (pp. 46–73). IKSAD Global Publishing House. Wrathall, M. A. (2011). Heidegger and unconcealment: Truth, language, and history. Cambridge University Press. Wrathall, M. A. (2021). Inventory (Ge-Stell). In M. A. Wrathall (Ed.), The Cambridge Heidegger lexicon (pp. 434–435). Cambridge University Press. Yayan, G., & Şahin, M. (2022). Light art and Bruce Munro’s works at the intersection of nature and technology. Eurasian Journal of Social and Economic Research, 9(3), 467–490. https://izlik.org/JA94FE67WB Zylinska, J. (2015). The creative power of nonhuman photography. In M. Elo & M. Karo (Eds.), Photographic powers (pp. 132–154). Aalto University. Corresponding author: Ezgi Tokdil Email: ezgi.tokdil@gmail.com

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Hoods and Homies Beyond Borders: Translocal Solidarity through Black English in Marathi Rap Aditi Deshpande Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune Snober Sataravala St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune

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Abstract Drawing on globally circulating hip hop practices, this paper examines how Marathi rap adopts lexical, syntactic, and stylistic features of Black English. It scrutinises the role of Black English as a possible conduit to build global solidarity with rappers to express shared experiences of marginality and belonging. A purposive sample of ten tracks, released between 2020 and 2025 and selected for prominence of Black English, was analysed through close reading and discourse analysis to study the integration of Black English in Marathi rap and its implications. The analysis suggests that Black English functions as a semiotic resource to express translocal experiences within a global rap community. Beyond simply imitating Black linguistic repertoires, Marathi rap recontextualises them, creating points of solidarity through linguistic choices that connect local experiences with broader hip hop narratives. Keywords: Black English, desi hip hop, linguistic choices, hip hop, global hip hop bation, Marathi rap, solidarity

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Over the last few years, Marathi Rap has been gaining popularity in Maharashtra, with rappers emerging from cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Solapur, and more (Tripathi, 2023). Since the early 2010s rap in Maharashtra has primarily come from Mumbai, and particularly Dharavi, addressing themes of social justice and acting as the voice of the “streets” (Bose, 2025). Black English in India is often mistakenly perceived as Gen Z slang, indicating that the users of Black English in India may not be aware of it as an ethnolect (Badgotri, 2023). However, in the case of Indian rap, certain words are directly borrowed from Black rappers. The use of Black English in Marahti rap, and Indian rap as an extension, demonstrates an acute awareness of its origins and leans more towards cultural appreciation, given its due acknowledgment of inspiration from Black culture as opposed to unwitting cultural appropriation. Owing to the various Englishes present in India based on regional, class-based, or education-based influences, it is crucial to note how practices in popular culture and their dissemination among the Indian masses function to fully comprehend the positionality of English and its non-Indian, nonstandard variants in India. This paper argues that the convergence of Black English with Marathi can be seen as a byproduct of cosmopolitanism and enables the construction of solidarity across international borders. What makes this convergence possible? Rap communities in India share thematic concerns like social inequalities, poverty, systemic injustices, and erasure of marginalised identities with global rap, especially so with Black communities, which will be explored in the next section. Rap, as one of the commonly accepted branches of hip hop, along with DJing, break dancing, and graffiti art, has been popular in the United States of America since the 1970s and has made its way across the globe (Alridge & Stewart, 2005). It merits academic attention as not only can it be a powerful tool of resistance and self-expression, but also because it functions as a sociolinguistic domain where multiple marginal identities find a place to protest. According to Alridge and Stewart (2005), hip hop reflects lived experiences of social, economic, political, and cultural experiences; and is a worldview, not just an aesthetic or a musical genre. Rap in India is also called Desi1 Hip Hop or DHH. In 2024, the rap song Big Dawgs by Sooraj Cherukat, also known as Hanumankind, gained immense popularity among Indian users on Instagram and with 247 million views on YouTube (Hanumankind, n.d.). Another track, Taambdi Chamdi2, has followed suit with 40 million views on YouTube (Spinnin’ Records, n.d.; Kratex, n.d., Shreyas, n.d.), celebrating the dark skin or taambdi chamdi often associated with Indians. Rap has seen commercial success in India through artists like Raftaar, Honey Singh, Hard Kaur, to name a few. But the artists who in the 2010s brought asli hip hop3 to the “scene” were regional artists like Naezy and Divine who addressed the themes pertinent to a “common” citizen of India, leading to the popularity of street rap in India. Artists such as Khasi Bloodz, RaOol, Castle Collective, Srushti Tawade, and Rajakumari have also made significant 1

It’s meaning national, usually used to refer to culture, identity and practice belonging to South Asia. This phrase literally translates as “red skin”, in this context a reference to dark skin. 3 Real hip hop, real stories from the streets of India, a homage to hip hop in the USA. 2

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contributions to hip hop in India and internationally (Bose, 2025). Even before 2010, an underground culture of rap battles4 and dissing5 had already been emerging in Mumbai. These cultures eventually led to the formation of the Dharavi Dream Project, where youth from Dharavi6 marked the shift from consumers to producers of rap (The Dharavi Dream Project, 2023). Dharavi rap fondly covers themes from the “hood” by telling stories of the various gullies7 and personal lives of the people from poor neighbourhoods. Gully Boy (Akhtar, 2019), a Hindi language film, drawing inspiration from the American film 8 Mile (Hanson, 2002), loosely based on Mumbai-based rappers Naezy and Divine, was one of the conversation starters on rap in India in a mainstream space. It explored underground rap practices based in Mumbai. Rap in Maharashtra is primarily from Mumbai, but it has spread to other regions of Maharashtra as well. The focus, however, is still on Hindi Rap from Mumbai. Marathi Rap has been gaining increasing popularity in the last few years, with rappers like Sambata having 882k subscribers (SAMBATA__ 00, n.d.) and MC Gawthi with over 300k subscribers (MC GAWTHI, n.d.) on YouTube. Owing to the widespread reach of social media and reality shows like MTV Hustle8 , Marathi rap has become a ground for many budding artists such as QK, Srushti Tawade, Mahi Ghane, Wild Women, Shreyas Sagvekar, and so forth. Rap Discourse So Far Scholars of hip hop have studied the globalisation of rap and whether it constitutes cultural theft or a productive site of glocal rearticulation. This paper asks where Black English in Marathi rap sits on that spectrum and what the semiotics of using Black English in Marathi rap are. Existing scholarship on rap examines the globalisation of rap, especially through the seminal text Global noise by Tony Mitchell (2001), which outlines rap outside the USA in countries like France, Germany, Bulgaria, Holland, Japan, and more. The title Global noise is a reference to Black noise, a 1994 text by Tricia Rose, which highlights marginalised Black voices in rap music and rap as black cultural expression rooted in urban politics. While Global Noise foregrounds rap in various countries and maps its journey across continents, H. Samy Alim’s Global linguistic flows, an edited volume, published seven years after Global noise in 2008, also looks at global hip hop in the localised contexts of Hong Kong, Brazil, and Tanzania. Indian rap has not been included in either collection. Common themes in rap, the factors leading to the emergence of rap communities, and rap as part of youth subculture have been explored by various scholars like Derrick Alridge and Stewart (2005), Max Ryynänen (2021), and more. Indian rap and themes in Indian hip hop remain underexplored.

A performance by two or more rappers including wordplay to compete against each other. To insult (slang), diss tracks are songs to attack another rapper. 6 A large slum situated in the city of Mumbai. 7 A small bylane of an unstructured settlement, a ghetto. 8 An Indian reality TV show showcasing a hip hop competition, aired on MTV. 5

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Global linguistic flows argues that hip hop cultures catalyse the spread of linguistic styles and that these forms are appropriated, adapted, and re-contextualised within local language ecologies. “Hip hop as dusty foot philosophy” (Pennycook & Mitchell, 2008) views hip hop cultures not just “as subvarieties of global hip hop, but local traditions pulled toward global cultural forms while those traditions are simultaneously reinvented” (p. 30). Pennycook and Mitchell (2008) also look at alternative origins of hip hop cultures, insisting on local hip hop cultures as not just adoption, but complete rearticulation, and the “development of hip hop in Africa as a return to its roots” (p. 35). The meaning of geography in American rap has been thoroughly examined by Kenneth French (2017), in which he writes about rap in the contexts of strong attachment to place, credibility, identities, and local slang usage. This solidifies the ties of rap with the localities it emerges from and the transnational flows of hip hop culture, leading to the formation of uniquely local styles that do not merely mimic or adopt styles from the United States but strongly articulate local identities. This is also visible in emerging Marathi rap from, for instance, Chembur in Mumbai, Maharashtra, where youths have adopted rapping as a means of expressing struggles that are unique to their geographical locations (chemburscene, n.d.). Another important component arising from French’s (2017) research is the diffusion and dissemination of rap, namely, contagious diffusion and hierarchical diffusion (p. 260). It may be argued that rap reached India based on a combination of both contagious diffusion arising from contact between youths at the grassroots level and hierarchical diffusion, which is based on the use of technology to spread features from “the hearth” to more distant places. The research also talks about how rap originated in the streets of American inner cities, and its ties to western African griots9 or folk poets, spoken word poetry, and performance poetry—with focus on the recitation style and its various ties to blues, jazz, neo soul, and R&B traditions like “toasting”10 and “turntables”11. Dick Hebdige (1979) in the monumental text, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, builds on examples from working-class British youth and provides a framework to analyse global subcultures. Rap historically emerged as a subcultural form associated with resistance, and uses style as a signifier—be it apparel, accessories, or linguistic choices and manners of speaking. Tricia Rose, in Black noise (1994, p. 99) describes rap as a cultural form through which oppressed people use language, dance, and music not to protect the machineries of oppression, but to “serve as the cultural glue that fosters communal resistance”. Marathi rap participates in globally circulating hip hop traditions and fits in with this definition of subcultures by addressing themes of resistance against caste-based oppression, environmental degradation, systemic oppression, corruption, and gendered domination—even within the field of hip hop.

A west African storyteller and historian known for telling stories orally. Often considered as an ancestor of rap, the practice of toasting involves chanting lyrically over music. 11 Used by DJs to create music by mixing sounds on a turntable. 10

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Although the origins of rap are rooted in the practice of resistance, rap is not immune to misogyny, anti-Semitism, and homophobia as addressed by Rose (1994, p. 104). For example, not only are women addressed as “bitches”, but they are also objectified and represented through commodified sexual imagery. In Marathi rap, instances of misogyny can be found through the use of gendered expletives, used especially by male rappers. While these expletives may not necessarily be directed towards a woman, they are usually used in the context of establishing dominance over other rappers or enemies, and the ones referring to “mother” are particularly frequent. Yet, the same rappers also mention their own mothers reverently. Such patterns appear in the discography of Sambata, RocKsun, and MC Gawthi, suggesting the performance of aggressive masculinity mediated through misogyny. The politics of rap, across the globe, is nuanced and simultaneously produces progressive and regressive politics, however it must be noted that these contradictions are not unique to rap and can be found in other cultural forms and organised political protests, where some "inequalities are perpetuated in the attempt to abolish others” (Rose, 1994, p. 104). Assuming that misogyny is inherent to the genre of rap would be fallacious, as women rappers actively call out the antiwomen aspects of rap, creating resistance within the community, as has been well established by foundational texts such as Black noise (Rose, 1994), Prophets of the hood (Perry, 2004), and more recently Bad fat black girl (Bowen, 2022). Among Marathi rappers, for example, Mahi Ghane and Rapboss (2021) in “Junglecha Raja12” centres themes of environmental and social justice, while QK (2022) in “Nauvaari13” celebrates femininity. Women rappers in Marathi rap are vocal about misogyny and lean towards themes of femininity, self-expression, and intersectional resistance. Hip hop cultures, both African American and Indian, thus, remain internally contested spaces and are not politically uniform, where resistant and exclusionary practices coexist simultaneously. The connectedness between Black and marginalised Indian identity, including historical contact between the two, and possible cultural exchanges has been outlined by the monumental text by Nico Slate (2012) titled “The Dalit Panthers: Race, Caste, and Black Power in India”. Slate’s work explores the formation of the “Dalit14 Panthers”, which drew inspiration from the Black Panthers in the USA. Like the Black Panthers in the USA, the Dalit Panthers sought to provide a voice to the Dalit community in India. Spearheaded by poet and Padma Shree15 awardee Namdeo Dhasal, among others, the movement drew parallels between the Black experience of oppression and the Dalit experience of oppression in the caste system in India. Martin Luther King also saw the connection between the “untouchables”16 of India and Black people as the “untouchables” of the USA, who faced discrimination and restrictions on access to certain spaces as a result of the segregation-based mindset (Slate, 2012). Thus, marginalised experiences in India and the USA have strong parallels, and India has drawn from Black forms 12

Translates to ‘the king of the Jungle’ A nine-yard saree, traditionally a type of silk or cotton garment, worn by women in Maharashtra 14 A marginalised community at the bottom of the Indian caste hierarchy, formerly considered “untouchables”. 15 One of the highest civilian awards in India. 16 Formerly used offensive term to refer to someone from a lower caste. 13

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of self-expression as can be seen in Indian rap as well. Osumare’s 2015 paper titled Keeping it real: Race, class, and youth connections through hip hop in the U.S. and Brazil puts forth the concept of “connective marginalities” that represent the reality of extant social inequalities that link youths internationally through hip hop culture. Both these texts point not only to connected experiences of marginalisation, but also shared modes of expressing these experiences on a global level. Global linguistic flows (Alim, 2008) critically engages with debates on the role of sociolinguistics, identities, and pedagogies in rap. Alridge and Stewart (2005) in “Hip hop history: Past, present, and future” outline the history and discuss the political consciousness of hip hop. Max Ryynänen (2021) also examines the history of rap as political culture and also radically positions rap lyrics as vernacular critical theory. Khalilah Ali (2021) in the paper titled, “Towards a bad bitches’ pedagogy” talks about reclaiming her intersectional identity through not only sartorial performance, but also her language choices as a means to transgress oppressive systems. Put together, by discussing the politics of language in rap globally, these texts provide foundational reference points for centring language in the analysis of rap. However, there remains a dearth of research on rap in India and its dissemination throughout different states in India. Region-specific Indian Rap, The Dharavi Dream Project, and Reality TV shows like MTV Hustle centring on rap, are also relatively unexplored areas. Scholarship on rap so far focuses on the universality of themes found in rap, however, the language used in rap, especially in India, has not been studied extensively. There is limited empirical work showing when linguistic borrowing functions as solidarity rather than decontextualised appropriation. This paper addresses the gap in scholarship on Indian rap and offers a distinctive perspective centring language in Indian rap using Marathi rap as a case study while arguing that Black English serves as a medium for building solidarity across cultures, and adopting Black English in subversive styles is a manner of cultural appreciation by acknowledging its roots and paying homage to popular Black styles of expression. Research Methodology The study employs a qualitative and interpretive methodology through close reading, discourse analysis, and multimodal interpretation to examine the role of Black English in contemporary Marathi rap. Multimodal analysis of lyrics and performance provides a framework that can critically examine hip hop as a linguistic, visual, and affective practice. Close reading allows for thorough attention to lexical choices, syntactical features, and stylistic patterns, while discourse analysis provides the tools necessary for examining how linguistic choices shape identity production, ethos, and structures of belonging. A combination of these approaches is appropriate for understanding the cultural work done by Black English within the Marathi rap scene.

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The corpus consists of Marathi rap songs released between 2020 and 2025 by the artists Sambata, MC Gawthi, Rocksun, and Wild Women whose work has shaped the visibility of Marathi rap in contemporary times. The selected songs demonstrate a consistent and prominent use of Black English and frequent code switching with Marathi. In addition to the songs, performance videos, official videos, and artist interviews available on online platforms were studied as paratexts. Public comments and viewer engagement metrics were also studied, but not treated as data in themselves. Table 1 summarises the songs included in the corpus. Table 1 Corpus Summary Sr. no. 1.

Song Title Hoodlife

Artist/Artist Group Sambata, Riar Saab

2. 3.

Palti Fire RX 100

Sambata MC Gawthi

I do it for Wild Hip Hop Women Pinnak Sambata

5. 6.

Sambata, Loka Sambata

Black Money Gangster Shit 1st Saltanat

Shasan

RocKsun

10. Shaky

RocKsun

Sanju Rathod

Year Reason for selection (BE=Black English) 2024 Prominent BE lexical items, culturally influential as it represents experiences of gullies (streets) of Maharashtra and Punjab 2020 Prominent BE lexical items 2022 Prominent BE lexical items, homage to American Rappers, articulation of marginality 2021 BE lexical and syntactic features, and direct reference to Tupac Shakur 2022 Codeswitching between BE and Marathi across verses 2024 Prominent BE lexical items, visual signifiers associated with Black hip hop aesthetics 2024 Prominent BE lexical items, thematic alignment with gangster-rap aesthetics 2023 Homage to U.S. hip hop, visual signifiers associated with Black hip hop aesthetics 2022 Homage to U.S. hip hop, visual signifiers associated with Black hip hop aesthetics 2025 Pop-rap hybrid track featuring BE lexical items

The corpus includes multiple tracks by Sambata because he had released a large number of songs in this period, and his work exhibits sustained and varied uses of Black English. A purposive sampling strategy was used to select songs that display a sustained use of Black English in five-year window of 2020-2025, a period which showed substantial growth in visibility for Marathi rap. The purposive sampling strategy aimed at providing analytic depth rather than statistical representativeness. The songs were chosen according to three criteria: 1. Linguistic choices—tracks where Black English lexical items and syntactic features appear repeatedly. This was the primary criterion for selection.

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2. Cultural prominence—works by artists who have shaped the contemporary Marathi rap scene, indicated by viewership and references by other artists. 3. Contextual relevance—songs that participate in themes central to hip hop’s expressive economy such as marginality, kinship, swagger, and global belonging. The goal was to select tracks where the presence of Black English and influence of Black aesthetics could be examined in detail to better understand its connection with local practices in Marathi rap. Overall, the analytical aims of the study were guided by three interrelated research questions: 1. How does Black English function in Marathi rap across lexical, syntactic, and semantic dimensions? 2. Do these uses of Black English go beyond the cultural appropriation/appreciation binary that forms a major discussion point in the discourses of cross-racial linguistic borrowing? 3. How do these linguistic and stylistic choices, often framed by experiences of marginality, articulate belonging in the Global Hip Hop Nation? To answer these questions, song lyrics were first compiled and verified from official social media and YouTube pages of artists and then checked for Black English features. In the next step, the music videos and performances were analysed multimodally for gestures, body language, sartorial choices, and performing styles to contextualise the use of Black English within aesthetic and affective registers of hip hop. Artist interviews and social media interactions were then considered as paratextual material to situate the tracks within broader discourses of marginality and aspiration, however, these were treated as contextual cues and not primary data. Finally, the findings were interpreted through the theoretical lenses of Black styles, cross-cultural solidarity, belonging in a cosmopolitan world, and representation of lived experiences. The theoretical framework brings together the notions of decontextualization by bell hooks (1992), cosmopolitanism by Kwame Anthony Appiah (2008), subcultures by Dick Hebdige (1979), and ideas of reception and reworking of representations by Stuart Hall (1981/2018) to understand how Black English becomes legible in Marathi rap’s social world. The researchers are based in the state of Maharashtra, and Marathi is the first author’s native language. Both researchers are trained in the fields of English Literature and Language and are currently carrying out research in the field of Cultural Studies. The researchers approach this study with the awareness that their social and linguistic backgrounds shape what they observe and how they interpret aesthetic and linguistic practices. Their position as non-Black scholars studying Black English entails both certain access such as linguistic competence and academic frameworks and certain distance of not carrying the historical and lived experiences of Blackness. To address this, the claims are grounded in existing scholarship on Black styles, subcultures, and hip hop while foregrounding the agency of the artists in shaping their own art forms and their reception. This reflexive acknowledgement is necessary to situate the

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researchers’ voice responsibly in analysing cultural forms coming from social groups that they are not a part of. The study relies exclusively on close reading and discourse analysis, and does not include ethnographic interviews or reader response analysis. Although viewer comments, likes, and artist interviews provide contextual cues, they have not been treated as empirical data. The analysis is therefore interpretive and the findings can be understood as conceptual rather than statistical claims. Additionally, the discussion of “blaccent”17 is focused on stylistic features rather than acoustic analysis. These limitations do not undermine the study’s primary aim, which is to understand how Black English is mobilised and what meanings it produces within Marathi rap, rather than measuring linguistic frequency or audience attitudes. With this corpus and analytic framework, the following section presents the findings of the study in thematic clusters. Marathi Rap: Understanding the Scene Global youth have adapted rap in the USA to their local contexts and have formed their respective subcultures (Mitchell, 2001). Marathi rap, drawing influence from Black Culture and other Indian rap cultures such as Hindi and Punjabi, is characterised by the use of nonstandard Marathi, rappers coming from varied marginalised backgrounds, discussions on gang cultures, upward social mobility, family ties, and social and environmental justice. The analysis of the selected songs, over the four clusters showing lexical, syntactical, stylistic, and aesthetic borrowings, reveals the functions of Black English in Marathi rap. Together, they show how Black English functions not simply as borrowed vocabulary, but as a resource for positioning oneself within global hip hop’s networks of identity, marginality, and cultural connection. Lexical Choices: Kinship, Belonging, and Conflict The lexeme “hood” is one of the most visible instances of Black English in Marathi rap. Sambata and Punjabi rapper Riar Saab (Sambata & Riar Saab, 2024) have a song titled “Hoodlife” wherein Sambata asserts “Amhi pahilyapasun hakkane hood wale” (0:27 to 0:29) (We are right from the start and originally from hood) (trans. from the official MV) This assertion not only marks the rapper’s pride in where he comes from but also how the “hood” belongs to him as much as he belongs to the “hood”, and it is a safe space for him to be himself. This motif echoes K’Naan’s “Dusty Foot Philosophy”, referring to the image of a child with dusty feet “not (as) a beggar, … an undignified struggler, (but as) the dusty foot 17 A portmanteau of “black” and “accent”, typically referring to instances of non-Black speakers imitating Black styles of speaking not just phonologically but through gestures and body language as well.

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philosopher who articulates more than the cameraman can imagine” (Pennycook & Mitchell, 2008, p. 25). The Dusty Foot Philosopher is grounded in his “hood”, and the “hood” signifies the rappers’ roots, source of strength found by belonging to the community represented by it. For example, in Sambata (2020) in the track Palti Fire, the lines ‘Hood’ tuza pan titha Sambata la mānpān’ (1:53 to 1:55) (It’s your hood, but I’m the one most respected) show that even though the hood isn’t Sambata’s, he still holds power there, insisting that the “hood” remains a stronghold of power regardless to whom it belongs. It is also seen as a place of residence for generations, for instance, in MC Gawthi (2022) in the song RX 10018 which tells the story of the rapper’s father (That Odd Engineer, 2024). The police are looking for him in his “hood” while he escapes on his bike, an RX 100, after which the song is named. In “I do it for hip hop” by Wild Wild Women (2021), the “hood” functions as an extension of “home”. Frequent mentions of “streets” along with gully, a narrow street in a less affluent area, also find their way to these songs. While gully is part of one’s “hood”, it is used along with streets to talk about rappers’ localities, “streets” retains much of the same meaning as its American counterpart, standing for the real life of the common people. Here, the borrowing is more semantics-based and localised as opposed to a direct lexical borrowing. Extending the metaphor of “hood” as sanctum, the “hood” is where the “homies” are. “Homie” signals brotherhood, as can be seen as per the following instances: Ya duniya la kay mahiti, mazya homie ni an mi kadhlet divas cha varti (2:39 to 2:40) (Little does the world know that my “homie” and I have survived days at a stretch only on “cha” (tea)) Here, MC Gawthi (2022) his father had nothing but his “homie”. Similarly, in Pinnak, Sambata (2022) asks his “homie” for heaven. Homie ja mere liye mannat mang, mannat me mere liye jannat mang (4:36 to 4:39), (Homie, make a prayer for me, and in the prayer ask for heaven for me) Although this particular line is in Hindi, the song is in Marathi. Sambata is not merely asking his “homie” for a place in heaven, but ownership of heaven itself. In the song Palti Fire, his “homie” and his brotherhood, to him, are his kutumb (family) who support him no matter what (Sambata, 2020). “Homie”, thus, works as a kinship marker positioning Marathi rappers as a part of global hip hop practices. “Haters” also finds mention in numerous songs, for example, in the song RX 100, MC Gawthi (2022) says,

A vintage two-stroke Yamaha motorcycle popular in India in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s, now discontinued.

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Maza changla hotay baghun zopa yet nahi haters la (3:15 to 3:16) (My haters can’t sleep knowing that I’m flourishing) Or Akkha hood gheun jari tu mazya virodhat ghusla… (1:09 to 1:11) (Even if you bring your entire hood to fight me…) The lexical choices made by Marathi rappers by using words from Black English specifically when there are multiple alternatives available in Indian languages for “hood” and “homie”, like mohalla, gully, or dost, bhai, mitra, respectively, all ubiquitous Marathi colloquialisms, align the rappers within a larger global tradition of hip hop. With Wild Wild Women’s work is an example of syntactic borrowings from Black English such as the zero copula in “and we vibin” against filthy “vibe” (02:56), or the double negation in “I ain’t no teen” (04:52). Not just lexical choices, but syntactic borrowings from Black English allow Marathi rappers to gain credibility through fluency as they join the Global Hip Hop Nation. Blaccent and Performing Identity The code-mixing of Black English and Marathi in rap include performative aspects such as adopting the “blaccent”. Marathi rappers often deviate from their usual ways of speaking and mimic Black English pronunciations while using words and phrases from Black English, as can be seen in “I do it for Hip Hop”. This phenomenon only occurs when the artists are rapping and the “blaccent” is not present in the offscreen persona of said rappers, as can be seen in a BBC interview with Wild Wild Women (BBC News India, 2024). The line between drawing inspiration and cultural appropriation is thin. However, it may be noted that the use of “blaccent” here does not appear to be in a derogatory manner; rather, it appears more as an attempt to “belong” to a global hip hop culture or to appear “cool”. Regardless of the intention of such usage, it is pertinent to point out that non-Black rappers gain social and cultural capital and even labels of “authenticity” by using Black English, whereas Black Communities in the U.S.A. face stigma for using Black English. Similarly, emerging artist Sanju Rathod, combining pop and rap styles in his songs, has delivered two hit singles in 2025, namely “Shaky Shaky” (Rathod, 2025) and “Sundari Sundari” (Rathod, 2025), both going viral on Instagram reels in India. In “Shaky”, he uses words derived from Black English, like “OG”, “majhi (my) girl”, “gangsta”, and more. His music combines Banjara19 folk music styles with Marathi lyrics, and he identifies himself as a Marathi pop artist. In an interview with Rolling Stone India (Tagat, 2025), he mentions “YoYo’s hip hop vibe”20 as an inspiration. In Nepal, where Marathi is not spoken, in 2025 his song 19 20

A nomadic tribe in India. Reference is here to Yo-Yo Honey Singh, a well-known Indian rapper.

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“Shaky” was trending at number 10 on YouTube, garnering international attention. While this study cannot confirm audiences’ motivations, the presence of a globally circulating Black English lexicon may contribute to the song’s popularity in non-Marathi contexts. Other factors, such as the music or Rathod’s voice, contribute to the popularity, but it is especially the connection between the use of Black English and reaching global audiences merits attention. Beyond lexical and syntactic borrowings, a stylistic borrowing of Black English and its features points to the attempt of belonging to hip hop cultures by performing stylistic features historically associated with Black hip hop cultures. Paying Homage via Textual and Visual Aesthetics Many rappers express themselves by performing a gangster aesthetic, which is reflected not only in the way they dress or accessorise, but also in their diction, for instance by using phrases like “diss culture” and words like “beef”.21 Gangster Shit 1st by Sambata (2024) enlists how “gangster shit” comes above all and how “beefs” and “disses” will not go unforgiven. Like previous instances, there are regional language options available, yet there is a conscious choice to use words like “shit” (n.b. while shit is not explicitly Black English, the context in which it is used here is a direct inspiration from Black rappers, where shit would mean “my ways”, “my rules” or could simply refer to the rapper’s lifestyle). The gangster aesthetic, while depicting underground crimes, survival stories, and more, is also a means of presenting oneself as suave. Thus, the rappers often mention how their “drip” 22 is on point, wherein their style is highlighted. The “drip” again is not limited to clothing, but is also depicted through their interactions with “homies”,”bitches”23, and “shawties”24. In the song Black Money, while Sambata (2024) takes care of the money front, Loka takes care of the “shawties”. Shawty lok sambhaltoy Loka (2:17 to 2:19) (Loka oversees/takes care of the “shawties”) In Gangster Shit 1st, Sambata (2024) claims to have “Black kapde, Black soul, Black tone” (black clothes, black soul, black tone), wherein the usage of “black” is ambiguous. The use of words from Black English coupled with frequent graffiti featuring Black artists, mentions of Compton, rappers wearing chunky gold or silver chains, black tank tops, scarves, baggy jackets and trousers, jackets with gold embossments or embroidery and sometimes t-shirts featuring black artists in Sambata’s music videos supports the argument that the “black” mentioned is a shoutout to Black culture. While Sambata states it explicitly in his songs, it is common for most Marathi rappers to use a similar visual aesthetic. The other visual aesthetic used is that of the opposite extreme, where artists present themselves in formal attire, which can be interpreted as a shout-out to Black Dandyism as a means of being loudly visible despite carrying a 21

In hip hop, a conflict between rappers, usually expressed lyrically. Here, style often includes trendy and expensive clothing and accessories. 23 Girlfriends or female romantic partners. 24 Attractive women. 22

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marginalised, constantly erased identity as stated by Powell (2001, p. 222). Be it street style or Black Dandyism, or the choice of words, the inspiration appears to point to Black hip hop Culture in the USA. The word “hip hop” itself is mentioned by several rappers, as can be seen in “Saltanat” by RocKsun (2023): Mazya raktana hip hop cha itihas lihila jail. (2:22 to 2:24) (The history of hip hop will be written in my blood) Again in “Shasan”, by RocKsun (2022): Mi zindagi keli mazya hip hop la Arpan. (0:24 to 0:26) (I have devoted my life to hip hop) Mala hip hop cha rog ahe. (0:41) (I have the affliction of hip hop) And a third example, “I do it for hiphop” by Wild Wild Women (2021): Na nav na gav ahe hip hop maza daav. (1:22 to 1:25) (No name, no place, hiphop is all I call my own) By mentioning hip hop directly, rappers acknowledge their heritage from Black hip hop and use it in much of the same sense where hip hop serves as a subculture that allows youth to express their social realities through rap which could also serve as what Dick Hebdige (1979) calls symbolic forms of resistance; as spectacular symptoms of a wider and more generally submerged dissent (p. 80). According to Hebdige (1979), each subcultural instance represents a solution to a specific set of circumstances to particular problems and contradictions, which in the case of Desi Hip Hop, and by an extension Marathi Rap, is self-expression in the face of systemic injustices, social inequalities, criminality, corruption, poverty, and erasure of marginalised identities. Other than mentions of hip hop, rappers often speak of well-known US rappers as their modernday muses, with Tupac Shakur being mentioned more than others. In Hoodlife, Sambata (2024) mentions how he “goes in the zone” when he listens to Tupac (0:46 to 0:49). On the other hand, while MC Gawthi (2022) also mentions Tupac (3:25) as an inspiration, he draws parallels between Tupac in the context of his assassination and his own father’s narrow escape from death because his RX 100 saves him. MC Gawthi (2022) also mentions Snoop Dogg (3:42) and YG (3:45) as his companions while talking about his influence on the rap scene. In the song Hoodlife, Sambata also mentions rappers Nipsey, YG, and Khalifa as his direct inspirations for creating rap (0:54 to 0:56). In an interview along with Riar Saab, he mentions his intention to bring hip hop to gullies by pushing language limits through code switching between Punjabi and Marathi to ensure maximum reach across Indian audiences, with the direct influence for doing so being the collaborations between Nipsey and YG (MTV Hustle 4, 2024).

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Wild Wild Women’s “I do it for Hip Hop” talks of all the hurdles they had to overcome, such as social inequalities, lack of access to opportunities, life in the slums, and additionally, the biases in the reception of rap owing to gender. The song itself pays homage to hip hop culture; even the title of the song appears to be a reference to the well-known song of the same name by rapper Ludacris (2019). In the same vein as Ludacris’ tribute to hip hop, they assert their rapping prowess and their female identity. Negotiating Identity and Belonging As one of the aspects imitated in Marathi Rap, the use of Black English can be interpreted as assuming a particular identity as a rapper. Drawing on the performativity aspect of identity, use of Black English can also be seen as a speech act (Austin, 1975) wherein the illocutionary force is the intention to fit in with the existing and widely accepted global identity of a rapper, the locutionary act is using Black English and “blaccent”, and the perlocutionary act is being perceived as “authentic” rappers. Coupled with the borrowing of visual aesthetics dominantly shaped by hip hop culture in the USA, these performative aspects function as a semiotic resource for young Marathi rap scene with only three decades of history, allowing it to position itself within a recognisable global hip hop lineage. This integration of Black English seamlessly integrates with Marathi through code-mixing, and such integration of Black English in Marathi rap is deliberate and comes with due understanding and acknowledgement as opposed to its unwitting or ignorant use as has been demonstrated in the “Paying Homage” section. Scholars like Stuart Hall in Notes on Deconstructing ‘the Popular’ (2018, p. 353) through the negation of the idea of audiences being “cultural dopes”, and Kwame Anthony Appiah (2006, p. 111) have repeatedly stated how consumers are not blank slates or passive receivers of the cultures they consume. From this theoretical perspective, rap audiences can actively construct meaning from the ideas they receive, and integrate received linguistic practices with their individual speech patterns. An audience analysis with this hypothesis could lead to verifiable data about the comprehension of Black English in Marathi rap. Black English and Indian Media: A Counter Discourse The phenomenon of India as a postcolonial country has often been addressed by commenting on the use of English in the country, and this through various media. While certain films like Chup Chup Ke by Hrishikesh Mukherjee (1975) call for a return to Hindi, films like English Vinglish by Gauri Shinde (2012), or 12th Fail by Vidhu Vinod Chopra (2023) portray English as a sign of upward social mobility and a language that incites deep-seated insecurities among non-English speakers. English also functions as a language with high social standing, the lack of which often shows exclusion from privileged circles. English, or more specifically Standardised English, can also function as a tool of Othering, often limiting the comprehension of such media only to certain classes of Indian society.

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Rap in India, however, provides a fertile ground for overturning this role of English. Through its use of non-standard English, specifically Black English/African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and adaptation into regional rap, it provides a different lens to look at English. Ironically, in a country where access to English remains unattainable to most (Economic and Political Weekly, 2024), Indian audiences have been exposed to Black English through desi hip hop. It is also interesting to note that in Marathi rap, the Marathi used is also non-standard Marathi. Pune has often been looked at as the cultural hub or headliner for Marathi culture, and Pune’s Marathi often being hailed as “the” standard version of Marathi (Marathi Raw Speech Corpus, n.d.), serving as a yardstick to measure the validity of all other nonstandard dialects of Marathi (Sankari, 2022). Interestingly, Marathi rap has popularised itself in Pune (Tripathi, 2023) and purposefully makes use of nonstandard Marathi. This can be seen as an act of affirming one's identity and reclaiming social standing by using one's own dialects and staying away from standardised dialects. Even the “Gawthi” in MC Gawthi’s chosen stage name, can be read as an act of reclaiming his identity, as the word gawthi, literally meaning “rural”, is often used as slur to shame people who do not fit into urban societies, for instances someone who uses nonstandard variants of a language or dresses in a way that does not fit the “urban” aesthetic. On a deeper level, the slur signals an identity marker often associated with marginalised castes and classes. Appropriation (Ashcroft et al., 2002, p. 38) is an apt concept to look at the use of Black English, wherein the language is “taken and made to bear the burden of one’s own cultural experience”. While Black English already does this by subverting the norms of Standard American English, the use of Black English and non-Standard English in Marathi rap can also mark this process of appropriation as finding a means to use language to express one’s marginalised identity and socioeconomic struggles. By using Black English, rappers in Maharashtra can be read as asserting their place, their belonging in not only a local but also a global tradition by subverting Standardised English and its rigid approach. Black English in Marathi rap is glocal and engages the intersections of global and local dynamics (Morgan & Bennett, 2011, p. 181). Black English is certainly not the only thing that builds solidarity among rappers around the world, but it definitely is an important aspect of building this solidarity. When rappers use terms like homie/hood, they are addressing the globally understood nuances of these terms while also addressing themes of brotherhood and camaraderie in their local contexts. As hip hop circulates through popular media rather than formal academic channels, linguistic exposure to Black English takes place primarily through musical and cultural forms. Alim (2008) in “Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy” similarly highlights how engagement with hip hop can democratise English learning outside traditional classroom pedagogies.

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Conclusion While this paper has been limited to the use of Black English in Marathi rap, future research can examine how global hip hop codes are articulated locally, in other regions of India. Within Marathi rap, emerging rap artists on social media platforms, like the Instagram page @chemburscene (n.d)., showcase young Marathi rappers often articulating experiences of caste, class, and gender-based discrimination and identity assertion. Similarly, artists like Mahi Ghane use rap as a tool for environmental justice. The rise of Marathi rap presents questions central to cultural studies, such as: how does a subculture travel across the globe and what forms does it take in culturally diverse countries like India? In her essay Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance bell hooks (1992) cautions that the decontextualized appropriation of Black styles, in this case, Black English, leads to the erasure of lived experiences of Black communities that led to the formation of these styles (p. 28). However, the analysis of the selected songs shows that Black English in Marathi rap is beyond simple isolated lexical borrowing, and incorporates syntactic, stylistic, and aesthetic choices as well. Rather than detaching Black English from its cultural roots, Marathi rap reworks it within local forms of expression shaped by regional experience of marginality. Studying these songs alongside the broader cultural memory embedded in rap suggests that translocal hip hop practices can enable moments of resonance across marginalised communities. The study, therefore, argues that Black English in Marathi rap cannot be reduced to the binaries of appropriation and authenticity; instead, it reflects how global art forms can be mobilised to articulate local social positions while simultaneously signalling solidarity by participating in wider conversations about struggle, aspirations, and identity.

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References Akhtar, Z. (Director). (2019). Gully Boy [Film]. Excel Entertainment Pvt Ltd. Ali, K. (2021). Towards a Bad Bitches’ Pedagogy. Critical Orthodoxies: (Re)Imagining Scholarship for a Brave New World, 5(1), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.13169/jinte.5.1.0005 Alim, H. S., Ibrahim, A., & Pennycook, A. (Eds.). (2008). Global linguistic flows: Hip hop cultures, youth identities, and the politics of language. Taylor & Francis. Alridge, D. P., & Stewart, J. B. (2005). Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future. The Journal of African American History, 90(3), 190–195. https://doi.org/10.1086/JAAHv90n3p190 Appiah, K. A. (2008). Cosmopolitanism: ethics in a world of strangers (1st ed.). W. W. Norton. Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2002). The empire writes back: Theory and practice in post-colonial literatures (2nd ed.). Routledge. Austin, J. L. (1975). How to do things with words (2nd ed.). Harvard University Press. Badgotri, P. (2023, October 7). Gen Z lingo slaps but can be low-key problematic. Vogue India. https://www.vogue.in/content/gen-z-lingo-slaps-but-can-be-low-keyproblematic BBC News India. (2024, October 3). Wild Wild Women: India's first all-female hip-hop collective [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp_kd2ziD8Y Bose, S. (2025, April 2). The Origins and Future of Indian Hip-Hop. How Music Charts. https://hmc.chartmetric.com/indian-hip-hop-hanumankind/ Bowen, S. (2022). Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist. Harper Collins Publishers. chemburscene. [@chemburscene]. (n.d.). Reels [Instagram Profile]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/chemburscene/reels/ Chopra, V. V. (Director). (2023). 12th Fail [Film]. Vinod Chopra Films and Zee Studios. Economic and Political Weekly. (2024, March 14) English Language Education in India: How Aspirations for Social Mobility Shape Pedagogy. https://www.epw.in/engage/article/english-language-education-india-aspirationspedagogy French, K. (2017). Geography of American Rap: Rap Diffusion and Rap Centers. GeoJournal, 82(2), 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-015-9681-z Ghane, M. (2024). Hasdeo ki Kahaani [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrocJirm_j0&list=RDRrocJirm_j0&start_radio= Ghane, M., & Rapboss. (2021). Jungle cha Raja [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghEmGa3MhPw Hall, S. (2018). Notes on deconstructing “the Popular”. In D. Morley (Ed.), Essential Essays Vol. 1: Foundations of cultural studies (pp. 347–361). Duke University Press. Hanson, C. (Director). (2002). 8 Mile [Film]. Universal Pictures.

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Hanumankind. (2024). Big Dawgs [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOHKltAiKXQ Hebdige, D. (2002). Subculture: The meaning of style. Taylor & Francis. hooks, b. (1992). Eating the other: Desire and resistance. In Black Looks: Race and Representation, (pp. 21–39). South End Press. Loka, & Sambata. (2024, November 15). BLACK MONEY [Song]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45UBBsUaM9A Ludacris. (2019). I Do It For Hip Hop [Song]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hTI5mEjZfA Marathi Raw Speech Corpus. (n.d.). Linguistic Data Consortium for Indian Languages. https://data.ldcil.org/marathi-raw-speech-corpus MC GAWTHI. (n.d.). Playlists [YouTube channel]. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2wTpWwNnN-krBQQzHKemIw MC GAWTHI. (2022, October 21). RX100 [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfYCUKQtmp0 Mitchell, T. (Ed.). (2001). Global Noise: Rap and Hip Hop Outside the USA. Wesleyan University Press. Morgan, M., & Bennett, D. (2011, April). Hip-Hop & the Global Imprint of a Black Cultural Form. Daedalus, 140(2), 176-196. https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_00086 Mukherjee, H. (Director). (1975). Chupke Chupke [Film]. Rupam Chitra. Osumare, H. (2015). Keeping it Real: Race, Class, and Youth Connections Through Hip-Hop in the U.S. & Brazil. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 37, 6–18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/humjsocrel.37.6 Pennycook, A., & Mitchell, T. (2008). Hip hop as dusty foot philosophy engaging locality. In H. S. Alim, A. Ibrahim, & A. Pennycook (Eds.), Global linguistic flows: Hip hop cultures, youth identities, and the politics of language. (pp. 25-42). Taylor & Francis. Perry, I. (2004). Prophets of the hood. Duke University Press. Powell, R. J. (2001). Sartor Africanus. In S. Fillin-Yeh (Ed.) Dandies: Fashion and Finesse in Art and Culture (p. 222). NYU Press. QK. (2022, September 9). Nauvaari [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb4qfhRaBTs Rathod, S. (2025, April 22). Shaky [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUf2PtEZris Rathod, S. (2025, September 11). Sundari [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpBn9w-Js_c RocKsun. (2022, March 17). Shasan [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo809Pth8Y&pp=ygUKI2xhZGhhcmNoYQ%3D %3D RocKsun, (2023, March 18). Saltanat [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_A8oVoJXVM

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Rose, T. (1994). Black noise: rap music and black culture in contemporary America. Wesleyan University Press. Ryynänen, M. (2021). Can the (non-)subaltern (understand) Rap?: Rap as Vernacular Critical Theory. Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture, 6(2), 213-229. https://doi.org/10.5325/jasiapacipopcult.6.2.0213 Sambata. (n.d.). Playlists [YouTube channel]. https://www.youtube.com/@sambata__00 Sambata. (2020, November 4). Palti Fire! [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV7aHXRGsX0 Sambata. (2022, June 9). Pinnak [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7lk6IcskD8 Sambata. (2024, May 19). Gangster Shit 1st [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsYYAPZjRDs Sambata & Riar Saab. (2024, September 21). Hoodlife [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXJQXCWbmQ0 Sambata, & Riar Saab. (2024). Guest Interview - Riar and Sambata [Interview]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEcsHVmRUqI Sankari, R. (2022, February 25). An Indian City With Audacious Attitude. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181028-an-indian-city-with-audacious-attitude Shinde, G. (Director). (2012). English Vinglish [Film]. Eros International. Shreyas, & Kratex. (2024, August 25). Taambdi Chaamdi [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmjeMrjOjFA Sircar, S. (Director). (2015). Piku [Film]. MSM Motion Pictures; Saraswati Entertainment; Rising Sun Films. Slate, N. (2012). The Dalit Panthers: Race, Caste, and Black Power in India. In Black Power beyond Borders: The Global Dimensions of the Black Power Movement (1st ed., pp. 127-143). Palgrave Macmillan. Tagat, A. (2025, May 15). Sanju Rathod on How He Put Marathi, Rajasthani Folk, Hip-Hop and Afro Together for 'Shaky'. Rolling Stone India. https://rollingstoneindia.com/sanju-rathod-interview-shaky-song/ That Odd Engineer. (2024, November 20). एक गाणं टाकून Hiphop सोडणार होतो | OddPod With MC GAWTHI That Odd Engineer | Marathi Podcast [Audio Podcast Episode]. In OddPod. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrkhzIagFzo The Dharavi Dream Project. (2023, October 31). The Dharavi Dream Project - Empowering Hip-Hop in Mumbai. The Dharavi Dream Project. https://thedharavidreamproject.org/ Tripathi, S. (2023, October 11). The Allure of Pune’s Hip-Hop Scene: Why Does the City Stand Out? The Indian Music Diaries. https://theindianmusicdiaries.com/the-allureof-punes-hip-hop-scene-why-does-the-city-stand-out/ Wild Wild Women. (2021, March 8). I Do It for Hip Hop [Music Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s61yEY6c8tg Corresponding author: Aditi Deshpande Email: aditinwcc19@gmail.com

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From Stage to Stream: Documenting Dissent in the Digital Afterlives of FlipTop Filipino Rap Battles Patricia Mariz V. Hilao

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Abstract This article argues that FlipTop rap battles, as recorded and uploaded events in a digital streaming platform, function as performances of archiving. These are acts that preserve and transform the meaning of cultural dissent. I situate these performances within theoretical discourses of liveness (Auslander, 1999), archive and the repertoire (Taylor, 2003), and platform politics (van Dijck, 2013; Gillespie, 2018). I also examine YouTube’s capacity to mediate the aesthetics and, therefore, the politics of Filipino rap and hip-hop. By closely reading (watching) two specific rap battles—one from 2012 and another from 2024—I trace how performances that are separated by a decade shift embodied practices, audience participation, and digital spectatorship. Finally, I contend that FlipTop’s digital archive not only documents dissent but performs it anew. It has created an ever-evolving repertoire of resistance that continues to resonate and echo across time, space, and screens. Keywords: flip-top rap battles, Filipino rap and hiphop music, youth movements, performative art

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Contextualizing FlipTop: From Underground Stage to Digital Archive Founded in 2010 by Alaric Riam Yuson, more popularly known as Anygma, and two others, FlipTop Rap Battle League rapidly grew from a series of rap tournaments to a brand for a “grassroots, self-produced, events and artist management company” (FlipTop Kru Corp., 2024). The company prides itself as having initiated the “resurgence and widespread acceptance” of the Pinoy hip-hop culture through the online visibility their content has garnered over the last 14 years. It claims to have given the opportunity for local hip-hop artists to showcase their talent and build careers across different industries as well. Their official website attests to this— over 2.4 billion views on YouTube, the world’s most viewed rap battle league, with 7.71 million subscribers and counting. Several different feature articles across online news outlets, sponsored blogs and branded posts, the league has indeed carved its own identity as one of the most viral video makers of the last decade. Such fame has been attributed mainly to their video recordings of underground and amateur rappers matched against each other in a cappella rap battle of different formats—written, freestyle and old school— all heavily influenced by Western-based leagues (FlipTop Kru Corp., n.d.; Tan, n.d.). The three-round, time-bound “spit exchange” can be a mix of written or freestyle lines. Depending on the type of conference and location, the emcees are to use either English, Filipino or a regional language. Emcees are allowed to bring props and wear costumes as they wish. A group of preselected judges determine who wins based on a set of criteria, and their decision is irrevocable. An eight-minute explainer video titled Ano Talaga ang FlipTop (What is FlipTop), published in the company’s official YouTube channel in 2020, documented the inception of the league and showcased a series of iconic verses from battles all around the Philippines that were made viral. It featured Anygma being on interviews in the early stages of their popularity, saying he birthed FlipTop as he was determined to make space for the many Pinoy rap geniuses and create representation in the world hip-hop culture. FlipTop, a term that now refers to all rap battles, has been taken by some Filipino viewers to mean counterculture, despite the fact that hip-hop has sadly also been associated with the promotion of violence and vulgarity worldwide. This criticism is powered by the notion that this new form of “balagtasan” or “poetic debate” makes use of a format similar to that of American rap—the “standard insult format” (Lumabao, 2018). But evidently, just like any other modern-day controversy, it is no longer a question of what it is and what it is about, but why it has gone viral. It has become a question of how an exchange of spit verses transformed the landscape of hip-hop culture in the country by giving amateur rappers their own spotlight and making more of them known for their craft. People now ask how those who have long been stereotyped and stigmatized as the riffraffs of the society made their way to fame, and established names and made a “decent” living for themselves. And so we see, that after more than a decade of building a community for local rap talents, after growing from small room battles to big, tented stages, this legendary Pinoy rap tournament has gone beyond going viral for its controversial content and has earned a merit for taking up digital space. This phenomenon influenced not only the Filipino audiences’ appreciation of hip-hop performances but of their viewership behavior in a digital environment. This cultural performance is being

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experienced as an online cultural phenomenon, not a fad of a few, as it holds an enduring spot on online social platforms. Theoretical Framework: Performing the Archive, Mediating Liveness Scholarship about FlipTop rap battles has often emphasized conversations that question their language, discourse, and identity. For instance, Lumabao (2018) examines the linguistic features of FlipTop performances by highlighting the youths’ play on phonology, morphology, and vernacular expressions to craft rap and spoken word verses and rhyme schemes. The text also underscores how the rap battle league has become a venue for linguistic craftsmanship, where slang, profanity, and codeswitching breed cultural creativity and resistance. Although her analysis focuses largely on what rappers enunciate on stage, there is much left to be discussed beyond their words – their gestures, stance, or embodied practices for one. Soriano (2025) explores the cultural politics of FlipTop as sites of power. The battles become amplifiers of marginalized voices as the emcees take liberty in asserting themselves whether in the context of social issues or for the sake of entertainment. The study tells us that performances like this function as “counter-hegemonic acts,” where staging dissent against dominant notions and producing new systems of cultural legitimacy for Filipino hip-hop are in place. While this framing situates the League in a broader discourse of politics and resistance, Auslander’s (2008) argument on “liveness” allows us to look into the immediacy, which remains central to how audiences experience and give value to performance, even within mediated environments. This leaves us to explore how the digital spread of content become political acts once the battle videos are archived online. Meanwhile, Mundala (2023) brings to the fore inquiries on community and representation. His analysis tells us how rap artists, in this instance, consistently situate themselves vis-a-vis their roots—their hometown, peer groups, and deep-seated identities. This only reinforces the FlipTop battles’ communal, regional, even national grounding. FlipTop becomes more than an individual’s expression through its lyrics and the emcees’ performative gestures. It becomes a symbol of representation and a platform for collective identity and meaning-making. Mundala (2023) illuminates the performative politics of local communities, but does not consider how online audiences, especially those whose viewership goes beyond physical spaces, participate in the reshaping of these communities through digital platforms. Together, all these studies highlight how vital language, politics, and community are in the context of rap battle leagues. Despite their ground-breaking work, they reveal a shared limitation, the lack of emphasis on notions of time and live performativity. Therefore, more attention has to be paid to the performative dimensions of embodiment in a digital “afterlife” where actions have already been completed and are being restaged.

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Methodology: Watching as Witnessing In this study, archival historiography guided an examination of the long-standing tension between the archive’s function of being a repository of historical traces and the ephemerality of embodied acts (Skwirblies, 2025; Taylor, 2003). In performance studies, archival research is a method for reconstructing the cultural conditions and meanings through which performances continue to circulate and gain significance (Micu, 2021). This leads to an analysis of how performances produce, circulate, and preserve historical narratives through documentation (Schneider, 2011; Taylor, 2003), and the premise that instead of treating online videos as neutral records, they can be analyzed as active agents that shape cultural memory and political meaning. Here I draw on Diana Taylor’s distinction between the archive and the repertoire as distinct modes of storing and transmitting knowledge. This paper reads FlipTop rap battle videos as “archival acts” that legitimize such performances of dissent as their circulation across time is enabled. Archival historiography then helps analyze YouTube recordings as historical texts, and I utilized this by examining how camera angles, audience sounds, and the event production of the battles are framed as historical objects. I also traced how the online discourse in the comments section continually reinstate new layers of meaning onto the recorded performances. Here, YouTube does not only operate as a passive repository of recordings; it functions as a media environment through which performances generate new forms of cultural participation. Couldry’s (2012) media practice approach signifies this, saying digital platforms may be understood as sites of producing social action and cultural meaning through daily acts of viewing, sharing, and engagement. Meanwhile, digital performance analysis examines how performance is produced, mediated, and transformed through digital technologies (Auslander, 1999; Bay-Cheng, 2012; Reason & Heddon, 2016). In the context of this study, the aesthetic, embodied, and participatory components of the performance in subject are studied as they appear in recorded and streamed formats. This includes meanings formed in the spectatorship, camera choreography, YouTube algorithms, and user interaction. The digital performance analysis model was applied to two FlipTop battles based on the following: 1. Embodied elements visible in the recording—the gestures, stance, vocal stress and other nonverbals exhibited by the emcees 2. Mediated elements produced in the digital recording—the camera framing, audience sounds, and the audio and video quality 3. YouTube-generated elements—the comments, replay counts, and the accessibility and shareability of the videos These two methods of analysis guided the researcher in how the rap battles were observed, coded, and interpreted.

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Performance Analysis and Digital Ethnography In both case studies, the embodied elements of the emcees’ delivery were apparent. For instance, in Sinio vs. Shernan (2024), Sinio repeatedly circles his opponent and was almost always in an open-shouldered stance. This is a gesture that asserts dominance in hip-hop battle culture (Rose, 1994). Auslander’s (1999) “performative presence” is manifested in the emcee’s sustained vocal projection, combined with rapid shifts in pitch and tempo. In this instance, the performer’s body strategizes how it will assert control in a shared space. Moreover, these gestures are not incidental but intentional and are used as rhetorical devices. They intensify authenticity, credibility, aggression even, of the emcee’s narrative. A stage performance becomes more readable when mediated elements of its recording are analyzed. In the first case study, the camera frames Sinio in upward tilts, notable during his punchlines. This magnifies his physical stature at key moments of his discursive delivery. Also captured by the recording are the sounds of the audience, including the cheers and synchronized shouts of the fans. These are heard at different moments, usually when the verbal exchange escalates. All these create layered acoustics that intensifies the climactic tension of each verse uttered. The crowd’s nonverbal reactions, throwing of hands in the air, jumping, clapping at different intensities all manifest what Schneider (2011) calls “embodied spectatorship,” a form of physical response that becomes part of the archival text. Meanwhile, Loonie & Abra vs. Bassilyo & Crazy Mix (2012) displays a different form of liveness. It was created in a smaller venue and made use of microphones deliberately set to lower quality. There was minimal camera movement and the whole production stressed a more intimate performative space. Here, embodiment relies less on aggressive movements and more on rhythmic synchronization. Loonie and Abra move in tandem. They were nodding in a shared tempo before alternating their lines. A collective bearing was established through this coordinated gesture. This act aligned with and created a foundation for understanding hip-hop as a collaborative resistance, a cultural movement, and an embodied expressive practice (Forman & Neal, 2012). My performance analysis shows that these bodily schemes, albeit understated, serve as valid visual arguments that reinforce legitimacy within the rap battle league. Meanwhile, digital ethnography allowed an understanding of another set of archival layers in this examination, particularly on how these recorded performances acquire new meanings as they continually circulate on YouTube. This does not only include FlipTop’s uploading and posting practices, but also the audiences’ power to co-create “afterlives” of said performances. For instance, comments on both battles show the viewers marking “key moments” through timestamps, such as “2:14 = bar of the year” or “5:01 rewind this.” These comments function as mini-archives in themselves, and behave like collaborating spectators that engage in culturally-weighted and significant events. Van Dijck (2013) suggests that this is how meaning is stabilized by both the performers and the viewers engaging in participatory labor and called this “platformed sociality.”

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What is also noteworthy is YouTube’s algorithmic infrastructure, which we understand as a powerful tool that shapes the audience’s encounter with a performance. Suggested videos on political speeches and comedy skits appear alongside these rap battles, which creates what Gillespie (2018) describes as algorithmic adjacency, where platforms are not neutral hosts but are “custodians” who actively shape what viewers see. YouTube’s recommendation system actively shapes the visibility of the dissent. There are certain conditions in this system that amplifies performances because there are privileged metrics like replayability, engagement, and watch time. We see that the algorithm favors spectacle—the exaggerated gestures, punchlines on humiliation, and moments that are easy to meme. Meanwhile, the subtler forms of critique are marginalized. This means that resistance survives as long as it remains algorithmically legible. YouTube then functions as a co-curator and not merely a neutral repository. It disciplines the aesthetics of dissent, rewards performances that align with platform logic, all while rendering others less visible within the archive. This further places FlipTop archived videos within broader cultural narratives, because YouTube interprets the viewers’ behavior through metrics of engagement, for instance, when users rewatch particular segments. Consequently, the video’s visibility is amplified. Following this, YouTube’s algorithm clearly becomes a co-archivist as it determines which performances achieve long-term circulation and which ones fade into obscurity. Applying digital ethnography, the comment sections in each archived video are sites that are rich in articulated resistance. In the 2012 battle, newer comments that pop up even up to the present continue to invoke nostalgia, suggesting “This is when FlipTop was raw.” This positions the videos as archival objects that represent a subcultural formation in the decade past. Meanwhile, in the 2024 battle, the comments highlight the emcee’s sharp critiques of social hypocrisy and masculinity, as though eliciting confirmation from the audience to assume their role of identifying the performance as a form of resistance. Taylor (2003) calls these discursive layers (that are overwritten by new waves of users) as the repertoire—acts of embodied knowledge that last through and in repeated behavior, and, in this case, mediated through digital participation. The combination of performance analysis and digital ethnography in this study uncovers the culture of resistance embedded in FlipTop rap battles. Bodily tactics that include fierce stances, shifting proximities, and rapid verbal delivery all constitute performances of defiance. Although drawn from the origins of global hip-hop traditions, these are grounded in local histories and stories of the streets and protest. Additionally, the life of these videos in the digital world produces a second layer of resistance, where the discursive participation of the viewers converts the videos into living documents of social critique. Said videos are also continually recontextualized through the annotation of audiences, and its circulation as dictated by algorithm. Through this combined methodological approach, the rap battles emerge not only as entertainment but as performances of dissent. They are lodged in embodied confrontations and the digital infrastructures that preserve and amplify their afterlives.

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While FlipTop battles are structured around ritualized insult, it would be erroneous and a naivete to assume that all forms of verbal aggression operate as political resistance. The conventions of battle rap do privilege humiliation and wit, (while often reproducing competitive masculinity) and do not necessarily challenge power. However, bits of political defiance emerge when insults exceed personal attack and highlight broader social conditions, for instance when they talk of economic insecurity, moral deceit, or hegemonic masculinity. Thereby, the emcee’s rhetoric shifts from antagonism to critique. This allows the battle to function as a performative commentary on lived social realities rather than a mere contest of verbal prowess. Case Studies In the Philippine context, rap has served as an expression for articulating social critique, class struggles, and everyday experiences of precarity. Lumabao (2018) traces how histories of migration, vernacular creativity and spoken creativity inspire Filipino rap and construct counternarratives against cultural marginalization. Mundala (2023) argues that the contemporary Filipino hip-hop communities not only uses rap to express creativity, but also to negotiate their identities. Economic displacement, for instance, is one key theme in performances that foreground stories of survival, masculinity, and social injustice. Tadiar (2004) sheds light on how Filipino expressive cultures, including rap, can mobilize a “fantasyproduction” to convert everyday hardships into creative acts of critique and possibilities. These frameworks suggest that FlipTop battles are not solely created for competitions, but also act as political performances. The emcees’ aggressive exchanges, puns, and linguistic nittygritty reflect what Rose (1994) identifies as “rituals of confrontation.” Their community’s articulation of their frustrations against positions of power echoes the Philippine tradition of protest poetics found in balagtasan or dugtungan - a Filipino poetic exchange that is improvisational in nature, where performers extend each other’s lines in rhythmic—and contemporary spoken word—a form of live poetry performance that blends personal narrative and political commentary. Using Lumabao (2019) and Mundala’s (2023) premise, Pinoy hiphop’s expressions of resistance shoots up on the algorithmic public sphere, where the annotations and commentaries frame dissent as something recognized, celebrated, and archived. Grounding FlipTop in both global and Philippine hip-hop scholarship situates the rap battle not only as a piece of entertainment, but more as a dense cultural text. It is a text where performance, politics and digital archiving converge to create long, enduring acts of resistance. An Account of Sinio vs. Shernan (2024): Performing Presence, Performing Platform Bwelta Balentong, one of the long-standing events of FlipTop, featured emcees Sinio and Shernan on its 11th installment, as opponents for the main event. It was held on a Saturday, September 21, 2024, at the Metrotent Convention Center in Pasig City. The video wasn’t uploaded onto YouTube only about one month later, on October 30, 2024, and has 7.6 million

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views as of the writing of this text (FlipTop Kru Corp., n.d.). The video starts with the emcees responding to what seemed like a pre-match interview, where they are basically given a chance to wish each other luck or exchange trash talk. And then comes a transition video featuring the event sponsors, a prompt asking everyone to stop “pirating” FlipTop videos, posters of their upcoming events and finally, a single-elimination tournament update for Dos Por Dos, a yearlong tag-team freestyle rap battle. The video then cuts to Anygma introducing the emcees and the battle begins. Determined by a coin toss, Sinio starts the battle strongly on the first round and made hits on Shernan’s claim on being the second most viewed emcee. And as expected many other insults came in, including a line that pertains to Shernan’s cameo in TV show Batang Quiapo. He ends with a line suggesting he is the “mastermind of the round.” Shernan follows with a rebuttal on the Batang Quiapo reference and begins his bars—a FlipTop jargon referring to the lines or verses that rappers use to outwit each other in the battle (FlipTop Kru Corp., 2024). This exchange goes on for another 30 minutes or so, with both emcees delivering their prepared bars and inserting freestyle rebuttals all while theatrically placing emphasis on what seemed like their “best” lines— the ones they seemed to look forward to screaming flawlessly. Sinio wittingly makes use of rhyme schemes to throw insults on Shernan’s physical features, and Shernan directly attacking Sinio’s marriage and fatherhood with his unrhymed narration. This back and forth of insults, made stronger by verses on how successful they have become as online sensations, concludes with an obvious winner and a brotherly hug between the two. Sinio wins by unanimous decision, a 5-0 score. After the announcement, each of the judges explained to the camera why they voted for Sinio and made comments on both emcees’ angles, antics and the completeness of the performance. Then the video cuts to Shernan and Sinio’s comments on their battle and some messages to their supporters. The recording of this live rap battle immortalizes what took place in that main event on that specific day and location. Post-performance, the published video presents a proof of how the emcees did, what they said and how they said it, and becomes the center of scrutiny not of those who paid to experience it physically, but of the whole Internet. It either poses new rap battle standards or reinforces existing ones for those already in the league and those who hope to be in it (Mundala, 2023). Although the performances are judged based on a set of criteria—word usage, audience impact, delivery, and rapping style—everyone on the scene knows it is a matter of personal preference. And even when fans argue in the comment section, no one seems to question the judges’ votes and justification, at least not to a point where decisions had to be turned around. This case highlights how FlipTop battles co-constitute live performance and the digital “afterlife.” That this video earned 7.6 million views is in itself a demonstration of how authenticity of body language, algorithmic circulation, and visibility through virality converge to extend the performance’s cultural impact (Burgess & Green, 2018). Both the emcees used deeply personal materials that authenticate the rappers’ humanness as individuals who have real stakes in the battle. They blur performance and biography to use these materials, not to

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mention the theatrics that adds up to the sense of realness. The emphatic rhyme schemes and exaggerated gestures embody their own narratives while maintaining spontaneity and rawness. The judges’ unanimous decision for Sinio here shows that authenticity is measured not just in lyrics but in completing a performance. These materials and theatrics translate effortlessly into digital virality. The fainting stint, in particular, has become a meme-like moment, and has been replayed and quoted in the video’s comment section. The battle’s 30-minute runtime is bedazzled by these moments of spectacle just like many others. The punchlines that stimulate the crowd reactions, for instance, can make the video easily shareable and, down the line, viral. Virality here does not only tap on the artistic quality but also reflects how well a performance subjects itself to fragmentation (splicing) and circulation across digital platforms. And then there is YouTube’s recommendation systems—the algorithmic play that plays a decisive role in sustaining a content’s cultural life. The higher the engagement, the better. This is strictly measured in numbers. Where comments, likes, and replayed timestamps show how much recommendation took place and how this places Sinio vs. Shernan in recommendations for new viewers (van Dijck, 2013). This “cements” the place of the video in the “canon” of FlipTop performances. What we see is that a loop of feedback emerges. The battle’s embodied theatrics gain traction and generates virality, this then triggers am amplified algorithmic push for its longevity in the digital archive. In this sense, authenticity can be and is recalibrated. It is measured not just by community standards but also by YouTube logic that favors the spectacular, viral and the controversial. This particular case demonstrates how FlipTop authenticity is no longer limited to the notions of immediacy and liveness on stage. It suggests that authenticity is performed, archived, and reconstituted through digitization. Virality and algorithmic functions become the “arbiters” of what is visible and accessible on the cloud—what must be seen, laughed at or inspired by. The Sinio vs. Shernan battle illuminates on the evolving ecology of performance, where what begins as a localized act of spoken word combat becomes a timeless cultural artifact shaped by audience reception and mediation structures. An Account of Crazy Mix and Bassilyo versus Abra and Loonie Next, I examine a much older video of by now distinguished legends of FlipTop. It was for a Filipino Conference Battle called Dos Por Dos, held in 2012. Unlike the first video, this notably had no other segments and cut straight to the tournament after a quick flash of the tournament bracketing update. It aroused my interest because its mechanics were different. The battle format was written, and was evidently pre-prepared all throughout, which only made sense given that this was a two-on-two match. The intensity of each round comes from the ability of each pair to be in sync, taking turns speaking but catching each other’s phrases and lines to maintain momentum. Even as an audience member who doesn’t appreciate poetry, anyone would understand that working in a tandem means working harder. They have to listen to each other well and keep their focus, because one small mistake could lead to another and kill the

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whole performance. Crazy Mix and Bassilyo has set the bar high with an enthusiastic start and a seamless routine, almost like a stand-up comedy dual act. The rhyme scheme was evident and there were various pop culture references that got the audience hooked. Bassilyo made hits on the opponents’ sexuality and ended with a verse in queer lingo. Loonie caught up on his and Abra’s turn with a dramatic conceding act that he quickly retracted as he proceeded with his “personals,” a FlipTop jargon for personal attacks. Abra then showcases his double-time skills. The tandem ended with a syllabic repetition in unison. The rounds went on with Loonie and Abra evidently focusing on bullying and throwing insults, specifically on the opponents’ weight, age and other physical features. Likewise, Crazy Mox and Bassilyo clap back by insulting the other tandem’s sexuality and suggesting their drug use. After three rounds, the judges voted in favor of Loonie and Abra with a score of 4-3. And unlike the more recent video, the judges’ comments on this battle ran longer as they were very particular about each round. One of them made a sly remark against audience members who accuse them of having biases. Each of them made comments about the emcees’ bars, the rhyme scheme, the variety of angles and the overall delivery. Towards the end, Anygma made a statement explaining how judging is undertaken across all events—that comments are asked of each judge right after the battle and no discussions occur among them to avoid influencing each other’s votes. The video ends abruptly—no promotional materials, no end credits, no final messages from the emcees. As the emcees continued to hone their craft, the company took on more responsibilities in producing shows that are noteworthy and always next level (Tan, n.d.). FlipTop eventually had to add value to both the contenders and the audiences, because after all, they are after empowering a community of artists. Over the course of twelve years, FlipTop has opened a lot of spaces for discourse not only on the social stigma and misconceptions lobbed against rap culture, but also on the cultural turn that our local hip-hop artists have taken. These emcees’ names rapidly blew up from zero to a hundred and they started being regarded as artists in their own right, not anymore pariahs, drug addicts, uneducated and uncultured individuals. Props to the “viral video phenomenon,” people began looking them up before looking down on them. This battle has long been regarded by fans as one of the “classics” of FlipTop. This video’s capacity to endure is foremost located not in the spectacle and virality, but in its archival function. It has preserved a special moment in the FlipTop’s history and has marked permanence as it continually re-circulates as a “gem” in the community (Mundala, 2023). Viewers, especially FlipTop fans, often view this video with a sense of nostalgia, i.e. that it somehow represents a showcase of the “OG” emcees whose skill and chemistry at the infancy of the League helped define its early identity. The tandem format, the carefully curated rhyme schemes, and comedic timing embody what many fans deem as a pure, uncommercialized battle. This shows a different form of authenticity as compared to the newer battles. This authenticity is constructed not only in the moment but in collective community memory. The significance of these performances extends beyond the original staging as they become embedded in digital participation. Communicative capitalism helps explain this and how archived performances continue to gain attention, interaction, and cultural value even long after the live event has finished (Dean, 2010).

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What earns the video its “classic” label is the community-driven and platform-enabled archival practice. The fans’ role has been to repeatedly invoke this battle as a benchmark for the newer emcees and audiences. It has been recommended to be the measure of many, if not all, subsequent battle performances. The judges’ more detailed commentary also further reinforces the battle’s status quo as it has embedded a critical, important treatment into the archive itself. And so the value of the video is not only in its liveness in the in-person event, but in how it can continue to shape expectations across generations of emcees and audiences. Compared to the algorithmically boosted virality of the Sinio vs. Shernan video, the circulation of this particular case video shows a slower, cumulative form of visibility and identity creation. The video lacks promotional segments, end credits, or algorithmically optimized packaging at this stage, but longevity was enabled by fan practices, thanks to their sharing, invoking of videos in online debates, and replaying and even recreating iconic verses and lines (van Dijck, 2013). As the years passed, YouTube’s algorithm adapts to this particular activity, ensuring that YouTube continues to recommend it alongside newer video uploads (Burgess & Green, 2018). It is then noted that visibility can look less in the midst of viral spectacles, but can definitely be seen in sustained community engagement. The Abra and Loonie vs. Crazy Mix and Bassilyo battle demonstrates how FlipTop’s digital archive preserves and actively constructs and reconstructs (through new audience engagements) historical memory. Although Sinio vs. Shernan thrives on theatrical spectacles of big movements and words and amplified by algorithms, this particular battle remains toptier as it is powered by nostalgia, fan discourse, and a public labelling of “classic.” Together, these two case studies reveal FlipTop performances inhabiting different temporalities in the archive: the immediacy and virality of the present, and the slow “canonization” of the past. Both dynamics reiterate how YouTube functions as both a platform for circulation, and as a cultural repository where performance, memory, and technology coconstruct long life and permanence. Performing the Archive: YouTube as Co-Performer Archives have always been understood in light of historical pieces and artifacts. “Historicity” denotes old, vintage and fragile data as it provides important information about an important event that took place in the past. YouTube videos as modern-day archival pieces and YouTube channels as the archive itself present an opportunity for todays’ researchers to gain access to performances we do not have enough affordances to physically participate in. The history and evolution of FlipTop as an art form and a cultural phenomenon are clearly seen in the digital archives. The way rap battles were fought more than a decade ago, when Anygma and his cohorts were on the verge of popularity, has set a standard so solid and successful that the hip-hop culture in the Philippines was taken to a whole other level and has never the same since. Fourteen years later, FlipTop has become a significant cultural institution. As Angan (2024) notes, it has developed into one of the most recognizable hip-hop platforms. It has

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shaped public understanding of rap, lyricism and performance and has sustained a devoted audience in both live and digital spaces. Now, it continues to be the world’s most viewed rap battle league, and none has beaten this record, despite criticisms of it imitating African American battle rap traditions (Forman & Neal, 2012; Rose, 1994). Today, old and new fans continue to attend the different league events in person or watch the battles online, extending their support to the newer breed of artists, all in unity so that Pinoy rap doesn’t die. The political potential of FlipTop’s archive does not reside in the recorded performances alone but also in the sustained participatory practices that surround the performances. There are counter-archives in the YouTube comment sections, particularly the anonymous engagements. This is where viewers annotate performances through timestamps, commentaries and retrospective framing. As observed, these mediations are frequently about contesting institutional authority. They question the judges’ decisions, critique the substance of the banter, or nostalgically position previous battles as more “raw” and socially grounded. The resistance is found not only in the emcee’s piece, but in the audience practice as well. In doing so, the audiences extend dissent beyond the live event and transform archived videos into evolving sites of negotiation, critique, and cultural memory. Although the culture remains untouched regardless of the controversies that revolve around it, the changes in rap battle dynamics cannot be discounted. The first of these changes is the behavior and response of the audience. It has probably heard it all—different types and forms of personal attacks and insults, written and freestyle rhymes that color their delivery, punchlines and jokes that fit their narratives, gestures and other nonverbal cues that allow for a more impactful performance. The challenge now lies on keeping up with their meticulous fans, making sure their lyrics are top tier. Today, making it not only funny and personal but also socially relevant creates more impact. Because there always exist ideas and witty references in the middle of all these crazy squabbles in the political, economic, and entertainment spheres. Second, there has been change in the way the FlipTop events are organized, housed, produced, and promoted, for an obvious reason of course. Their productions are now massive in scale and require better logistics and sponsorship deals. The FlipTop brand, now officially an artist management company, has also expanded to creating its own product lines such as clothing merchandise and its own beer brand. On the official website, patrons can also show their support by “partnering” with the company in a membership system. This website in itself is a manifestation of FlipTop’s growth and expansion. Websites are not big in the Philippines where social media marketing is more widely used. But because FlipTop is now known worldwide, it is only fitting that they operate within a wider reach. Although it has a claim to fame and has maintained its stature as the “OG” league, it seems the brand dove deeper into promotional schemes and made big marketing decisions in a market where piracy and mimicry continue to proliferate. The company maintains its strict ownership of the videos they publish. On the website, there’s a rich set of resources containing press releases and blog articles that talk about the battles. There is also a fan section called “From a Fan’s Perspective” that is open to anonymous fan-written articles. This is where commentaries and predictions on the most awaited battles, especially the two-on-two match-ups are

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published. Interestingly, rich discussions on these predictions also spread across different online fora including Quora and Reddit and these digital conversations draw more attention to FlipTop and create an organic following. Taken together, these case studies show that FlipTop performances endure not simply as memories of live-streamed events but as dynamic gems whose identity and meaning are reshaped by YouTube’s archival and algorithmic systems. YouTube does not function as a neutral host but more as a performing apparatus, a performative tool, equipped with its algorithms, recommendation systems, and monetization processes in place. This actively shapes what counts as visible, authentic, and valuable in the cultural archive. The algorithmic practices in themselves become a form of historiography, particularly when it privileges specific battles as “canons” or “classics” while leaving newer battles on the benches. Memory, in this case, is mediated by its recommendation schemes. As van Dijck (2013) argues, digital platforms cultivate “connective memory,” and users do not just consume but actively co-create cultural texts. In the League’s case, the commenting feature is what extends the performances as enduring content. They transform the audiences into active participants whose reactions, timestamps, and debates become part of the archival record. Ultimately, the YouTube archive itself becomes performative in this case as in many others. Through sustaining acts of lyrical dissent that is performed beyond in-person staging, the platform refuses disappearances and instead embeds them in all our cultural memory. This way, the archive does not simply preserve content, but continues to perform it. Complicating Resistance: Gender, Power, and the Limits of FlipTop Gender politics complicate a straightforward reading of FlipTop’s brand of resistance. The battles clearly become sites for articulating frustrations on economic class and regional representation, but it is in these sites that heteronormative hierarchies also surface. Sexuality and bodily references are used as weapons via misogynist humor, homophobic insinuations and positioning women as collateral within the rivalry of men. In the 2012 Dos Por Dos battle, for instance, insults that targeted queerness, physical appearance, and womanhood functioned as mechanisms of regulating masculinity. The occasional use of queer-coded language and playful references to sexuality complicate the politics of exchange. On the one hand, these lines demonstrate a mix of linguistic styles. They reflect the Philippines’ long-established amalgamation with camp, parody, and performative gender play in popular culture. But on the other hand, these same references frequently do not affirm, but operate as a spectacle intended to embarrass the opponent. So instead of impairing heteronormativity, these linguistic codes reveal the unevenness of resistance, where queerness may be cited, but not centered, as subjectivity. Meanwhile, women in FlipTop battles appear as extensions of the male rivalry, as they are positioned as wives and sexual partners only. When an opponent attacks the other’s marriage

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and fatherhood, for instance, the women’s bodies and reputations as collateral are mobilized within the masculine competition. Female emcees are also still underrepresented in the battle league’s most viewed archive. Framing these gendered banters as ridicule and degradation rather than weapons for disrupting hegemony does not justify its abiding to global battle rap traditions. If anything, these only prove the dominance of competitive masculinity and expectations on the feminine and the queer to symbolically submit to it. The archive then preserves these artistic performances not just as entertainment pieces, but as records of how gendered power circulates within Filipino hip-hop spaces. FlipTop Performances Down the Line Originally, the foundation of my inquiry in this paper was the performative features of the Acappella rap battle. I had only been interested in finding out how rap artists develop their craft and curate their delivery to “put on a good show”. As I went along and immersed myself in more than ten of FlipTop’s most viewed videos, I did not only find patterns in literature making and spoken word delivery, I also found performativity in the use of digital archiving and what it had afforded the by now company several years after its inception. The embodied practices were not only manifested in how the emcees utilized their bodies in their acts, but also in the entire production—live and online— and the audience’s interaction with and response to the production. More than the emcees’ performance of narratives and taking on of role as both the playwright and the actor, this paper eventually sought the different ways this cultural phenomenon negotiated its identity in the society by establishing an online presence. More than a decade ago, they have already realized the full potential of YouTube content creation and banked on it. Anygma and his cohorts took a chance at creating that representation they so eagerly believed Pinoy rap artists deserve. This tradition of carrying on a community and way of life have branched out and reached more local talents and helped them believe there is a bright future for the rap scene in the country. This paper then supports local artistry by understanding acts like these using a performance research method and lens. To further these kinds of study, I recommend that performance ethnography be utilized to better understand the community and arrive at more conclusive findings. This is not to discount digital performances as less conclusive, but this is to say that a different angle can be explored when immersion is performed in person. As these MCs battle and brand themselves as champions or established artists of the field, performance research can help bridge the gap between their community and the common people who might just be open to making sense of their work; of those who are open to not framing it as “understanding the profane, the violent and the obscene,” but understanding an emergent art form. In this brief exploration, I argue for a duality of FlipTop as both a cultural artifact and a dynamic platform. It has successfully preserved the essence of Pinoy hip-hop, and at the same time pinned a documentation of evolutionary narratives. Moreover, it has become a symbol for

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art development as it has been on the receiving end of technological advancement, audience demands, and changing cultural consumption. This rap battle stage has become a battleground where personal narratives and regional representation collide. This interplay essentially crafted a performative contract where an understanding of the value of FlipTop is understood, and its ability to entertain, provoke thought, and push boundaries are given credit. Filipino viewership has been democratized thanks to the accessibility of these archived live performances. We now allow anyone to co-perform by engaging with and critiquing rap battle as an art form. Moreover, because these videos are made available in perpetuity, local emcees continue to be relevant. This timeless presence goes beyond the traditions of live performances—as Auslander puts it, a reimagined liveness. The online audience is now given power to practice critical inquiry as they can always hit pause, play and repeat. In this we initiate another discourse where we further investigate the nature of performance itself. I now argue, for instance, that recorded live performances are performances in their own right. Although they do not impose the same experience as that of a physical experience, they count as a different kind of sensorial experience despite, or because of them having become timeless artifacts. Recordings do not necessarily devalue artistry, but provide a reasonable alternative and, more importantly, a perpetual archival base for localized art pieces. Emerging performing arts forms like FlipTop battles do not only provide entertainment, but can be utilized as a pedagogical tool to teach literature and poetry, performance and even performance research. We then extend the contribution of performance methods and perspectives in performance studies to the next generation of scholars, so that they have additional tools available to explore the interdisciplinary nature of this discipline. Social media plays a crucial role in all of this too. Everything shared online gets shared on Facebook, Instagram and X by extension, and it seems this trend will continue. We negotiate our identities through our shared posts as we want others to see what we are up to and take interest in it. If I share FlipTop videos on my feed my social community will come to realize that I am a fan of hip-hop culture. Again, this is a manifestation and function of performing technology. I see FlipTop further evolving and, moving forward, taking more cultural turns. Naturally, this will also depend on how fast and vast technology will develop, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence. These technological advancements may not necessarily threaten the performing arts as we know it, as we have seen when the world adapted to the global COVID pandemic. But we know this development will dictate transformation and will require flexibility. The recurring question still stands, “What will happen to the field of humanities and arts next?” If we aim to revolutionize performance and performance studies, the convergence of digital media, culture, performing arts and research must come into play. We find that common ground where we agree or grapple with each other through intellectual and performative discourses because we want our artistic traditions and practices to live on. Ultimately, the FlipTop Battle League phenomenon provides example of a performance that transcends its intended purpose. What Anygma started fourteen years ago as a venue for showcasing lyrical ingenuity is now an agency that contends with notions of traditions and

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development, old and new, local and global, live and digital, underground and mainstream. In its ability to redefine performance and push boundaries, FlipTop is here to stay. The contemporary operations of FlipTop complicate its premise that it is still legitimately underground. Now that it has become a branded cultural institution with sponsorships, merchandising, monetized content, and strict copyright enforcement, FlipTop is no longer occupying a marginal space that is distinct from dominant economies of performance practices. However, what still connects it to the underground is its gatekeeper function, displaying what underground hip-hop looks/ed like in a Philippine context. The archive performs as a custodian and placeholder for its historical role that thereby amplifies marginalized voices. The growth of the brand does not erase this, as it continues to reframe resistance against something managed, curated, and commodified. Conclusion What began as an analysis of FlipTop’s embodied art practices concerned with gestures, body language, and lyrical dexterity has sparked an inquiry into the dynamics and politics of documentation, particularly the digital kind. In the above, I attempted to trace how these rap battles move from stage to stream, arguing that the act of archiving is in itself a performance. Through each upload, each replay, and each algorithmic recommendation, these recorded rhyme schemes on cultural resistance work together in the “re-staging” of dissent. They participate in the transformation of ephemeral spoken word sparring into an enduring cultural artifact. FlipTop’s video archive then performs two functions: it preserves a live event via recording and uploading in a digital repository, and it produces contemporary forms of meaning making, audience participation, and online visibility. Diana Taylor (2003) contended us that the archive and the repertoire have long been seen as opposites, in this case, the archive as fixed record, and the repertoire as embodied practice. However, FlipTop’s YouTube presence challenges, agitates even, this binary. On this platform, the repertoire becomes the archive. The embodiment, vocal intonation, and audience reactions are not simply recorded but reanimated and restaged in algorithmically. In this sense, YouTube is no longer just a passive repository but an active space that becomes an intersection of memory and performance. It is where the documentation of dissent becomes an act of cultural reproduction. Additionally, the digital archive is not at all neutral. YouTube, just like other online entertainment platforms, operate within economies of attention and algorithm-based visibility and engagement (Gillespie, 2018; van Dijck, 2013). This concerns which voices are amplified and which ones are silenced; which ones stay and which ones go. The circulation of FlipTop rap battles thus reveals a tension, a productive one at that, between empowerment and commodification. It entangles itself between giving voice to Filipino/a narratives and folding into the system of digital capitalism in place already. This tension and duality complicate our understanding of “archival permanence.” It suggests that to continue living on as important data in the cloud, content needs to enter new mechanisms of power, interpretation, and control.

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Still, the 15-year and counting endurance of FlipTop in digital spaces demonstrate how performative traditions of Filipino rap artists adapt, survive, and resist within mediated environments. The League’s digital archive does not only preserve historical data of contemporary Pinoy hip-hop, but continually invites new audiences into the co-performative act of viewing, commenting, sharing and extending the repertoire of meaning. This then is an evolving ecology, one where subversion does not disappear, but instead is reiterated, remixed, and re-embodied through technological mediation. With the framing of FlipTop as a cultural phenomenon and a performative archive, this study reimagines and rewrites how we not down performance histories in the digital age. I suggest that digital archiving is not merely analytical. If anything, it is a creative and political act that is able to redefine the boundaries of traditional performances. For scholars, particularly those in performance studies, this serves as an invitation to rethink the ways we can engage with digitally mediated acts of resistance, particularly those emerging from nations whose economic development is slow (if not stunted). It invites us to see digital archives serving not just as repositories but as platforms of visibility, authorship, and endurance. Meanwhile, gender politics within FlipTop performances reveal the uneven nature of cultural resistance. Moments of occasional queer wordplay and references frequently function as rhetorical weapons rather than affirmations. This then reinforces misogyny, homophobia, and heteronormative masculinity, which are all common in global battle rap traditions. We hear insults that target sexuality, physical appearance, and identify women as collateral objects. These only reproduce patriarchal hierarchies even when the performers claim they are authentically subversive. It is in these contradictions that we expose the limits of resistance. I do not negate FlipTop’s political significance, but rather, I underscore how defiance remains gendered, selective, and contested within its archive. To be more critical about the digital archive then means checking what is amplified by YouTube’s recommendation systems as it risks putting in stone these gendered dynamics as definitive manifestations of Filipino hip-hop. Therefore, resistance in FlipTop must be understood as partial and capable of challenging certain forms of power while leaving others as is. FlipTop does more than preserve a scene for audiences to get back to when they feel like watching a rap battle. It documents dissent and it performs and reperforms in multiplicity a history—so much like an echoing message. Every battle that is recorded and replayed represents an affirmation that any performance, whether live or streamed, is an important site for identity negotiation, community engagement, and power dynamics in an increasingly mediated world. While this study has framed FlipTop as both live performance and digital archive, the possibilities for further research are vast. The arguments presented in the aforesaid can be deepened further by developing insights into performance ethnography, to enrich the accounts of emcees and fans alike as inhabitants of the YouTube space. Discussions would be broadened further if they were able to capture additional concrete examples of presence and absence that digital archives may not be able to fully convey. At the same time, more substantial studies on

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algorithmic viewership on digital platforms would allow for the examining of the recommendation systems that shape cultural memory and actively discipline the audience. Finally, with the growing role of artificial intelligence in content creation and moderation, recommendation and generative remixing can be explored further. AI-mediated platforms have redefined creativity and artistic practices and this could potentially impact what it means for dissent to be performed, archived, and circulated. These directions can definitely suggest an even more meaningful future for FlipTop as a live performance, archive, and cultural-resistant phenomenon as it continues to unfold at the intersections of embodiment, technology, and politics.

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References Angan, K. (2024, April 17). Of multis, flows, and personals: The legacy of FlipTop’s Anygma. Billboard Philippines. https://billboardphilippines.com/culture/of-multisflows-and-personals-the-legacy-of-fliptop-anygma-interview-hip-hop-2024/ Auslander, P. (2008). Liveness: Performance in a mediatized culture (2nd ed.). Routledge. Bay-Cheng, S., Kattenbelt, C., Lavender, A., & Nelson, R. (Eds.). (2010). Mapping intermediality in performance. Amsterdam University Press. Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2018). YouTube: Online video and participatory culture (2nd ed.). Polity. Couldry, N. (2012). Media, society, world: Social theory and digital media practice. Polity. Dean, J. (2010). Blog theory: Feedback and capture in the circuits of drive. Polity. FlipTop Kru Corp. (n.d.). From a fan’s perspective. FlipTop Official Website. https://www.fliptop.com.ph/articles/category/from-a-fan-s-perspective FlipTop Kru Corp. (n.d.). About FlipTop. https://www.fliptop.com.ph FlipTop Kru Corp. (2012). Loonie & Abra vs. Bassilyo & Crazy Mix [Video]. YouTube. FlipTop Kru Corp. (2020, August 2). Ano talaga ang FlipTop [Video]. YouTube. FlipTop Kru Corp. (2024, October 30). Sinio vs. Shernan [Video]. YouTube. Forman, M., & Neal, M. A. (Eds.). (2012). That’s the joint! The hip-hop studies reader (2nd ed.). Routledge. Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the internet: Platforms, content moderation, and the hidden decisions that shape social media. Yale University Press. Lumabao, B. B. (2018). The language of FlipTop among Filipino youth: A discourse analysis. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 23(1), 67 102. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-23011067102 Micu, C. S. (2021). Performing historiography: The role of archival research in performance studies. Philippine Humanities Review, 23(1), 45–62. Mundala, D. H. (2023). Mundala: FlipTop Rap Battle Revise. Reason, M., & Heddon, D. (2016). Research methods in theatre and performance. Edinburgh University Press. Rose, T. (1994). Black noise: Rap music and Black culture in contemporary America. Wesleyan University Press. Schneider, R. (2011). Performing remains: Art and war in times of theatrical reenactment. Routledge.

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Skwirblies, L. (2025). Archival research expanded: Bodily archives and embodied fabulation. In L. Groot Nibbelink & L. Karreman (Eds.), Performance research methods: Interdisciplinary methods for theatre, dance and performance studies (pp. 247–268). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0469.12 Soriano, A. J. T. F. (2025). Online activism in Pinoy battle rap: A qualitative analysis of FlipTop emcee verses. Philippine Social Science Journal, 8(3), 33–39. https://doi.org/10.52006/main.v8i3.1147 Tadiar, N. X. M. (2004). Fantasy-production: Sexual economies and other Philippine consequences for the new world order. Hong Kong University Press. Taylor, D. (2003). The archive and the repertoire: Performing cultural memory in the Americas. Duke University Press. Tan, K. (n.d.). Inside FlipTop: The legendary rap battle league from the Philippines. Vice. https://www.vice.com/en/article/inside-fliptop-the-legendary-rapbattle-league-from-the-philippines/ van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media. Oxford University Press. Corresponding author: Patricia Mariz V. Hilao Email: pvhilao@up.edu.ph

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Memory, Representation, and Adaptation in the Age of Climate Crisis: Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy Cristina Mirela Nicolaescu Yozgat-Bozok University, Türkiye

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Abstract Environmental harm is frequently time-stretched, invisibly distributed, and so culturally unseen until retold, as demonstrated by Rob Nixon's seminal idea of slow violence and Dipesh Chakrabarty’s view concerning the intersection of human history and planetary processes. In a similar vein, Ursula Heise has maintained that the concepts of extinction and biodiversity loss are culturally embedded narratives that shape how species and ecologies are remembered rather than being just scientific categories. This study examines the cultural aspects of nature crises, emphasizing how lived experiences of climate disruption are mediated by cultural frameworks. It focuses on how cultural narratives, practices, and traditions depict, recall, and respond to change. Through sustained close readings of Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy—Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam—this article examines the entanglements of memory, representation, and cultural adaptation under the conditions of the contemporary climate crisis. Atwood’s speculative fiction foregrounds storytelling as a critical site of environmental ethics, drawing on and contributing to debates in the humanities, memory studies, posthumanist theory, and cultural studies. Keywords: adaptation, Margaret Atwood, climate crisis, MaddAddam trilogy, memory studies, posthumanism

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The research focusses on the cultural dimensions of climate change along three interwoven axes: representation, memory, and adaptation in Margaret Atwood’s fiction. First, it considers how cultural forms represent ecological crises and their human and nonhuman consequences. Second, it investigates how communities remember ecological loss, from oral traditions that encode past disasters to collective acts of mourning that register present grief. Third, it examines how culture provides resources for adaptation, enabling communities to reconfigure traditions, sustain identities, and imagine alternative futures. Margaret Atwood is a highly influential Canadian author whose body of work spans novels, poetry, essays, and speculative fiction, often exploring themes of gender, power, environmental collapse, language, and authoritarianism. She is best known for her dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which imagines a theocratic regime that subjugates women and has become a central text in discussions of feminism and control, especially in relation to reproductive rights and state surveillance (Todd, 2016). Her broader fiction frequently blends realism with speculative or dystopian elements, as seen in the MaddAddam trilogy, beginning with Oryx and Crake, which examines genetic engineering, corporate power, and ecological disaster in a near-future world. Earlier works like Cat’s Eye focus more closely on memory, childhood trauma, and the shaping of female identity within social structures, while novels such as The Blind Assassin demonstrate her metafictional style and interest in layered narratives and storytelling itself. Across her career, Atwood’s writing consistently interrogates how societies construct norms and how individuals resist or internalize systems of control, often using irony, dark satire, and interwoven narrative forms. Her essays and critical writings further reinforce her role as a public intellectual, engaging with environmental issues, literary theory, and political critique, making her one of the most significant contemporary voices in both literary and cultural discourse. Across the trilogy, Atwood articulates both the affordances and the constraints of cultural adaptation in the Anthropocene by tracing a movement from fragmented, individualized memory toward ritualized forms of collective remembrance and, ultimately, toward emergent modes of interspecies narration (DeLoughrey, 2019; Mirzoeff, 2014; Teaiwa, 2015). While the novels expose narrative regimes of maladaptation that normalize slow violence and defer ethical accountability, they simultaneously register how linguistic erosion, embodied ritual, and the intergenerational transmission of stories operate as practices of ecological memory. By integrating close textual analysis with theoretical frameworks addressing slow violence, communicative memory, precarity, and multispecies ethics, this article positions the MaddAddam trilogy as a sustained intervention in contemporary debates on climate representation, cultural resilience, and the ethics of survival (Johns-Putra, 2019; Kingsolver, 2012). There is an urgent need to reconsider how culture, environment, and history are related in light of the Anthropocene, the projected geological epoch in which human action has taken center stage in forming planetary systems. The cultural aspects of catastrophes are just now being thoroughly investigated, but the scientific aspects are well established. In addition to altering ecosystems, weather patterns, and landscapes, climate change also modifies the symbolic

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hierarchies that people use to create meaning. Environmental catastrophes are told through culture, memory and loss are addressed, and opportunities for resilience and adaptation are envisioned (Crate & Nuttall, 2016). The approach is unavoidably multidisciplinary, incorporating elements from memory studies, anthropology, literary analysis, cultural studies, and nature history. Its breadth is purposefully global, paying attention to marginalized and Indigenous views as well as Western discourses, which frequently offer alternate epistemologies of the relationship between humans and nature. The text aims to shed light on how societies cope with environmental upheaval and how memory itself becomes a site of adaptation by emphasizing ecocultural memory—the ways in which ecological experience is maintained, passed down, and recreated throughout generations (Demos, 2017; Farbotko & Lazrus, 2012; Rose, 2004). This endeavor owes a lot to cross-disciplinary discussions. Its framework has been influenced by the perspectives of literary scholars, anthropologists, and environmental historians; the stories of communities whose customs and identities are at risk in the age of climate upheaval have also been influential. One of the main goals of this research is to increase awareness that cultural memory, imagination, and representation are essential to our response to the climate issue and not only incidental. Given that culture is how we interpret the world, it is imperative that we pay attention to how it is changing in response to ecological pressures. New research has significantly advanced this developing field. According to Dipesh Chakrabarty, climate change challenges the fundamental tenets of historical comprehension by compelling us to consider both geological and human time scales (Chakrabarty, 2009, p. 220). Rob Nixon coined the term "slow violence" to describe the gradual, frequently imperceptible ways that environmental harm builds up over time and disproportionately impacts vulnerable groups (Nixon, 2011, p. 2). Ursula Heise illustrates how stories of biodiversity loss and extinction recast issues of duty, belonging, and planetary connectivity with her notion of ecocosmopolitanism (Heise, 2016, p. 61). The "imaginative failure" of contemporary writing is criticized by Amitav Ghosh, who contends that the novel's prevailing forms have not been prepared to handle the scope and unpredictability of the climatic crisis (Ghosh, 2016, p. 7). Ecological crisis is indeed reflected in many cultural expressions. Stories of disaster and resiliency have been presented in literature and cinema. We have faced the intertwining of human and animal entities with the aid of philosophy (Sinha, 2007). Scales of time and space that were previously invisible to the human eye are now visible thanks to art. These cultural reactions reframe the situation, making it more palatable and imaginable, but they do not resolve it. They serve as a reminder that living in an ecological environment involves more than just monitoring carbon emissions and warming temperatures; it also entails feeling, imagining, and narrating our position within planetary systems. In addition to new energy systems, the climate catastrophe necessitates new narratives of belonging, new policies, and new conceptions of justice. New technologies and ethics are required.

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There is no denying the severity of the climate catastrophe. However, urgency need not degenerate into hopelessness. Culture gives us the ability to lament losses, criticize harmful structures, and envision different options. It serves as a reminder that change is both required and achievable. The realization that ecological fragility characterizes our time has changed our understanding of not just politics and science but also the fundamentals of culture. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil we cultivate, and the weather patterns that disturb the seasons of our life are all examples of what was once thought of as “the environment”—an external backdrop to human action—but now they press upon us with the immediacy of an intimate situation. Ecology is now the horizon against which all political decisions, artistic expressions, and cultural practices must be evaluated: “Atwood’s work has been consistently seen as referring to the world around her, whether that world is specifically associated with Canada or […] it is more concerned with contemporary gender relations or with other political positions” (Nicolaescu, 2012, p. 126). Situating Atwood’s trilogy within interdisciplinary debates in the climate humanities, cultural studies, and memory studies, this article demonstrates how she mobilizes speculative fiction to interrogate the limits of anthropocentric and progress-oriented models of adaptation. Drawing on theories of cultural and communicative memory (Assmann, 2011), precarity and embodied vulnerability (Butler, 2004; Habila, 2010), posthuman and multispecies ethics (Haraway, 2016), and narrative maladaptation (Heise, 2016), the analysis traces a progressive reconfiguration of memory across the trilogy—from fragmented individual recollection to ritualized forms of communal remembrance and, ultimately, to emergent modes of interspecies storytelling. This expansion of mnemonic scale and address gestures toward an enlarged ethical horizon, even as it exposes the persistent structural constraints that delimit ecological responsibility in the Anthropocene. Methodologically, the article proceeds in five stages: the establishment of a theoretical framework, an account of analytical method, close readings of each novel in the trilogy, a comparative synthesis supported by analytical tables, and a concluding discussion. It argues that the MaddAddam trilogy does not merely represent ecological catastrophe but critically interrogates the narrative, mnemonic, and ethical conditions that render such catastrophe thinkable, memorable, and actionable. By integrating close textual analysis with contemporary theoretical debates, this study positions Atwood’s trilogy as a significant intervention in ongoing discussions of climate representation, cultural resilience, and the narrative mediation of environmental crisis. Theoretical Framework: Climate Crisis, Memory, and Cultural Representation To apprehend the conceptual and formal complexity of the MaddAddam trilogy, it is necessary to situate it within a constellation of intersecting theoretical frameworks drawn from the climate humanities, memory studies, and posthumanist thought. These frameworks provide the analytical vocabulary through which Atwood’s speculative narratives can be read as sustained

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meditations on environmental crisis, cultural memory, and ethical adaptation under Anthropocene conditions. First, Atwood’s speculative futures are productively illuminated by Rob Nixon’s concept of “slow violence,” which foregrounds forms of environmental devastation that are incremental, cumulative, and often imperceptible within dominant temporal, perceptual, and representational regimes (Nixon, 2011, p. 2). His paradigm enables an analysis of how literary form grapples with ecological processes that unfold across extended durations and dispersed geographies, attending to the temporal delays, spatial displacements, and mnemonic selectivities that shape cultural responses to nature harm. In the MaddAddam trilogy, slow violence operates not merely as a thematic concern but as a structuring logic that informs narrative pacing, focalization, and the normalization of catastrophe. Second, theories of cultural memory illuminate the social organization and transmission of knowledge across time, particularly under conditions of rupture and crisis. Aleida Assmann’s distinction between communicative memory—embedded in everyday interaction, ritual, and oral exchange—and cultural memory—stabilized through symbolic forms, institutions, and durable media—offers a productive framework for tracing the trilogy’s evolving mnemonic economies (Assmann, 2011, pp. 23–45). The fragility of mnemonic continuity in Oryx and Crake, exemplified by Jimmy’s fragmented and affectively saturated recollections, registers the vulnerability of memory in the aftermath of ecological and social collapse. By contrast, the ritualized practices of the God’s Gardeners in The Year of the Flood exemplify communicative memory as a survival strategy grounded in repetition, embodiment, and collective narration. Atwood thus figures memory not as a static archive but as a precarious, socially mediated process—susceptible to erosion yet capable of ethical reorientation and adaptive reconfiguration (Cruikshank, 2005). Third, the trilogy engages posthumanist and multispecies ethical frameworks that challenge anthropocentric models of agency, responsibility, and adaptation. Donna Haraway’s call to “stay with the trouble” emphasizes situated, relational forms of ethical engagement that foreground interspecies entanglement, cohabitation, and the moral obligations embedded in practices of storytelling in the Anthropocene (Haraway, 2016, p. 1). This ethical orientation is enacted in the trilogy through the Crakers’ insistence on stories and the surviving humans’ responsibility to narrate carefully and accountably, revealing memory and adaptation as cooperative, morally charged processes that exceed human exceptionalism. Storytelling here emerges not merely as representational labor but as an ethical practice integral to multispecies survival. Complementing this posthumanist perspective, Judith Butler’s theory of precarity underscores the differential and uneven distribution of vulnerability across social, ecological, and corporeal domains (Butler, 2004, pp. 25–40). The survival strategies and ethical frameworks developed by the God’s Gardeners exemplify how adaptive capacities are socially conditioned rather than universally available, shaped by asymmetrical exposures to risk, care, and environmental harm. Finally, Ursula Heise’s concept of narrative maladaptation situates literature as a critical site

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where cultural responses to environmental crisis may either reproduce, normalize, or contest systemic forms of ecological harm (Heise, 2016, pp. 56–78). Atwood’s formal experimentation—through satire, polyphonic narration, and mythic retelling—renders visible both the narrative habits that sustain ecological denial and those that enable ethical recalibration and cultural transformation. Synthesizing these approaches, this study reads the MaddAddam trilogy as a critical cultural archive in which slow violence, mnemonic labor, posthuman ethics, and narrative responsibility converge. The close readings that follow are guided by these frameworks, tracing how Atwood’s novels articulate the entanglement of environmental and cultural crises while conceptualizing adaptation not as a purely technical solution but as an ongoing narrative practice and ethical imperative. Methodology This study adopts a qualitative, multidisciplinary methodology that integrates approaches from the environmental humanities, cultural studies, and literary analysis. Centering on Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy—Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam— the analysis situates sustained close readings within theoretical frameworks drawn from posthumanist theory, memory studies, the climate humanities, and narrative ethics. Close reading constitutes the primary analytical method, with focused attention to linguistic texture, narrative voice, formal structure, and recurring thematic configurations. The analysis examines how Atwood mobilizes character focalization, plot organization, and formal experimentation to render environmental collapse, mnemonic erosion, and adaptive practices legible at multiple scales. In particular, shifts between human and posthuman perspectives, as well as oscillations between pre- and post-apocalyptic temporalities, are treated as deliberate formal strategies through which ecological instability and the fragility of memory are narratively registered. Interpretation proceeds through systematic analytical triangulation with key theoretical texts. Rob Nixon’s concept of slow violence (Nixon, 2011, p. 2), Aleida Assmann’s distinction between communicative and cultural memory (Assmann, 2011, pp. 23–45), Judith Butler’s theory of precarity (Butler, 2004, pp. 25–40), and Donna Haraway’s posthumanist ethics of relational responsibility (Haraway, 2016, p. 1) are placed in sustained dialogue with textual evidence. This triangulated approach ensures that readings of narrative form, mnemonic practice, and adaptive strategy remain anchored within interdisciplinary scholarly debates rather than isolated acts of decoding: “intuitive interpretation becomes reflexive through a mediation of possible explanations (Nicolaescu & Waniek, 2024, p. 211). Beyond individual textual analysis, the study employs comparative synthesis across the trilogy to identify recurrent patterns of narrative accountability, ethical orientation, and cultural adaptation. Particular emphasis is placed on the interplay among individual, collective, and interspecies forms of memory as they evolve across the novels. Analytical tables and schematic

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diagrams are used to visualize relationships among characters, mnemonic practices, and ethical frameworks, thereby clarifying the feedback loops linking narrative representation, cultural adaptation, and ecological responsibility. By combining close textual analysis with comparative and theoretical synthesis, this methodological approach foregrounds textual precision, conceptual integration, and interpretive rigor. It establishes a robust foundation for the subsequent chapters, enabling the study to trace how Atwood’s trilogy conceptualizes adaptation not merely as a technical response to environmental crisis but as a narrative practice and ethical orientation shaped by the conditions of the Anthropocene. Memory, Representation, and Adaptation The ecological has permeated every aspect of cultural life, influencing our stories, changing our aesthetics, upsetting our memories, and testing our moral convictions. The division between “nature” and “culture” is no longer valid. It would be an underestimation of the severity of the climate problem to address it only as an environmental or scientific issue. Images, tales, regulations, and rituals mediate every natural phenomenon, from burning forests to melting glaciers, which is concurrently cultural. On the other hand, every cultural activity, from political debate to creative creation, has an ecological impact through the materials it employs, the imaginations it maintains, or the futures it imagines. Speaking about climate change means facing a crisis of meaning, creativity, and shared identity rather than just bringing up environmental policy or scientific evidence. Whatever title we decide to use to describe this era, the Anthropocene signifies both a geological state and a cultural narrative in which humans must confront their interdependence with nonhuman entities and planetary systems. This connection is both reflected in and shaped by stories, artwork, rituals, technologies, and ideologies. Understanding how cultural forms represent ecological reality is our duty, as it may pave the path for more creative, responsible, and sustainable ways of living on Earth. Therefore, cultural practices themselves are indispensable to ecological awareness: “besides this, ecological awareness is a constant issue” and “Atwood also tries to show people that Canada has been suffering from the impact of the society in which modern technology has an important role” (Nicolaescu, 2015, p. 351). Existing discourses, such as climate adaption, sustainability, and environmentalism (which map the convergence of ecological and cultural thought), have been crucial in promoting policy and increasing public understanding. However, they frequently continue to be ingrained in anthropocentric logics that place a higher priority on human development, survival, and instrumental mastery of nature. This article contends that an ecologistic approach—a philosophical and cultural perspective that challenges the anthropocentric paradigms that have driven industrial modernity and the climate problem itself—is what is required, placing humankind as a single player in a larger web of interdependence. Edward Burtynsky documents large-scale industrial landscapes to show how human manufacturing processes reshape the

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natural environment, often producing visually striking but environmentally destructive terrains such as mines, factories, and waste sites (Burtynsky, 2003). Societies’ conceptions of time, nature, and human fate are heavily influenced by myths, narratives, and artistic forms. Second, what is also recognized is what Timothy Morton refers to as “the ecological thought”—the understanding that “everything is interconnected” in ways that transcend conventional boundaries of species, nation, or era—and moves the ethical focus challenges the economic and political systems that support ecological deterioration, especially extractive capitalism, and makes the case for substitute coexistence models based on sustainability, justice, and resilience by fusing ecological philosophy, political theory, and cultural analysis. Humans are not passive inhabitants of ecosystems; rather, we are the ones who describe, represent, and beautify them. Indigenous cosmologies, Romantic nature poetry, the biblical Eden myth, and modern climate fiction are all examples of cultural reactions to ecological reality. They show that our relationship with the planet is mediated by culture, which shapes our perceptions of and behaviors in the natural environment. In this way, art, literature, and film are active contributors to ecological consciousness rather than merely reflecting it. We are confronted with a contradiction. On the one hand, the most pressing and worldwide threat of our time is the climate problem. On the other hand, its size frequently stifles creativity and group action. We can start to close this gap by addressing the cultural aspects of ecology. We can rethink what it means to live in relation to both human and nonhuman beings by using the languages, metaphors, and practices that culture provides. Reporting climate change is shaped by journalistic norms (Boykoff, 2011; Krupnik & Jolly, 2002). Calling our era the “age of climate crisis” is not a sign of hopelessness; rather, it is a call for intellectual and cultural frameworks that can meet its demands. Such a framework is provided by an ecologistic approach, which decenters the human, emphasizes interconnectedness, and imagines futures beyond extractive modernity. It forces us to reconsider time, agency, worth, and community—the most fundamental aspects of human existence—in the context of the delicate yet robust webs of planetary life. In this way, ecologism represents a new paradigm for the humanities, politics, and ethics in the twenty-first century, not just a response to the climate devastation. Environmental humanities and ecocriticism have demonstrated in recent decades that such problems are inherently cultural in nature. Timothy Morton’s (2013) concept of “hyperobjects” highlights the scope of natural phenomena, such climate change, that are outside the personal realm but affect every aspect of human existence (Cunsolo & Ellis, 2018). Climate change has emerged not only as an environmental and scientific emergency but also as a profound cultural and representational problem. Its vast temporal horizons, spatially diffuse causality, and radically uneven distributions of vulnerability exert sustained pressure on inherited narrative forms, epistemologies, and ethical frameworks, as scholars in the environmental humanities have repeatedly argued (Chakrabarty, 2009; Nixon, 2011). Literature—and speculative fiction in particular—offers a privileged medium for interrogating how climate catastrophe is apprehended, remembered, and rendered intelligible across scales that exceed ordinary human perception. Among the most sustained and theoretically generative

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literary engagements with ecological crisis is Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy, which frames climate change not simply as an environmental phenomenon but as a problem of memory, representation, and cultural adaptation. Rather than staging environmental collapse as a singular, spectacular rupture, Atwood represents it as an accumulative and normalized process embedded in everyday practices, corporate rationalities, and habitual narrative forms. Across the trilogy, what Rob Nixon terms “slow violence”—forms of ecological devastation that are incremental, temporally deferred, and frequently imperceptible within dominant representational regimes—functions as a structuring condition of social life (Nixon, 2011, p. 2). In Atwood’s speculative futures, climate catastrophe is inseparable from linguistic erosion, cultural amnesia, and the routinization of environmental risk. The novels thus suggest that failures of memory, narration, and cultural transmission are as complicit in ecological collapse as political governance, economic rationality, or technological excess. Memory stands for monuments, ceremonies, oral histories, and artwork are ways that environmental catastrophes are etched into cultural memory. Ideas like “ecological grief” and “solastalgia,” which refer to the distress brought on by environmental loss in one’s home environment (Albrecht, 2005), show how memory records the loss of not just people but also of places, species, and customs. Ecological memory maintains experiences of tragedy, displacement, and resilience over generations, which is where memory studies and environmental humanities meet (Rigby, 2020, p. 91). Representation is related to rituals, symbols, images, and narratives—all have a role in mediating climate change. Representation dictates what is seen and what is invisible, from Indigenous oral traditions that preserve ecological knowledge to international media spectacles of tragedy. Additionally, representation is political: who gets to tell their stories of ecological crises, who gets to keep quiet, and how power is distributed through cultural creation (Hall, 1997, p. 15). In terms of adaptation, culture serves as a place for both adaptation and grief. In the face of ecological change, communities rely on cultural resources to maintain continuity, identity, and resilience. Adaptation is both material and cultural, ranging from digital activism that reimagines climate futures to revived rites that address interrupted seasonal cycles. Critical resources for thinking outside of extractivist paradigms are provided by indigenous ecological knowledge (Whyte, 2018, p. 159). Additionally, climate change is a cultural issue that affects how we remember, imagine, and tell stories about our relationship to the earth. We can gain a deeper understanding of the traumata and inventive resources that influence how people react to environmental upheaval by looking at cultural representations, recollections, and adaptations. If the Anthropocene necessitates new lifestyles, it also necessitates new narratives, memories, and imaginations. Data, models, and statistics are not the only abstractions used to describe climate change. It is also experienced and told via tales of grief, loss, and displacement. Culturally speaking, the

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ecological crisis is a crisis of meaning, representation, and memory in addition to a tangible reality. The production and contestation of meaning in literature, the media, politics, and daily life has long been a focus of cultural studies. But in recent decades, the profession has become more interested in ecological issues, seeing how closely cultural practices and environmental reality are intertwined. Pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, and environmental justice movements show that culture and the physical state of the earth are inextricably linked. The main argument is that ecology is a component of culture rather than something that exists outside of it. Cultural studies plays a crucial role in the era of the climate catastrophe by demonstrating how discourse, ideology, and representation influence ecological realities and by emphasizing the ways in which cultural practices can promote ecological consciousness and social change. Cultural studies reinterprets ecology as culture, opening up new ways of seeing and living in the environment. Oryx and Crake: Linguistic Loss and Technocratic Amnesia In Oryx and Crake, Atwood constructs a post-apocalyptic imaginary in which ecological collapse is inseparable from linguistic attrition and cultural degradation. The novel’s fractured narrative structure—oscillating between Snowman’s precarious post-catastrophic existence and Jimmy’s retrospective accounts of a corporatized, technocratic past—produces a destabilized temporality that formally mirrors both environmental degradation and mnemonic fragility. This recursive movement between past and present exemplifies what Rob Nixon conceptualizes as “slow violence”: forms of harm that are incremental, temporally dispersed, and frequently imperceptible within dominant representational frameworks, yet whose cumulative effects prove catastrophic (Nixon, 2011, p. 2). Jimmy’s obsessive attention to obsolete or vanishing words such as “pigtail” and “caesura,” which he observes are “slipping away from him” and have “no meaning” in the postapocalyptic present (Atwood, 2003, p. 78), foregrounds the entanglement of linguistic extinction and ecological loss. Language erosion functions here as a metonym for cultural amnesia, registering the vulnerability of memory under conditions of institutional collapse. Read through Aleida Assmann’s distinction between communicative and cultural memory, Jimmy’s faltering recollections signal the breakdown of mnemonic transmission once educational, archival, and symbolic infrastructures disintegrate (Assmann, 2011, pp. 23–45). Memory, in this context, is revealed not as an internalized cognitive resource but as a socially mediated practice dependent on material and institutional support. This erosion of memory is intensified by the logic of technocratic amnesia embodied in Crake’s Paradice Project. By engineering the Crakers and systematically eliminating what he characterizes as the “messy complications” of history, affect, and moral reasoning, Crake seeks to excise ethical and historical consciousness from human life altogether (Atwood, 2003, p.

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305). Such rationalized forgetting exemplifies Ulrich Beck’s (1992) notion of “organized irresponsibility,” wherein technologically mediated systems generate risk while simultaneously dispersing or deferring accountability. The Paradice Project thus exposes how regimes of scientific rationality and corporate governance facilitate environmental catastrophe not through ignorance, but through the strategic displacement of ethical responsibility. Jimmy’s sardonic, self-reflexive narration further underscores the moral failures of memory within these structures. His admission—“I didn’t want to know” (Atwood, 2003, p. 184)— articulates a belated ethical awareness that resonates with Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory, in which recognition and responsibility emerge only retrospectively, after damage has become irreversible (Hirsch, 2012). This belatedness reframes complicity not as individual moral deficiency but as a structural condition sustained by denial, distraction, and the normalization of harm within dominant narrative and institutional frameworks. Through its sustained attention to linguistic erosion, narrative fragmentation, and ironic selfimplication, Oryx and Crake establishes the trilogy’s foundational inquiry into the ethical and epistemic dimensions of memory, representation, and adaptation. The novel figures cultural maladaptation as a failure of narrative and mnemonic practice as much as an ecological one, thereby laying the conceptual groundwork for the subsequent exploration of communal and interspecies memory in The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam. The Year of the Flood: Ritual Memory, Gendered Embodiment, and Ecological Community In The Year of the Flood, Atwood shifts the trilogy’s analytic focus from fragmented individual recollection toward ritualized, communal forms of memory that function simultaneously as ethical orientation and modes of ecological adaptation. Central to this reconfiguration is the quasi-religious environmental collective known as the God’s Gardeners, whose pedagogical and mnemonic practices—songs, sermons, liturgical calendars, saint days, and commemorative rituals—operate to preserve ecological knowledge and moral accountability in the absence of stable institutional infrastructures. These practices exemplify what Aleida Assmann terms communicative memory: a form of remembrance sustained through shared social interaction, ritual repetition, and embodied transmission rather than through formal archives or technological media (Assmann, 2011, pp. 23–45). Under the moral guidance of Adam One, the Gardeners explicitly frame remembrance as an ethical obligation rather than a passive act of recall: “To forget is to dishonor the dead” (Atwood, 2009, p. 52). Through ritual observances dedicated to extinct species and anticipatory commemorations of the coming “Waterless Flood,” ecological loss is transformed into a structured cultural practice that binds past devastation to future responsibility (Atwood, 2009, p. 14). In this sense, the Gardeners’ mnemonic regime operates as a form of anticipatory adaptation, aligning with Dipesh Chakrabarty’s (2009) argument that climate crisis disrupts conventional temporal distinctions between past, present, and future by rendering memory forward-looking and ethically prospective rather than merely retrospective.

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Alongside collective ritual, the novel foregrounds embodied knowledge as a critical site of adaptation. Toby’s narrative, in particular, emphasizes the intersection of memory, corporeality, and social vulnerability. Her survival depends less on abstract or institutionalized knowledge than on tacit, bodily competencies—her familiarity with herbal medicine, cultivation, and physical endurance—captured in the observation that “her hands know what to do, even when her mind falters” (Atwood, 2009, p. 131). Read through Judith Butler’s theory of precarity, this embodied adaptability is inseparable from unevenly distributed vulnerability, as Toby’s capacities are shaped by gendered marginalization, institutional abandonment, and differential exposure to violence and environmental risk (Butler, 2004, pp. 25–40). Atwood further underscores the instability of collective memory by juxtaposing moments of lyrical ritual with scenes of extreme brutality and social breakdown. This formal tension foregrounds the volatility of mnemonic systems under conditions of ecological and social stress, revealing how ritualized memory may function as an ethical and adaptive resource while remaining perpetually vulnerable to coercion, injustice, and erasure. The novel thus resists any romanticization of communal memory, presenting it instead as a precarious practice that must be continually enacted, negotiated, and defended. Through its integration of ritualized remembrance, embodied knowledge, and ecological consciousness, The Year of the Flood extends the trilogy’s investigation of memory and adaptation beyond individual cognition to encompass collective, culturally mediated processes. In doing so, it prepares the conceptual ground for MaddAddam’s further expansion of memory into interspecies narrative, demonstrating that adaptation in the Anthropocene is not merely technical or biological but fundamentally ethical, social, and narrative in character. MaddAddam: Storytelling, Posthuman Memory, and Narrative Ethics In MaddAddam, Atwood foregrounds storytelling as the primary medium through which memory is transmitted across both species and generations, extending the trilogy’s exploration of adaptation into explicitly posthuman terrain. As the remaining human survivors assume the role of narrators for the Crakers, storytelling emerges as an ethically charged practice that mediates knowledge, responsibility, and the conditions of coexistence. Toby’s recognition that “the story was changing as she told it” (Atwood, 2013, p. 92) underscores the instability of narrative memory and the fundamentally relational character of meaning-making, in which teller and listener collaboratively shape interpretation. This dynamic exemplifies Donna Haraway’s posthuman ethics of “staying with the trouble,” which foregrounds multispecies entanglement, situated responsibility, and a refusal of human narrative sovereignty or mastery (Haraway, 2016, p. 1). The Crakers’ literal engagement with narrative further exposes the fragility of human metaphor and the ethical stakes of representation. Their insistence on categorizing Crake as unequivocally “good or bad” (Atwood, 2013, p. 115) reveals the difficulty of translating moral ambiguity, historical contingency, and ethical contradiction into narrative forms intelligible to nonhuman interlocutors. Storytelling thus becomes a site of ethical negotiation rather than

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authoritative transmission, foregrounding the risks inherent in narrative simplification. Toby’s reflection—“Once a thing is told, it cannot be untold” (Atwood, 2013, p. 189)—articulates the irreversibility of narrative acts and resonates with Gayatri Spivak’s critique of representation as an ethically fraught practice that is never neutral, transparent, or without consequence (Spivak, 1988). Through these interspecies narrative encounters, MaddAddam conceptualizes memory as provisional, shared, and ethically mediated rather than stable, sovereign, or human-centered. The precarious coexistence of humans and Crakers stages the challenges of survival in the Anthropocene, where adaptation depends less on domination, technological control, or genetic mastery than on relational accountability and narrative restraint. As Claire Colebrook argues, posthuman futures demand non-sovereign forms of memory and responsibility that acknowledge the limits of human agency and the distributed nature of ethical life (Colebrook, 2014). Atwood’s emphasis on interspecies storytelling directly engages this framework, presenting memory as an ongoing practice of negotiation rather than a fixed repository of truth. By integrating linguistic preservation, ritualized communal memory, and multispecies narration, MaddAddam brings the trilogy’s sustained inquiry into memory and adaptation to its ethical culmination. The novel demonstrates that adaptation in the Anthropocene is not merely biological or technological but fundamentally narrative: it hinges on how stories are told, circulated, revised, and ethically inhabited across generations and species. In this sense, Atwood positions storytelling itself as a form of ecological practice—one that actively shapes collective understanding, moral responsibility, and the fragile conditions of multispecies cohabitation. Comparative Synthesis: Narrative Maladaptation and Cultural Feedback Loops To comprehend how cultural and narrative practices affect reactions to ecological crises, patterns of memory, representation, and adaptation across the MaddAddam trilogy can be methodically compared. The main types of memory, narrative technique, and ethical engagement in each book are compiled in Table 1.

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Table 1 Memory, Narrative, and Adaptation Across the MaddAddam Trilogy TFtle Oryx and Crake

PrFmary Memory Form Indovodual memory

NarratFve Strategy Fragmented, forstperson

The Year of the Flood Communal/rotualozed Multo-perspectove, lyrocal MaddAddam

Interspecoes storytellong

Polyphonoc and reflectove

EthFcal/AdaptFve Focus Longuostoc and ecologocal loss; lomots of ondovodual memory Embodoed knowledge, gendered survoval, ethocal stewardshop Posthuman ethocs, narratove as adaptatoon, crossspecoes knowledge

A systematic comparison of patterns of memory, representation, and adaptation across the MaddAddam trilogy elucidates how cultural and narrative practices actively shape responses to ecological crisis. As summarized in Table 1, each novel foregrounds a distinct yet interrelated configuration of mnemonic practice, narrative strategy, and ethical orientation. Individual memory functions as the initial site of ethical recognition in Oryx and Crake; collective and ritualized remembrance preserves ecological knowledge and moral orientation in The Year of the Flood; and interspecies storytelling in MaddAddam operationalizes memory as an adaptive practice oriented toward posthuman futures. This comparative synthesis demonstrates that adaptation in Atwood’s trilogy is neither linear nor reducible to technological innovation or biological survival. Rather, adaptive capacity is mediated through narrative form, cultural transmission, and ethical reflexivity. Individual memory, though fragile and often compromised, enables moments of belated moral awareness; communal remembrance stabilizes ecological knowledge while extending ethical responsibility across social bonds; and multispecies narration reconfigures memory as a shared, future-oriented practice that exceeds human exceptionalism. Across these stages, storytelling emerges as a critical mechanism of resilience when ethically attentive, and as a vector of harm when memory is erased, selectively transmitted, or instrumentalized. The trilogy thus stages adaptation and maladaptation as coexisting narrative possibilities rather than mutually exclusive outcomes. Misremembered, suppressed, or strategically distorted stories perpetuate ethical failure and ecological violence, while ritualized, relational, and ethically self-reflexive forms of storytelling foster cultural resilience and moral accountability. By foregrounding narrative structure, temporal organization, and the ethics of representation, Atwood positions literature not merely as a medium for depicting climate crisis but as a critical site for understanding, mediating, and potentially responding to the cultural and ethical challenges of the Anthropocene.

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Table 2 Narrative Adaptation versus Narrative Maladaptation in the MaddAddam Trilogy

Novel Oryx and Crake

DomFnant NarratFve RFsk Technocratoc abstractoon; oronoc detachment

The Year of the Fragoloty of Flood collectove memory under voolence MaddAddam

Narratove authoroty over nonhuman losteners

Form of NarratFve MaladaptatFon Erasure of hostorocal complexoty; longuostoc extonctoon; denoal of responsoboloty Rotual collapse; selectove remembrance; socoal exclusoon

AdaptFve NarratFve EthFcal Stakes CounterpractFce Exposure of Retrospectove complocoty and narratoon; lexocal organozed attentoveness; orresponsoboloty belated ethocal recognotoon

Loturgocal storytellong; embodoed practoce; ecologocal commemoratoon Oversomplofocatoon Multospecoes of moral storytellong; amboguoty; provosoonal orreversoble narratoon; ethocal narratove framong restraont

Expansoon of ethocal responsoboloty through communal care Negotoatoon of posthuman responsoboloty and shared futures

Table 2 synthesizes one of the article’s central theoretical interventions by systematically distinguishing between narrative practices that facilitate adaptation and those that produce maladaptation across the MaddAddam trilogy. By aligning dominant narrative risks with specific forms of ethical and ecological failure, the table demonstrates that breakdowns in storytelling—such as erasure, oversimplification, ironic detachment, or the displacement of responsibility—constitute not merely representational deficiencies but active contributors to environmental harm. Narrative failure thus emerges as an ecological risk in its own right, capable of normalizing slow violence and deferring ethical accountability. Conversely, the table delineates how ethically attentive modes of narration—including retrospective self-implication, ritualized commemoration, and provisional, relational forms of multispecies storytelling—operate as adaptive counterpractices. These narrative strategies foster cultural resilience by preserving ecological knowledge, sustaining mnemonic continuity, and cultivating ethical reflexivity under conditions of uncertainty. In rendering these contrasts visible, Table 2 clarifies the recursive relationship between narrative form, moral responsibility, and environmental outcome. Moreover, by abstracting these dynamics into a comparative analytical framework, the table offers a transferable model for the study of climate narratives beyond Atwood’s trilogy. It enables further investigation into how literary forms mediate adaptation, vulnerability, and ecological ethics in the Anthropocene, underscoring the broader critical stakes of narrative practice in the cultural negotiation of environmental crisis.

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Conclusion Global awareness and local experience are connected through transnational cultural responses. Through the dissemination of information, feelings, and moral principles across national boundaries, media, literature, art, and performance promote common visions of crisis and resiliency. These activities emphasize the relational, emotive, and justice-oriented aspects of climate change by incorporating a range of voices and experiences. Culture increases human capacity to adapt to ecological change by fostering foresight, resiliency, and ethical reflection. Through the integration of lived experience and systemic knowledge of climatic systems, imagination creates a bridge between the local and the global. In order to connect the past, present, and future, memory is essential. Oral traditions, rituals, literature, and media are examples of cultural archives that maintain ethical frameworks and ecological knowledge. By guiding future generations, these customs enable civilizations to manage change while preserving continuity. Intergenerational responsibility is a key ethical principle. Communities make sure that ecological and cultural legacies are passed on and modified by integrating climate knowledge and cultural memory into public discourse, education, and creative endeavors. The Anthropocene necessitates multinational cooperation and global consciousness. To produce just and efficient solutions, local experiences, indigenous knowledge, and cultural inventiveness must converge with international policy, media, and scientific frameworks (Simpson, 2017). Awareness, empathy, and group action are mediated by cultural networks, which might include everything from local storytelling to global art initiatives and digital campaigns. Culture is a dynamic resource for envisioning, reacting to, and influencing futures; it is not only a prism through which to view climate change. Resilience is developed, memory is preserved, grief is expressed, and justice is advanced through cultural practices, narratives, and policies. It is imperative that culture be incorporated into climate research, education, and government going forward. It helps societies to deal with ambiguity in an ethical and innovative way, making sure that answers are inclusive, sensitive to context, and based on both local knowledge and international cooperation. The Anthropocene is ultimately a cultural as well as a geological age. The ability of human civilizations to maintain ecological and social well-being in a world that is changing quickly will depend on cultural imagination, ethical responsibility, and group creativity. We can imagine futures that are not just liveable but also fair, creative, and intricately linked to the natural world by placing culture at the forefront of the climate analysis. This paper has traced the ways in which environmental disasters are portrayed in literature, art, media, and performance; how collective reactions are shaped by sorrow, memory, and legacy; and how adaptive methods are informed by local knowledge and international cooperation.

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Collectively, these analyses show that climate change is not just an environmental or scientific problem, but also a cultural one. Cultural activities express ethical duty, encode ecological knowledge, and retain memory. In order to connect previous experience with current action and future imagination, oral traditions, rituals, literature, and visual media serve as archives of environmental change. By converting scientific facts into stories, pictures, and performances that appeal to emotion, thought, and group identification, they help mediate understanding between groups. At the same time, culture promotes adaptability and resilience. Creative interventions, community-led activities, and indigenous knowledge systems show how important cultural frameworks are to maintaining both ecological and human well-being. Culture helps society deal with uncertainty while maintaining identity and values by encouraging creativity, problem-solving, and ethical participation (Charpleix, 2018). Cultural and social histories are inextricably linked to environmental disasters. The loss of species, landscapes, and cultural customs causes sadness, mourning, and introspection, all of which spur advocacy, activism, and moral thought. Effective responses must be inclusive, culturally sensitive, and historically aware, as highlighted by attention to justice, especially the disproportionate effects of climate change on vulnerable and indigenous populations. Societies may turn ethical and emotional knowledge into group action by including memory, grief, and justice into climate discourse. Cultural engagement guarantees that adaptation is relational, ethical, and sustainable rather than just technical. The MaddAddam trilogy offers a sustained and theoretically nuanced exploration of how memory, representation, and adaptation intersect under conditions of climate emergency. Across the three novels, Atwood assigns distinct yet interconnected mnemonic and ethical functions to narrative form: Oryx and Crake foregrounds individual memory and technocratic amnesia, exposing how selective forgetting, linguistic erosion, and institutionalized irresponsibility facilitate ecological collapse; The Year of the Flood reconfigures memory as a communal, ritualized, and gendered practice that preserves ecological knowledge, anchors ethical responsibility, and enables collective survival; and MaddAddam extends memory into the posthuman domain, staging interspecies storytelling as an ethically charged mode of adaptation oriented toward shared, multispecies futures. Taken together, the trilogy demonstrates that adaptation in the Anthropocene is neither linear nor reducible to technological innovation or biological resilience. Instead, adaptation emerges as a recursive, culturally mediated process shaped by narrative structures, ethical commitments, and historically situated modes of remembrance. Memory in Atwood’s fiction is simultaneously fragile and obligatory: its erosion accelerates both environmental degradation and moral failure, while its careful cultivation—through ritual, embodied knowledge, and storytelling—fosters resilience across temporal, social, and species boundaries. By dramatizing how narratives can either normalize slow violence or render it ethically legible, Atwood reveals

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storytelling as a primary mechanism through which ecological risk is interpreted, justified, or resisted. Crucially, the trilogy reframes storytelling not as a secondary or aesthetic response to crisis but as a central adaptive practice that actively shapes ethical perception, responsibility, and collective possibility. Narrative form becomes a site of ethical labor, where choices concerning voice, temporality, metaphor, and transmission determine whose lives are remembered, whose losses are mourned, and which futures remain imaginable. In this sense, Atwood’s speculative fiction exposes the deep entanglement of narrative failure and ecological harm, while simultaneously modeling forms of ethically attentive narration capable of sustaining care, accountability, and attention under conditions of radical uncertainty. By integrating insights from the climate humanities, memory studies, and posthuman ethics, this article has shown how speculative fiction can function simultaneously as a cultural archive of ecological loss and a testing ground for adaptive imaginaries. The MaddAddam trilogy insists that memory and representation are not passive reflections of environmental catastrophe but active, ethically charged forces that participate in shaping the conditions of future life. In foregrounding the moral stakes of narrative transmission, the dangers of erasure, and the responsibilities of multispecies storytelling, Atwood offers a compelling model for literary engagement with climate crisis—one that recognizes storytelling as indispensable to imagining, negotiating, and sustaining viable forms of coexistence in the Anthropocene. More broadly, this reading suggests that literature’s contribution to climate discourse lies not only in representing environmental crisis but in interrogating the narrative conditions that render adaptation thinkable in the first place. By exposing the ethical infrastructures of memory and representation, Atwood’s trilogy invites readers to reconsider how stories shape ecological consciousness, distribute responsibility, and enable or foreclose collective action. In an era defined by slow violence and deferred consequences, the MaddAddam trilogy affirms the enduring capacity of narrative to hold open spaces of ethical reflection and adaptive possibility amid planetary precarity.

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Ghosh, A. (2016). The great derangement: Climate change and the unthinkable. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226323176.001.0001 Habila, H. (2010). Oil on water. London: Penguin Books. Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage. Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. Heise, U. K. (2016). Imagining extinction: The cultural meanings of endangered species. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226358338.001.0001 Hirsch, M. (2012). The generation of postmemory: Writing and visual culture after the Holocaust. Columbia University Press.Johns-Putra, A. (2019). Climate change and the contemporary novel. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108610162 Kingsolver, B. (2012). Flight behavior. New York, NY: Harper. Krupnik, I., & Jolly, D. (Eds.). (2002). The earth is faster now: Indigenous observations of Arctic environmental change. Fairbanks, AK: Arctic Research Consortium of the United States. Mirzoeff, N. (2014). Visualizing the Anthropocene. Public Culture, 26(2), 213–232. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-2392039 Morton, T. (2013). Hyperobjects: Philosophy and ecology after the end of the world. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Nicolaescu, C. M. (2012). Myth and stereotypes in the novel Surfacing by Margaret Atwood. Annals of Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, 10(2), 111–126. Nicolaescu, C. M. (2015). The voice of subaltern in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing: An anticolonialist approach to the novel. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 5(2), 350–355. Nicolaescu, C. M., & Waniek, I. (2024). The contemporary literary cultures beyond the readable text. Cogito Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 16(4), 204–213. Nixon, R. (2011). Slow violence and the environmentalism of the poor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061194 Rigby, K. (2020). Reclaiming romanticism: Towards an ecopoetics of decolonization. London: Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474290623 Rose, D. B. (2004). Reports from a wild country: Ethics for decolonisation. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.

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Simpson, L. B. (2017). As we have always done: Indigenous freedom through radical resistance. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctt1pwt77c Sinha, I. (2007). Animal’s people. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). University of Illinois Press. Teaiwa, T. (2015). Reframing Oceania in the age of climate change. The Contemporary Pacific, 27(2), 417–425. https://doi.org/10.1353/cp.2015.0041 Todd, Z. (2016). An Indigenous feminist’s take on the ontological turn: “Ontology” is just another word for colonialism. Journal of Historical Sociology, 29(1), 4–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12124 Whyte, K. P. (2018). Indigenous science (fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral dystopias and fantasies of climate change crises. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 1(1–2), 224–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848618777621 Corresponding author: Cristina Mirela Nicolaescu Email: chris2013x@yahoo.com

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Towards Preferable Futures: Enabling Communities to Shape Futures Through Bardic Creativity Alec Shepley Wrexham University, United Kingdom Tristian Evans Wrexham University, United Kingdom

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Abstract Creative methods and place-based approaches are increasingly recognised as essential tools for understanding what matters most to communities about their environment and for supporting meaningful climate adaptation planning. This paper will describe the AHRC-funded project on Ynys Môn, called the “Public Map” and in particular the work around the development of a cultural data layer in the final open-access digital model. The role of creative method and placebased approaches will be examined, in this case the deployment of three Welsh Bards onto the island to help local communities have a more informed and inclusive approach to planning and decision making in their area. The variety of bardic encounters, micro-engagements and creative methods will be discussed in relation to encouraging children and young people on the Isle of Anglesey, to access their imaginations and co-create shared narratives about people and place in relation to climate change. The paper will suggest how working with individuals and their communities, using creative methods (including poetry, art, music, sculpture, photography and printing), to encourage them to share narratives about their sense of place – more appropriately enables them to describe their experiences of living and working there, and to share their thoughts and aspirations for the future of their community. People-centred approaches to support children, young people and their communities to make positive changes, mitigate against negative results and empower local agency will be discussed. Keywords: bards, creative methods, climate change, place

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In this paper, we look at how bardic practice, creative methods and place-based approaches can serve as a catalyst to enable communities to shape their future as we look towards preferable and sustainable futures. Our world and its people will encounter serious challenges in the future, including climate change, reduction in biodiversity, growing social injustice and so forth. Marja Järvelä point towards other challenges that hinder sustainable development, including weaknesses in infrastructure, lack of social equality “referring to gender, ethnicity, low income groups and even with regards to the future generations” (Järvelä, 2023, p. 9). Our ways of living seemingly support overconsumption, negatively impact on communal relationships and deplete our natural world of its wealth; Irina Kaldrack and Rolf F. Nohr highlight how the growing trend in manufacturing and consumption of materials will lead to serious negative consequences for the planet and its inhabitants (Kaldrack & Nohr, 2023, p. 9). Tackling these challenges require immediate action, and to make the crucial changes to our lifestyles, it is evident that an innovative and imaginative approach is essential. Our approach within this paper will address how a multifaceted artistic approach is required to promote imaginative responses, as we look at the potential of using creative practices to shape a better future for the inhabitants of a small island in north Wales. Connecting with nature helps the ability to imagine, which in turn benefits health and improves a sense of focus; as Rob Hopkins notes, “being immersed in the diversity of living organisms […] creates conditions in which the imagination can flicker back to life”, also pointing out how “the living world points the way towards imagining new economy models, developing climate resilience, fostering social inclusion and so much more” (Hopkins, 2020, p. 65). A symbiotic relationship between cultural diversity and biodiversity is clearly in evidence, which can potentially become a powerful tool in developing sustainable policies through cultural means; as David Throsby writes how biodiversity enriches our living environments; similarly, cultural diversity offers many benefits (Throsby, 2018, p. 11). Creativity, Co-Production and the Public Map We start our discussion on the basis that creativity is at the heart of changing patterns of thoughts and behaviour; as Maria Ojala articulates within the context of facing anxiety and hope in the light of climate change and sustainability, “people can transgress or disrupt deeply held and taken for granted norms, norms that act at the roots of oppression and unsustainability by acting in surprisingly creative and boundary crossing ways” (Ojala, 2016, p. 43). Art practice, creative methods and place-based approaches are increasingly recognised as essential tools for understanding what matters most to communities about the environment and for supporting meaningful climate adaptation planning. To exemplify this, we focus our paper on work undertaken for the AHRC-funded project on the Isle of Anglesey in north Wales, called the Public Map, in particular the work around the development of a cultural data layer for the final open-access digital model.1 The Public Map is a multidisciplinary mapping project based on Anglesey, led by Cambridge, Wrexham, Cardiff and Bangor universities, which involves developing co-creative activities with children, young people, communities and stakeholders 1

The project’s website is available here: https://publicmap.org (Last accessed 8 May 2026).

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to develop narratives around the sense of belonging to a place. The platform is a multi-layered innovative mapping interface, combining environmental, social and cultural data, and it works with the aim of informing planners and policy makers to make better decisions for the future, whilst also empowering communities to express what's important to them. Wrexham University in north Wales is leading the research on the cultural mapping layer, using primarily bardic and arts-based methods to engage with children and young people. The Isle of Anglesey was chosen as a pilot for the project due to its rural location, disconnectedness, and although it's considered in decline, the island aims to be regarded as a highly sustainable energy island. In fact, the island was known traditionally as “Môn Mam Cymru” (Anglesey, the mother of Wales) due to the richness of its soil, which contributed to the considerable amount of food resources that the island was able to produce (particularly in terms of grain, hence the consideration of the island as the “breadbasket of Wales”). These resources provided essential sustenance to the remainder of the country; moreover, due to the flatness of the landscape, an extensive number of windmills were historically in use to support food production on the island, with as many as fifty mills powered by wind energy once being in operation. The island has always been a sustainable place, both in terms of renewable energy production and agricultural processes, therefore there is currently a clear sense of environmental awareness on the island that resonates with the desire to build a greener, more prosperous future for the next generations. This is very much aligned with the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, which sets outs seven clear goals for policymaking in Wales—to improve prosperity, resilience, equality, health, community cohesion, vibrancy of culture and Welsh language, and global responsibility. This pioneering piece of legislation serves as a driving force for the research undertaken as part of the Public Map project. Flora Samuel from the Department of Architecture and Art History at the University of Cambridge, co-leader of the project, noted that tackling social inequalities to make climate change decisions is one of the principal aims of the Public Map’s investigations. Our work looks at how cultural explorations and arts-based creative approaches can help make changes for the benefit of communities and environments, particularly within co-productive settings. Looking at the potential of cultural policies for the benefit of sustainable development, Anita Kangas et al. states how “culture lies at the core of practices and beliefs that can support or inspire the necessary societal transitions to more sustainable meaning” (Kangas et al., 2018, p. 2), and as David Bell and Kate Pahl have observed in their research into the interconnection between co-production and a utopian method, “co-production can ‘bring air into a closed system’. It can empower ‘communities’ to collectively construct new life worlds. It can help resist potentially damaging policy or development, and it can unleash alternative social forms that exist within the social body” (Bell & Pahl, 2017, p. 108). In addition to the adoption of coproductive methodologies, we also take onboard the practice of cultural mapping in our research, as a method that connects people with place, past, present and future. Janet Pillai describes the method as “an approach to recording and revealing an integrated picture of cultural character, significance and workings of place” (Pillai, 2020, p. 1). Nancy Duxbury, William Garrett-Petts and David MacLennan explain that cultural mapping is used as “a methodological point of intersection informing academic research, local governance and

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community empowerment and change with mapping processes creating place embodied symbolic tools and resources to both support and guide these processes” (Duxbury et al., 2015, p. 3). There are clear benefits of an arts-based approach to cultural mapping. Duxbury, GarrettPetts and Alys Longley highlight how the use of creative methods help to develop experimental initiatives that celebrate a grassroots approach to developing planning procedures for our communities whilst embarking on imaginative journeys “wherein the spaces between reality and possibility are made porous and interlayered. Imagination carries potentials for unseating convention, perspective, actuality, reproducibility and common sense” (Duxbury et al., 2019, p. 6). The adoption of an arts-based approach to cultural mapping helps to engage with “community voices and finding means to articulate the intangible” (Duxbury et al., 2019, p. 6). While the Public Map’s adoption of specifically bardic practices to engage with children and young people in gathering cultural mapping data is a novel approach, we observe the use of arts-based methods as an emerging area over the last fifteen years or so, as exemplified in Duxbury et al. 2019. Previous artistic approaches to cultural mapping include the Herbarium project, led by Lorena Lozano, which ran between 2011–2017, which connected biodiversity and ecology with the arts, social change and local knowledge within a rural setting, with the aim of encouraging collaboration between a range of stakeholders and organisations (Lozano, 2019, pp. 143–161). The focus on rurality shares similar grounds with the Public Map, as also evident in certain other cultural mapping projects, namely the Atlas of Rural Arts and Culture – a mapping resource that centres around localities and practices within a rural, folk context in the United States (Fenn, 2019, pp. 245–252). Additionally, the Folkvine project also maps folk data, as an online platform that provides an accessible route to the mapping of art, through a narrative path and a process of interactive storytelling (Saper, 2019, pp. 253–277). Within an urban context, UNESCO’s Urban Heritage Atlas was developed as an online platform for cultural mapping, which aimed to promote visibility of cultural heritage, and to help the management of historic places. This project shared certain similarities with the Horizon 2020 funded initiative, the ROCK project (Regeneration and Optimisation of Cultural Heritage in Creative and Knowledge Cities) (2017–2020), which saw the formation of Living Labs in various cities with the aim of gathering an understanding of the use of public spaces and disused sites for promoting a sense of belonging and shared community ownership (Boeri, et al. 2020, p. 11). The ROCK project promoted accessibility, sustainability and collaboration, which largely resounds with the efforts of the Public Map, although within an urban context as opposed to a rural setting. The Living Lab established in Lisbon promoted the reinforcement of social, environmental and cultural sustainability – the latter layer aimed to develop the ‘preservation and promotion of cultural beliefs, practices as a fundamental piece of the future’ (Falanga & Bonoli, 2020, pp. 85–6). The project engaged with children and young people to foster a stronger sense of belonging and to bring together elements of the past and future (Falanga & Bonoli, 2020, pp. 85–6). Between 2010–2019, a series of Connected Communities projects, funded by the Arts and Humanities Council, has supported communities, academics and other partners to co-create initiatives with the aim of making changes and improving well-being through arts-based interventions, culture and heritage. The role of an arts-based approach within the programme

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was researched in the Co-production Legacy project at Sheffield University, which looked at the ways academic and other partners engaged with communities, for instance the Ways of Knowing project led by the University of Leeds, which investigated theories of change through mixed arts-based methods including crafts and storytelling. The artistic and cultural mapping projects referenced—such as the Herbarium project, the Atlas of Rural Arts and Culture, and the Folkvine platform—share with the Public Map a commitment to arts-based engagement and the documentation of cultural knowledge, particularly within rural contexts. However, these initiatives seemingly function primarily as representational or archival platforms, whereas the Public Map integrates bardic, improvisatory, and performative practices as active methods for generating cultural data with children and young people. Urban mapping initiatives such as UNESCO’s Urban Heritage Atlas and the ROCK project similarly aim to promote belonging and sustainability through collaborative cultural heritage practices, but their methods are rooted largely in urban environments, rather than the Public Map’s itinerant, arts-based engagements situated in rural island landscapes. Likewise, the AHRC’s Connected Communities programme shares our emphasis on co-creation and arts-based wellbeing approaches, yet it does not employ the distinctive combination of bardic tradition, youth-centred climate imagination, and integration of creative outputs into a digital cultural mapping layer as evident in our project. Collectively, these comparisons show that while the Public Map aligns with other arts-based and participatory mapping movements, its bardic methodology and future-focused cultural mapping establish it as an innovative contribution to the field, with the potential of informing policies and planning developments in support of the green transition. Methodology This research adopted a multi-method, arts-based and place-based qualitative approach, grounded in cultural mapping, bardic practice, and participatory co-production with children, young people, and community collaborators on the island. The methodological approach was focused on three main principles, namely creativity as a mode of inquiry, place as a framework for understanding, and co-creation as an ethical commitment to shared knowledge production. As will be shortly discussed, contributions focused on developing the cultural mapping layer using bardic and artistic practices as methods of data gathering, reflecting the historical and contemporary cultural identity of the isle of Anglesey. The decision to use bardic methodologies drew on Wales’s long-standing oral and performative traditions, positioning the bards as itinerant creative practitioners capable of engaging communities through storytelling, improvisation, ceremony, and a range of arts-based activities. Participants included children and young people (ages 8–18), families, community members, educators, and local stakeholders on the island. Recruitment occurred through schools, youth groups, community halls, and a range of engagements events, ensuring interaction with a diverse cross-section of rural island communities. Engagements took place in both indoor and outdoor environments, which often took into consideration the role of landscapes and embodied experiences to form a sense of place.

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As the case studies presented in this article will illustrate, each bard brought their own distinct artistic practice and methodological lens. Across the project, the creative methods employed included storytelling and oral improvisation, creative writing and poetry workshops, visual arts practice, performance-based encounters, site-responsive practice, including water dowsing, walking interviews, outdoor imagination exercises, and sensory exploration, and cultural heritage engagement. These activities generated multi-sensory cultural data incorporating stories, images, poems, digital artefacts, sound recordings, maps and performative documentation, all of which collectively form the qualitative evidence base of the cultural mapping layer. Alongside these creative methods, the project incorporated participatory digital mapping, as youth participants developed skills in using mapping platforms including OpenStreetMap and uMap to map places deemed important within their communities. Workshops included mapping transport routes, good/bad places, social spaces, and environmental features, producing spatial datasets that reflected a diverse range of lived experiences. Moreover, the bardic encounters were geo-tagged and catalogued as assets feeding into the Public Map’s cultural layer. This generated provided a largely quantitative cultural dataset, situating narratives and creative expressions within specific geographical contexts. Data was collected by the team through a range of different methods, which included gathering fieldnotes from bardic engagements, audiovisual recordings of storytelling, interviews, performances etc., and written artefacts (poems, stories, postcards, workshop texts). Moreover, the project generated an assembly of visual artefacts (drawings, maps, collages, photographs), and digital mapping outputs that were incorporated into uMaps. Observations reflective logs and conversations with facilitators were gathered, as was the documentation of ceremonies and performances. All data were anonymised where appropriate and stored in accordance with Public Map’s data governance protocols. Analytical considerations revealed a range of recurring themes around a sense of place and belonging; wellbeing and emotional landscapes; environmental awareness and climate futures; barriers and enablers to participation; cultural identity, role of the Welsh language, and memory, and perceptions of community futures and green transition. The project followed co-production ethics, recognising children and community members as knowledge-holders and coinvestigators rather than research subjects. Ethical protocols emphasised voluntary participation and assent, safeguarding and safe-space facilitation, cultural sensitivity regarding Welsh language and heritage, respectful treatment of creative artefacts, equitable representation of all voices, and accessibility within rural communities. Co-creation was treated as an ethical imperative, reinforcing inclusivity, democracy, and shared ownership of knowledge. Bards of the Past and Bards for the Future The role of creative methods and place-based approaches is examined in our paper, in the context of the deployment of three Welsh bards onto the island to help local communities have a more informed and inclusive approach to planning and decision making in their area. The use of a bardic methodology resonates with the deeply rooted bardic tradition of Wales, and of the

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isle of Anglesey in particular, and connects the traditions, stories and communities of the island, both past and present, with a sense of belonging. Carwyn Graves writes about the “deep currents and stories” within Welsh cultural context, which “place real value on community and all that is local, from ancient standing stones to farming tradition” (Graves, 2024, p. 2). The Welsh bardic traditions form inherent connections to the land, as exemplified in the work of medieval poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, for example, whose approach resounded with his continental contemporary, composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut, due to their strong focus on connecting people with places (Graves, 2024, p. 2). Members of the Public Map research team held a workshop facilitated by Dr Anne Collis during a symposium on the island during December 2024, which saw an assembly of bards, researchers, data technologists and coordinators. The brainstorming session resulted in the cocreation of a typology of the bardic methodology, which outlined the following key characteristics of the bardic approach. The participants highlighted that bards are often embedded in their environment, being deeply connected to the specific places and communities they perform in, often tailoring their stories, poems, and songs to local cultures, histories, and experiences, thus reflecting the unique identity of that location. With a focus on oral and storytelling traditions, poems, stories and songs are mostly through speech rather than written texts. This tradition emphasises the power of live performance, and the flexibility of oral storytelling allows for improvisation and adaptation to the audience and contexts. While rooted in tradition, bards also bring an element of improvisation to their craft. They may adapt or alter stories based on the circumstances or the immediate needs of the audience, blending historical narratives with personal interpretation and elements of spontaneity. Storytelling is used to reflect on life as seen through the perspectives of the bards—they may highlight common themes such as love, socio-economic hardship, accomplishments etc., creating a mirror for audiences to relate to their own experiences, and to connect with the performative elements offered by the bards. This form of co-inquiry with the audience is at the heart of their work, as the bards learn and discover alongside the people they perform for. The process of storytelling and sharing is considered more than conveying knowledge alone, as the bard and the audience explore themes, ideas, and emotions together. Bardic practices are reflective and intuitive, as they typically draw upon their personal understanding and experience to inform their work. This reflexivity allows them to engage deeply with the stories they tell and the people they perform for, while also enabling them to be responsive to the moment. There is a strong focus on cultural rooting, and are often seen as part of a longstanding tradition. They connect to this tradition while maintaining their individuality as performers, and their role is to preserve cultural heritage while also innovating within it. Bards are typically itinerant, traveling from place to place, sharing stories with different communities, which made their approach highly suitable for their engagement work for the project. Their performances are vital in sharing knowledge, wisdom, and entertainment; this mobility allows them to gather stories from various sources, enriching their performances.

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This itinerant approach of engaging with the communities of Anglesey coincides with the Public Map’s Lle Llais (Voice Place) engagement events—a multidisciplinary series of free events aimed at children, young people and their families across four different sites on the island. The centrepiece of these events were the innovative structures made of ash dieback timber, called the Rural Roaming Room—a multipurpose creative space for arts, bards and musicians to invite young participants to think about their futures on the island. The design and production of the five structures, formed out of ash dieback timber, was undertaken by architect Piers Taylor (Invisible Studio), Lean Structures, Onion Collective and PEARCE+. Work on designing the structures began in February 2024 in consultation with children and young people of the island, during a two-day workshop at the Ucheldre Centre in Holyhead. Figure 1 The Movable Structures of the Rural Roaming Room at a Lle Llais Engagement Event

Photo credit: Tristian Evans

All characteristics outlined above resound with the bardic tradition on the isle of Anglesey. Place names connected with the bards over the centuries serve as reminders of the rich cultural heritage of the island – the village names of Gwalchmai, Trefeilir, Llanfihangel Tre’r Beirdd and Bodowyr all reference the bards, ovates and druids that once inhabited the island, often bestowed the lands by the Royal princes of Wales. Dafydd ap Gwilym—a highly notable bard as discussed previously in connection with the research of Carwyn Graves—wrote poetry about the area of Newborough. Dafydd ap Gwilym’s poetic material became highly relevant within the Public Map project, as adopted by bard Rhys Trimble, as will be discussed later. Anglesey is indeed an island full of cultural heritage, relics and legends. Over the centuries, the bards have used poetry to express their thoughts and feelings about society and the environment, including socio-economic scenarios, infrastructural developments that change the identity of the island (the construction of the two bridges that connect to the mainland for instance), while poetry about natural disasters, perils of the sea, the fens, sustainable energy and nuclear energy, all connect people with places. These poetic texts demonstrate how the bardic observations of

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the past reveal change in our current landscapes and natural world, as Carwyn Graves reflects how “the natural world of Dafydd [ap Gwilym]’s day was rich with much wildlife that we have since lost” (Graves, 2024, p. 8). The use of creative, arts-based methodologies within the cultural mapping layer of the Public Map has led to an extensive amount of diverse bardic encounters, micro engagements and creative methods, all of which have encouraged children and young people on the island to access the imaginations and to co-create shared narratives about people, place and the environment, using a range of creative methods—storytelling, performance-based activities, visual arts, music and much more. At this point, it seems logical to look at who are the bards employed in the project, how co-creation has happened with whom, and what was co-created. Furthermore, we shall outline how their co-creative activities have developed narratives around the sense of place, wellbeing, and climate change, while also assessing the potential of using these approaches for informing future policy making and planning procedures. One of the bards involved in the project is Gillian Brownson—a socially engaged writer, storyteller, illustrator and performer from the island, with an interest in encouraging creativity within the context of artist, audience and place. Her creative practice often reflects on the reinforcement of children and young people’s confidence and aspirations through social literacy. In her role as bard on the project, her activities included community-based workshops with young writers at the Holyhead Market Hall, extensive engagement within school-based settings, storytelling activities during Lle Llais—the series of engagement activities over the summer of 2024 and 2025, the creation of an Every Child map, which incorporates the voices of children and young people, a poetry workshop at a team conference and store, and a storybook and podcast entitled “The Girl and the White Stones” developed as an output reflecting on the work for the project, which by its dreamlike character inspired by Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, will offer insights into the ways that children’s minds travel around the island, from a bird’s eye view. As Brownson reflects, “these moments of placebased inspiration already give us a rich insight into children and young people’s wellbeing, their belonging and their hopes for their island’s future” (Brownson, 2025).

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Figure 2 Bard Gillian Brownson Performing at the Breakwater Country Park, Holyhead

Photo credit: Janet Ruth Davies

In her reflections on working on the project, Brownson noted how her output aims to offer “a set of voices that gives insights into how children/young people are living in nine different locations throughout the island” and goes on to explain how the story so far includes imaginative responses to and reflects on the key themes that have developed out of her engagement with the participants. Brownson outlined six key themes that have emerged from the work she had undertaken: (1) accessing the outdoors as a regular part of education system for wellbeing and realworld learning, (2) feelings and thoughts about connections to the mainland and to the wider world, (3) positives and negatives in using some services such as school buses and play spaces, (4) what is happening currently to help our young people feel well, (5) where are their safe spaces? Why do they feel safe? (6) thoughts and feelings on conserving dark skies, wild spaces and the oceans.2 Reflecting on her work with the children during an outdoor activity, Brownson recalls for many of us, our minds were indeed lifted. We used a weather metaphor to say exactly how. “I feel sunny”, “dwi’n teimlo fel enfys” (“I feel like a rainbow”. “I’m sunny with a little cloud”, cloudy because of the fatigue from walking, but the conversations we had and the steps we took up to a fresh, elevated blue and green classroom revealed much about the children’s access to these places. On starting our hike back down to the minibus, one child kept repeating the same question, “Gill, can we stay”?3 2 3

Gillian Brownson’s project report, September 2024. Gillian Brownson’s project report, September 2024.

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Such an engagement illustrates how the use of a bardic methodology empowers children and young people to activate their imaginations through creative methods; of particular interest to Brownson was the ways in which the imaginations of the children and young people could be mapped. Brownson considers that the work serves as a bridge between the academic research of the project and its community collaborators expressing the thought on the island and inviting children and young people to think creatively about other worlds. From the voices of the children involved in the project, we can see the benefits of outdoor experiences, exploring feelings, wellbeing, and their thoughts about good and bad places on the island. Similar themes were explored creatively by yet another member of the bardic mapping team, Lisa Santana Hudson—a socially and environmentally engaged artist and facilitator, with extensive experience of investigating the interactions between people and places; her participatory methodologies incorporate elements of mapping, drawing and conversation through engagement, often underpinned by cultural heritage research. During her work on the Public Map, a series of community-based workshops were facilitated at the Llangoed village hall on the island, creating postcards of good places on Anglesey. Lle Llais provided opportunities to work on community engagement activities, in addition to other events such as fun days, creating postcards and the collation of metadata. Postcard making was considered “as a vehicle for conversation”, and in her reflections on facilitating this activity during Lle Llais of 2024, Hudson wrote: Over 16 days across the summer holidays, in four dramatically different landscapes, I collected around 200 postcards from diverse groups of visitors to Lle Llais events. The good places of Ynys Môn have been noted and they include beauty spots, attractions, back gardens, skate-parks, playgrounds, secret beaches and much more. They tell stories of lives lived by the sea, informed by landscape, community and a sense of Cynefin that defies geographical boundaries. As in the case of the other bards, another element of her work has been performance-based during the project’s Lle Llais events, in which she engaged with the communities through water dowsing activities on Parys mountain in the north of the island, inviting passers-by to think about what was going on underneath the ground (Hudson, 2024). Conversations around the landscape invited participants to connect with the place on a deep level, and to consider their sense of belonging to the island.

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Figure 3 Bard Lisa Santana Hudson Dowsing for Water at Parys Mountain

Photo Credit: Tristian Evans

Community-based engagement work led to the setup of a youth group, which led to the young participants learning new valuable digital mapping skills, for instance through mapping their own areas using the Open Street Map platform, and to create their own maps using the u-Map platform, which fostered a sense of agency within the group. Moreover, the participants recognised the acquisition of these new digital skills as being advantageous for their CV and future opportunities. By drawing their favourite places for socialising, walking, biking, swimming, the importance of the outdoor spaces within their social lives became strongly evident; a discussion on the available bus routes was mapped also, which highlighted both the good and bad things about the transport system on the island – which provides valuable data for local planning processes. In addition to her work with the communities of the island, Hudson has facilitated school-based engagements, creating an outdoor physical map activity, guided imagination sessions, creation of a treasure map of what they imagined as they flew above the village and subsequent classbased discussion. One of the outputs is a collaged map that superimposes the children’s maps that were constructed during a workshop, and this takes on board their symbology and reflects where it’s important to the children in the places that they live. Hudson’s work is informed by her previous experiences with a socially engaged artistic collective called Utopias Bach, and the methods that she has applied as part of her work on the Public Map adopts some of the methods developed with Utopias Bach – a group of artists that describe themselves as a collective that forms a link between artists and communities in order “to creatively re-imagine,

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experiment, explore, question and try out ways of making the world a better place for humans and more-than-humans at a small-scale”.4 The methodology adopted for the school activities involved an icebreaker task, a listening exercise, guided imagination and finally a response. Guided imagination invited the participants to imagine what they saw if they flew above their town; Hudson noted how experiences varied between two different schools, as the contrast between outdoor/indoor environments impacted on the creative experience and engagement, whereby the experience of being within an outdoor space during the summer months was much more positive from an engagement perspective than a classroom based activity during winter.5 A performance-based approach was applied by the third member of the bardic team, Rhys Trimble, who brought an array of methods to the project that drew on his extensive experience as a poet, visual poet, musician, artist and performer among several other creative roles, with particular interest in bilingualism and cultural hybridity. Trimble welcomed the creative space that was afforded to him during his work on the project and adopted the mapping software available within the team to develop maps based on the “Llannau” (loosely translating as the land surrounding a church, or a parish) of the island. His place-based approach included creative reworkings of memorial poetry found on gravestones on the island (specifically a uniquely Welsh poetic form known as “englynion”), which led to the production of drone videos and the writing of original poetry based on the texts found on the inscriptions. Trimble also applied frottage techniques to rework the engraved texts found on the gravestones in a creatively visual form, one of which came from the memorial inscription of the Welsh poet, Albert Evans-Jones (Cynan), who was buried on island. On this activity, he noted that both himself and Lisa Hudson produced rubbings from the gravestones as a “creative experience, and to turn the text and the craft of making text into some kind of artform”.6 In addition to his adoption of poetic and visual artforms as part of his creative work on the project, Trimble collaborated with several other artists and musicians on the production of an album entitled Ynys Dywyll (Dark Island), which Trimble describes as “a full-length collage of voices drawn from literary, historical and geological sources that explores psychomythogeographic forces that tie to a deep cultural memory in Ynys Môn” (Ty Cerdd Ynys Dywyll, 2025). The album was released on Tŷ Cerdd’s Sionci label and was launched at the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham during August 2025. Furthermore, he has created a queer map of Anglesey, and a map of placed-based poetry that relates to the island.

See https://www.utopiasbach.org/amdan-about (Last accessed 8 May 2026). Conversation with the author, 10 December 2024. 6 Conversation with the author, 23 October 2024. 5

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Figure 4 Bard Rhys Trimble Leading a Ceremony at Newborough on the Isle of Anglesey

Photo credit: Janet Ruth Davies

Trimble’s work is very much informed by a performative, experimental and improvisatory approach that resonates with the bardic tradition, through multiple artistic outputs. During the Lle Llais engagement activities, Trimble adopted a ceremonial role that resonated with the poetic and musical traditions of the Eisteddfod – a national competition in Wales that has been an integral part of the cultural activities over the centuries. Bardic rituals were very much at the heart of his performances, which offered a platform to share his poetry based on pre-existing texts that related to places on the island. Trimble’s efforts to combine the traditions with innovative methods may be regarded clearly as a bardic trait, and by adopting a multidisciplinary approach, it enriched the performative aspect of his work, while giving emphasis to the Welsh language as an integral part of his creative work. He reflected that the use of placespecific vocabulary, and the poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym, connected with the places that the rituals were undertaken during the engagement events;7 moreover, the experimental approach to the uses of the texts was influenced by bricolage and the theories of Levi-Strauss, weaving the heritage and traditions of the past within a contemporary context.8 As explained above, his methodology is very much informed by post-structural theoretical influences, with references to pre-existing Welsh poetry, and his use of improvisatory practices resonates with the bardic tradition. His use of place-based vocabulary, dialects, proverbs, cut up text and bricolage are an integral part of his method when engaging with the communities, 7 8

Conversation with the author, 23 October 2024. Conversation with the author, 18 September 2024.

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which also took place during his poetry workshops that utilised fridge magnets to construct new narratives out of pre-existing texts. Furthermore, during Lle Llais engagements, he collaborated closely with Anglesey Council to promote their Anglesey Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty programme, by facilitating “artistic explorations into those areas through creating poetry based on species, and nature and place in the natural world”.9 These activities offered the participants opportunities to become aware of the landscape that surrounded them, and to express their emotions and observations through poetic forms. Initial Findings As we look towards gathering some initial findings from the approaches undertaken within the cultural mapping layer of the project, we can see how the bards have incorporated different multi-sensory approaches, based on their own unique ways of working. The bards may be regarded as catalysts – creative prophets that nurture others to think about places and the future through co-creation, improvisation and the adoption of an itinerant approach, working dynamically with communities to help shape their places for the future. They have engaged with children and young people using a mixture of creative writing, poetry, storytelling, theatre, ceremony and rituals, music, visual art, film, mixed media, story, books and postcards. Their creative outputs provide a rich base for qualitative analysis, which help gather insight into the cultural activities and places that matter to children and young people on the Isle of Anglesey. The bardic encounters have led to an extensive amount of co-created artifacts about places, feelings the future and the environment are all cultural materials that can be used for future dissemination and data gathering opportunities at the “Barddoneg Lle” (“Poetics of Place”) exhibition at the Pontio Art and Innovation centre in Bangor during September and October 2025. There is a clear diversity in the duration of the engagements undertaken as part of the project, which have ranged between short, hourly sessions to weekly sessions, from which we can see how creativity can work on different timescales. The bardic engagements have evidently led to new experiences for children and young people, for instance, by visiting new places on the island, using new creative methods, developing their digital mapping skills and providing opportunities to imagine and work creatively within outdoor environments. We see how creative methods allow space to think about the things that are important to children and young people, and to imagine a different or better future. Similar to the benefits of play, “artistic and creative exercises are also considered fun by children, and this makes it easier to keep their attention throughout sessions and thereby reaching more knowledge”, as Sofia Cele writes (Cele, 2006, p. 66). Our data supports the observations put forward by Duxbury et al. that artistic cultural mapping encourage communities to vocalise their ideas, and to express things that are hard to define (Duxbury et al., 2019, p. 6). From the bardic engagements, the participants have expressed their thoughts and feelings about the places in which they inhabit – both positive and negative.

Conversation with the author, 23 October 2024.

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Moreover, in their inquiry into research methods that adopt creative approaches to gather qualitative data amongst young people about their sense of place, Elen-Maarja Trell and Bettina Van Hoven, with reference to the research of Hall et al. (2006) comment that “when walking and experiencing places in an embodied way, a different type of knowledge can be obtained than using methods that are used only indoors” (Trell & Van Hoven, 2010, p. 95). Such an observation resounds strongly with the bardic engagements that have taken place within the context of the Public Map’s outdoor settings, as discussed previously—bardic engagements in the outdoors led to positive experiences for the participants. Artistic collaborations undertaken within the project have revealed strong relationships between places, memories and feelings: children and young people have expressed creatively what’s good about the places that they live and play, additionally to the things they would like to change or add in their own communities. This people-centered approach to support children, young people, and their communities to make transitional choices, mitigate against negative consequences and empower local agency, with the use of co-creative practices being a key factor in supporting a sense of accessibility and inclusion. These align with the “ethical imperatives” put forward as some of the reasons to co-create within the framework presented by Patrycja Kaszynska et al., moreover democracy is a key consideration within the research undertaken for the Public Map, where researchers, practitioners, stakeholders and participants are considered equal research partners (Kaszynska et al., 2021). Järvelä highlights the importance of social inclusivity within community level discussions surrounding climate justice (Järvelä, 2023, p. 7). Integral to any change is “the community culture of local participation and stewardship [which] are keys for understanding the existing opportunities for successful implementation that would lead to increased adaptive capacity in the community” (ibid., p. 10). Observations would suggest that such imperatives as accessibility, inclusion and democracy supersede any economic potential within a rural context, which seemingly corresponds to an earlier study by Skippington and Davis, who found that the arts provided ways of forming stronger links within communities, more so than promoting economic benefits (Skippington & Davis, 2016, p. 222). Cultural Mapping Evidence for Green Transition and Further Research Potential(s) A key element of our discussions about the future inherently involves consideration of the green transition; our approach to cultural mapping has revealed a significant gap in our current evidence base to date, that could substantially strengthen our Green Transition argument. This dimension offers unique opportunities to demonstrate how cultural identity, place-based knowledge, and community assets create essential infrastructure for sustainable transformation. As Järvelä writes, while sustainable development had traditionally been seen through an ecological, economic and social lens, cultural sustainability offers the potential as the “fourth pillar of sustainable development” to promote socio-cultural capabilities, more so than socio-economic imperatives (Järvelä, 2023, p. 1). Järvelä goes forth to argue that considering the challenges that face our world, “we need to consider broader concepts of mitigation and adaptation and draw ingeniously on cultural capabilities available in each social context while designing feasible transitions toward more sustainable societies” (Järvelä, 2023, p. 3).

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Our work with Welsh language mapping, particularly within the context of our bardic methods, reveals something profound about the relationship between cultural identity and environmental responsibility (Graves, 2024). Chris Jenks refers to the strong connection between culture and the land, which in turn relates to development and transformation: culture can be interpreted within an agricultural context in its relation to cultivation (Jenks, 2004, p. 8); in Welsh, culture is known as “diwylliant”, which translates as “unwilding” (Graves, 2024, p. 11–12). As Duxbury et al. write, “cultural mapping demonstrates through local stories, practices, relationships, memories, and rituals, how places form meaningful locations” (Duxbury et al., 2015), transforming abstract environmental data into personally meaningful community assets. The evidence suggests that by using the Welsh language, we are building on existing strong connections to place through place names and promoting a greater sense of responsibility for the land. This connection needs additional quantification through documenting measurable increases in Welsh language use during mapping activities and tracking changes in place-name knowledge and local historical awareness among participants. The intergenerational knowledge transfer facilitated by cultural mapping provides another rich evidence stream. Traditional ecological knowledge captured through our mapping process, including seasonal patterns, local weather knowledge, and traditional farming practices, represents centuries of sustainable land management wisdom. Measuring how cultural mapping bridges generational gaps in environmental knowledge and documenting elders sharing place-based sustainability practices with young mappers would demonstrate how cultural continuity supports green transition goals. Cultural Assets as Green Infrastructure The Public Map collaborated with Free Ice Cream – participatory mapping specialists who developed relational maps, known as “Happenings” to reveal “epicentres of community resilience” on Anglesey, which point toward a crucial understanding of cultural infrastructure.10 These networks require deeper quantification through mapping the density of cultural assets, including community centres, informal gathering places, and cultural practices, then correlating these with community resilience indicators. Cultural mapping brings diverse stakeholders into conversation about cultural dimensions and potentials of a place, transforming planning from a purely technical exercise into a community-driven process that builds on existing social capital, particularly within a rural setting as in the case of much of Anglesey. Duxbury (2024) observes that the potential of the cultural and creative sectors in non-urban areas is under-researched. With reference to the IN SITU project, which focuses on place-based work in non-urban areas of the EU, Duxbury referred to problems with connectivity (transport, infrastructure), networking and policymaking, and noted that “cultivating cultural vibrancy, continuance as well as adaptation and change over time are Sam Howey Nunn, from Free Ice Cream, defines the “Happenings” resource as “a participatory mapping tool for exploring the built environment that prioritises a real, collective understanding of community wellbeing, rather than one that is designed to trammel time-limited citizen responses when the developers loom into view” https://publicmap.org/en/blog/prototyping-new-technologies-creating-new-kinds-of-maps (Last accessed 8 May 2026). 10

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integral aspects of local sustainability” (Duxbury, 2024, unpag.). Duxbury (2020) refers to research undertaken in a rural Western Australian by Anwar McHenry, which highlighted the potential of the arts to explore identity and sense of place, and to promote resilience through community-based discussions (Anwar McHenry, 2011 in Duxbury, 2020, p. 757). The documentation of how cultural venues become hubs for green transition activities provides concrete evidence of culture as enabler rather than barrier. Traditional sustainable practices still embedded in Welsh communities, from common lands management to traditional building techniques and local food systems, represent living examples of sustainable community organisation. Providing an inventory of these practices and documenting their revival through cultural mapping would demonstrate how cultural heritage provides practical solutions for contemporary environmental challenges. Methodology and Community Agency Cultural mapping as a mechanism to promote development offers constitutive approaches that consider the complexity of the link between society and culture. Our evidence needs to demonstrate how cultural mapping changes planning decisions differently than purely economic or environmental data, showing concrete examples of cultural considerations integrated into Local Plan processes. This participatory approach fundamentally shifts power dynamics, giving communities agency in defining their own development priorities based on cultural values and local knowledge. The transformation of the community mappers employed within the project from data collectors into researchers presenting at the WISERD Annual conference at Aberystwyth University in 2025 is an example, demonstrating how cultural mapping builds community capacity for self-advocacy, forming a bridge between academic research and community voices. Measuring changes in community efficacy and planning participation after cultural mapping, along with documenting community-initiated projects that emerged from cultural mapping insights, would provide powerful evidence of sustained community empowerment. Place is inseparable from culture: in his essay Culture and Politics: Plaid Cymru’s Challenge to Wales (1975), the Welsh socialist scholar Raymond Williams considered how culture represents the reality of our day-to-day lives, including “home, family and a job; wages and prices; politics and crisis” (Williams, 2021, p. 51), and as François Matarasso points out, a place provides resources and constraints and defines what is possible in very basic terms (Matarasso, 2019). Culture can act as both barrier and enabler to low-carbon transitions: Kaldrack and Nohr refer to the media ecological theories that evidence the complex relationship between digital technologies and the environment (Kaldrack & Nohr, 2023, p. 13). Such theories highlight how digital cultures contribute to environmental degradation and social injustice – from raw material extraction and device production to energy consumption and waste. Simultaneously, these theories examine how digital technologies increasingly shape and operate within ecosystems autonomously, influencing human behaviour through platforms, smart systems, and automated industries, often beyond users’ control (see also Sovacool and Griffiths, 2020, Goggins et al., 2022, Torren-Peraire et al., 2024, and Wojtaszek et al., 2025).

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Our work on the Public Map suggests however that cultural mapping and place-based research can provide transitional corridors between different scales of development; the Public Map’s approach to cultural mapping, through engagement with children and young people, can reveal cultural barriers to sustainability and provides nuanced understanding of how to work with rather than against cultural dynamics in promoting environmental change. This participatory approach fundamentally shifts power dynamics, giving communities agency in defining their own development priorities based on cultural values and local knowledge. As discussed previously, research demonstrates that culture can act as both barrier and enabler to low-carbon transitions, but our work suggests culture provides transitional corridors between different scales of development. Documenting cultural practices that support versus hinder green transition goals and showing how cultural mapping reveals and addresses cultural barriers to sustainability provides nuanced understanding of how to work with, rather than against, cultural dynamics in promoting environmental change. Evidence Collection Priorities The most compelling cultural evidence would emerge from measuring place attachment and community identity strength before and after cultural mapping participation. New cultural narratives that support sustainability, cross-cultural exchange facilitated by mapping between Welsh and English speakers, and documentation of traditional ecological knowledge informing contemporary environmental decisions would demonstrate the practical value of cultural approaches to green transition. Cultural innovation sparked by the mapping process, including new artistic expressions, stories, and performances about place, along with cultural products that promote green transition behaviours, can show how cultural mapping generates creative responses to environmental challenges. In Pillai’s words, cultural mapping offers an “integrated picture of cultural character, significance and workings of a place” (Pillai, 2020, p. 1), which can transform environmental planning from technical overlay to community-rooted transformation. This cultural dimension could be our strongest differentiator, as most green transition initiatives neglect cultural resources entirely. Our Welsh language element is particularly unique and could provide compelling evidence about how cultural identity strengthens environmental stewardship. The methodology’s transferability across different cultural contexts, from rural Welsh communities to multicultural Wrexham, Cardiff and Cambridge, offers opportunities to demonstrate how cultural mapping adapts while maintaining its core value of making community knowledge visible and actionable in planning processes. Cultural mapping evidence would position the Public Map not just as a technical tool for overlaying environmental data, but as a community empowerment methodology that makes cultural assets visible, strengthens place-based identity, and channels traditional knowledge into contemporary sustainability practice. This represents a fundamental contribution to green transition methodology that goes well beyond technical innovation to address the social and cultural foundations necessary for sustained environmental change.

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This article has documented how bardic practices have provided ways of enabling children, young people and the communities on the isle of Anglesey to think about their future, taking into account aspects of wellbeing, a sense of belonging and the green transition. The use of creative methods has invited the participants in different ways to imagine a better, greener future. The incorporation of the bardic work within the multifaceted approach of the Public Map fosters agency within the communities, offering a base to develop new ways of thinking and living on the island, and an opportunity to map the things that are important to them. Although the bardic approaches have been diverse, the stories and traditions of the past have often served as a common element in their approaches, weaved together with innovation and an intuitive approach to working creatively. Our research also looks at other ways of approaching cultural mapping as a potent tool for developing sustainable ways of planning for the future. There is a clear link between the language of Wales and place attachment, and by adopting further artistic approaches to cultural mapping, we believe there is huge potential to consider new ways of working towards preferable futures.

Declaration of Use of AI and AI-assisted Technologies in the Writing Process ChatGPT was used to improve readability and flow in a small number of paragraphs within the essay. The final output was revised to maintain the authors’ writing style.

Funding Declaration This work, the Public Map, was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number AH/Y003772/1].

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References Boeri, A., Boulanger, S. O. M., Gianfrate, V., Leoni, G., Longo, D., Massari, M. & Roversi, R. (2020). Introduction. In G. Leoni et al. (Eds.), Cultural Heritage Leading Urban Futures: Actions and Innovations from ROCK Project, 9–15. Delft University of Technology. Bell, D. M. & Pahl, K. (2017). Co-production: towards a utopian approach. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 21(6), 105–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2017.1348581 Brownson, G. (2025). Mapping the Imagination. https://publicmap.org/en/blog/mapping-theimagination (Last accessed 8 May 2026). Cele, S. (2006). Communicating Place: Methods for Understanding Children’s Experience of Place [Doctoral Dissertation, Stockholm University]. Duxbury, N. (2020). Cultural and creative work in rural and remote areas: An emerging international conversation. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 27(6), 753–767. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2020.1837788 Duxbury, N. (2024, 6 November). Activate the potential of the cultural and creative sector in non-urban areas. Dite. https://www.dite-aisre.it/activate-the-potential-of-the-culturaland-creative-sector-in-non-urban-areas/ Duxbury, N., Garrett-Petts, W. F., & Longley, A. (Eds.) (2019). Artistic Approaches to Cultural Mapping: Activating Imaginaries and Means of Knowing. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315110028 Duxbury, N., Garrett-Petts, W. F., & MacLennan, D. (Eds.) (2015). Cultural Mapping as Cultural Inquiry. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315743066 Falanga, R. & Bonoli, A. (2020). Sustainability and Cultural Heritage. In G. Leoni et al. (Eds.), Cultural Heritage Leading Urban Futures: Actions and Innovations from ROCK Project, 82–90. Delft: Delft University of Technology. Fenn, J. (2019), Exploring routes: mapping, folklore, digital technology, and communities. In N. Duxbury et al. (Eds.), Artistic Approaches to Cultural Mapping: Activating Imaginaries and Means of Knowing, 239–252. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315110028-14 Goggins, G., Rau, H., Moran, P., Fahy, F., & Goggins, J. (2022). The role of culture in advancing sustainable energy policy and practice. Energy Policy, 167, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113055 Graves, C. (2024). Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape. Cardiff: Calon. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.43599847 Hall, T., Lashua, B., & Coffey, A. (2006). Stories as sorties. Qualitative Researcher, 3(3), 2– 4.

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McHenry, J. A. (2011). Rural empowerment through the arts: the role of the arts in civic and social participation in the mid west region of Western Australia. Journal of Rural Studies, 27(3), 245–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2011.03.001 Hopkins, R. (2020). From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want. London: Chelsea Green. Hudson, L. S. (2024). A Postcard from Ynys Môn. https://publicmap.org/en/blog/a-postcardfrom-ynys-mon (Last accessed 8 May 2026). Järvelä, M. (2023, 15 December). Dimensions of cultural sustainability – Local adaptation, adaptive capacity and social resilience. Frontiers in Political Science, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2023.1285602 Jenks, C. (2004). Culture. Routledge. Kaldrack, I., & Nohr, R. F. (2023). Preferable Futures. Meson Press. Kangas, A., Duxbury, N., & De Beukelaer, Ch. (Eds.) (2018). Cultural Policies for Sustainable Development. London & New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351025508 Kaszynska, P., Anzel, A., & Rolls, C. (2021). Reasons to Co-Create, Future Trends. Retrieved 14 August 2025, from https://coventry21evaluation.info/wpcontent/uploads/2023/10/paper_3-_reasons_to_co-create_web.pdf Lozano, L. (2019). Herbarium: a map of the bonds between inhabitants and landscapes. In N. Duxbury et al. (Eds.), Artistic Approaches to Cultural Mapping: Activating Imaginaries and Means of Knowing, 143–161. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315110028-9 Matarasso, F. (2019). A Restless Art: How participation won, and why it matters. Lisbon and London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Nunn, S. H. (2024). Prototyping New Technologies: Creating new kinds of maps that explore the interconnectedness of community wellbeing. https://publicmap.org/en/blog/prototyping-new-technologies-creating-new-kinds-ofmaps (Last accessed 11 September 2025) Ojala, M. (2016). Facing Anxiety in Climate Change Education: From Therapeutic Practice to Hopeful Transgressive Learning. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 21, 41–56. Pillai, J. (2020). Cultural Mapping: A Guide to Understanding Place, Community and Continuity, Second Edition. Selangor: Strategic Information and Research Development Center. Public Map. Public Map. https://publicmap.org (Last accessed 16 September 2025).

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Saper, C. (2019). Folkvine’s three ring circus-y: a model of avant-folk mapping. In N. Duxbury et al. (Eds.), Artistic Approaches to Cultural Mapping: Activating Imaginaries and Means of Knowing, 253–277. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315110028-15 Sovacool, B. K., & Griffiths, S. (2020). The cultural barriers to a low-carbon future: A review of six mobility and energy transitions across 28 countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 119, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.109569 Skippington, P. A., & Davis, D. F. (2016). Arts-based community development: rural remote realities and challenges. Rural Society, 25(3), 222–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/10371656.2016.1255477 Throsby, D. (2018). Culturally sustainable development: theoretical concept or practical policy instrument. In A. Kangas, N. Duxbury & C. De Beukelaer (Eds.), Cultural Policies for Sustainable Development, 5–19. London & New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351025508-1 Torren-Peraire, D., Savin, I., & van der Bergh, J. (2024). An agent based model of cultural change for a low-carbon transition. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Stimulation, 27(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.18564/jasss.5291 Trell. E., & Van Hoven, B. (2010). Making sense of place: exploring creative and (inter)active research methods with young people. Fennia, 188(1), 91–104. Ty Cerdd. Ynys Dywyll. (2025). https://www.tycerdd.org/sionci/ynys-dywyll (Last accessed 8 May 2026). Utopias Bach. Amdan/About Utopias Bach. https://www.utopiasbach.org/amdan-about (Last accessed 8 May 2026). Williams, D. G. (Ed.) (2021). Who Speaks for Wales? Nation, Culture, Identity: The Centenary Edition by Raymond Williams. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.14491507 Wojtaszek, H., Budrowski, D., Miciula, I., Kowalczyk, A., Malionwska, I., Blaszczak, B., Pawlińska, A., Stecyk, A., Bielawa, A., & Ozdyk, S. (2025). Cultural identity and social norms as drivers of the low-carbon transition: A comparable study of Poland and Germany. Energies, 18(3605), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.3390/en18143605 Corresponding author: Alec Shepley Email: alec.shepley@wrexham.ac.uk

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Exploring Traditional Business Rituals in Rural Bangladesh: Reviving Halkhata as Cultural Heritage Md. Roni Mridha Institute of Social Welfare and Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Tabassum Akter Rami InstBtute of SocBal Welfare and Research, UnBversBty of Dhaka, Bangladesh Amit Hasan Antor Institute of Social Welfare and Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Sanjida Tahjib Ridi Institute of Social Welfare and Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Abstract This study examines the transformation of Halkhata, a traditional Bengali year-opening business ritual associated with Pohela Boishakh. Originating in 1584 AD under Mughal Emperor Akbar with the introduction of the Bengali calendar, Halkhata has functioned as both an economic and cultural festival. Using qualitative methods, including interviews with traders, customers, and key informants, the study explores generational differences, socio-cultural values, and institutional interventions shaping the practice. Findings reveal a pronounced intergenerational divide: older businessmen and senior customers perceive Halkhata as a moral, cultural, and communal ritual that reinforces trust, reciprocity, and community bonding, while younger traders and customers increasingly engage through digital transactions, social media, and convenience-driven practices. This shift reflects broader influences of urbanization, technological adoption, and exposure to Westernized leisure cultures, which have weakened the emotional and symbolic significance of the ritual. The study also identifies political and religious dynamics as critical factors, noting that Islamic political movements have at times marginalized traditional Hindu-influenced practices in public spaces, contributing to selective celebration of Halkhata in contemporary urban bazaars. Despite these challenges, both older stakeholders and experts emphasize the potential for revitalization through adaptive strategies, such as digital promotion, community-level fairs, and institutional support, ensuring continuity while preserving cultural essence. The findings underscore the tension between heritage preservation and modernization, highlighting the need for culturally sensitive interventions that engage youth without diluting the ritual’s symbolic and social significance. This study contributes to understanding how traditional business rituals adapt to contemporary socioeconomic, technological, and political contexts, offering insights for heritage management, cultural policy, and intergenerational knowledge transmission. Keywords: cultural festival, Halkhata, pohela boishakh, traditional business practices, tradition, heritage

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The Background of Halkhata The Halkhata tradition, the ceremonial opening of a new ledger at the Bengali New Year can be traced back to the introduction of the Bangla calendar in 1584 CE under Mughal Emperor Akbar. This calendar, known as Tarikh-e-Elahi, was initially devised to align revenue collection with the agricultural harvest, creating a practical system that would later provide the cultural foundation for rituals such as Halkhata. Over the centuries, Halkhata became a symbolic practice for businesses to close old accounts, forgive or recollecting debts, and begin afresh with blessings for prosperity, often marked by food, gifts, and social gatherings. Halkhata is more than an accounting ritual, it is a social and cultural celebration deeply tied to Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year. Like Mangal Shobhajatra (Auspicious Procession), which was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016, Halkhata embodies themes of renewal, community harmony, and intergenerational bonding (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2016). Its practices, inviting customers with handwritten letters, distributing sweets, decorating shops with colorful poster and paper, and hosting gatherings reflect an emotional economy of trust and reciprocity, which resonates strongly in rural Bangladesh (Islam, 2017). Halkhata celebration is a 248-year-old Bengali tradition of opening new ledger books on Pahela Baishakh, symbolizes a fresh financial beginning and remains culturally significant despite declining practice due to modern bookkeeping systems (Businesspeople celebrate 248-yearold, 2025). Halkhata and similar practices demonstrate that religiously rooted business rituals enhance trust, continuity, and profitability within small trading communities (De & Gupta, 2015). Halkhata functions as a bridge between economics and emotions, where business transactions intertwine with hospitality, cultural performances, and social bonding. Customers participate not only to settle outstanding dues but also to enjoy festive refreshments such as savory crispy pastry snacks (nimki), traditional sugar-coated sweets (kodma), Syrupy cheese ball (rosogolla), and Fried sugar spiral (jilapi), along with seasonal fruits including watermelon, muskmelon, jackfruit, and mango, as well as betel leaf and areca nut (paan–supari). The occasion is further enriched by folk music, informal conversations, and communal laughter, making Halkhata a culturally embedded social gathering rather than merely a financial ritual. Bangladesh ratified the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009 (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2003), leading to the successful inscription of major traditions like Mangal Shobhajatra in 2016 (UNESCO, 2016). In 2023, the Bangladesh National Museum launched a national inventory of intangible cultural heritage. However, despite its historical and cultural richness, Halkhata has not yet been recognized at the national or international level, creating a policy gap. The traditional practice of Halkhata has diminished in the digital era. With the widespread use of computers, laptops, and mobile applications, handwritten ledgers are now rarely used, and it has become uncommon for businessmen to open new Ledger Books (Talikhatas) on the first day of the Bengali New Year. Nevertheless, in an effort to preserve this

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cultural practice, many businesspeople in the capital continue to celebrate Halkhata festivals to uphold the tradition (Mahmud, 2025). This study is significant as it documents and provides evidence of a rapidly declining cultural practice deeply rooted in Bengali identity. By recording the historical background, current practices, and intergenerational perspectives of Halkhata, it contributes to the national intangible cultural heritage inventory, a prerequisite for safeguarding through research, cultural policy, or UNESCO nomination. Halkhata illustrates how commerce transforms into culture, fostering trust, loyalty, and social solidarity, thus functioning as valuable social capital in rural networks. The research also addresses policy gaps, highlighting rural rituals often overlooked compared to recognized practices in Bangladesh. In an era of globalization and modernization, Halkhata demonstrates adaptability through social media, digital records, and hybrid celebrations, offering sustainable preservation pathways that merge continuity with innovation for future generations. These insights are reinforced by the study’s findings, which show declining participation among youth, yet enduring attachment among elderly traders and customers. Such generational contrasts highlight the urgency of revitalizing Halkhata before it fades further, while also demonstrating its potential to be reimagined in modern contexts. Academically, this research contributes to the growing discourse on intangible cultural heritage (ICH) within social sciences, anthropology, and cultural studies. It serves as a case example of how economic rituals intersect with cultural identity and collective memory. Universities, researchers, and students especially from younger generations can benefit by exploring Halkhata as a model of integrating traditional practices with digital innovations, such as social media promotion or online archiving. Preserving Halkhata promotes global cultural awareness and addresses the current lack of official preservation strategies, providing a framework to guide national heritage policies. Ultimately, this study is justified as a forward-looking effort to ensure intergenerational knowledge transfer. By merging tradition with contemporary trends, Halkhata can be revived as both a cultural symbol and a dynamic heritage practice central to Bangladesh’s identity. Traditional cultural-business rituals like Halkhata in rural Bangladesh are experiencing rapid decline under the influence of modernization, digitalization, and shifting consumer behavior. Once central to commerce, social bonding, and cultural identity, Halkhata is now weakened as younger traders prefer mobile banking, social media promotion, and digital records over ritualbased gatherings (Rahman & Akter, 2022). Unlike in West Bengal, where such traditions are better documented (De & Gupta, 2015), Bangladesh lacks systematic research and safeguarding strategies. This neglect risks eroding an intangible cultural heritage that historically reinforced trust, hospitality, and community cohesion. Without timely academic and policy attention, Halkhata may vanish from rural business life (UNESCO, 2003).

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Objectives of the Study This study aims to examine Halkhata as a traditional business ritual and festive cultural event in Bangladesh by exploring its historical origins, evolution, and the social values it carries as an element of intangible cultural heritage. It investigates the customary preparations, religious and cultural formalities, hospitality practices, and community interactions that shape the ritual, while also assessing the profiles and participation patterns of traders, customers, families, and intergenerational groups. The study further analyzes how modernization, digitalization, urban lifestyles, and shifting youth attitudes are transforming the practice over time. In addition, it identifies the key challenges and threats affecting the continuity of Halkhata, including declining participation, commercialization, and policy gaps, and evaluates community perceptions regarding its preservation. Finally, the research aims to propose practical strategies for safeguarding and promoting Halkhata at national and international levels, aligning it with cultural policies and contemporary trends. Methodology of the Study This study employed a qualitative research design to examine the cultural, social, and ritual dimensions of Halkhata as an intangible business tradition in Bangladesh. A case study strategy was used to capture contextual variations and community perceptions, supported by Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and participant narratives. These methods provided in-depth insights into ritual practices, intergenerational interactions, and contemporary transformations shaping the continuity of Halkhata. The research was conducted in rural marketplaces of Faridpur District. Faridpur was selected because it is historically recognized as one of the oldest trading hubs in Bengal, known for its vibrant rural marketplaces, long-standing business practices, and preservation of cultural rituals. For this study, the sites were purposively selected from multiple locations within the Faridpur district, including Hat Kestopur of Greda Union and Kanaipur Bazar of Kanaipur Union under Faridpur Sadar Upazila, as well as Piajkhali Bazar and Monikotha Bazar of Akoterchar Union under Sadarpur Upazila. Its central role in traditional commerce makes it a significant site to study the transformation of Halkhata. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select participants with direct experience and contextual knowledge of the Halkhata tradition. The sample comprised 35 respondents, including key informants (5) with market association leaders, local authorities, and cultural experts, elderly businessmen familiar with long-standing customs (10), newly established traders representing contemporary business practices (10), and customers from varied age groups (10). This composition ensured a diverse and balanced representation of stakeholders, enabling a comprehensive understanding of both traditional perspectives and emerging shifts within Halkhata practices.

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Table 1 Data Collection Techniques and Tools Techniques Used

Tools

Face-to-face Interview

Case Study Guidelines

Observation

Observation Checklist

Informal Group Discussion

Type of Tools

Open-ended

KII Guideline

Data were collected through case studies and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), supported by face-to-face interviews, direct observation, and informal discussions. Case study guidelines and observation checklists facilitated systematic inquiry, while open-ended questions enabled rich participant insights. The multi-method design ensured triangulation and enhanced validity. Fieldwork was conducted between January 5 and September 20, 2025, with multiple visits to the study sites in Faridpur during mid-March, April, and mid-June. The data were analyzed using a thematic analytical framework (Braun & Clarke, 2006), organizing findings around historical origins, ritual practices, cultural values, community participation, transitions, and preservation challenges. Validity was strengthened through triangulation across diverse participant groups, consistent interview guides, narrative crosschecking, and member-checking with key informants. Ethical procedures including informed consent, anonymity, cultural sensitivity, and voluntary participation were strictly maintained. To ensure data security, this study employed a coding system with four levels corresponding to the different stakeholder groups. Elderly businessmen were assigned codes starting with C-1.1, newly established businessmen or traders with C-2.1, elderly customers with C-3.1, and young customers with C-4.1. Key informant interviews (KIIs) were coded sequentially as KII-01 to KII-05. However, the study faced limitations, including a small sample size, reliance solely on case studies and KIIs, scarcity of scholarly literature, geographic restriction to Faridpur, and limited resources, all of which constrain broader generalizability. Findings of the Study The findings are organized thematically, synthesizing insights from four respondent groups: elderly businessmen familiar with long-standing customs, younger traders representing emerging business practices, older loyal customers, younger or newly engaged customers, and cultural experts or Halkhata expert by using three different set of contextual open-ended questions but similar in pattern and subject. Their perspectives were blended to generate a comprehensive understanding of Halkhata.

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Historical Foundations and Meaning The data reveal that Halkhata is historically embedded in Bengal’s commercial and cultural heritage, with origins traced to the Mughal period when Emperor Akbar introduced the Bengali financial year. Key informants consistently reinforced this view, noting that the ritual has long served as a symbolic reset of financial relations and a marker of new beginnings in business life. As one former Bazar Association Secretary recalled, “Our elders used to tell us that Halkhata began in Akbar’s time… my father never missed celebrating it in his shop” (KII-01). This historical framing portrays Halkhata not only as an economic tool but also as a civilizational practice shaped by the interplay of commerce, culture, and governance over centuries. A cultural expert further emphasized this broader significance, noting that its origin reflects a blend of economic regulation, communal practice, and cultural continuity (KII-03). For older businessmen, these historical roots are not abstract; they are lived memories that define the meaning and purpose of the ritual. Many recalled how the opening of the new ledger symbolized renewal, honesty, and moral responsibility in business. According to one senior cloth merchant, “The opening of the new Halkhata book was like starting a new life for our business… it symbolized honesty and trust between us” (C-1.2). Such reflections highlight how the ritual once formalized trust networks through transparent account-clearing, forgiveness of minor dues, and public acknowledgment of credit relationships. Elderly customers similarly interpreted Halkhata as a community festival grounded in historical continuity. Their recollections of decorated shamianas, gatherings, and sweets reflect an intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge. A senior customer noted, “In my younger days… the whole area used to shine with yellow shamiana cloths… It was like a mini festival” (C-4.2). These memories align with expert accounts describing traditional preparations such as decorated shops, red-bordered invitations, and ritual performance elements (KII-02). In contrast, younger businessmen demonstrate a marked detachment from these historical meanings. Their interpretations are shaped by contemporary market expectations and the rise of fast, transactional business models. As one young trader stated, “For me, Halkhata is just a name now… People expect fast service, not rituals, so I focus on sales only” (C-2.1). This generational shift reflects a broader decline in the symbolic and historical value once attached to Halkhata, illustrating how the ritual’s meaning has evolved alongside changing economic behaviors. Overall, the historical foundation of Halkhata rooted in Mughal fiscal reforms and enriched through centuries of practice continues to shape the perceptions of older participants. However, its symbolic significance appears to be diminishing among younger groups, revealing an emerging disconnect between historical tradition and contemporary economic life.

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Socio-Cultural Values and Community Significance Beyond its historical and economic functions, Halkhata holds broad socio-cultural value that has shaped community relations, social cohesion, and everyday cultural expression. Older businessmen emphasized its role as a festival of collective belonging, where social interaction, hospitality, and ritual performance were central aspects of the celebration. One elderly stationery shop owner described the vibrancy of the event: When I was a boy, Halkhata was like a mini festival in our bazaar. Shops were decorated with red and yellow cloth, new cloth on the shop floor, and hanging flowers with paper. My customer came in groups and children roamed around with excitement. It was not only about writing in a new ledger but celebrating togetherness. (C-1.1) Such accounts highlight how the ritual created shared social spaces that connected traders, customers, and families. Family traditions further reinforced these values. A 75-year-old jeweler recalled learning the ritual from his father, observing techniques of greeting customers, storytelling, and public discussion of debts practices that framed Halkhata as a lesson in discipline, respect, and intergenerational continuity (C-1.3). These narratives illustrate how Halkhata once functioned as a social institution through which values of trust, respect, and communal responsibility were transmitted. Customers’ perspectives also emphasized the sensory and emotional dimensions of the celebration. Senior customers associated Halkhata with hospitality and festivity, highlighting food distribution, colorful decorations, and joint gatherings as markers of social connection. These elements mirror merchants’ efforts to create inviting environments that honored customers and strengthened relational bonds. However, the socio-cultural appeal of Halkhata has undergone notable generational shifts. Younger customers expressed reduced emotional engagement with the ritual, viewing its traditional offerings as outdated compared to contemporary forms of leisure. One participant stated, “I don’t see the point of going to a shop just to eat sweets… the old decorations don’t attract the younger generation” (C-4.9). This reflects a broader cultural transition in which festivals and leisure activities are increasingly linked to commercial urban spaces such as restaurants, cafés, and digital platforms. While Halkhata historically fostered community cohesion and cultural performance including folk songs, poetry, and local entertainment these elements appear less prominent in current celebrations. Experts noted that the ritual once nurtured a strong sense of cultural attachment and community identity, though such communal practices are gradually declining (KII-03). Tensions within the ritual also shaped its socio-cultural dynamics. Older respondents noted interpersonal challenges, such as embarrassment over public mention of dues or disputes

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arising from invitation practices (C-1.9). Younger businessmen now encounter a different form of tension, primarily driven by low attendance, non-payment, and financial loss. These changes reflect evolving expectations that influence the social fabric of the ritual. In fine, Halkhata’s socio-cultural significance lies in its historical role as a communal festival centered on hospitality, reciprocity, and intergenerational bonding. Yet its contemporary relevance is increasingly contested, as younger participants gravitate toward modern social spaces and value systems, resulting in a gradual erosion of the ritual’s traditional communitybuilding functions. Business Formalities and Modes of Relationship Management The findings reveal a clear generational transformation in how business relationships are cultivated and maintained through Halkhata, shifting from personalized, ritual-based interactions to technologically mediated forms of communication and accounting. Older businessmen consistently emphasized that face-to-face engagement and ceremonial preparation were central to the ethical framework of traditional business practices. These traders viewed rituals such as preparing handwritten invitations, cleaning and decorating shops, and personally welcoming customers as moral responsibilities that sustained trust and goodwill. One grocery shop owner described this as a relational obligation rather than a commercial strategy: “A week before Halkhata, we cleaned and painted our shop… Even those who owed money were invited, because this was a chance to maintain goodwill. In some case we have to send a packet of food to customer family” (C-1.4). For senior customers, these practices reinforced a sense of respect and belonging, strengthening long-term relationships and affirming the social value of mutual accountability. In contrast, younger businessmen demonstrate a preference for efficiency-driven and technologically supported forms of relationship management. Digital communication platforms such as WhatsApp, TikTok, Messenger, and mobile banking systems have largely replaced the personalized invitations and physical presence that once defined Halkhata interactions. A young trader noted, “My father still insists on writing in the red ledger book, but I maintain everything on my laptop. There is no point in opening a new notebook every year when accounting software does the job better” (C-2.6). This shift reflects a broader movement toward automation, streamlined record-keeping, and reliance on digital financial systems. Another young respondent described how technology expands business reach and customer engagement: “I maintain my business relationship with customers over WhatsApp or Messenger… I can reach now in diverse locations and connect with new customers by using social media because Wi-Fi is available in these rural areas” (C-2.5). Key informants corroborated these shifts, noting that the transition from ritualized business formalities to digital modes of interaction reflects broader socioeconomic transformations, including rising digital literacy, increased internet accessibility in rural areas, and changing expectations of convenience among younger customers. Older customers, while appreciative of efficiency, nonetheless expressed nostalgia for the personalized invitations and in-person

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gestures that once signified respect and strengthened the social bond between traders and their clientele. Taken together, the findings illustrate a generational divide in the philosophy of business relationship management. While older traders foreground moral obligations, personal rapport, and ritualized trust-building, younger traders prioritize speed, technological convenience, and expanded market networks. As a result, Halkhata is gradually transitioning from a socially embedded practice to a more digitally mediated business formality, marking a shift from community-centered ethics toward efficiency-oriented commercial strategies. Community Bonding and Celebration The findings illustrate that Halkhata historically functioned as a deeply communal event, where hospitality and collective participation were central to sustaining social relationships between traders and local residents. Older businessmen consistently described food, decoration, and face-to-face interaction as core instruments for building trust and reinforcing community belonging. A sweet shop owner emphasized the social symbolism embedded in traditional refreshments, recalling that, no Halkhata felt complete without traditional items like nimki (savory crispy pastry snacks), kodma (traditional sugar-coated sweets), rosogolla, rajvogh (Syrupy cheese balls) Offering food was more than hospitality, it was a social gathering where customers felt honored, exchanged opinions, and even shared family news. (C-1.5) For senior customers, these acts of hospitality created an inclusive festive environment. One elderly respondent described his memories of visiting shops with his father: “The whole area used to shine with yellow shamiana cloths… It was like a mini festival where customers, shopkeepers, and children all gathered” (C-4.2). Such accounts demonstrate that Halkhata was historically embedded in a moral economy of reciprocity, where food and communal gatherings nurtured interpersonal connections and reinforced cultural solidarity. Younger businessmen, however, report declining participation that challenges the sustainability of these traditional forms of hospitality. Rising costs, reduced customer turnout, and inconsistent debt repayment undermine the feasibility of large gatherings. One young trader described his financial disappointment after attempting to recreate the festive ambience: In 2024, I arranged this event on 2nd Boishak (1st Bangla month name) for 60 of my customers and sent them written letters mentioning their dues, inviting them along with their families. However, only 24 customers attended, and some paid only 30–40% of their dues. I faced a financial loss for this occasion, so customer engagement needs to be motivated, and awareness should be increased. (C-2.6) For this cohort, social bonding remains valued in principle, but the economic risks of organizing communal events outweigh the perceived benefits. This stands in clear contrast to

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older traders, for whom hospitality and participation were moral commitments rather than strategic investments. Customer perspectives further illuminate this generational divide. While senior customers associate Halkhata with festivity, collective socialization, and cultural memory, younger customers prioritize convenience and individualized interaction. A younger participant explained, “Now, people are too busy… If I owe money, I simply clear it through bKash or Nagad… The festive spirit is no longer there” (C-4.6). This shift toward digital settlement and reduced physical presence illustrates a broader transformation in social practices, where traditional rituals of gathering are displaced by technology-driven modes of participation. Key informant insights reinforce these trends, noting that food and decoration historically symbolized prosperity, respect, and cultural identity. One expert emphasized, “decorations and traditional foods… are essential to Halkhata’s charm… the declining quality threatens the authenticity of the event” (KII-05). While older respondents continue to value these elements, younger customers express limited enthusiasm, perceiving such offerings as less relevant to contemporary leisure culture. As one young customer stated, “I don’t see the point of going to a shop just to eat sweets… The old decorations and small food offerings don’t attract the younger generation” (C-4.9). Taken together, the findings reveal a significant generational shift in the meaning and practice of communal participation in Halkhata. What once served as a socially embedded celebration of hospitality, reciprocity, and collective identity is increasingly challenged by modernization, changing leisure preferences, and the rise of digital financial practices. While the older generation views Halkhata as a culturally rich communal festival, younger participants both traders and customers approach it through the lens of economic practicality and convenience, resulting in a gradual weakening of the communal bonds that historically defined the event. Generational Differences and Perceptions The findings reveal a pronounced generational divide in the meanings, practices, and perceived relevance of Halkhata. For older businessmen, the ritual embodies a moral, cultural, and familial legacy an inherited practice that historically symbolized collective identity, trust, and community belonging. Senior traders lament the erosion of these values, attributing the decline to the changing social behaviors of youth and the rise of digital financial practices. One 78year-old goldsmith reflected: “Today, people pay online… The youth do not feel the joy of sitting together, signing the red ledger, and eating sweets. This modern life has made our traditions fade away” (C-1.10). Similarly, another senior trader highlighted the impact on social responsibility: “Our customers… are not interested in attending… Their reluctance to pay full dues prevents them from participating… Such incidents are disheartening” (C-1.8). These accounts indicate that older generations perceive a weakening of cultural awareness and emotional attachment among younger participants, reflecting a broader concern over the continuity of Bengali traditions.

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In contrast, younger businessmen view Halkhata as increasingly incompatible with contemporary market pressures. Their accounts underscore the influence of urban lifestyles, time constraints, and digitally mediated business practices. One young trader noted: “We are too busy… The younger generation doesn’t even know the cultural meaning of Halkhata… trends are changing” (C-2.9). For them, the ritual has lost functional relevance and appears outdated in a business environment driven by efficiency, rapid transactions, and online communication. The decline in direct participation is mirrored by younger customers, who prioritize convenience over communal engagement: “If I owe money, I simply clear it through bKash or Nagad… The festive spirit is no longer there” (C-4.6). The following table is showing these generational differences. Table 2 Comparison of Perspectives on Halkhata Traditional Old Businessmen

Younger Businessmen

Celebrate Halkhata as a festival with rituals, food & hospitality

See Halkhata as outdated, irrelevant, and time-consuming

Ledger book = symbol of trust, renewal, and honesty

Prefer digital records, mobile banking, and accounting software

Value community bonding, invitations, and cultural gatherings

Prefer fast, cost-effective promotions & discounts

Believe Halkhata strengthens relationships despite challenges

Feel it is a financial burden with low customer turnout

Strive to preserve tradition through committees & cultural events

Suggest modernized hybrid forms (social media, fairs, live-streams)

Fear Halkhata will vanish without youth participation

Acknowledge it has symbolic value but needs modernization

In this issues, key informants corroborate these generational differences, attributing the transformation to broader socio-cultural changes. Handwritten invitations, decorated shops, and communal gatherings once hallmarks of Bengali cultural identity have been replaced by SMS, WhatsApp messages, and online payment systems. One expert observed: “Now, an SMS or phone call has replaced the handwritten letters, and the warmth has faded” (KII-01). The findings suggest that the generational divide reflects more than age-based preference; it is part of a structural transition where modernization, urbanization, and digitalization are reshaping cultural practices, leading to reduced emotional and social investment among youth. Modernization and Digital Economy While generational differences highlight the decline in traditional practices, the findings also reveal opportunities for adaptation through modernization and integration with digital tools.

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Younger traders demonstrate a pragmatic approach, advocating hybrid models that preserve the symbolic essence of Halkhata while making it relevant in contemporary business contexts. One clothing shop owner explained: Earlier, customers came to our shop on Halkhata day to clear dues, but now most pay through mobile banking. I maintain relationships with customers over WhatsApp or Messenger… We can reach diverse locations and connect with new customers using social media. Now we are in a new business trend.” (C-2.5). Another trader envisioned digitalized celebrations: “If Halkhata is celebrated through an online campaign or livestreamed event, maybe young people will find it interesting. Customers can join digitally, and we can offer promotions linked with it… But the mainstream philosophy of this event must be static. (C-2.10) Despite these adaptations, the challenges posed by urbanization, cost, and shifting cultural expectations remain significant. Customers noted that modernization has reduced participation and altered the traditional festive atmosphere: Urbanization and technology have changed everything. Nobody has time for sitting in shamiana (canopy) and eating nimki (savory crispy pastry snacks), The cost of arranging such events is also high… Unless Halkhata adapts with modern elements like digital promotions or online offers, it will not survive. (C-4.10) Experts similarly emphasize the cultural dimension of the challenge, warning that without deliberate adaptation, Halkhata risks becoming a nostalgic memory rather than a living tradition: “The decline is not just economic; it is cultural. When oral traditions and folk practices lose ground, events like Halkhata naturally weaken” (KII-04). Older businessmen, while open to modernization, insist that the core cultural and symbolic values of Halkhata must remain intact. One elder explained: Even now, when I open the new ledger, customers feel a bond of trust. It shows that business is not just about money but about continuity and respect. Halkhata may seem outdated, but it still builds human connections better than digital receipts. (C-1.1) The integration of technology, social media, and modern event management, combined with targeted institutional support, thus presents a pathway for ensuring both the economic and cultural sustainability of Halkhata. Together, the two themes illustrate a linked but distinct dynamic: generational divergence highlights the erosion of cultural continuity and emotional engagement, while modernization and digital adaptation offer strategies to sustain the tradition within contemporary social and economic frameworks. The study underscores the need for culturally adaptive approaches that re-engage youth without compromising the symbolic richness and communal spirit that historically defined Halkhata.

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Prospects for Revitalizing Halkhata The future of Halkhata, as reflected across perspectives of older and younger businessmen, customers, and key informants, is shaped by ongoing forces of modernization, urbanization, and digital transformation. Rather than viewing these changes as purely destructive, respondents highlight a complex negotiation between preserving cultural essence and embracing contemporary forms. Younger traders consistently emphasize that digital tools and competitive business environments have redefined customer interactions, accounting practices, and event participation. Their reflections suggest not a rejection of Halkhata but a demand for modernization. As one trader proposed, “If Halkhata is celebrated through an online campaign or live-streamed event, maybe young people will find it interesting… Digitalization and modern food and music need to incorporate in this event” (C-2.10). Others envision collective modernization, such as digitally promoted community fairs that blend tradition with contemporary cultural elements (C-2.9). For them, revitalization requires integrating online communication, mobile payments, and promotional strategies, making the ritual compatible with modern lifestyles. Older traders, by contrast, place emphasis on maintaining the core cultural and relational philosophy of Halkhata. While they acknowledge the necessity of adaptation, they insist that modernization cannot replace the symbolic and interpersonal warmth embedded in traditional practices. One elder businessman explained, “Even now, when I open the new ledger, customers feel a bond of trust… Halkhata may seem outdated, but it still builds human connections better than digital receipts” (C-1.1). Their perspective highlights that emotional connection, mutual trust, and ritual symbolism must remain at the heart of any reinvention. Customers and key informants reinforce this tension between decline and renewal. Senior customers express concern that urbanization, rising costs, and digital habits have diminished participation, yet many believe that Halkhata retains cultural value capable of re-emerging in new forms. An elderly customer noted how modern life disrupts traditional gatherings, while a younger counterpart stressed that without incorporating digital promotions or online incentives, the event may struggle to survive (C-4.10). Experts further argue that Halkhata’s decline is intertwined with broader cultural erosion: “The decline is not just economic; it is cultural. When oral traditions and folk practices lose ground, events like Halkhata naturally weaken” (KII-04). At the same time, both customers and experts identify resilience within the tradition. Key informants suggest that adaptation not abandonment is the path forward, as cultural heritage survives through reinvention rather than static preservation. One cultural expert emphasized this resilience by stating, “Halkhata lies in its role as an intangible cultural heritage… strengthening social bonds and making business meaningful for customers” (KII-04). This view aligns with senior customers who believe that even if practices change, the underlying values of trust, reciprocity, and community responsibility will continue to anchor the ritual.

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Overall, the findings reflect a shared recognition across respondent groups that Halkhata’s sustainability depends on its ability to evolve. Modernization and digitalization present significant challenges but also offer avenues for creative renewal. A culturally sensitive adaptation merging traditional symbolism with contemporary forms of engagement emerges as the most promising path for ensuring Halkhata’s relevance in a rapidly changing socio-cultural landscape. Institutional Interventions and Collective Responsibility The sustainability of Halkhata is increasingly seen as dependent on institutional support and coordinated efforts among market stakeholders. Older businessmen emphasize that revitalization cannot rely solely on individual initiative; instead, collective organization through market committees, trade associations, and government recognition is crucial. A senior trader explained: Our local market committee still arranges Halkhata gatherings and sponsors cultural events. We, the older businessmen, remind the young traders to continue the custom. But unless youth take interest, the tradition will disappear and is now on the verge of extinction. (C-1.7) This view underscores the importance of institutional oversight in preserving both the cultural and relational aspects of the tradition. Policy-level recognition is another key recommendation from elder merchants. Eight of the older traders advocated that the government formally acknowledge Halkhata as an intangible cultural heritage and provide small-scale financial support to sustain its practice. Such recognition is envisioned to enhance public awareness, encourage participation, and alleviate the economic burden of arranging elaborate gatherings, ensuring continuity of the ritual in contemporary contexts. Younger businessmen, while less emotionally attached to the traditional aspects of Halkhata, also favor institutional arrangements. Their support is motivated primarily by practical considerations such as efficiency, cost-sharing, and the ability to reach wider audiences. Digitalized fairs or centralized events coordinated by business associations are seen as a way to maintain Halkhata’s relevance while integrating technology, modern marketing, and contemporary cultural elements. One young trader observed, “If business associations arrange a common Halkhata fair mixing tradition with modern style, like digital promotions along with cultural events, then maybe more youth will participate” (C-2.9). This reflects a shift toward institutionalized innovation that aligns heritage practices with current commercial and technological norms. Key informants also highlighted the role of institutions in linking cultural preservation with community engagement. A cultural expert noted, “Halkhata is not merely an economic practice; institutional support can ensure that it remains a living cultural event, connecting

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generations while embedding it into the social fabric of the market” (KII-03). This insight reinforces the dual role of institutions: safeguarding heritage while facilitating modern adaptation. In fine, the findings indicate that effective institutional interventions are pivotal for the continuity of Halkhata. Both older and younger stakeholders recognize that coordinated efforts ranging from policy recognition, market committee involvement, to digitally mediated fairs can bridge generational gaps, balance tradition with innovation, and secure the ritual’s relevance in contemporary society. Sustainability and Continuity of Halkhata Despite widespread acknowledgment of its decline, older businessmen consistently expressed a strong desire for the preservation and revival of Halkhata. All ten senior traders emphasized that they cordially want the tradition reinstated, recognizing its enduring social, cultural, and commercial significance. Eight of them further recommended strategic modernization to ensure its relevance to younger generations. One trader suggested: “To save Halkhata, we must engage the young generation. Use social media to promote it, organize cultural competitions, and mix tradition with modern style. Only then can Halkhata survive for the next hundred years” (C-1.2). This reflects a forward-looking perspective that balances heritage preservation with contemporary adaptation. Younger traders, while less attached to traditional practices, do not oppose the continuation of Halkhata; rather, they emphasize practicality, cost-effectiveness, and technological integration. Their suggestions focus on hybrid models that maintain cultural essence while aligning with modern business realities. As one young trader noted, digital campaigns and live-streamed celebrations could attract wider participation: If Halkhata is celebrated through an online campaign or live-streamed event, maybe young people will find it interesting. Customers can join digitally, and we can offer promotions linked with it. Digitalization and modern food and music need to incorporate in this event. But I think the mainstream philosophy of this event must be static. (C-2.10) Such proposals indicate an openness to modernization without abandoning symbolic and relational values. Customer perspectives further illuminate the challenges and possibilities for sustaining Halkhata. Elderly customers highlighted the cultural and social importance of the tradition and stressed the need for continuity, even if modified for modern contexts. One senior customer remarked: “We should not let Halkhata die. Even if it is modernized with digital invitations, at least one day in the year should remind us of our cultural bonding. Otherwise, our children will grow up without these colorful memories” (C-4.3). Conversely, other customers emphasized modernization, urbanization, and rising event costs as critical threats:

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Urbanization and technology have changed everything. Nobody has time for sitting in shamiana and eating nimki. The cost of arranging such events is also high for shopkeepers. Unless Halkhata adapts with modern elements like digital promotions or online offers, it will not survive. (C-4.10) These observations align with merchants’ concerns regarding declining participation and economic pressures, highlighting the necessity of adaptive strategies for sustainability. Key informants reinforced the potential for continuity through structured intervention and modernization. A cultural expert emphasized the importance of institutional and strategic support in ensuring Halkhata remains a living tradition: “Halkhata is not merely an economic or ceremonial practice; with proper guidance and integration of modern tools, it can continue to foster community cohesion, preserve cultural heritage, and strengthen trust between traders and customers” (KII-03). This underscores the idea that sustainability is contingent upon thoughtful adaptation, combining traditional practices with contemporary social and technological realities. In synthesis, the findings suggest that Halkhata’s survival relies on a multi-dimensional approach: strategic modernization, intergenerational engagement, customer and community participation, and institutional support. While its form may evolve, the core values of trust, social bonding, and cultural identity remain central, ensuring that Halkhata continues as both a commercial and cultural ritual in contemporary Bengal. Discussion The present study draws on Creswell and Poth’s (2018) emphasis on qualitative inquiry to explore cultural practices and applies Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis framework, ensuring systematic interpretation of narratives. Historical Background and Glorious Tradition of Bengal The responses collectively confirm that Halkhata has deep historical roots, dating back to the Mughal period, particularly the reign of Emperor Akbar, and was absorbed into the tradition of Pohela Boishakh (1st day of New Bangli Year). Halkhata is a traditional Bengali practice observed on the first day of the Bengali New Year, Pohela Boishakh, where merchants open new ledger books to mark the beginning of a new fiscal year (Mahmud, 2025). Bhattacharya, (2019) wrote Halkhata as a Bengali tradition practiced for more than 430 years. On Poila Baisakh, visiting any Bengali shop, one can see a new khata or ledger placed on the table. Old businessmen emphasized the generational continuity of the practice. They learned it from fathers or grandfathers and considered it a ritual that symbolized honesty and trust. New businessmen, however, often saw Halkhata only as a cultural token rather than a vital business necessity, as modern technology and digital transactions now dominate record-keeping. Customers shared that in earlier times, they eagerly awaited the invitations and sweets

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distributed during Halkhata, but today their participation has declined due to busy lifestyles. Key informants reinforced the historical authenticity of Halkhata while highlighting its transformation from a ledger-centered practice to a community cultural event. Halkhata’s origins remain celebrated as heritage, but generational distance is diluting its lived meaning. While older actors emphasize “continuity,” younger ones regard it as “symbolism.” Objectives and Significance All groups recognized Halkhata’s objectives as clearing old debts, building trust, and strengthening customer business relations, though their emphases differed. Old businessmen strongly tied it to economic ethics, such as honesty in transactions and renewal of trust. New businessmen admitted that although it helps strengthen bonds, it is now more of a marketing tool than a cultural ritual. Customers valued the social bonding aspect, recalling how they once felt proud to be invited to a shopkeeper’s Halkhata program. Now, many felt it had lost charm due to smaller-scale celebrations. KIIs emphasized that Halkhata is more than a business ritual; it is a cultural event that fosters community pride and preserves Bengali heritage. Figure 1 Shifting of Objectives and Significance

Halkhata has shifted from being a primarily economic ritual to a symbolic socio-cultural event. Its significance is remembered with pride, but its objectives are redefined across generations. Activities, Food, and Decoration Old businessmen described elaborate preparations, handwritten invitations, arraging various kind of sweets along with tradition snacks and decorative flowers, which symbolized sincerity. New businessmen admitted scaling down these rituals, replacing letters with SMS or calls, sometimes skipping sweets due to cost. Customers shared fond memories of festive hospitality, but felt modern Halkhata lacked the warmth of earlier days. KIIs highlighted the cultural

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linkage, folk songs, poetry, and rural games once enriched Halkhata, but modern forms have stripped away these elements. Traditional hospitality (food, decoration, and performances) was once the hallmark of Halkhata, but these features are declining due to financial pressures and cultural changes in recent age and in one big hat or bazar only very few shops or traders are arranging it. Transition from Past to Present Old businessmen lamented that participation has reduced; earlier, shops were packed with people. New businessmen saw the transition as natural, stressing efficiency over sentimentality, using mobile banking for dues. Customers recognized reduced gatherings and less richness; they missed the communal aspects. Figure 2 Transition of Halkhata and Future Prediction

Transition is most strongly felt in the decline of participation and the replacement of physical rituals with digital convenience. In some case, it was observed this event is celebrating on English New Year rather than Bengali new year. The findings of this study demonstrate a significant transition in the practice of Halkhata, shifting from a vibrant communal celebration to a diminishing ritual. Historically, Halkhata was a common event observed across shops, marked by mass participation, primary rituals of debt settlement, strong cultural attachment, and a sense of collective identity. In contrast, contemporary practices reveal a sharp decline,

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with fewer shops organizing the event, reduced customer participation, and a growing reliance on digital transactions that prioritize efficiency over sentiment. Customers lament the loss of festive richness, while businessmen emphasize practicality. Experts contextualize this decline as part of broader socio-cultural change influenced by globalization, urban migration, and busy lifestyles. Without intervention, Halkhata faces the risk of cultural extinction. Halkhata, a traditional Bengali practice marking the opening of new account books during Pohela Boishakh, is increasingly threatened by modernization and cultural shifts. Old businessmen identified financial burden and unpaid debts as major challenges. New businessmen noted the disinterest of youth and digital alternatives. Digitalization has rendered physical account-keeping obsolete, leading to a decline in the event's original purpose. Furthermore, the younger generation's preference for online transactions over attending physical gatherings contributes to the tradition's fading relevance. Economic factors, such as the rising costs of organizing feasts and decorations, have discouraged small traders from hosting these events, further diminishing their occurrence. Additionally, disputes over unpaid debts and perceived exclusions from invitations have occasionally strained relationships, eroding the communal spirit that once characterized Halkhata. Cultural globalization has introduced new forms of entertainment and socialization, pushing traditional practices like Halkhata to the margins. Studies indicate that the younger generation in urban Bangladesh prefers Western-style clothing, fast food, and entertainment, reflecting a shift toward a consumer culture with global values (Hussain, 2021). The dominance of Western culture through media, fashion, and consumer products has significantly impacted traditional Bangladeshi culture, leading to a decline in local cultural expressions and a homogenization of lifestyles (Hussain, 2021). Without active promotion or adaptation, Halkhata risks being remembered only nostalgically, rather than as a living practice. Religious and Political Dynamics of Halkhata The gradual decline of Halkhata must be understood not only as a consequence of modernization and economic change, but also within the broader socio-political transformation of Bangladesh, where religious politics and Islamic movements have increasingly shaped cultural norms and public discourse (Lorch, 2019). Since the 1990s, political Islam has reasserted itself, challenging earlier secularist and syncretic traditions that formed the bedrock of many local cultural practices (Hossain, 2012; Islam & Islam, 2018). The rise of Islamist political groups and the growing influence of conservative religious interpretations have often questioned the legitimacy of communal and syncretic cultural practices historically shared across religious lines. As academic research shows, “the political use of religion” in Bangladesh has become institutionalized, with religious identity increasingly mobilized for political expediency, often at the expense of pluralistic cultural heritage (Siddika et al., 2025). In such a climate, traditions like Halkhata historically rooted in trade culture, communal trust, and cross-community interaction risk being reinterpreted as belonging exclusively to minority religious communities (e.g., Hindu traders). This reinterpretation may

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discourage participation among Muslim-majority traders and customers, thereby accelerating cultural erosion. Moreover, the sociocultural research literature notes how the rise of conservative Islamic identity politics in Bangladesh has tended to suppress local folk culture, music, and festivals that emphasize syncretism or shared heritage (Schulz, 2024). This trend undermines the cultural legitimacy of practices like Halkhata. As one cultural-heritage expert argued, “when religion becomes the principal frame of social identity, many folk customs rooted in pluralistic coexistence are judged as ‘outsider’ or ‘non-Islamic’, and gradually abandoned” (KII-03). This shift in collective identity poses a serious threat to the intergenerational continuity of such rituals. Therefore, attributing the decline of Halkhata solely to economic modernization or digitalization risks overlooking a critical political dimension: the rising prominence of Islamic political movements, the politicization of religious identity, and the marginalization of syncretic cultural spaces. Without addressing these factors, any attempt at revival is likely to face structural resistance rooted in contemporary religious-political dynamics. To ensure the survival of Halkhata as a living cultural tradition, it is necessary to adopt culturally inclusive and secular policy frameworks that protect folk heritage, promote inter-community trust, and reaffirm the pluralistic identity of Bengal’s social fabric. Only by doing so can Halkhata remain relevant in a society marked by religious majoritarianism and political Islamization. Inter-generational Perception Gaps Inter-generational perception gaps significantly shape Halkhata’s continuity. Older traders and customers view it as a moral, cultural, and communal ritual, emphasizing trust and social bonding, whereas younger generations prioritize efficiency, digital transactions, and convenience, often neglecting traditional practices. This divergence reflects broader societal changes, including urbanization and technology adoption, which diminish younger participants’ emotional attachment to indigenous rituals (Rashid, 2021). Such gaps challenge the intergenerational transmission of cultural knowledge, threatening Halkhata’s sustainability unless adaptive strategies are implemented. The following table is showing this Generational difference with some basic statistics.

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Table 3 Sociodemographic Characteristics and Generational Perspectives on Halkhata Characteristics Number of respondents Gender (Male/Female)

Education

Occupation Regular participation in Halkhata (In that time) View Halkhata as culturally meaningful Prefer digital participation Cite modernization/technology as main barrier

Older Generation (≥50 years) 15 13 / 2 Primary/Secondary: 9

Younger Generation (<50 years) 15 11 / 4 Primary/Secondary: 4

Total/Cas es 30 23 / 7

Graduate/Postgraduate: 6 Business: 10 Service: 2 Day Labor/farmer: 3

Graduate/Postgraduate : 11 Business owners: 10 Service: 3 Day Labor/Farmer: 2

15 (100%)

2 (13%)

14 (93%)

4 (27%)

2 (13%)

14 (93%)

4 (27%)

15 (100%)

13 / 8

17 / 15 30

The table highlights a pronounced generational divide in Halkhata participation. Older respondents predominantly engage in traditional, physical celebrations, while over 93-100% of younger respondents prefer digital methods such as online payments or virtual events. Modern technology, urban lifestyles, and convenience-oriented practices are cited as major reasons for this shift, demonstrating how digitalization contributes to the decline of traditional cultural practices among youth. Recommendations & Future Revival Old businessmen suggested bringing back community feasts and keeping debt clearance rituals alive. New businessmen proposed linking Halkhata with modern promotions, discounts, and digital advertisements. Customers wanted larger celebrations, cultural programs, and a revival of hospitality. Experts strongly recommended involving youth, integrating Halkhata with Pohela Boishakh fairs, and using government support and social media campaigns to rebrand it as a heritage event. Reviving Halkhata requires a hybrid approach, preserving traditional warmth (food, bonding, rituals) while innovating with modern tools (digital media, tourism, youth engagement). Figure 3

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Revival of Halkhata: A proposed Model

The study reveals that Halkhata is at a crossroads of continuity and change. For older generations, it remains a marker of honesty, heritage, and bonding, while new businessmen and customers perceive it more as symbolic or optional. KIIs provided the broader cultural and structural analysis, warning that without strategic revival, Halkhata risks extinction as a living tradition. Thus, Halkhata’s future depends on balancing tradition with modernization embedding cultural pride while adapting to contemporary business practices. In fine, in can be established by this study that for reviving this event it needs time-based action and policy recommendation.

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Figure 4 Four “T” of Halkhata Revival

Recommendations Halkhata, as an intangible cultural heritage, is currently in transition, facing multiple challenges from modernization, globalization, and declining participation. To ensure its survival, this study proposes policy-oriented recommendations aligned with national priorities and international protocols such as UNESCO, SAARC, and the SDGs. These efforts aim to preserve its authenticity while adapting to contemporary cultural and technological contexts. National Recognition of Halkhata as Cultural Heritage The Ministry of Cultural Affairs should officially recognize Halkhata as a part of Bangladesh’s intangible cultural heritage, ensuring its inclusion in national cultural policies and annual programs. Integration into Mass Awareness and Education Halkhata should be promoted through awareness campaigns on television, radio, and social media. Educational institutions (schools, colleges, and universities) can include short modules or cultural days to engage younger generations in learning about this tradition. Revival through Community-Based Celebrations and Awareness Local business associations and municipalities should organize annual Halkhata festivals at bazaars and hats, combining traditional rituals (ledger signing, sweets, folk music) with modern attractions such as youth stalls, art exhibitions, and cultural shows. Awar must be created on this aspect at community level. Digital Documentation and Promotion Develop a national digital archive (websites, mobile apps, and documentaries) to showcase Halkhata’s history, practices, and stories across generations. Use social media campaigns to attract youth participation and tourism. Blending Tradition with Modern Economy

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Introduce digital Halkhata apps where customers can symbolically “sign” or “settle” accounts while keeping the ceremonial aspect alive. Shop owners could integrate this with mobile banking systems, making the practice relevant to contemporary commerce. Policy Alignment with Tourism and Creative Economy The Bangladesh Tourism Board, in partnership with local chambers of commerce, should market Halkhata as part of Pohela Boishakh tourism packages, promoting it to domestic and international visitors. Regional Collaboration through SAARC As Halkhata has similarities with other South Asian trade rituals, SAARC cultural forums can initiate regional heritage exchanges, workshops, and exhibitions to strengthen shared South Asian identity. UNESCO Recognition as Intangible Cultural Heritage The Government of Bangladesh should prepare a formal nomination dossier to UNESCO for Halkhata’s recognition as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage, ensuring global acknowledgment and preservation support. Table 4 Recommendations in Summary Recommendation Area

Responsible Authorities/Stakeholders

National Recognition

Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Education & Awareness

Ministry of Education, Mass Media Outlets, Universities

Community Festivals

Bazar Associations, Union Parishads, Local NGOs

Digital Promotion

ICT Ministry, Private Tech Firms, Cultural NGOs

Modern Economy Link

Bangladesh Bank (mobile banking regulators), Business Chambers

Tourism Integration

Bangladesh Tourism Board, Ministry of Civil Aviation & Tourism

Regional Collaboration

SAARC Cultural Centre, South Asian Universities

UNESCO Nomination

Ministry of Cultural Affairs, UNESCO National Commission, University Research Centers

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Conclusion Halkhata, a traditional business ritual in Bangladesh, represents a unique cultural practice that blends economic activity, social interaction, and cultural symbolism. Originating during the Mughal period, particularly under Emperor Akbar, Halkhata has historically been observed on the occasion of Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year, when shopkeepers open new ledgers, settle old accounts, and celebrate with customers through food, music, and festivity. Over centuries, this tradition has become deeply rooted in the cultural identity of Bengali society, reflecting values of honesty, renewal, and community solidarity. In line with UNESCO’s criteria for intangible cultural heritage, Halkhata qualifies as a living tradition that has been transmitted across generations through family practices, marketplace rituals, and community celebrations. It embodies both tangible and intangible elements such as handwritten ledgers, ritual prayers, folk songs, decorations, and festive food that together create a holistic cultural expression. The tradition has evolved with time, adapting to contemporary realities such as digital invitations, mobile banking integration, and urbanized contexts, yet it retains its symbolic value as a celebration of trust and togetherness in commerce. Halkhata also fulfills the UNESCO requirement of community participation, as its observance depends on active involvement by business owners, customers, local cultural groups, and families. It functions not only as a financial ritual but also as a festival that reinforces intergenerational connections, strengthens community bonds, and fosters local pride. Its significance extends beyond business, symbolizing the broader cultural values of integrity, reciprocity, and renewal in society. At present, Halkhata faces challenges of decline due to rapid urbanization, the digitalization of financial practices, and waning interest among youth. Without structured safeguarding measures, this tradition risks gradual disappearance. Recognition under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage framework would provide vital support for its preservation by promoting awareness, encouraging documentation, and mobilizing community, national, and international efforts. Importantly, Halkhata also contributes to cultural diversity and human creativity, aligning with UNESCO’s mandate to safeguard traditions that enrich collective human heritage. Its recognition would highlight Bangladesh’s role in sustaining cultural practices that bridge past and present, economy and culture, tradition and modernity. By inscribing Halkhata on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, UNESCO would not only preserve a centuries-old practice but also inspire its revitalization, adaptation, and promotion for future generations at local, regional, and global levels.

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References Bhattacharya, S. (2019). Haalkhata, the intrinsic Poila Baisakh tradition. Get Bengal. https://www.getbengal.com/details/haalkhata-the-intrinsic-poila-baisakh-tradition Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa Businesspeople celebrate 248-year-old halkhata festival in narayanganj (2025, April 15). The Business Standard. https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/businesspeople-celebrate248-year-old-halkhata-festival-narayanganj-1116556 Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications. https://collegepublishing.sagepub.com/products/qualitative-inquiry-and-researchdesign De, K., & Gupta, A. (2015). Rituals in accounting and other related business practices in small trading concerns: A survey of Kolkata city and adjoining areas. Indian Journal of Accounting, 47(2), 147–157. https://doi.org/10.17492/ija.v47i2. Islam, S. (2017). Businesses celebrate Pohela Boishakh. Dhaka Tribune. https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/18570/businesses-celebrate-pohela-boishakh Islam, M. N., & Islam, M. S. (2018). Islam, politics and secularism in Bangladesh: contesting the dominant narratives. Social Sciences, 7(3), 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7030037 Hussain, R. (2021). Cultural globalization and its stimulus on urban youth: A sociological study among university students in Bangladesh. Journal of Indian Research, 9(3–4), 12–24. https://jir.mewaruniversity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/5.pdf Lorch, J. (2019). Islamization by secular ruling parties: The case of Bangladesh. Politics and Religion, 12(2), 257–282. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048318000573 Mahmud, Q. (2025). Halkhata is integral part of Bengali's new year celebration. Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS). https://www.bssnews.net/news/262522 Siddika, A., Islam, S., Saara Khan, A., & Akter Sathi, H. (2025). Understanding the dynamics of the political use of religion in Bangladesh: Causes, process, and consequences. Social Science Review, 41(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.3329/ssr.v41i1.79124 Rahman, M., & Akter, S. (2022). Digital transformation and small businesses in Bangladesh: Opportunities and cultural challenges. Journal of South Asian Studies, 10(1), 55–70. Rashid, M. M. (2021). Youth perspectives and cultural continuity in Bangladesh: Impacts of urbanization and digitalization on traditional practices. Journal of South Asian Studies, 44(2), 215–230.

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Schulz, M. (2024). Singing songs for a secular society? The elusive politics of cultural activism in contemporary Bangladesh. Modern Asian Studies, 58(3), 957–979. https://10.1017/S0026749X24000210 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2003). Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2016). Mangal shobhajatra on pohela boishakh. intangible cultural heritage. https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/mangal-shobhajatra-on-pohela-boishakh-01104 Corresponding author: Md. Roni Mridha Email: rony@du.ac.bd

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The Price of Premium: A Case Study of “Ceremonial Matcha” and Social Media Myth-Making Stephanie Bucci Waseda University, Japan Huynh Tan Gia Bao Waseda University, Japan

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Abstract This article examines how social media and content creators construct the category of “ceremonial grade matcha” through digital mythmaking and explores the cultural, economic, and agricultural consequences of these representations. While matcha has deep historical roots in Japanese tea culture, the Western wellness market has redefined it as a superfood and lifestyle accessory. Through a qualitative textual and visual analysis of the hashtags #matcha and #ceremonialmatcha on Instagram and TikTok, supplemented by blogs and online guides, this study identifies recurring myths that frame ceremonial matcha as pure, premium, and spiritually enriching. Visual tropes such as pastel aesthetics, curated rituals with the chasen (茶筅, tea whisk), and comparative marketing strategies like “Matcha vs. Coffee” or “Ceremonial vs. Culinary” are used to authenticate products while flattening cultural complexity. The findings suggest that these myths operate more as marketing strategies than as cultural designations. “Ceremonial matcha” emerges as a Western construct that appropriates the symbolic weight of Japanese tea practices while detaching the term from its historical and cultural roots. This rebranding commodifies spirituality into lifestyle performance, confuses consumers with oversimplified binaries, and displaces the Japanese standpoint in defining quality. Moreover, the cycle of trend-driven consumption threatens to commodify and exhaust matcha as yet another disposable superfood, placing additional strain on Japanese agricultural systems and raising domestic prices. By decoding these myths, this article highlights how influencer-driven wellness narratives transform a centuries-old cultural practice into a consumable fantasy, underscoring the broader dynamics of Orientalism and commodification in global food culture. Keywords: authenticity, ceremonial grade, cultural commodification, matcha, Orientalism, wellness market

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Open Instagram and type the hashtag #ceremonialmatcha, or even #matcha, into the search bar. A stream of English-language Reels appears. There are many variants of videos, yet there is a saturation among them: a Los Angeles-based influencer in pastel yoga wear whisks a bright green powder into froth, saying adjectives such as “ceremonial grade”, “authentic”, “from Japan”. Or a London nutritionist lists matcha’s “antioxidants and metabolism-boosting powers” over an iced latte. Another Asian lifestyle blogger gets excited because she just came back from the store and got a “hard-to-find” matcha tin imported from Uji, Kyoto. As we scroll down the “Matcha Reels,” the choreography is nearly identical, only the kitchens, gyms, or coffee tables change. This saturation is no accident: the more the algorithm rewards the green aesthetic and its luxury of matcha being “ceremonial grade superfood,” the more creators reproduce them. Many videos also end with affiliate links, directing viewers to purchase the same tins of “ceremonial grade” matcha featured on screen. What emerges is the uniformity of myths: matcha framed as an exclusive, health-beneficial, or even optimizing ritual. The saturation of “ceremonial grade matcha” on English-language social media points to more than a passing wellness fad. On platforms such as Instagram Reels or TikTok, influencers repeatedly frame matcha as a lifestyle accessory: a drink that is at once ancient, premium, and transformative. These videos construct an aspirational identity, where consuming matcha symbolizes health, sophistication, and participation in a cultural ritual. Yet behind the green foam and affiliate links lies a more complicated story that speaks to the commodification of Asian cultural practices in global digital economies. In a scroll of these short-form videos, the word “ceremonial” carries a weight it rarely holds in Japan. It promises luxury, purity, and cultural authenticity, transforming a common drink into a premium wellness lifestyle. In this process, matcha is detached from the histories and practices of Japanese tea culture and rebranded as a superfood within Western-centric health and lifestyle discourses. This article argues that influencers construct myths of “ceremonial matcha” through digital repetition and commercial storytelling. They are myths that carry tangible consequences beyond the screen. On one level, these myths generate wellness fantasies for global audiences, reconfiguring matcha into a consumable performance of health and spirituality. On the other, they contribute to material disruptions: inflating demand, driving up prices, and reshaping how matcha is understood both within and outside Japan (McCurry, 2025). By examining how influencers create and circulate these myths, this study situates matcha as a case of cultural practice transformed through social media economies. Rather than treating “ceremonial matcha” as a tradition or a simple trend, we approach it as a digitally constructed narrative that exemplifies how food, culture, and wellness are reimagined in the algorithmic marketplace. This study draws on a textual analysis of 100 English-language Instagram videos tagged #matcha and #ceremonialmatcha, supplemented by wellness blogs, to trace the myths that shape matcha’s digital circulation.

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Literature Review Matcha and Japanese Cultural History Matcha, a powdered green tea produced through the shading and stone-grinding of tencha leaves, has long occupied a distinctive role in Japanese cultural life since the 9th century (Nunome, 1982). Its cultivation in the Uji region of Kyoto from the sixteenth century onward established both its material and symbolic significance. While sencha (煎茶, steeped tea) later became the dominant form of everyday tea, matcha retained ceremonial value, closely tied to practices of chanoyu (茶の湯, tea ceremony) and the philosophies of Zen aesthetics (Varley & Isao, 1995). Tea ceremony schools such as Urasenke and Omotesenke institutionalized matcha preparation as both a spiritual practice and a performance of refinement, framing it as a cultural practice more than a simple beverage (Surak, 2012). Moreover, matcha’s role in Japanese society has also been central to projects of national identity. Kristin Surak (2012) argues that tea became a form of “nation-work,” whereby cultural practices were mobilized to produce a sense of Japanese distinctiveness. During the Meiji period, when chanoyu transitioned from being the domain of elite men to a practice increasingly associated with women, it was recast as a training ground for ryōsai kenbo (良妻賢母, “good wives, wise mothers”). In this reframing, tea was a moral practice, binding domesticity, gender norms, and the performance of national culture. In the twentieth century, these practices deepened tea’s symbolic value as a marker of civility and collective identity, positioning matcha as part of the moral and cultural infrastructure of Japanese life (Surak, 2012). In Japan, powdered green tea first became prominent in Zen monasteries during the 14th century, where it was valued for its stimulating qualities during meditation, and gradually gained favor among the warrior and aristocratic classes (Sawamura, 2011). By the 16th century, tea masters such as Murata Jukō and Sen no Rikyū transformed tea drinking from a display of wealth into a disciplined practice of simplicity and introspection (Okakura, 2008). Their innovations gave rise to the Japanese tea ceremony, which emphasized the wabi-sabi aesthetic, finding beauty in modest utensils, imperfection, and the quiet repetition of ritual. Within this framework, matcha retained an aura of exclusivity: it was tied to spiritual cultivation and elite refinement, rather than mass consumption. At the same time, tea more broadly became woven into the rhythms of Japanese daily life. While matcha was reserved for ceremonial occasions and formal gatherings, other forms of green tea, such as sencha (煎茶, steeped tea) and bancha (番茶, loose tea leaf), were consumed widely in households and workplaces. Thus, tea culture in Japan has long operated on two registers: as a symbol of cultural prestige and ritual exclusivity, and as an everyday necessity embedded in ordinary routines. Today, this duality persists. Matcha is both a heritage product tied to practices of refinement and spirituality, and, increasingly, a common flavoring in confections, beverages, and daily consumption. In Japan, distinctions are generally made between styles of preparation rather than fixed “grades.” Koicha (濃茶, thick tea) is prepared during formal tea ceremonies, requiring very high-quality matcha with an intense, paste-like consistency. Usucha (薄茶, thin tea) is the more

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common and casual preparation, using slightly lighter matcha that can still be enjoyed on its own. Beyond these practices, matcha is widely available in supermarkets, cafés, and convenience stores, not only as a drink but also as an ingredient in sweets, snacks, and desserts. Unlike in English-speaking markets, there is no officially recognized category of “ceremonial grade”; this term is largely a Western invention used to signal high-quality matcha suitable for drinking without additives. This layered accessibility contrasts sharply with the simplified, premium-only image constructed in global influencer and wellness cultures. Post-Pandemic and the Visibility of Matcha The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted Japan’s already carefully managed tourist economy. Before 2020, the country cultivated an image of “luxury tourism” with experiences marketed as both exclusive and aspirational. Borders closures during the pandemic intensified this sense of distance, while reopening after 2022 coincided with a sharp depreciation of the yen. By 2024, Japan recorded 36.9 million international visitors, surpassing pre-pandemic levels (Koyama, 2025). This surge made Japanese commodities, including matcha, more accessible to tourists seeking affordable luxury goods. Tourist spending in Japan mirrored this visitor surge. Inbound spending hit ¥8.1 trillion (about US$56 billion) in 2024, placing tourism as the country’s second-largest export sector after automobiles. Hotels benefited significantly; average nightly rates rose in Tokyo, exceeding ¥26,000, and national average rates climbed to ¥19,381 by September 2024 (Koyama, 2025). While this boom stimulated economic activity, it also stoked concerns about overtourism. Iconic areas like Kyoto’s Sannenzaka became overcrowded to the point of parody, prompting official channels to introduce countermeasures, such as regulations prohibiting tourists photographing geisha and enforcing local curfews (Chung, 2024). These developments illustrate how tourist dynamics shape, and sometimes strain, cultural spaces long associated with Japanese tradition. Moreover, social media platforms have become central to how Japan is imagined and consumed as a tourist destination. Scholars of digital tourism argue that platforms such as Instagram and TikTok act as circuits of cultural representation, enabling users to plan trips and rehearse experiences through images before they occur (Gretzel, 2019; Urry & Larsen, 2011). In the Japanese context, hashtags like #JapanTravel and #Kyoto generate a stream of highly stylized images, such as temples, cherry blossoms, and tea ceremonies, that circulate globally and provide potential tourists with a ready-made aesthetic itinerary. Matcha occupies a privileged place within this visual economy: its vivid green color, association with Zen aesthetics, and links to cultural heritage make it particularly photogenic and algorithmically favored. As a result, social media advertise Japan as a destination, as well as construct a consumable image of Japanese culture in which matcha functions as both a national symbol and an accessible lifestyle object abroad. This influx of visitors, combined with social media exposure and favorable exchange rates, intensified matcha’s visibility among global audiences. As Western wellness narratives circulated images of “ceremonial matcha”, tourists and

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consumers abroad began to perceive it as both a luxury staple and a symbolic link to Japanese culture that is accessible yet exotic. Although quality distinctions in matcha are significant, the terminology applied in Englishlanguage markets often distorts Japanese practices. In Japan, matcha is differentiated by preparation context and quality, such as koicha, which requires very high-quality leaves and is prepared in formal tea ceremonies, while usucha uses lighter, more common matcha suitable for everyday drinking (Surak, 2012). Beyond these categories, matcha is also widely used in sweets, lattes, and processed foods, with quality levels varying accordingly. What is often marketed abroad as “ceremonial grade” has no official standing in Japan. Rather, it emerged as a Western marketing term meant to signal matcha of sufficient quality to be consumed without additives. The category itself is less a reflection of Japanese grading systems than a myth constructed through global consumer culture that simplifies complex distinctions into a singular premium tier. In practice, Japanese producers describe matcha in terms of harvest time, leaf origin, and intended use, with “high quality” or “premium” being more accurate descriptors than the catch-all label of ceremonial grade. Wellness Capitalism The global wellness economy provides the interpretive framework through which matcha has been rebranded for Western audiences, where food is increasingly marketed as medicine, ritual, and self-care. As Guthman (2011) argues, neoliberal health cultures encourage individuals to manage their bodies through healthism, turning consumption into a site of moral responsibility. Within this framework, matcha is not simply a beverage but an optimization tool: it promises calm focus, improved metabolism, and antioxidant detoxification, all while presenting a natural alternative to coffee. These claims reflect what Biltekoff (2013) identifies as the cultural politics of nutritionism, where foods are abstracted into their biochemical properties and then reattached to identities of virtue, purity, and discipline. Social media influencers, by repeating these health framings, transform matcha into what Nick Dreher (2018) calls a “food from nowhere”: a product stripped of historical and cultural specificity, rebranded primarily through its utility as a superfood in global wellness culture. The term “superfood” is typically used to describe a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being. Each year brings new foods branded as the latest nutritional marvels, accompanied by marketing campaigns that highlight their health benefits while muting questions of provenance or production. Superfood is “any food with a publicist” (Marber, 2016). Foods with “exotic” associations, ideally imagined as sustaining ancient tribes in war, healing, or fertility, lend themselves particularly well to this branding, allowing marketers to pair the aura of tradition with modern promises of bodily optimization. By 2024, Grand View Research estimated the U.S. tea market alone at $39.1 million in annual revenue, with projections to reach $599.5 million by 2030 (Japan Matcha Tea Market Size & Outlook, 2030, 2025). Matcha has become a visible driver of this growth, both as a powdered product and as an ingredient in ready-todrink beverages. In 2014, sales of matcha powder in the U.S. grew by more than 50%. The appeal of matcha to U.S. consumers is overdetermined. On the one hand, it is marketed as a premium discovery with ritualistic depth, “authentic” origins, and health benefits ranging from

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antioxidants to metabolism support. On the other hand, its bitterness has been routinely diluted through lattes, syrups, and fusions, transforming it into a sugary, customizable drink that resembles coffee culture more than chanoyu. Social media is filled with endless variations: matcha soda, lemonade, and espresso fusions, each demonstrating how matcha’s natural taste is often displaced in favor of palatable novelty. This raised the tension, as it reveals the contradictory role of superfoods in contemporary consumer culture: they must appear rooted in ancient traditions while simultaneously being endlessly adaptable to the demands of novelty, convenience, and spectacle. This dynamic reflects broader patterns in the Western-centric wellness economy. Matcha’s redefinition in the United States exemplifies this process. It is at once exoticized as a Japanese import and universalized as a supplement for body management. Its visual appeal, vivid green against white backgrounds, ensures its algorithmic success on Instagram and TikTok, where influencers amplify its role as both wellness tool and aesthetic accessory. In this sense, matcha has become a consumable performance of health, identity, and belonging in a hyperconsumerist culture. Supply Constraint and Agricultural Pressures While global demand for matcha has risen exponentially, production capacity within Japan has struggled to keep pace. Matcha cultivation requires specialized conditions: shade-grown tencha (甜茶, tea leaf to make matcha powder), careful harvesting, and precise grinding, which limit scalability. Moreover, recent climatic shifts have placed further strain on supply. In 2025, record heatwaves in Kyoto, a key producing region, reduced yields significantly; farmers reported harvest declines of 25% or more due to heat-damaged bushes (Okasaka & Geddie, 2025). Auction data confirms this disruption. In Uji, the price of tencha reached 8,235 yen per kilogram in 2025, representing a 170% increase from the previous year (Okasaka & Geddie, 2025). Kyoto producers noted production drops of 40% for hand-picked tencha and 18% for machine-harvested leaves, underscoring the fragility of ceremonial-grade supply (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2025). At the same time, export volumes expanded, with matcha exports valued at 36.4 billion yen in 2024, a 25% year-on-year increase (Okasaka & Geddie, 2025). From an economic perspective, this matcha boom and supply shortage can be referred to as the Tragedy of the Commons, where a resource that is non-excludable (freely accessible) yet rivalrous (its use by one diminishes availability for others) becomes depleted due to individuals acting in their own short-term interest (Frischmann et al., 2019). This reveals how global demand, amplified through influencer culture and digital visibility, places acute pressure on Japan’s limited matcha production systems. In Uji, shops report daily sell-outs of freshly harvested tea by midday, leaving local consumers underserved. Similar narratives have

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emerged of influencers and consumers clearing global stock, prompting shortages even in domestic markets (Kato, 2024). Economically, such disruptions reflect a mismatch between supply elasticity and demand stimulus. Matcha’s slow, artisanal production cannot quickly scale to meet sudden global hype. When farmers prioritize export orders, local availability shrinks, market prices surge, and traditional producers face pressure either to cut quality or forgo supply for their communities. Socio-culturally, this pattern signals more than resource depletion. It constitutes a form of cultural displacement. The tea’s symbolic “commons” is being commodified through platforms divorced from local stewardship. Without adaptive governance, the matcha commons risks irreversible erosion. Thus, the matcha shortage exemplifies how global consumerism can trigger a “commons crisis” that is simultaneously economic, environmental, and cultural. Unless regulated by collective local–global stewardship frameworks, this fast-burning demand risks exhausting material supply and undermining the intangible heritage that gives matcha its enduring value. The foregoing discussion situates matcha at the intersection of cultural heritage, global consumerism, and digital representation. Historically, matcha emerged from Zen monastic practices and elite tea rituals, becoming embedded in Japanese society both as an exclusive symbol of refinement and as an accessible element of everyday life through usucha drinking styles and culinary use (Surak, 2012). This duality, prestige and ordinariness, has long defined matcha within Japan. Yet in recent decades, global circulation has increasingly emphasized only one side of this spectrum: exclusivity. Japan’s post-pandemic tourism boom and the spread of influencer culture have turned matcha into a highly visible global product, often reduced online to simple, repetitive images of whisking and pouring. In this process, matcha is promoted less as a cultural practice and more as a health trend, praised for its color, energy, and lifestyle appeal. At the same time, climate change and growing export demand have put pressure on producers, creating shortages in regions like Uji and driving up prices. These dynamics leave local communities facing both higher costs and a loss of control over how matcha is represented and valued. Taken together, these dynamics underscore the stakes of this research. What circulates online under the label “ceremonial matcha” is a digital myth, constructed and reproduced by influencers through aesthetic repetition and commercial storytelling. This myth elevates matcha into a luxury wellness object while obscuring its cultural complexity and contributing to tangible economic and agricultural strains. This study, therefore, examines how social media content constructs the myth of “ceremonial matcha” through English-language social media and what consequences these constructions have for Japanese cultural landscapes, agricultural production, and consumer perception. In doing so, it positions matcha as a case study in how digital economies transform cultural practices into consumable fantasies. The analysis that follows traces these dynamics through a textual reading of Instagram and TikTok content, situating matcha within ongoing debates in food studies, media studies, and cultural anthropology.

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Methodology We employed a qualitative textual analysis of digital media to examine how “ceremonial matcha” is framed in English-language wellness discourse. The primary dataset consists of Instagram and TikTok videos collected under the hashtags #matcha and #ceremonialmatcha. To minimize algorithmic bias, the first 100 social media posts were gathered from a blank Instagram account, ensuring that the sample reflected platform-level visibility rather than personalized recommendations. These posts, including images, infographics, and videos, provide the basis for identifying recurring representational patterns. While the hashtag #matcha generates over 9.5 million posts on Instagram (as of the time of writing), this study employs a sample of 100 posts as a qualitative investigation focused on identifying recurring patterns and mythmaking strategies rather than quantifying statistical prevalence. This sample size aligns with established qualitative research methodologies in digital media studies, where thematic saturation typically occurs within a sample of 50 to 150 items (Guest et al., 2006). The analysis prioritizes depth over breadth, examining how specific visual tropes, narrative framings, and commercial strategies construct the “ceremonial matcha” myth. Given that content under #matcha and #ceremonialmatcha demonstrates remarkable uniformity in aesthetic presentation and messaging (as evidenced by the analysis in Section 4), a larger sample would likely replicate these patterns without revealing substantively new mythmaking mechanisms. The 100-post sample, therefore, provides sufficient material to identify and analyze the core myths surrounding ceremonial matcha’s digital circulation. Debunking the Myths Entering #matcha into a blank Instagram account produces more than 9.5 million posts; narrowing the search to #ceremonialmatcha yields just over 58,000. Yet despite this difference in scale, the content is remarkably uniform. Meme videos abound “Matcha vs. Coffee,” “Counterfeit vs. Authentic,” even quizzes like “What Kind of Matcha Are You?”. All wrapped in the same aesthetic of pastel greens, manicured nails, and curated lattes. Charts rank vendors by “vibe,” while guides for cities from Tokyo to Prague position matcha as the marker of global cosmopolitan taste. TikTok mirrors these tropes almost exactly, with the additional twist of built-in storefronts that turn the ritual of whisking powder into an immediately purchasable fantasy. The pattern is a digital landscape saturated with myth. “Ceremonial matcha” is portrayed as a healthier alternative to coffee, a symbol of taste, status, and cultural literacy. Lifestyle advice, vendor rankings, and wellness comparisons all function as narrative work, constructing matcha as premium, health-enhancing, and culturally elevated. This convergence of aesthetics, storytelling, and commerce underscores how “ceremonial matcha” operates less as a culinary category than as a digitally manufactured myth of lifestyle and belonging. The following section unpacks these narratives more closely, tracing the myths that sustain ceremonial matcha’s appeal and the consequences they carry for its value, consumption, and cultural meaning.

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The Myth of Health Superiority The very first post under Instagram’s #matcha is a comparison of Matcha vs. Coffee. While it stops short of declaring matcha the superior drink, the framing is unmistakable: matcha is alkaline, antioxidant-rich, and provides sustained energy without the dreaded crash (Murray, 2025). Coffee, by contrast, is cast as the bad guy. This opposition is repeated across countless posts, with influencers touting matcha’s ability to boost focus, calm anxiety, and lower blood pressure and cholesterol (Frank, 2024). The narrative is deemed to promote matcha, and simultaneously creates a binary in which coffee must be demonized for matcha to be elevated. In this way, matcha becomes the wellness industry’s latest “better-for-you” alternative, one that is healthier, cleaner, and morally superior. This foundational opposition does more than position matcha above coffee. It establishes the logic of binary differentiation that will later be applied within matcha itself. Once elevated as the “superior” choice, matcha is internally stratified into ceremonial versus culinary grades. In this framing, ceremonial matcha becomes the purest and most “authentic” form, distancing itself not only from coffee but also from lower-grade matcha. The ceremonial label thus becomes a semiotic code for exclusivity, ritual, and superior taste, which is an invented hierarchy that sustains the perception of matcha as both a premium product and lifestyle marker. TikTok does not employ the same elevating tactics, at least not within the #matcha, #ceremonialmatcha parameter, but instead focuses solely on the narrative of a comparison of “ceremonial” versus “culinary” or “poor quality”, content that is purely focused on quality differentiation. By framing the experience of matcha as something dependent on quality, with phrases like “this is why you don’t like matcha,” suggesting that it is not that you do not like it per se, you just have not had anything “ceremonial grade,” therefore, you need to try again (Caputo, 2024; Emily, 2024). This type of approach reflects a commonly seen strategy of consumer re-education that can be seen in wellness markets- where brands or influencers correct supposed mistakes to steer them towards their premium products. Notably, through this “re-education” process emphasizing quality, it often strips matcha of its cultural roots. Linguistic terminology, like the previously mentioned usucha and koicha, is almost absent. Social media has instead created a simpler binary for Western markets, “ceremonial versus culinary” or “high quality versus low quality” (Leo-Matcha Sensei, 2022). These oversimplified binaries, “ceremonial” and “culinary” matcha, have led to what can be seen as the construction of the myth of ceremonial matcha within Western consumer discourse. Detached from its cultural context, the term “ceremonial” is no longer dependent on Japanese tea ceremonies’ deep philosophical and cultural designation, but is instead redefined as a signifier of exclusivity and quality. The term is more of a marketing device than a cultural designation, meant to give consumers the idea of purchasing a premium product. This rebranding collapses centuries of cultural meaning into a Western consumer-friendly label, therefore rendering the term “ceremonial” meaningless. Something which sounds like it bears some sort of cultural significance, but exists solely within a Western capitalist framework. The result is that the label “ceremonial” bears no resemblance to the actual ceremonial practice

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from which its name is derived. The term has simply become a label for authenticating a created ideal in order to push profits. The Myth of Authenticity In Western wellness markets, “authenticity” has become a powerful marketing tool to promote a real product and build consumer trust. But what is authentic matcha? Do not worry, because an onslaught of Instagram posts will tell you. There is even a post comparing counterfeit matcha with authentic matcha (1 Cup of Love, 2025). Foam quality of matcha is also addressed, with the promise of a free eBook if you comment (Nio Teas, 2025). But the most highly recommended product to viewers is ceremonial-grade matcha. Consistently touted as the most premium form of matcha, this term has become synonymous with purity, tradition, and quality. Premium matcha is for the everyday, but “pure, traditional preparation” made from the best hand-picked leaves with the best flavor profile – that is considered “ceremonial” (MATCHAE, 2025). Ceremonial matcha is “a tea connoisseur’s dream. More than just a drink, it’s a moment of calm and clarity, rich in antioxidants to refresh both body and mind” (Kazu Matcha, 2025; Nichole, 2025). Apparently, ceremonial grade matcha will even help burn belly fat and assist in your weight loss journey (Naveen Apothecary, 2025; EmpowerU, 2025). Much strategic repetition of verbiage, such as “pure”, “tradition”, “premium”, and “ceremonial”, is used to create the image of health, sophistication, and cultural depth. It is also heavily Japan-centric, and the pure traditions that many of the posts and products refer to exist solely in that sphere. As Lucy Long (2013) argues, authenticity in food is often less about fidelity to tradition than about the experience of “feeling authentic”. In influencer portrayals of ceremonial matcha, the repetition of terms like “pure” and the visual staging of the ceremonial matcha-making ritual function precisely in this way: they create a sense of authenticity for audiences regardless of whether these practices align with Japanese categories of tea. By assigning regional names to marketed products that are “straight from Japan, e.g. Uji, Kagoshima, and Shizuoka,” the narrative of the exotic and the rare luxury that can only be found there (Ooika, 2024) is strengthened. David Sutton (2001) reminds us that such appeals to authenticity often draw power from nostalgia: the invocation of tea regions functions as a way of conjuring heritage, inviting consumers to believe they are tasting centuries of tradition in a single sip. Yet, as Richard Wilk (2006) notes, authenticity in global food systems is negotiated through simplifications that collapse local diversity into exportable categories. The ceremonial label exemplifies this, privileging exoticism while obscuring distinctions between koicha, usucha, and culinary matcha that structure Japanese practice. On TikTok, the tone appears more casual but only varies slightly in its representation of what “authentic” means, furthering the same underlying logic. Most videos review brands of the “Yes or No, would I purchase it again” variety. There is an abundance of videos demonstrating how to prepare matcha, some of them beginning with instructions such as not using “poor quality” matcha, which is slightly unspecific and hard to gauge (Anastasia_Romanova, 2025; Cupidsmatcha, 2025). Despite the different delivery styles, the same core narrative persists:

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authentic matcha is a uniquely Japanese phenomenon in which Western consumption hinges on the idea of its perceived authenticity despite the minimalism of its true cultural context. Instagram and TikTok posts under these hashtags also include a plethora of images containing or influencers using chasen (Kaitlin, 2025; Mikayla, 2025; sf_, 2025). While other whisks have been used in China, which can be traced back to the Tang dynasty, the distinct look and purpose of the chasen was developed in Japan during the 15th century (DōMatcha, 2024). The whisk was developed to achieve the frothy look matcha is known for, making it distinctly Japanese. The frequent inclusion of the chasen as part of the preparation process in Western markets appeals to the sense of cultural authenticity. Not only does it symbolize an aesthetic alignment with traditional Japanese tea practices, but it is also an effort, conscious or not, to legitimize their performance through visual cues rooted in actual cultural significance. This selective use of objects and imagery reinforces Orientalism, as Said (1978) argues, in which there is a reduction of complex cultures into a stylized consumable image serving the Western fantasy of the exotic and traditional. In this context, the chasen has become a performative prop to sell authenticity to Western audiences. The cumulative effect is twofold. For consumers, the endless invocation of authenticity creates confusion: what counts as “real” matcha, and how can it be identified? For Japanese producers, centuries of expertise expressed through diverse practices are collapsed into a single ceremonial myth that never existed in domestic categories. It is less of authenticity than authenticity work: a carefully curated performance designed for Western audiences, serving commercial logics while displacing the cultural authority of the very communities who produce and live with matcha in everyday life. The Myth of Lifestyle and Spirituality The marketing of matcha in Western culture extends far beyond the health claims made by influencers and is deeply embedded in visual culture and lifestyle aesthetics. It becomes highly apparent when scrolling through Instagram that an overarching aesthetic dominates the posts. Vibrant earthy greens, feminine hands, bear-shaped ice cubes, and curated cafes, it appears to be an influencer’s dream. They are not just selling a beverage, but a mood, a feeling, and a desirable identity. The aesthetic is notably feminine and aspirational, often featuring manicured nails, groups of girls, and cozy, cute café with pleasing glassware showing off the abundant varieties of matcha drinks – heavy on the strawberry pink (Anna, 2025; Phuong Anh, 2025). These posts are an expression of a lifestyle, suggesting that matcha is much more than just a drink. The underlying message is clear: Do you want to be happy? Healthy? Balanced? Get a matcha. Is something going wrong in your life? “Don’t worry, a matcha can fix it” (Matchaliciousgirl, 2025). However, this entire aesthetic package is contingent on the use of ceremonial matcha. Although in this context, ceremonial matcha is a created myth stripped of its original cultural and spiritual significance. The level of quality it has been assigned gives a manufactured reverence, leveraged to authenticate this commercialized view of wellness and spirituality. TikTok

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reinforces the message with only minor variations in its delivery. Influencers offer emotional validation while spouting self-care encouragement, telling viewers they “deserve” a matcha (Athomewithkimmm, 2025). It is framed as a luxury and a reward, reminding one to treat oneself and be trendy at the same time. The content is dominated by creators in their beautiful kitchens and designer clothes, talking about the “perfect” start to your day (Maisy Leigh, 2023; Maria Fernanda, 2025; Sunny, 2025). These portrayals rarely engage with ceremonial matcha’s culturally specific or historically rich existence, but instead reframe it as a commodified symbol of contemporary self-care and social capital. Notably absent is any reference to the actual ceremonial role it takes within Japanese tea culture, in which it is embedded in ritual practice and philosophical reflection. What surfaces is a marked commodification of the coined “ceremonial” matcha across social media platforms, transforming it into a lifestyle product that is entirely detached from its cultural origins and recontextualized within Western consumerist frameworks of wellness. The aestheticization of “ceremonial” matcha into a lifestyle product is more than a simple marketing trend; it is a carefully curated narrative that constructs and commodifies a version of Zen that is entirely removed from its cultural roots. The purely performative act of making “ceremonial” matcha is crucial to this construction. Evoking the ritual, repetition, and slowness of inner peace while being devoid of its actual philosophical and cultural context embedded in the chanoyu. On Instagram and TikTok, minimalist backgrounds, neutral tones, and soothing music become semiotic cues to communicate harmony and emotional clarity. So-called “Matcha Therapy” becomes a digital ritual of coping where users often describe or show the making of lattes at home as a form of self-soothing and emotional regulation. Drinking ceremonial matcha is also seen as an escape from reality, where many influencers post videos of themselves “holding their coping mechanism” (Abby, 2025; Thegutbabe, 2025). It becomes a symbolic buffer between the outside chaos and the calm inner sanctuary. As Barthes (1972) suggests, this repetition of visual codes transforms ceremonial matcha into a symbolic object, no longer just a beverage, but a mythologized gateway to harmony and Zen. The powerful, constructed illusions of ceremonial matcha suggest that psychological and spiritual ease can be attainable through consumption. Through the performance of preparation, there is a mimicry of mindfulness without the need to engage in any deep cultural meaning. This kind of content creates a powerful illusion that psychological and spiritual ease are attainable through consumption. “Ceremonial” matcha falls under the category of “consumer spirituality,” where engaging in consumer markets designed to quench a thirst for meaningful encounters elevates the inner self (Husemann & Eckhardt, 2019). What is offered, however, is not spiritual discipline, but an aestheticized serenity made accessible through consumer products. In this context, “ceremonial” matcha no longer denotes a specific quality or practice but becomes a symbolic vessel for a carefully constructed fantasy that commodifies Zen in response to the anxieties of modern life. It is not simply a beverage that is being consumed but an ideal and effective experience.

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Discussion Through qualitative textual and visual analysis of #matcha and #ceremonialmatcha across Instagram and TikTok, it is clear that social media plays a pivotal role in shaping consumer perceptions within Western wellness markets. Both platforms rely on strategic health messaging, aesthetic cues, and comparison-based marketing to position matcha as superior, pure, and premium. Instagram emphasizes visual and emotional appeal through hyper-curated imagery, while TikTok leans on product reviews and simplified tutorials. Yet despite their stylistic differences, both platforms participate in the same process of simplification and commodification: Japanese terms and practices are reduced to marketable English labels like “ceremonial,” while tools such as the chasen are deployed as aesthetic props rather than as elements of cultural practice. In doing so, social media constructs authenticity not through cultural accuracy but through repetition of key descriptors: pure, traditional, ceremonial, and stylized visuals that evoke heritage without engaging with its substance. As Said (1978) cautions in his critique of Orientalism, such reductions transform rich traditions into surfacelevel performances designed to satisfy the Western gaze. Matcha is thus marketed as a beverage and as a lifestyle accessory, framed through feminine aesthetics and aspirational wellness ideals. Detached from its cultural contexts, it is repackaged to align with Western fantasies of health, spirituality, and premium taste. Within this framework, the idea of “ceremonial matcha” becomes less a continuation of Japanese tradition than a Western construct: a myth engineered through marketing to simulate authenticity. The term appropriates the symbolic weight of the tea ceremony while stripping it of ritual depth, recasting it instead as a lifestyle fantasy. “Ceremonial” becomes a signifier of purity and Zen-like calm, detached from origin yet highly effective in justifying elevated price points. Social media reinforces this mythology through carefully curated visual languages of serenity and spirituality. Videos that appear ritualistic but, in their polished repetition, feel more like performances of cultural depth than their enactments. Ultimately, “ceremonial matcha” in this context is less about the lived practice of tea and more about the construction of a consumable identity, aligning seamlessly with Western ideals of curated wellness and luxury living. The circulation of “ceremonial matcha” through digital platforms does more than boost sales or set lifestyle trends. It has material and cultural consequences that reverberate across Japan and beyond. By analyzing the myths that structure this phenomenon, we can see how influencer-driven narratives reshape cultural authority, spiritual practice, consumer behavior, and agricultural sustainability. These consequences extend far beyond the aestheticized latte art of Instagram, touching on questions of cultural displacement, commodification, misinformation, disposability, and the overexploitation of limited resources. The most immediate cultural consequence of the ceremonial matcha trend is a displacement of authority over its meaning. In Japanese contexts, matcha is embedded within a spectrum of practices ranging from the refinement of koicha in tea ceremonies to the ordinariness of usucha or culinary-grade powders used in daily consumption. These distinctions reflect centuries of

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cultural history, regional cultivation practices, and institutionalized aesthetics tied to Zen philosophy. Yet in the global wellness economy, such nuance collapses under the catch-all label of “ceremonial grade.” This displacement has two effects. First, it erodes Japanese producers’ ability to define and protect standards of quality. Farmers and tea houses may emphasize cultivation methods, harvest times, or grinding processes, but international consumers increasingly measure quality against marketing-driven categories with little grounding in Japanese grading systems. Second, it sidelines Japanese voices in the cultural conversation. Influencers outside Japan often act as gatekeepers of knowledge, offering “authentic” guides to ceremonial matcha while relying on reductive narratives of purity, luxury, and exoticism. The result is that Japanese people lose control over the economic value of their product, and over the cultural narratives that shape how it is perceived abroad. This form of cultural displacement mirrors broader patterns of appropriation within global food culture, where heritage products are rebranded by external actors in ways that strip away their embedded histories. In the case of matcha, centuries of tea culture are overshadowed by the algorithmic authority of lifestyle influencers, who can shape global perceptions with a single viral post. The digital rebranding of matcha also has direct consequences for consumers, who are confronted with a fragmented and often misleading marketplace. The proliferation of “ceremonial grade” labels, vendor ranking charts, and influencer-sponsored guides creates a situation in which authenticity is simultaneously overemphasized and underdefined. Shoppers are urged to distinguish between “real” and “fake” matcha, or between brands ranked by “vibe” or aesthetic quality, without access to consistent standards or reliable markers of quality. This confusion has practical implications. Many consumers overpay for matcha that is labeled ceremonial but lacks the quality associated with high-grade Japanese teas. Others are dissuaded from purchasing entirely, discouraged by the contradictory information that circulates online. The effect is a consumer landscape in which decisions are guided less by informed knowledge than by the persuasive strategies of influencers and marketers. Moreover, debates about authenticity often reinforce exclusion rather than access. The binary between “authentic” and “counterfeit” collapses complex agricultural practices and diverse regional traditions into simplistic categories that privilege certain brands or aesthetics. Consumers are left to navigate a field where cultural complexity is obscured by the noise of marketing, and where purchase decisions are shaped less by quality than by the visibility of particular narratives. Even as ceremonial matcha is elevated to the status of wellness essential, its future in the influencer economy remains precarious. The logic of digital trends is inherently disposable: what is viral today is often forgotten tomorrow. Matcha’s rise in the 2010s echoes the trajectory of countless other “superfoods” such as açai, chia seeds, or turmeric, each celebrated as transformative before being displaced by the next novelty. More recently, pandemic-era crazes like dalgona coffee illustrate how quickly global attention can surge and dissipate, leaving behind little more than residual brand associations. This disposability undermines matcha’s durability as a cultural product in global markets. While Japanese producers invest decades in cultivating and refining tea bushes, the influencer economy operates on cycles of months or even weeks. The risk is that matcha will be absorbed into the endless churn of health fads, its

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symbolic capital exhausted before its cultural depth is ever acknowledged. For Japanese communities, this means the erosion of cultural authority and economic vulnerability, as investments in production may not align with the fleeting rhythms of global demand. Perhaps the most pressing consequence of ceremonial matcha’s global mythmaking lies in its agricultural and economic impacts. Matcha cultivation is labor-intensive and requires highly specific conditions: shade-grown tencha, meticulous harvesting, and careful stone grinding. These processes limit scalability, making it impossible to rapidly expand supply in response to global surges in demand. Climate change further exacerbates these constraints, with rising temperatures in Kyoto and Uji leading to significant declines in yield. As a result, global demand has outpaced supply, driving up prices and reshaping local consumption patterns. In Tokyo or Kyoto, shelves are often emptied by midday, and domestic consumers face higher prices for what was once an everyday staple. Farmers, pressured by international orders, prioritize export markets, leaving local communities undersupplied. It eventually becomes a textbook case of overexploitation, akin to the economic model known as the “Tragedy of the Commons”. Here, the shared resource of matcha is depleted not by local neglect but by global consumerism, amplified through digital platforms. The social consequences are significant. Japanese consumers bear the costs of higher prices and reduced access, while farmers face pressures to intensify production, sometimes at the expense of sustainable practices. Cultural consequences are intertwined: as matcha is reframed globally as a premium luxury, domestic consumers increasingly experience it as scarce and costly, a reversal of its dual identity as both refined and ordinary. The commons, in this case, is not only ecological but cultural, which is a shared heritage strained by global appropriation and demand. Conclusion This study set out to examine how digital influencers construct myths around “ceremonial matcha” and to trace the consequences of these narratives for Japanese cultural landscapes, agricultural sustainability, and consumer practices. By analyzing 100 English-language Instagram and TikTok videos collected under the hashtags #matcha and #ceremonialmatcha, supplemented by wellness blogs and online guides, this research approached the phenomenon through a lens of textual analysis. These myths present matcha as a luxury commodity, a healthenhancing superfood, and an emblem of cultural ritual, even as they flatten the complex histories and practices that shape matcha within Japan itself. Such influencer-driven mythmaking has consequences that are both symbolic and material. On a cultural level, these narratives displace Japanese producers and communities from defining the meaning of their own product, as international consumers increasingly rely on influencer scripts to judge authenticity and quality. On a spiritual level, practices rooted in mindfulness and introspection are commodified into performances of self-optimization and aesthetic lifestyle branding. For consumers, the abundance of competing claims about what counts as “real” or “ceremonial” matcha generates confusion, reinforcing the role of influencers and marketers rather than farmers or cultural custodians as the arbiters of quality. On a structural level, the rapid cycling of wellness trends risks relegating matcha to the same fate as other

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disposable superfoods once the hype diminishes. Most urgently, the demand stimulated by these myths intensifies strain on Japan’s agricultural commons, leading to rising prices, domestic shortages, and unsustainable pressures on local production. The methodology employed here offers a window into the symbolic labor that drives demand. Social media content is not simply descriptive; it is generative. By repeating certain images and narratives, influencers create myths that shape how global audiences imagine, desire, and consume matcha. Understanding this process matters because these myths do not exist in isolation: they reverberate into material economies, cultural identities, and ecological systems. The digital mythmaking of ceremonial matcha represents a new configuration of cultural appropriation, wellness capitalism, and global consumerism that transforms a centuries-old practice into a consumable fantasy. By decoding these myths, we see how cultural authority is displaced, spirituality is commodified, consumers are misled, and local communities bear the costs of global demand. The challenge that comes with it is how to preserve the cultural and ecological commons of matcha while navigating its global popularity. As this study shows, the stories told on Instagram and TikTok carry real-world consequences, reminding us that digital representations are inseparable from material realities. Future research might deepen this inquiry by incorporating perspectives from Japanese farmers, producers, and tea practitioners themselves, whose voices remain underrepresented in global discourses of ceremonial matcha. Comparative studies with other superfoods, such as açai, quinoa, or turmeric, could further illuminate how global markets repeatedly elevate local commodities into wellness icons, only to discard them once novelty fades. Reception studies focusing on consumers could also clarify how myths shape not only purchasing decisions but also broader imaginaries of Japan, wellness, and cultural authenticity. Taken together, these avenues of inquiry would advance our understanding of how digital economies transform cultural heritage into global trends with uneven consequences

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References 1 Cup of Love [@1cupoflove_]. (2025, August 6). I’ve tried to smell, taste and feel the texture: Authentic and counterfeit are totally different [Video]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DM_2fltS9Q4/ Abby [@tuilaabi]. (2025). Matcha is the best therapy [Video]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJx7zBIvPxb/ Anastasia_Romanova [@staisy_romanova]. (2025, August 6). Matcha this green [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@staisy_romanova/video/7535354327754362126 Anna [@feed.annna]. (2025, July 17). Strawberry cold foam matcha latte [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@feed.annna/video/7528136784715287822 Athomewithkimm [@athomewithkimmm]. (2025, August 8). A salted maple matcha to get me through the day [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@athomewithkimmm/video/7540660608468045086 Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. Macmillan. Biltekoff, C. (2013). Eating right in America: The cultural politics of food and health. Duke University Press. Caputo, K [@kay_caputo]. (2024, October 6). Because if I hear one more time “matcha tastes like grass” im gonna cry [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@kay_caputo/video/7422382912345083178 Chung, F. (2024, December 23). ‘Hell’: Video shows iconic Kyoto Street overrun by hordes of tourists. News.com.au. https://www.news.com.au/travel/destinations/asia/hellvideo-shows-iconic-kyoto-street-overrun-by-hordes-of-tourists/newsstory/6684e4e11a436008ebfc5cffe2a71b2e? Cupidsmatcha [@cupidsmatcha]. (2025, February 12). Showing you preparation techniques to make yourself an iced matcha latte using ‘ceremonial’ matcha [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@cupidsmatcha/video/7470299885128994091 DōMatcha. (2024, February 2). The artful craftsmanship and timeless utility of bamboo whisks (chasen). DōMatcha. https://domatcha.com/blogs/blog-recipes/the-artfulcraftsmanship-and-timeless-utility-of-bamboo-whisks-chasen Dreher, N. (2018, June 1). Food from nowhere: Complicating cultural food colonialism to understand matcha as superfood. Graduate Association for Food Studies. https://gradfoodstudies.org/2018/06/01/matcha-food-from-nowhere/ Emily [@emwada]. (2024, May 2). Here’s how to make the best tasting matcha latte for #nationalmatchaday! No more grass tasting matchas, just yummy ones hehe [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@emwada/video/7364501509733715246 Emily [@emwada]. (2025, January 22). 5 matcha mistakes you could be making (._.)”” and yes,, I’ve made all of them (and more) for years until I learned through trial and

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error, how to perfect my matcha lattes at home [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@emwada/video/7462881718496726302 EmpowerU [@empoweru44]. (2025, January 13). Why matcha is the ultimate superfood to weight loss! [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@empoweru44/video/7459387162664946987 Frank, C. (2024, November 25). Matcha: A look at possible health benefits. Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/matcha-a-look-at-possible-healthbenefits Frischmann, B. M., Marciano, A., & Ramello, G. B. (2019). Retrospectives: Tragedy of the commons after 50 years. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(4), 211–228. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.33.4.211 Gretzel, U. (2019). Overtourism: Issues, realities and solutions. In R. Dodds & R. Butler (Eds.), Overtourism (pp. 62–75). De Gruyter Oldenbourg. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110607369-005 Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18(1), 59-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903 Guthman, J. (2011). Weighing in: Obesity, food justice, and the limits of capitalism. University of California Press. Husemann, K. C., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2019). Consumer spirituality. Journal of Marketing Management, 35(5–6), 391–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2019.1588558 Japan matcha tea market size & outlook, 2030. (2025, May 21). Grand View Research. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/horizon/outlook/matcha-tea-market/japan Kaitlin [@kaitlinzheng]. (2025, February 5). The only guide you need for making the perfect matcha latte. I made this with beginner matcha lovers in mind, so I wanted to make it as thorough and accessible as possible for anyone starting out with their matcha journey [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@kaitlinzheng/video/7468161718653439263 Kato, B. (2024, December 5). Matcha disappearing from store shelves globally thanks to green tea-obsessed influencers. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2024/12/05/lifestyle/matcha-disappears-from-store-shelves-thanksto-obsessed-influencers/? Kazu Matcha [@kazumatcha.id]. (2025, March 27). Ceremonial Matcha is a tea connoisseur’s dream. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DHr_1mFSk4P/ Koyama, H. (2025, March). Tourism in Japan: A look at the numbers from 2024 and the outlook for 2025. JITTI USA. https://www.jittiusa.org/jittijournal-1/tourism-injapan%3A-a-look-at-the-numbers-from-2024-and-the-outlook-for-2025?

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Leo- Matcha Sensei [@greencaffeinematcha]. (2022, October 21). Replying to @davide dan the reason matcha often taste bad and “crap” [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@greencaffeinematcha/video/7156870946240990466 Long, L. M. (2013). Culinary tourism. University Press of Kentucky. Maisy Leigh [@maisyleighs]. (2023, July 18). Starting my day with zen and matcha [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@maisyleighs/video/7257217838350437674 MATCHAE [@matchae.id]. (2025, May 31). Ever wondered what makes one matcha different from another? [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DMK-6-aTUgA/ Matchaliciousgirl [@matchaliciousgirl]. (2025, August 26). Have a matcha, you’ll feel better [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DNz-IxD2oPi/ Marber, I. (2016). Superfoods that don’t have publicists. In R. Espejo (Ed.), Superfoods (pp. 20–24). Greenhaven Press. Maria Fernanda [@maferolvrz]. (2025, July 8). Matcha happiness [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@maferolvrz/video/7524924082673044750 McCurry, J. (2025, April 7). ‘Skyrocketing’ demand for matcha raises fears of shortage in Japan. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/apr/05/skyrocketingdemand-for-matcha-raises-fears-of-shortage-in-japan Mikayla [@bagelwagell]. (2025, August 8). Look at that color!! [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@bagelwagell/video/7535507244025236749 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. (2025). お茶 [Tea]. https://www.maff.go.jp/j/seisan/tokusan/cha/attach/pdf/ocha-116.pdf

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Murray, M. [@dr.michealmurray]. (2025, August 17). Coffee vs 🍵 Matcha, which one fuels your day? [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DNddHGXO4cD/ Naveen Apothecary [@naveen_apothecary]. (2025, March 28). Ceremonial Matcha🍃 is one of the most effective weight loss teas [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DHu3nDuI2h7/ Nichole [@matcha.nichole]. (2025, February 19). Relaaaax drink your matcha, obsessed with this audio haha [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@matcha.nichole/video/7473196659808226606 Nio Teas [@nio_japanese_green_tea]. (2025, August 31). If you want to learn more about matcha, comment “matcha” and we’ll send you our ebook [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DN_eZMijdDE/ Nunome, C. (1982). 抹茶の源流 [The Origin of Matcha]. Kaitoku, 21–27. https://doi.org/10.11501/7957009 Okakura, K. (2008). The book of tea. Applewood Books.

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Okasaka, K., & Geddie, J. (2025, June 13). Trump throws curveball at Japan tea giant’s US expansion swing. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-throwscurveball-japan-tea-giants-us-expansion-swing-2025-06-13/ Ooika. (2024, June 2). 5 famous matcha regions in Japan (terroir guide). Ooika. https://ooika.co/learn/matcha-regions-japan Phuong Anh [@phanhdiary]. (2025, January 14). Matcha is my daily ritual [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@phanhdiary/video/7459686595118009618 Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books. Sawamura, S. (2011). 中世以前の抹茶の粒度と味 [The Grain Size and Taste of Premedieval Matcha]. Journal of Cookery Science of Japan, 44(3), 231–237. https://doi.org/10.11402/cookeryscience.44.231 sf_ [@f_dez7]. (2025, March 3). Matcha goodness [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@f_dez7/video/7487245729363266822 Sunny [@sunnyskim]. (2025, February 3). You know its true love when matcha caffeine doesn’t even help you stay up, you just drink it for taste [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@sunnyskim/video/7467270191454375199 Surak, K. (2012). Making tea, making Japan: Cultural nationalism in practice. Stanford University Press. Sutton, D. E. (2001). Remembrance of repasts: An anthropology of food and memory. Berg. Thegutbabe [@thegutbabe]. (2025, September 10). Your favorite drink may actually be even better for you than you think [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@thegutbabe/video/7548495809759825165 Urry, J., & Larsen, J. (2011). The tourist gaze 3.0. SAGE. Varley, P., & Isao, K. (1995). Tea in Japan: Essays on the History of Chanoyu. University of Hawaii Press. Wilk, R. (2006). Home cooking in the global village: Caribbean food from buccaneers to ecotourists. Berg. Corresponding author: Stephanie Bucci Email: Stephanie.bucci@akane.waseda.jp

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Cultural and Creative Industries and Regional Development: Lessons from the Azores Pilar Damião de Medeiros University of the Azores, Portugal Hub University of the Azores (CICS.NOVA.UAc) University of the Azores (CICS.UAc) Daniela Soares University of the Azores, Portugal Hub University of the Azores (CICS.NOVA.UAc) University of the Azores (CICS.UAC) Isabel Soares de Albergaria University of the Azores, Portugal NOVA University Lisbon (NOVA FCSH University of the Azores (UAc) Leonor Sampaio da Silva University of the Azores, Portugal NOVA University Lisbon (NOVA FCSH) University of the Azores (UAc) Beatriz Sousa University of the Azores, Portugal

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Abstract This article opens with a literature review on the role of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) in promoting social, cultural, and economic development in non-urban and peripheral regions. It outlines the historical evolution of the CCI concept, from early frameworks centred on cultural goods to contemporary views integrating creativity, innovation, and public policy. The review highlights the contributions of CCIs to social cohesion, place-based identity, and sustainable development, drawing on international and European frameworks. Given the limited academic discourse on CCIs in Portugal’s outermost regions, the article focuses its analysis on the Azores archipelago, examining the intersection of cultural policies, creative initiatives, and regional disparities. The article is rooted in the following research questions: How do Cultural and Creative Industries contribute to regional development in non-urban territories; what structural challenges condition their peripheral territories; and what structural challenges affect their long-term sustainability in these contexts? Grounded in these questions, it aims to identify critical issues such as uneven support distribution, geographic disparities, and inadequate long-term investment, as well as the need for tailored place-based cultural strategies and policies to meet the specific needs of peripheral regions. Keywords: Azores, cultural policy, cultural and creative industries, place-based culture, nonurban regions

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Cultural and Creative Industries have gained increasing attention across academic disciplines, policy agendas, and regional development strategies. Their capacity to foster innovation, promote cultural identity, and contribute to economic growth has been widely recognised, especially in urban settings. However, there remains a notable gap in literature and policy concerning how these industries function in non-urban and peripheral contexts, where structural challenges and territorial specificities often shape both their limitations and transformative potential. This article addresses this gap by offering a comprehensive review of key theoretical and policy frameworks that define and influence the role of Cultural and Creative Industries in non-urban territories. It brings together contributions from cultural economics, regional studies, and cultural policy to examine how creative practices intersect with identity, sustainability, and place-based development. By doing so, it also highlights the socio-cultural dimensions of creative work, going beyond economic narratives to explore questions of agency, access, and territorial cohesion. As an empirical example, the Azores archipelago was selected to ground the review in a specific geographic context and policy environment. From a broader research question—How do Cultural and Creative Industries contribute to regional development in non-urban and peripheral territories, and what structural challenges condition their long-term sustainability in such contexts?—the discussion follows a closer analysis of the Azorean cultural sector focusing on how these dynamics materialise and what policy gaps and governance challenges emerge from this case. Unpacking CCIs: The Foundations of Cultural and Creative Growth A Journey Through Time: The Shifting Role of Creative Industries One of the first analyses about CCIs was conducted by Baumol and Bowen (1966). In the 1970s, UNESCO acknowledged the worldwide influence of these industries and adopted the term “Cultural Industries” (UNESCO, 1982). According to UNESCO (1982), “a cultural industry exists when cultural goods and services are produced, reproduced, stored and disseminated according to industrial and commercial criteria, that is, in series and applying an economic strategy, instead of pursuing an ultimate goal of cultural development” (p. 21). In the 1980s, the term “Cultural Industries” acquired a political meaning in the United Kingdom, implying that popular cultural production could be promoted through public policy to enhance democracy. The historical perspectives highlight the evolving interpretations and contexts of CCIs, transitioning from critical assessments of mass entertainment to the examination of cultural production within socio-economic frameworks. In the 2000s, the term “Cultural and Creative Industries” gained traction among policymakers and academics. It sought to involve the diverse economic and social activities associated with culture and creativity while emphasizing their capacity to spur growth in other industries on a local scale.

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According to Crociata and Pica (2022), Throsby (2008) expanded on the examination of Cultural Industries contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the sector by developing a model of concentric circles to classify CCIs and distinguish them based on their emphasis towards cultural or commercial content. Throsby’s work highlights the importance of understanding the “expressive value of creative products and services” (Crociata and Pica, 2022, p. 16), encompassing “aesthetic, spiritual, social, historical, symbolic and authenticity value” (Crociata & Pica, 2022, p. 16). Throsby’s (2008) perspective created a bond between the cultural and the economic value of each sector, which allows us to visualize where each of them is positioned in terms of economic and cultural aspects. Bakhshi et al. (2008) highlighted the role of CCIs in driving innovation and economic growth. They emphasized the importance of supply chain linkages between CCIs and other sectors in fostering innovation. Their research suggested that creative products impact innovation processes and facilitate knowledge transfer, leading to more innovative behaviour in the wider economy. They advocated policymakers should recognize broader forms of creativity beyond traditional notions and to enable knowledge transfer between creative businesses and firms in other sectors to enhance innovation outcomes. In addition to these perspectives, several tools emerged that helped to develop a more comprehensive study of CCIs, namely the ESSnet – Culture framework for cultural statistics (European Commission, 2012). This framework promoted by the European Statistical System Network on Culture is essential for improving statistical cooperation among European countries to update the European statistical framework regarding the cultural sectors. ESSnetCulture aims to enhance the current methodology and establish a new standard for European statistics by defining indicators and variables that allow for a thorough description and analysis of the complexity of the cultural sector (Crociata & Pica, 2022). ESSnet - Culture plays a crucial role in harmonizing data on creative sectors across Europe by coordinating efforts among European countries. This collaboration is important for supporting Member States in formulating effective policies to promote the cultural sector (Crociata & Pica, 2022). Another significant framework regarding research on CCIs is WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). It focuses on intellectual property and includes businesses engaged in copyrightprotected activities. According to Crociata and Pica (2022), the WIPO model emphasizes the importance of intellectual property rights and creativity in classifying industries within the creative economy. It provides a framework for understanding different sectors based on their level of copyright protection and creative output. In 2009, UNESCO had already introduced a Framework for Cultural Statistics (FCS) to facilitate the organization of cultural statistics on a national and an international level (UNESCO, 2009). The FCS is rooted in a conceptual foundation and a shared understanding of culture, which enables the measurement of a broad range of cultural initiatives, regardless of their economic and social production mode. By using standard definitions, it enables the production of data that can be compared internationally.

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In an attempt to bring together the several contributions in a consensual definition, UNESCO (2005) upheld the notion of CCIs as a domain referring to the activities, goods, and services that involve cultural expression. UNESCO (2009), as cited in Crociata and Pica (2022), proposes seven categories, these being: cultural and natural heritage; entertainment and events (including production of musical instruments and recording equipment), visual arts, crafts and design, publishing (books and printing), audiovisual and interactive media, architecture, and advertising (design and creative services). In 2015, the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (2015) of the United Kingdom government defined CCIs as industries that stem “from individual creativity, skill, and talent” (Department for Culture, Media, and Sport of the United Kingdom, 2015, p. 4), that can create wealth and job opportunities by generating and exploiting intellectual property. In addition to the definitions mentioned previously, it’s worth noting how the European Union defines the CCIs. This definition is particularly relevant since the European Union has been actively supporting studies in this field. According to the EU Commission (2010), CCIs refers to (...) those industries producing and distributing goods or services which at the time they are developed are considered to have a specific attribute, use, or purpose which embodies or conveys cultural expressions, irrespective of the commercial value they may have. The “Creative Industries” are those which use culture as an input and have a cultural dimension, although their outputs are mainly functional. The Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) are a varied group, including architecture, archives, libraries and museums, artistic crafts, audio-visual (including film, DVD and video, television, video games and multimedia), tangible and intangible cultural heritage, design (including graphic design, fashion design, advertising), festivals, music, literature, performing arts, (including theater and dance), books and publishing, radio, and visual arts. (pp. 5–6) In spite of the UNESCO’s attempt, as well by other scholars, it is evident from the documents available that there is no consensus under which categories one can incorporate CCIs activities. Such activities are, however, an important part of the European economy, as the sector employs over 8 million people, and includes more than 1.2 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), which adds around 3.95% to the EU’s value (European Commission, n.d.). Furthermore, as presented above, a wide range of sub-sectors are covered by the CCIs, from the performing arts to books and publishing, the audiovisual media, visual arts, fashion design, festivals, music, literature, archives, museums, and artistic crafts, among others. CCIs play a vital role in fostering local development, not only in urban centres but also in non-urban or rural areas. So diversely constituted, it comes as no surprise that the sector plays a vital role, as the current review aims to demonstrate. Within this context, it’s pertinent to mention the concept of the creative city, introduced by thinkers such as Charles Landry (Segovia and Herve, 2022). According to Segovia and Herve (2022), the creative city brings together creativity, culture, and innovation in the context of urban development and city regeneration. It also

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highlights the importance of cultural assets, creative industries, and artistic activities as drivers of economic growth, social inclusion, and urban revitalization. This approach acknowledges the sector as an environment that encourages diversity, making cities more vibrant, competitive, and sustainable. These sectors also have “the power to shape our aspirations and relations to others and to the world, as well as the places and landscapes where we live or the lifestyles we develop” (European Commission, 2018, p. 1). The Creative Economy Revolution: From Emerging Sector to Key Player An important offshoot of the concept of the creative city is the notion of the creative economy, which first emerged in Australia in the mid-1990s and consequently gained traction in Europe, particularly among UK authors. It emphasizes the assessment of the economic impact of CCIs within a country, city, or region, considering the contribution these industries make to the economy. According to a 2014 study conducted by Ernst & Young Global Limited (EY) (OCDE, 2018), the creative economy contributes 4.2% to the GDP of the EU and employs 7 million people, surpassing the automotive industry by nearly 2.5 times in terms of employment (OECD, 2018). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) explains that these statistics suggest that the presence and growth of CCIs serve as a key economic driver for cities and regions, with their high level of creativity leading to spin-offs such as increased youth employment. Besides serving as a key driver for the economy, Kalfas et al. (2024) explain that CCIs offer a fundamental contribution “to the social fabric of urban areas, promoting social inclusion, community engagement, and cultural exchange” (p. 7). In other words, CCIs are essential to society’s development and contribute to the structure of the creative economy. John Howkins is an analyst and author known for his important contribution to the creative economy, which he has extensively studied and written about. Howkins emphasizes the economic value of creativity and innovation across various sectors, delving into the convergence of creativity, culture, and economics. He highlights the pivotal role of Creative Industries in fostering economic advancement and societal progress. While Howkins conducts an in-depth examination of various sectors within the creative economy, illuminating the multifaceted contributions of creative fields to the broader economic landscape (Kacerauskas, 2020), Seaman (2009) discus cultural economics, while applying economic analysis to cultural activities, goods, and services. The evolution of CCIs throughout history and their various interpretations highlight the intricate relationship between culture, economics, and societal values. Understanding CCIs requires acknowledging their diverse viewpoints and evolving definitions over time. From Baumol and Bowen’s early focus on the performing arts to UNESCO’s broader cultural framework, the concept of CCIs has adapted to reflect socio-political changes and technological advancements. Throsby’s concentric circles model further illuminates the interplay between cultural and economic values. Whether viewed through an economic or cultural lens, CCIs represent the fusion of creativity, commerce, and cultural expression,

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underscoring their importance beyond economic metrics and highlighting their role in shaping human identity and societal values. Cultural and Creative Industries and Place-Based Culture The social and cultural impact of CCIs is, as well, very significant, as they play a pivotal role in enhancing social cohesion and cultural identity within European regions. According to Kalfas et al. (2024) “[the] cultural and creative industries (CCIs) have increasingly been recognized for their unique ability to foster social cohesion and cultural identity - two intangible yet crucial aspects of societal well-being and regional development” (p. 5). These industries act as vital instruments for social integration and the preservation and promotion of cultural identities. People are provided with opportunities to connect, interact, and establish relationships through the spaces created by CCIs. The development of social bonds, mutual understanding, and a sense of belonging is ultimately facilitated by these spaces. CCIs also play a role in uniting diverse communities, encouraging intercultural dialogue, and mitigating social tensions, which in turn strengthens social cohesion (Kalfas et al. 2024). Ware and Dunphy (2020) illustrate how engaging in artistic and creative activities and embracing cultural diversity can improve social and community development. They have observed positive outcomes in areas such as social cohesion and the preservation of cultural heritage, underscoring the role of the arts in advancing local expertise and skills. Access to artistic activities and training programs is crucial for understanding the arts’ contribution to development. These initiatives promote social inclusion, cultural diversity, and the appreciation of local knowledge (Gustafsson & Lazzaro, 2021; Stupples, 2014). As a practical example of this, Sīmansone and Sīmansons (2015) conducted a study on Creative Museums. It looked at the collaboration between museums and the creative industries in Europe. The study underscores case studies, research findings, and insights on how museums can partner with creative industries to enrich cultural experiences, create innovative products and services, and reach diverse audiences in urban and non-urban regions. Additionally, they hold social and cultural significance, serving as a key factor for social harmony, cultural preservation, and community involvement. Sustainable Futures for the Cultural and Creative Industries: Challenges and Possibilities As we go through our literature review, sustainable development is a recurring theme among scholars, especially in more recent years. Borre et al. (2023) elaborated a systematic review on the subject from which stemmed similar conclusions to those already mentioned. The authors underline that CCIs maintain urban activity. The authors underline that CCIs maintain urban activity, offer rural alternatives, and promote new values to address social issues. Although CCIs have traditionally been linked to major cities and urban areas, they have also had an impact on regional and non-urban levels. Zemite et al., (2022) have specifically addressed this

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topic, focusing on sustainability challenges faced by non-urban areas. Their study points out that “in non-metropolitan settings, community is as important as the individual is (…). Embedded in community life and values, CCI entrepreneurs self-report practices that point to the (…) pillars of sustainability” (Zemite et al., 2022, p. 19). In a recent study by Loots et al. (2021), the importance of sustainability in CCIs is also emphasized. The authors recognize the significance of policies in supporting existing businesses and preventing a decline in the growth of the ecosystem. Referenced by Zemite et al. (2022) is a study by Oakley and Ward (2018), in which the authors stress how culture and creativity play a vital role in promoting sustainable prosperity. The research shows that cultural and creative industries contribute to sustainable development and well-being by including local values, history, and traditions in product design. This approach improves economic and cultural sustainability by adding cultural significance to products, thus promoting sustainable development. In a significant study conducted by Imperiale et al. (2021), the researchers explore the sustainability factors of CCIs in remote areas and the challenges that inhibit their local development. The study identifies a lack of entrepreneurial skills, mindset, and management capability, as well as limited access to funding, location, and the interdisciplinary and intangible nature of activities as key factors affecting the sustainability of CCIs in peripheral areas. The authors explain that the unique characteristics of CCIs, which include their interdisciplinary nature and intangible outputs, present challenges for sustainability and require a specialized entrepreneurial mindset and approach. Imperiale et al. (2021) present possible solutions to counteract these issues faced by CCIs that can jeopardize their sustainability and growth in the long term. These include providing targeted entrepreneurial training to enhance business skills, facilitating access to tailored financial resources and alternative finance models, and creating networking platforms for collaborations and market visibility. Additionally, developing region-specific policies that address the unique needs of CCIs, offering access to shared workspaces and technological resources, and promoting the benefits of local attachment in peripheral areas are crucial. Capacity-building through training in financial management, marketing, innovation, and intellectual property rights further ensures sustainable growth for CCIs. The studies by Borre et al. (2023) and Zemīte et al. (2022) focus on the small regions of Latvia, while Collins at al. (2018) focus their study on exploring “emerging patterns of economic change through the lens of creative industries in the West of Ireland” (Collins et al., p 70). In recent years, there has been a surge in literature discussing the potential of Creative Industries. Additionally, a growing body of research has highlighted the unique features of creative economies in rural areas (Collins, et al, 2018). They have found that there are some particularities in West of Ireland such as geographic fixity, that is, CCIs in peripheral regions usually exhibit a geographic fixity whenever cultural heritage plays a key role in producing their creative output. Besides geographic fixity, the authors also found characteristics like community engagement and placemaking. As regards these aspects, creativity is used as a means to reinforce the community alongside exploring local identity and communication of cultural significance. Furthermore, they mention the unique relationship with the concept of

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place collaboration and connectivity that allows networking and the preservation of the industry. In their 2022 research, Naudin et al. (2022) proposed a framework for investigating CCIs within a regional context. They pointed out the lack of supportive policies for cultural activities in non-urban areas and emphasized the need for critically assessing the development of CCIs in regional/non-urban settings. They also highlighted the importance of exploring the dynamics that shape regional CCI ecosystems Naudin et al. (2022) and Duxbury (2021) suggests converging discussions on fostering cultural and creative work in rural and remote areas to form a more comprehensive approach by integrating storylines, developing policies that are in alignment with the needs of promoting cultural development in non-urban areas, interdisciplinary collaboration, and promoting research and knowledge sharing that will contribute positively to the CCIs development in non-urban areas. CCIs act as driver factors for local development through their significant economic impact and their ability to enhance the social and territorial capital of a region (Boccella & Salerno, 2016). These industries not only contribute to economic growth but also play a crucial role in shaping the cultural identity of a locality. Similarly to other studies previously cited, the authors also concluded that they generate employment, stimulate innovation, and attract investment, thereby contributing to the overall development of the region. Additionally, they help in fostering social cohesion and community engagement, as well as in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the area. By leveraging the creative and cultural potential of a region, these industries become integral drivers of local development, creating a dynamic environment for sustainable economic and social progress. Conducting a literature review on CCIs in Portugal, especially in non-urban areas, poses challenges due to a shortage of research and resources. However, several studies provide valuable insights into the dynamics and contributions of CCIs across different regions and contexts in Portugal. Manso (n.d.) conducted a study on the cultural economy in Portugal, highlighting its economic impact. He emphasizes the growing importance of the cultural economy for the development of countries, the emergence of which dates back to the Second World War, gaining relevance in the 1990s. The author suggests that Portugal has the potential to use the cultural economy as a strategic vector of development, taking advantage of its cultural diversity and creativity. The country has significant competitive advantages in this sense, such as the ability to incorporate new technologies, an innovative culture, and qualified professionals in various cultural sectors. Portugal also has a rich historical and landscape heritage, renowned gastronomy, and an established network of museums and music festivals, in addition to the potential for cultural tourism. Manso (n.d.) highlights the cultural economy as a strategic sector that encompasses the arts, heritage, and emerging digital industries, driving cultural tourism. Professionals in this sector are predominantly young and highly qualified, making it the most dynamic and modern sector of the global economy, with consistent growth rates even in times of crisis, which deserves reflection on its potential.

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The Portuguese Directorate-General for Economic Activities reviewed regional initiatives in cities like Lisbon, Óbidos, and Porto, and discussed innovative measures to promote CCIs and entrepreneurship (Direção-Geral das Atividades Económicas, 2018). In 2015, the Serralves Foundation explored the development of Creative Industries clusters in Northern Portugal, stressing the importance of support programs and infrastructure despite uneven distribution challenges (Fundação Serralves, 2015). Quintela and Ferreira (2018) critiqued the public policy agenda for CCIs in Portugal, pointing out issues like rapid adoption of foreign models and lack of investment evaluation (Quintela & Ferreira, 2018, p. 104). Quintela (n.d.) pointed out the need for expanded research on creative industries and better consideration of the real conditions of creative workers, advocating for sociological analysis and comparative studies to understand local labor market influences. The analysis of national studies on Portugal’s CCIs reveals both the progress made and the challenges faced in nurturing this sector. While efforts have been made to develop the cultural and creative sector across the country, there remains a notable gap in research and policy focus, particularly concerning the integration of creative work into broader economic and social discussions. Thus, it is imperative to expand research endeavors, considering emerging markets and technological advancements, while also deepening sociological analyses to understand the complexities of creative careers, with a keen focus on gender dynamics. Additionally, comparative studies across different national contexts will provide invaluable insights into the unique influences shaping labor markets and professional trajectories within the creative landscape of Portugal. Azorean Cultural and Creative Industries Mapping the Azorean Cultural and Creative Landscape The Azores are an autonomous Portuguese archipelago located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, characterised by geographic isolation, territorial dispersion across nine islands and a relatively small population. These conditions have historically shaped economic structures, mobility patterns and access to resources, while also fostering strong place-based identities and a deep attachment to local culture. Within this setting, cultural and creative activities have played a central role in sustaining social life and articulating regional distinctiveness, often drawing on traditions, collective memory and close relationships with landscape and community. The development of Cultural and Creative Industries in the Azores is therefore closely intertwined with these territorial specificities, reflecting both the constraints of operating in a non-urban, peripheral environment and the capacity of cultural practices to generate economic activity, cultural continuity and place-based forms of resilience. To better understand the spatial distribution and dynamics of CCIs in the Azores, it is essential to first consider the region’s demographic structure. Population density varies significantly between the islands, shaping access to resources, cultural infrastructures and opportunities for creative activity.

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Table 1 presents the most recent data on population and CCIs by island. Table 1 Distribution of Cultural and Creative Industries across the Azores Islands Island Santa Maria São Miguel Terceira Graciosa São Jorge Pico Faial Flores Corvo Total

Population (2021) 5406 133288 53234 4090 8373 13879 14331 3428 384 236413

% Population 2,3 56,4 22,5 1,7 3,5 5,9 6,1 1,5 0,2 100

Number of CCIs 24 395 161 24 21 93 152 30 7 907

% CCIs 2,6 43,6 17,8 2,6 2,3 10,2 16,8 3,3 0,8 100

Source: Data were provided by the Regional Directorate for Culture of the Azores (DRAC) and revised and updated by the Azores Lab team within the IN SITU project (2025). Population data were obtained from the 2021 Census through the Regional Statistical Office of the Azores (SREA, 2022).

São Miguel, with 56.4% of the region’s population, concentrates 43.6% of all CCIs, reaffirming its role as the archipelago’s cultural and economic core. Terceira, the second most populous island, hosts 17.8% of the CCIs. Notably, Faial stands out for its cultural density, with 16.8% of the CCIs and just 6.1% of the population. In contrast, São Jorge holds only 2.3% of the CCIs, despite having a similar demographic profile to Faial or Pico. The smallest islands, Corvo, Graciosa, Santa Maria, and Flores, exhibit low CCI numbers, closely aligned with their reduced populations. In terms of sectoral composition (Table 2), traditional activities remain the most prevalent, accounting for 27.2% of all CCIs in the region. These include crafts, religious festivities, and other heritage-based practices. Visual arts (21.9%) and music (15.8%) also represent significant portions of the sector, followed by associations and theatre. Other areas, such as cinema, performance, and bookshops, appear less institutionalized or face greater barriers to sustainability.

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Table 2 Number of CCIs per area of activity (Azores) CCIs per area of activity

Total

% of CCIs per area of activity

Visual Arts Associations Cinema & Video Bookshops Music Performance Theater Traditional Writers Cultural Equipment Total

199 70 48 22 143 44 51 247 35 48 907

21,9 7,7 5,3 2,4 15,8 4,9 5,6 27,2 3,9 5,3 21,9

Source: Data provided by the Regional Directorate for Culture of the Azores (DRAC) and revised and updated by the Azores Lab team within the IN SITU project (2025).

The predominance of traditional sectors within the CCIs in the Azores reflects a cultural ecosystem still deeply anchored in heritage-based practices. The distribution of CCIs further reveals a landscape marked by both potential and asymmetry. The fact that they mainly concentrate on São Miguel and Terceira islands mirrors the deep disparities in political investment within the cultural sector affecting more significantly the smaller islands of the archipelago. These continue to face harder challenges related to demographic scale, access to funding, and institutional support. Addressing these imbalances requires targeted policies and sustained engagement from regional authorities Their concentration in São Miguel and Terceira islands reveals significant disparities in political investment within the cultural sector throughout the archipelago. Smaller islands continue to face challenges related to demographic scale, access to funding, and institutional support. Addressing these imbalances requires targeted policies and sustained engagement from regional authorities. The cultural sector scenario in the Azores therefore illustrates both the opportunities and obstacles inherent in fostering CCIs in peripheral regions. While cultural vibrancy is evident, especially in traditional sectors, structural disparities and policy limitations continue to hinder sustainable development. Supporting cultural agents, investing in local infrastructures, and ensuring territorial cohesion must remain priorities for unlocking the full potential of Azorean creative ecosystems. Curiously, academic and institutional interest in CCIs in the Azores has grown in recent years, particularly through the implementation of EU-funded projects. One notable example is CREATOUR Azores – Transforming the Azores into a Creative Tourism Destination (2018–

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2022), which supported small-scale creative initiatives rooted in local heritage and community interaction. According to Baixinho et al. (2023), the project aimed to empower local actors in designing sustainable and culturally distinctive tourism offerings that connect creativity, identity, and economic growth. The Horizon Europe project IN SITU – Place-based Innovation of Cultural and Creative Industries in Non-urban Areas (2022–2026), coordinated by the Centre for Social Studies (University of Coimbra), also includes the Azores as one of six European case studies. The IN SITU (2022) project combines research and experimental action to strengthen innovation practices and capacities in CCIs operating outside urban centres. The Azores Lab, based at the University of the Azores, contributes directly to the project’s data collection and research outputs. Policy Gaps and Grassroots Cultural Advocacy Public policies towards culture at a regional level are often criticized for their lack of comprehensive support. Despite the candidacy of the city of Ponta Delgada for the European Capital of Culture 2027 (Ponta Delgada’s Municipal Council, 2019), which signals a strategic effort to position the region within European cultural agendas and to strengthen its cultural and creative sectors, the profession of cultural agents remains largely unrecognized. This lack of recognition and support hampers the potential growth of CCIs. Moreover, the growing dependence on national funding from DGARTS (Directorate-General for the Arts) highlights the critical need for more robust regional policies and support mechanisms. The MOVA movement (Movement for Art and Culture in the Azores) has therefore emerged as a critical player in addressing these gaps. This movement has been instrumental in advocating for more substantial support for the arts and culture sector. Their grassroots efforts have brought attention to the plight of cultural agents and have pushed for greater recognition and support from regional authorities. MOVA’s impact has been significant, providing a platform for cultural agents to voice their concerns and advocate for change, thus playing a crucial role in the ongoing struggle for better support and recognition of the CCIs in the Azores. Within the scope of the IN SITU project, Heinicke et al. (2024) produced a report on the state of cultural policies for CCIs in non-urban areas. The report emphasizes the significance of grassroots movements in fostering cultural activities and community engagement in rural areas. These efforts depend on local involvement and volunteer work to sustain cultural projects, particularly in areas with limited formal funding and municipal support. Grassroots movements involve local individuals and groups in planning, organizing, and executing cultural activities. They play a crucial role in promoting cultural expression and creativity in non-urban areas, establishing community identity, preserving local heritage, and encouraging participation in cultural activities, often filling gaps left by formal institutions or funding sources. This dynamic can also be observed in the Azorean context, where several cultural initiatives that originated at a small scale have evolved into key components of the regional cultural ecosystem. Notable

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examples include the Tremor Festival1 and the Walk&Talk Festival2, which, over time, have moved beyond their initial format as cultural events to function as platforms for artistic production, collaboration and professional development. These initiatives operate as mediating infrastructures that connect local communities with international cultural circuits, while fostering the professionalization and visibility of cultural agents. Their evolution illustrates how grassroots cultural practices, even when emerging from limited resources and peripheral contexts, can contribute to the consolidation of creative ecosystems and to the long-term development of CCIs in non-urban regions. The study by Heinicke et al. (2024) also identifies significant criticism regarding regional funding for cultural initiatives in the Azores. Local stakeholders express concerns about the adequacy of financial resources, arguing that current funding levels are insufficient to support diverse cultural activities essential to the community. These concerns are exacerbated by bureaucratic hurdles in the funding application process, which hinder local artists and organizations from accessing necessary resources. There is also a call for greater transparency in funding allocation. Local cultural and creative agents draw attention to the need for clearer guidelines and improved communication about decision-making processes for financial support. The absence of clear rules raises suspicions of lack of transparency, which creates uncertainty and mistrust among applicants. Additionally, many Azoreans feel that funding tends to prioritize larger, established projects, often neglecting grassroots initiatives crucial for local engagement and cultural expression. This focus on prominent projects can lead to the oversight of smaller, community-driven efforts that are vital to the cultural landscape. Furthermore, there is a perception that regional funding policies are urban-centric, failing to address the unique cultural needs of rural areas within the Azores. Stakeholders advocate for a more equitable and responsive funding approach that reflects the region’s diverse cultural fabric, better supporting local initiatives and enhancing the cultural vitality of the Azorean community. To further enhance the growth of CCIs in the Azores, it is imperative to provide greater support and recognition for cultural agents. Grassroots movements, such as the MOVA initiative, alongside other community-driven efforts, have been instrumental in addressing these gaps and advocating for more robust support for the arts and cultural sector. Moving forward, it is vital to align cultural policies with innovation and sustainable development goals to fully unlock the potential of CCIs in the Azores. Our analysis shows the need to recognize the diverse contributions of CCIs to local development. By providing financial support, infrastructural development, and promotional platforms, policymakers can enhance the sustainability and growth of CCIs. In the context of the Azores, there is a clear need for strategies that address 1

Tremor is a music festival held annually on the island of São Miguel (Azores) since 2014, characterised by an experimental and site-specific approach that integrates artistic performances within the island’s natural and urban landscapes. 2

Walk&Talk, established in 2011, is an arts initiative that has evolved into a multidisciplinary platform encompassing artistic residencies, exhibitions and public programming, with a strong emphasis on community engagement and place-based artistic practices.

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geographic disparities and support the cultural sectors that are most prevalent and impactful. The data underscores the importance of traditional cultural activities and the need for equitable distribution of resources across all islands. Conclusion This article set out to explore how Cultural and Creative Industries contribute to regional development in non-urban and peripheral territories, and which structural challenges shape their long-term sustainability, using the Azores archipelago as a contextualised case study. Drawing on a broad review of international and European literature and grounding this discussion in empirical data from an outermost region, the analysis demonstrates that CCIs play a multifaceted role that extends well beyond economic indicators. The findings confirm the previous theoretical discussion that, in non-urban and peripheral contexts, CCIs contribute significantly to regional development by reinforcing place-based identity, strengthening social cohesion, and supporting locally embedded forms of economic activity. In the Azores, creative practices rooted in heritage, community engagement and territorial specificity act as key mechanisms for sustaining cultural vitality and fostering collective belonging, particularly in settings marked by geographic isolation and demographic fragility. These contributions highlight the relevance of CCIs as social and cultural infrastructures that support resilience and quality of life in peripheral territories. At the same time, the Azorean case reveals a set of persistent structural challenges that weaken the sustainability of CCIs in non-urban regions. These include uneven territorial distribution of resources, limited and discontinuous funding mechanisms, bureaucratic barriers to access public support, and policy frameworks that often remain urban-centric or project-based rather than systemic and long-term. The concentration of cultural infrastructures and support mechanisms in a small number of islands further reinforces internal asymmetries, constraining the development potential of smaller and less populated territories. The analysis also highlights governance gaps, particularly in the recognition and support of cultural agents and grassroots initiatives that play a central role in sustaining local creative ecosystems. While European-funded programmes and experimental projects have contributed to innovation and visibility, their impact remains dependent on stronger regional coordination, institutional continuity and policy alignment. Without these conditions, the transformative potential of CCIs risks remaining fragmented and unevenly distributed. By situating the Azores within broader debates on CCIs and regional development, this article contributes to ongoing discussions on place-based cultural policy and innovation in non-urban regions. It underscores the need for differentiated policy approaches that acknowledge territorial specificities, support long-term capacity building, and integrate cultural strategies into wider regional development frameworks. Future research would benefit from comparative analyses across peripheral regions, as well as deeper qualitative engagement with cultural

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practitioners, to further unpack the relationship between creativity, governance and sustainability in non-urban contexts.

Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process This article was developed with limited assistance from artificial intelligence tools, exclusively for language-related support. Grammarly was used for spelling, grammar, and stylistic consistency. ChatGPT was employed solely to support linguistic refinement, condensation of previously written material, and improvement of textual clarity, without generating original scientific content, analytical frameworks, empirical interpretations, or conclusions. All conceptual development, literature selection, data interpretation, analytical reasoning, and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors. The intellectual contribution, structure of the argument, and scientific claims presented in this article were developed independently by the research team. The use of AI-assisted tools complied with principles of academic integrity, transparency, and authorship responsibility, in line with current ethical guidelines for scholarly publishing. Acknowledgments This article was prepared within the context of the project “IN SITU – Place-based Innovation of Cultural and Creative Industries in Non-urban Areas.” The IN SITU project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under Grant Agreement number 101061747. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them nor for the use that may be made of the information contained in this article.

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References Baixinho, A., Santos, C., Couto, G., de Albergaria, I. S., da Silva, L. S., Damião Medeiros, P., & Neves Simas, R. M. (2023). Sustainable creative tourism on islands and the pandemic: The creatour Azores project. Island Studies Journal, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.416 Bakhshi, H., McVittie, E., & Simmie, J. (2008). Creating innovation: Do the creative industries support innovation in the wider economy? NESTA. https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/creative-innovation.pdf Baumol, W. J., & Bowen, W. G. (1966). Performing arts: The economic dilemma: A study of problems common to theater, opera, music, and dance. Twentieth Century Fund. Boccella, N., & Salerno, I. (2016). Creative economy, cultural industries and local development. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 223, 291–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.370 Borre, J. R., Romero, G. C., Gutiérrez, J. M., & Ramírez, J. (2023). Discussion of the aspects of the cultural and creative industries that impact on sustainable development: A systematic review. Procedia Computer Science, 224, 532–537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2023.09.077 Collins, P., Mahon, M., & Murtagh, A. (2018). Creative industries and the creative economy of the West of Ireland: evidence of sustainable change? Creative Industries Journal, 11(1), 70–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/17510694.2018.1434359 Crociata, A., & Pica, V. (2022). Developing inclusive and sustainable creative economies: D2.1 Current state of knowledge on the CCIs (Original) (Deliverable 2.1, Work Package 2) [Project report]. DISCE – Developing Inclusive and Sustainable Creative Economies. https://disce.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DISCE-D2.1-updated.pdf Department for Culture, Media and Sport. (2015). Creative industries economic estimates: January 2015. UK Government. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a75c589e5274a545822e183/Creative_ Industries_Economic_Estimates_-_January_2015.pdf Direção-Geral das Atividades Económicas. (2018). Sinopse: Indústrias culturais e criativas [Overview of cultural and creative industries]. Ministério da Economia. Duxbury, N. (2021). Cultural and creative work in rural and remote areas: An emerging international conversation. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 27(6), 753–767. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2020.1837788 European Commission. (2010). Green paper: Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries. Publications Office of the European Union. https://op.europa.eu/s/zHXL European Commission. (2012). European statistical system network on culture (ESSnetCulture): Final report. Publications Office of the European Union. https://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/culture/library/reports/ess-net-report_en.pdf European Commission. (2018). Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Creative Europe programme (2021–2027) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1295/2013. Publications Office of the European Union. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2018%3A366%3AFIN

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European Commission. (n.d.). Cultural and creative industries. https://single-marketeconomy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/cultural-and-creative-industries_en Fundação de Serralves. (2015). Desenvolvimento de um cluster de indústrias criativas na região Norte: Estudo macroeconómico [Development of a creative industries cluster in the Northern Region: A macroeconomic study]. Fundação de Serralves. https://cdn.bndlyr.com/stljpltqzpxcsfeb/_assets/documents/2015/06/02/estudomacroec onomico.pdf Gustafsson, C., & Lazzaro, E. (2021). The innovative response of cultural and creative industries to major European societal challenges: Toward a knowledge and competence base. Sustainability, 13(23). https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313267 Heinicke, J., Kegler, B., & Walther, H. (2024). State of cultural policies for CCIs in nonurban areas: Deliverable 5.2 (D5.2) [Project report]. IN SITU Project. https://insituculture.eu/resource/state-of-cultural-policies-for-ccis-innon-urban-areasdeliverable-5-2-d5-2/ Imperiale, F., Fasiello, R., & Adamo, S. (2021). Sustainability determinants of cultural and creative industries in peripheral areas. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 14(9), Article 438. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14090438 IN SITU. (2022). About IN SITU. https://insituculture.eu/about-in-situ/ Kacerauskas, T. (2020). Creative economy and the idea of the creative society. Transformations in Business & Economics, 19(1), 43–52. https://www.transformations.knf.vu.lt/49/rp49.pdf Kalfas, D., Kalogiannidis, S., Ambas, V., & Chatzitheodoridis, F. (2024). Contribution of the cultural and creative industries to regional development and revitalization: A European perspective. Urban Science, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci8020039 Loots, E., Neiva, M., Carvalho, L., et al. (2021). The entrepreneurial ecosystem of cultural and creative industries in Porto: A sub-ecosystem approach. Growth and Change, 52(2), 641–662. https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12434 Manso, J. R. P. (n.d.). A economia da cultura: Vetor estratégico de desenvolvimento para Portugal [The cultural economy: A strategic development vector for Portugal]. Revista Online do Museu de Lanifícios da Universidade da Beira Interior. https://www.ubimuseum.ubi.pt/n02/docs/ubimuseum02/ubimuseum02.jose-piresmanso-economia-cultura.pdf Naudin, A., Zemīte, I., & Hermane, A. (2022). A framework for exploring cultural and creative industries in regional contexts: The role of cultural intermediaries. Letonica, 46, 33–53. https://lulfmi.lv/storage/files/letonica-46-03-naudin-zemite-hermane.pdf Oakley, K., & Ward, J. (2018) The art of the good life: culture and sustainable prosperity. Cultural Trends, 27(1): 4–17. DOI: 10.1080/09548963.2018.1415408 OECD (2018). The value of culture and the creative industries in local development – HANDBOOK. OECD Trento Centre for Local Development. Ponta Delgada’s Municipal Council. (2019). Ponta Delgada—Azores 2027 European Capital of Culture candidate city. https://www.cmpontadelgada.pt/cmpontadelgada/uploads/writer_file/document/1534/1_dossie_de_ca ndidatura_human_nature_pre_selecao_en.pdf

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Quintela, P. (n.d.). A obscuridade do trabalho na “agenda” criativa de Portugal [The obscurity of labour in Portugal’s creative “agenda”]. IX Congresso Português de Sociologia: Portugal, Território e Territórios. Quintela, P., & Ferreira, C. (2018). Indústrias culturais e criativas em Portugal: Um balanço crítico de uma nova “agenda” para as políticas públicas no início deste milénio [Cultural and creative industries in Portugal: A critical assessment of a new “agenda” for public policies at the beginning of this Millennium]. Todas as Artes: Revista Luso-Brasileira de Artes e Cultura, 1(1), 89–111. https://doi.org/10.21747/21843805/tav1n1a6 Seaman, B. A. (2009). Cultural economics: The state of the art and perspectives. Estudios de Economía Aplicada, 27(1), 7–32. https://doi.org/10.25115/eea.v27i1.4808 Segovia, C., & Hervé, J. (2022). The creative city approach: Origins, construction and prospects in a scenario of transition. City, Territory and Architecture, 9(1), Article 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-022-00178-x Sīmansone, I., & Sīmansons, R. (2018). Museums and creative industries: Case studies from across Europe. Creative Museum. https://www.nemo.org/fileadmin/Dateien/public/NEMO_documents/NEMO_2018_Publication_Mus eums_and_Creative_Industries_Case_Studies_from_across_Europe.pdf SREA. (2022). Censos 2021: Resultados definitivos da Região Autónoma dos Açores [2021 Census: Final results for the Autonomous Region of the Azores]. https://srea.azores.gov.pt/upl/%7B5d8d6943-e275-400b-bbd6-1064900a352f%7D.pdf Stupples, P. (2014). Creative contributions: The role of the arts and the cultural sector in development. Progress in Development Studies, 14(2), 115–130. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464993413517779 Throsby, D. (2008). Modelling the cultural industries. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 14(3), 217–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286630802281772 UNESCO. (1982). Cultural industries: A challenge for the future of culture. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000049972 UNESCO. (2005). International flows of selected cultural goods and services, 1994–2003. Defining and Capturing Global Cultural Trade. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000142812 UNESCO. (2009). Framework for Cultural Statistics. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000191061 Ware, V. A., & Dunphy, K. (2020). How do arts programmes contribute in international development? A systematic review of outcomes and associated processes. Progress in Development Studies, 20(2), 140–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464993420908682 Zemīte, I., Kunda, I., & Judrupa, I. (2022). The role of the cultural and creative industries in sustainable development of small cities in Latvia. Sustainability, 14(15), Article 9009. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159009 Corresponding author: Pilar Damião de Medeiros Email: pilar.sl.medeiros@uac.pt

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Evaluating Socio-Cultural Practices on Hotel Patronage in Adamawa State Metropolis Mary Gadzama Kambu Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria Ngozi Ezenagu Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria Chinonso Chiamaka Iwuagwu Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria Olugbenga Mayowa Agboola Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria Chidiebube N. Iwuagwu Bayero University, Kano State, Nigeria Ibikunle Olayiwola Ajisafe Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

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Abstract The hotel industry is a vital component of the hospitality sector which plays a significant role in economic development of any nation. In Adamawa State, Nigeria, the patronage of hotel products and services are subject to the socio-cultural and religious practices prevalent in the study area. Hence, the study investigated the impact of social, cultural and religious practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa state. Cross sectional design was adopted, and a stratified sampling technique was employed to select 18 large hotels across Yola, Jimeta, and Mubi, in line with Nigeria’s hotel classification standards. Using the Cochran formula, a sample size of 385 respondents, comprising hotel guests, managers, and staff, was determined. A structured questionnaire was designed for data collection and were analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that social and cultural practices generally exert a neutral or no influence at all on hotel patronage in Adamawa State. However, religious practices significantly discourage hotel usage in the study area as revealed by the study. The results showed that most respondents perceived hotels as a taboo from religious beliefs and will not lodge or patronize hotel products or services. The study concluded that while socio-cultural practices have a largely neutral effect on hotel patronage, religious practices pose a significant constraint. The study recommends that hotel operators engage local communities to address moral perceptions by repositioning hotels as family-friendly regulated environments and introduce womenfriendly facilities to create socially acceptable environments for female guests, particularly those deterred by religious concerns, thereby reducing social stigma and enhancing patronage. Keywords: Adamawa state, cultural practices, hotel patronage, social practices, cultural practices, religious practices

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Hotel patronage, defined as the extent to which guests choose and repeatedly utilize hotel accommodation and related services, is a vital indicator of success in the hospitality industry (Okafor & Eze, 2023). Globally, the hotel sector faces numerous challenges affecting patronage, including economic shifts, changing customer preferences, competition from shortterm rental platforms, and increasing sensitivity to local cultural norms (UNWTO, 2022). In response, hotels are increasingly required to adapt their services to reflect values such as authenticity, safety, and cultural appropriateness (Ibrahim & Razak, 2021). Among the major factors influencing hotel patronage are cultural activities, traditional practices, and religious precepts, which encompass shared beliefs, moral expectations, and social norms that shape how communities perceive and engage with hotels (Kim, 2022). Across Africa, including Nigeria, hotels operate within complex socio-cultural contexts where communal living, extended family networks, and in-home hospitality often discourage commercial lodging, especially for domestic travel (Ogunnaike et al., 2022; Olawale, 2022). Hosting visitors at home is commonly regarded as a cultural duty, and choosing a hotel may be perceived as unnecessary or even disrespectful. Moreover, religious precepts, particularly those derived from conservative interpretations of Islam or Christianity, frequently associate hotels with morally questionable behavior such as alcohol consumption, extramarital affairs, or prostitution which can dissuade devout individuals from using hotel services (Adeola & Evans, 2023). Empirical studies indicate that these socio-cultural influences significantly affect hotel patronage decisions (Adeola & Evans, 2023; Buba & Tizhe, 2021; Iwu et al., 2023; Ogunnaike et al., 2022; Ogundele, 2021; Onyema et al., 2023). These dynamics are especially pronounced in Adamawa Metropolis, a region characterized by strong religious adherence, conservative gender norms, and entrenched traditional values. Islam, as the dominant religion, discourages behaviors perceived as haram, shaping perceptions of hotels, particularly those associated with alcohol, nightlife, or mixed-gender social gatherings (Buba & Tizhe, 2021). Consequently, hotels in Adamawa frequently struggle to attract local clientele, despite rising demand from tourists and traveling professionals (Gambo et al., 2022; Musa et al., 2022). Persistent perceptions of moral compromise, coupled with long-standing communal hospitality norms, continue to limit hotel patronage and stifle the growth of the hospitality sector (Ogundele, 2021). Gender-related cultural expectations further influence hotel usage. Women’s presence in hotels is often scrutinized due to prevailing norms around modesty, domesticity, and mobility restrictions. Female patrons, particularly when unaccompanied, may face social stigma or reputational risks, reducing their utilization of hotel services even for legitimate purposes such as business travel (Buba & Tizhe, 2021). These socio-cultural constraints, therefore, reinforce barriers to hotel patronage while also shaping broader patterns of social engagement with hospitality establishments. The consequences of low hotel patronage extend beyond individual consumption to regional economic development. Reduced patronage limits revenue generation, employment opportunities, tourism growth, and private investment within Adamawa Metropolis. Furthermore, entrenched negative perceptions prevent hotels from positioning themselves as safe, respectable, and family-friendly spaces, thereby weakening their

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integration into the social and economic fabric of the community (Ogundele, 2021; Okafor & Eze, 2023; Onyema et al., 2023). Understanding hotel patronage in this context requires an examination of the symbolic meanings attached to hotels by local communities. Anchored in Symbolic Interactionism, which posits that human behavior is shaped not only by objective realities but by the meanings ascribed to objects within a society (Blumer, 1962, 1969; Carter & Fuller, 2015; Heimer & Matsueda, 1997), this study conceptualizes hotels as socially constructed symbols. In Adamawa Metropolis, social, cultural, and religious practices serve as symbols that influence whether hotels are perceived as legitimate and acceptable spaces. Therefore the aim of the study is to assess the effect of socio-cultural practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis by investigate the impact of social practices, cultural practices and the contribution of religious practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis. Examining these sociocultural factors will provide critical insight into the persistent patterns of hotel patronage and community resistance within the metropolis. Literature Review Socio-Cultural Practices Socio-cultural practices refer to the activities and behaviors prevalent in a specific community that shape daily life and are embraced by members of that society. These practices include ceremonies, festivals, rituals, and social interactions that reflect and reinforce the cultural and social dynamics of a community (Escobar & Quintero 2022). They serve to connect theoretical ideas with practical applications, influencing identity, group cohesion, and socio-economic outcomes. Socio-cultural practices have been examined in various contexts. For instance, Kivuyo, and Otieno, (2024), highlighted their role in educational settings, fostering engagement and personal development. Similarly, Escobar and Quintero (2022) define sociocultural practices as “an integrated system of social behaviours, customs, traditions, values, and beliefs that define and influence daily life interactions and the identity of a community or society,” emphasizing their role in reaffirming group identity and guiding decision-making. Key elements of socio-cultural practices include social structures, cultural norms, institutions, language and communication, and material culture (Engida, 2015; Kistanto, 2008; Reckwitz, 2003). Social structures refer to patterns of relationships within families, gender roles, and political and economic systems. Cultural norms guide acceptable behavior, delineating what is considered taboo or appropriate. Institutions, such as education, religion, family, and government, regulate and influence behavior. Language and communication serve as the medium for transmitting knowledge and social values. Material culture comprises physical objects, artefacts, and technologies that embody cultural meaning and influence daily life. Together, these elements shape community identity, social interactions, and individual behavior over time.

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Socio-cultural practices foster inclusiveness and participation, promoting shared values and collective goals (Bystrova 2023; Kopilievska et al., 2023; Miednikova, 2019). They shape individual and collective behavior, influence economic activities, and reinforce cultural continuity. In Adamawa State, socio-cultural practices encompass shared beliefs, cultural norms, religion, and institutions that influence attitudes and behaviors (Abdullahi et al., 2023; Hashim et al., 2018). The state is predominantly Islamic, with the Fulani as the dominant cultural and political group, alongside other ethnic groups including the Kilba, Bachama, Bata, and Lunguda, all contributing to cultural diversity. Traditional hospitality is a key practice, where visitors are welcomed into homes rather than hotels, reflecting values of loyalty, generosity, and social bonding (Cetin & Balik, 2014). Culinary traditions, including local delicacies such as Marghi special (kubakuba), Tuwonshinkafa with local soups, suya, kilishi, and daddawa, reinforce cultural identity and draw groups of people to social spaces, including hotels and food outlets. Festivals such as the Njuwa Fish Festival, celebrated annually between March and May, showcase Adamawa’s cultural heritage through fishing competitions, canoe races, and traditional performances, attracting visitors and generating hotel demand (Adams, 2025). Religious practices are also significant, with Islam as the dominant faith alongside Christianity and other religions. Religious gatherings, including EidKabir, Christmas, and other faith celebrations, prompt local and visiting populations to engage with hospitality services, particularly for event hosting and culinary needs (Ezenagu et al., 2021). These activities contribute to local economic growth through job creation, income generation, and tourism development, although they may also present challenges such as congestion, environmental impacts, and security concerns. Hence, socio-cultural practices in Adamawa State encompass traditional, religious, and community-based behaviors that directly influence hotel patronage by shaping social norms, hospitality expectations, and economic engagement within the region. Hotel Patronage Hotel patronage is a critical component of the hospitality industry and a key driver of tourism development globally, including in Nigeria. Beyond providing accommodation, hotels contribute to socio-economic development through employment creation, revenue generation via taxes, infrastructural development, and attraction of foreign direct investment (Chawhan & Chawhan, 2024; Costa & Costa, 2022; Khaksar & Amir, 2023). Socio-economically, hotels foster community cohesion by providing venues for events such as birthdays, weddings, and funerals, which also support local event planners and related service industries (Bello et al., 2025). Understanding hotel patronage is essential, as low patronage negatively affects the industry’s ability to fulfill these roles. Conceptually, hotel patronage refers to the repeated use of hotel services by customers due to factors related to service quality, experience, and satisfaction (Olugbemi et al., 2020; Prasad, 2020). It encompasses customer loyalty, intention to return, and preference for specific hotels, including environmentally conscious or “green” hotels that integrate sustainability into operations (Hikkerova, 2011; Shrivastava & Gautum, 2024; Tan et al., 2021).

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Customer intention is central to hotel patronage. Factors such as service quality, employee commitment, ambience, trust, and the overall experience influence whether a customer repeatedly chooses a hotel (Oladele et al, 2019; Prasad, 2020; Gremler & Brown, cited in Oladele et al., 2019). Hotels that successfully cultivate loyalty are more likely to sustain operations and generate consistent revenue. Several empirical studies have identified determinants of hotel patronage. Service-related factors include quality of service, staff friendliness, food and catering quality, employee hygiene, professionalism, and trust (AbiolaOke, 2023; Gbenga & Osotimehin, 2015; Olugbemi et al., 2020). Facility and environmental factors involve access roads, electricity, water supply, parking, security, ambience, background music, and room quality (Adesope et al., 2023; Ajani & Pudi, 2020; Faajir & Nyagba, 2022; Oladele et al., 2019;). Location and accessibility factors include convenience, road networks, and secure, easily navigable locations (Akinruwa, 2023; Faajir & Nyagba, 2022; Obeke & Abugu, 2021). Socio-cultural and customer experience factors also influence patronage. These include relational value, cultural learning, interactions with guests, religious moderation between service quality and satisfaction, cultural norms and expectations, branding, and guest loyalty (Ezeh et al., 2022; John, 2023; Obeke & Abugu, 2021; Ogunnaike et al., 2022). Demographic and personal factors such as age, income, education, gender, and occupation further shape patronage patterns (Ajani & Pudi, 2020; Ladipo et al., 2020). Therefore hotel patronage reflects a combination of customer intentions, loyalty, service experience, facility quality, sociocultural factors, and demographic characteristics. Understanding these determinants is essential for enhancing hotel performance and fostering sustainable tourism development. Theoretical Framework This study is anchored by symbolic interaction and the social identity theory (SIT). Symbolic Interactionism Theory: Symbolic Interactionism, developed by Blumer in 1969, posits that human behavior is shaped not by objective reality but by the meanings individuals assign to objects, people, and events, which in turn guide their interactions (Blumer, 1969). The theory is based on three premises: (1) people act toward things based on the meanings those things have for them, which emerge through social interaction; (2) these meanings are derived from social interactions with others; and (3) meanings are interpreted and modified through an individual’s interpretive process when encountering these things. In the context of this study, hotels in conservative societies are often symbolically linked with immoral activities through narratives, gossip, and community discourse. These socially constructed symbols shape both individual and collective perceptions, resulting in the belief that hotels are inappropriate or immoral, even if they operate professionally. Symbolic Interactionism explains how such negative perceptions are created, maintained, and transmitted within communities, influencing the willingness of individuals to patronize hotels. Symbolic Interactionism examines the relationship between socio-cultural practices and hotel patronage. In Adamawa State, prevailing norms and religious beliefs have led communities to assign symbolic meanings to hotels as places of immorality. These perceptions influence group

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behavior; individuals who patronize hotels may be viewed as violating social codes, regardless of their legitimate intentions. Therefore, it is the socially constructed symbol, rather than the objective reality of the hotel’s services, that profoundly guides individual decisions regarding patronage. The study is also anchored by the social identity theory (SIT) which is a psychological model developed by a psychologist Tajfel and Turner in 1979 (Mcleod, 2023). The theory proposes that people’s sense of who they are or their self-worth is derived from their membership in social groups, such as religious, family, or community groups, and these factors shape their behaviour and attitude in the public space. This implies that the group an individual belongs to has a way of inflecting their behaviour or attitude and if they don’t belong to a particular group, such group precepts may not really have any influence on such individuals. In the context of socio-cultural practices and hotel patronage in Adamawa State, individuals identify strongly with their cultural, religious, and family groups, and these groups belief influences their patronage or preferences for hotel accommodation. If group norms discourage hotel use, individuals will avoid hotels to preserve their group identity to avoid social sanctions, and if otherwise, such an individual can patronize or have preference to use hotel wince the group such person belongs is indifferent to the use of hotels. Therefore, social identity theory provided valuable insights in understanding how socio-cultural practices prevail in a particular region, especially based on the groups an individual belong to, shape their preference for hotel patronage in Adamawa State. Research Methodology Research Design This study employed a cross-sectional survey research design, which allows for the collection of data from the target population at a single point in time. This design was considered appropriate as it facilitates the examination of the effect of socio-cultural practices on hotel patronage among hotel guests and staff in Adamawa Metropolis. Data were collected directly from respondents across multiple hotels in Yola and Jimeta, using a field survey approach. This method enabled the researcher to capture respondents’ perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes regarding socio-cultural factors and their influence on the use of hotel services. The crosssectional design provided a snapshot of the interactions between socio-cultural practices and hotel patronage, offering insights into prevailing trends and behaviors within the study area. Population of the Study The target population for this study comprises of all hotels in Adamawa State. As of October 2025, the total number of hotels in Adamawa State was 126 registered hotels which comprises of Yola 76 hotels, Jimeta 23 hotels and Mubi 16 hotels.

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Sample Size The study used Cochran sample size to determine the total number of sample from the population that would be appropriate for thus study. A Cochran sample size is most often use when the population of the study is not known or large. Using this method, the sample size is calculated below: 𝑛! =

𝑍 " ∗ 𝑝(1 − 𝑞) 𝑒"

Where no= unadjusted sample Size, Z2= desired confidence level e.g. 95% which is 1.96 using the z-score table, e is the desired level of precision or margin of error e.g. 5%, p is estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in population (use 0.5 for maximum variability if unknown) and q is the estimated proportion of without attribute and it can be derived by (1-q) 1.96" ∗ 0.5 (1 − 0.5) 0.05" " 1.96 ∗ 0.5 ∗ 0.5) 𝑛! = 0.05" 3.8416 ∗ 0.25 = = 384.16 0.0025 Approximately, 385 𝑛! =

Therefore, the sample size for this study is 385. Sampling Technique In order to ensure representativeness and generalizability of results, a strata sampling technique was employed in selecting the hotels. Stratification was based on the official Nigerian hotel classification system (as guided by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation and relevant hospitality standards). Thus following the Nigerian hotel classification, only large hotels were selected for the study, with the number of large registered hotels in the study area amounting to 18. Hence, using the stratified sampling technique, in Yola we have 10 hotels, Jimeta has 5 hotels while Mubi has 3 registered hotels. The selected hotels meet the criteria for classification as large hotels, as they have a minimum of 100 rooms and above, offer extensive amenities, provide multiple dining options, possess conference facilities and swimming pools, and accommodate a high volume of guests. These 18 selected hotels met the established criteria for classification as large hotels and formed the sampling frame from which guests, managers, and staff were drawn for data collection. This stratified selection strategy helped ensure that the sample adequately reflected the characteristics of large-scale hospitality operations across the major urban centres in Adamawa state (Yola, Jimeta, and Mubi). Questionnaires were also distributed proportionately across hotel locations based on the number of hotels, and subsequently allocated evenly within each hotel. The study area consisted of 18 hotels, unevenly distributed across the three locations: Yola (10 hotels), Jimeta (5 hotels), and Mubi

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(3 hotels). To ensure fair representation of each location, a proportionate sampling technique was adopted in allocating the questionnaires. Step 1: Allocate questionnaires by location (proportionate to number of hotels) Yola: 10/18×385=213.89. Mubi: 3/18×385=64.17. Jimeta: 5/18×385=106.94. Total: 214 + 64 + 107 = 385 Accordingly, questionnaires were distributed based on the proportion of hotels in each location relative to the total number of hotels. As a result, 214 questionnaires were allocated to Yola, 64 questionnaires to Mubi, and 107 questionnaires to Jimeta. Following the proportional allocation by location, questionnaires were further distributed equally among hotels within each location. Step 2: Yola (214 questionnaires, 10 hotels): 214÷10=21.4 Mubi (64 questionnaires, 3 hotels): 64÷3=21.33 Jimeta (107 questionnaires, 5 hotels): 107÷5=21.4 In Yola, each hotel received approximately 22 questionnaires, in Mubi each hotel received 21questionnaires, and in Jimeta each hotel received 21 questionnaires. This approach ensured both proportional representation across locations and equitable distribution within hotels. Overall, the proportional allocation method enhanced the representativeness of the sample and minimized sampling bias, thereby improving the reliability and generalizability of the study findings. Research Instrument Data were collected using a structured questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” The instrument had four sections covering demographics, socio-cultural practices, and hotel patronage behaviors. Method of Data Collection The study relied on primary data, which was collected through field survey using structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to measure the dimensions of socio-cultural practices (Social practices, cultural activities and faith-based practices) as well as hotel patronage and be administered to the sampled respondents, comprising hotel management, workers, and guests. The researcher, join with trained research assistants administered the questionnaire to the hotels in Yola, Mubi and Jimeta. A total of 385 Questionnaires were distributed proportionately across hotel locations based on the number of hotels, and

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subsequently allocated evenly within each hotel. Therefore twenty two questionnaires were administered to each hotel used for the study. At the end only 373 questionnaires was properly filled and returned. Data Analysis Techniques Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics to summarize the data. Modal analysis was used to determine the perceptions of the participants. Statistical analyses was carried out using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 25. Ethical Considerations Informed consent was obtained from all respondents prior to data collection. Respondents were assured of the confidentiality of their responses, and participation will be voluntary. The study complied with all relevant ethical guidelines in conducting social science research. Validity of Research Instrument To ensure the research instrument measures what it is intended to measure, both content and construct validity was established. The instrument was reviewed by a panel of hotel management experts and social science researchers, who evaluated its design and items. Content validity was assessed by confirming that the instrument adequately and comprehensively addresses each of the study’s research questions. Construct validity was evaluated by verifying that the variables and concepts under study are operationalized with appropriate and effective metrics, thereby ensuring that each construct is accurately captured by the corresponding measures. Reliability of the Instrument The Cronbach Coefficient Alpha value ranges from 0 to 1, and the greater the obtained result, the more reliable the test. A confirmatory internal consistency test on the instrument utilizing the sample and a threshold level of 0.7 and above generally accepted as a rule of thumb and regarded as satisfactory was used to verify the reliability results. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach’s alpha, with a benchmark alpha value of 0.70 to confirm internal consistency. Table 4.1 Reliability Test Cronbach's Alpha 0.775

N of Items 36

Source: Author’s Computation using SPSS 23, 2025

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Table 4.1 presents the results of the reliability tests for all the responses obtained from the field survey. With a Cronbach’s Alpha α = 0.775 and considering the rule of thumb, it is observed that there is a good internal consistency of the research instrument. Results Socio-Demographic Profiles Figure 1 Demographic Information of the Participants

Gender

Age

Marital Status Frequency

Eduation Qualification

100 13.3 Total

54.6

Public Servants

Civil Servants

Total

4.6

Students

3.6 28.6

Business Owners

100

PhD

MBA/M.Sc.

ND/NCE

SSCE

2.6 16.8

49.5 26.5 HND/B.Sc

100

Total

Divorce

Married

Total

1.3

34.955.35 9.7 Single

100

46 and above

36-45

26-35

40.1 21.4 7.1 30.1 18-25

100

Total

Female

57.7 42.3 Male

450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

Occupation

Percent

Source: Field Survey, 2025

Figure 1 presents the demographic characteristics of the participants. From a total sample of 373 participants, the analysis revealed that the majority of the participants are male which accounted for 226 (57.7%), while females constitute 166 (42.3%). Regarding age distribution, the largest proportion of respondents falls within the 36-45 age bracket, representing 157(40.1%) participants. This is followed by those within the age bracket 26-30 constituting 118(30.1%), and those aged 46 and above accounted for 84(21.4%) participants. The youngest group, aged 18-25, comprises 33 (8.4%) participants. This distribution suggests that the sample represents a mature adult population, typical of those expected to patronize hotel accommodations. In terms of educational status, the distribution shows that the majority of participants hold HND/BSc certificates, and they accounted for 194 (49.5%) participants. This is followed by those with MBA/MSc degrees which accounted for 104(26.5%) participants, ND/NCE holders accounted for 66(16.8%) participants, and PhD holders constitute 18(4.6%) participants. These figures implied that nearly all participants are well-educated and possess a clear understanding of the study's objectives. Regarding marital status, the data revealed that 217 (55.4%) participants are married, 137 (34.9%) are single, and 38 (9.7%) are divorced. This indicates that the majority of hotel patrons in this study are married. Finally, concerning occupational

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distribution, the study shows that 214 (54.6%) participants are business owners, 112 (28.6%) are civil servants, 52 (13.3%) are public servants, and students constitute 14 (3.6%) of the sample. Research Question 1: What is the impact of social practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis? Table 2 Perception of Participants on social practices effect on Hotels Patronage Questions Hotel patronage in Adamawa State follows gender rules prevalent in the region Hotel industry encourages interaction between genders of opposite sex Hotel industry encourages/introduces indecent behaviour in the region Hotels in Adamawa promote popular culture of Western life rather than traditional African social practices Traditional hospitality provides stronger social bonding experiences compared to hotels My decision to use hotels is influenced by the unavailability of friends or family to host me

Mode

Mean

168 (45.0)

173 (46.4)

23 (6.2)

9 (2.4)

0 (0.0)

1.66

86 (23.1) 1 (0.3)

206 (55.2) 1 (0.3)

46 (12.3) 39 (10.5)

31 (8.3) 236 (63.3)

4 (1.1) 96 (25.7)

2.09

4.14

89 (23.9)

210 (56.3)

39 (10.5)

34 (9.1)

1 (0.3)

2.06

103 (27.6)

219 (58.4)

35 (9.4)

16 (4.3)

0 (0.0)

1.90

92 (24.7)

221 (59.2)

31 (8.3)

27 (7.2)

1 (0.3)

1.98

Source: Field Survey, 2025

Table 2 summarizes participants’ perceptions of the influence of socio-cultural practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis (n = 373), analyzed using the mode as a measure of central tendency. Findings indicate that most respondents disagreed that hotel patronage is governed by the state’s traditional gender rules, suggesting that hotels are perceived as relatively neutral spaces regarding gender norms. Similarly, participants disagreed that hotels promote interaction between opposite sexes or that traditional hospitality provides stronger social bonding compared to hotels. The choice to use hotels was not primarily influenced by the unavailability of family or friends to host, but rather by factors such as convenience, anonymity, and suitability for specific purposes. However, respondents agreed that the hotel industry encourages behavior considered indecent, reflecting perceptions that some hotel practices conflict with local norms of morality and decency. Overall, the findings suggest that hotel patronage in Adamawa is driven largely by individual needs and convenience, rather than adherence to traditional gender or family norms, although concerns about moral conduct remain prominent.

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Research Question 2: What is the impact of cultural practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis? Table 3 Perception of Cultural Practices and Hotel Patronage Questions

Mode

Mean

Hotel products (recreational facilities) in this locality follows gender segregation rule

92 (24.7)

213 (57.1)

40 (10.7)

28 (7.5)

0 (0.0)

2.01

90 (24.1)

207 (55.5)

40 (10.7)

35 (9.4)

1 (0.3)

2.06

0 (0.0)

3 (0.8)

44 (11.8)

243 (65.1)

83 (22.3)

4.09

92 (24.7)

228 (61.1)

33 (8.8)

19 (5.1)

1 (0.3)

1.95

103 (27.6)

211 (56.6)

37 (9.9)

20 (5.4)

2 (0.5)

1.95

103 (27.6)

219 (58.7)

30 (8.0)

17 (4.6)

4 (1.1)

1.93

163 (43.7)

158 (42.4)

40 (10.7)

12 (3.2)

0 (0.0)

1.73

156 (41.8)

44 (11.8)

17 (4.6)

0 (0.0)

1.79

The hotel services contradict the traditional values prevalent in the state The hotel industry products promote the traditional culture of family hospitality Hotel products (accommodation) encourage social vices in the community My choice of hotel is influenced by its proximity to festival locations I prefer hotels that organize packages or promotions during cultural festivals Hotels that showcase cultural events attract more visitors I am more likely to stay in hotels that integrate cultural themes into their services Source: Field Survey, 2025

Table 3 presents participants’ perceptions of the influence of cultural practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis (n = 373), analyzed using modal analysis. Results indicate that the majority of respondents disagreed that hotel services (such as recreational facilities) follow gender segregation rules, contradict traditional values, or encourage social vices. Participants also disagreed that hotel choice is influenced by proximity to festivals or by hotels offering festival packages, and they strongly disagreed that hotels integrating cultural events attract more visitors. On the other hand, respondents agreed that the hotel industry promotes the traditional culture of family hospitality. Overall, findings suggest that while hotels support aspects of family-oriented hospitality, cultural practices have minimal influence on hotel patronage, as hotels are perceived primarily as utilitarian service providers rather than active cultural institutions.

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Research Question 3: To what extent does religious practices contribute to hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis? Table 4 Perception of Religious Practices and Hotel Patronage Questions

Mode Mean

My religious beliefs forbid to lodge in hotel? My religious beliefs and doctrine stipulates the type of hotel I should lodge in? It is a taboo from my religious beliefs to patronize hotel products or services lodging in hotels should be gender regulated based on my religion belief I choose hotels that respect religious value and practices My choice of hotel is influenced by proximity to religious event centers The level of religious practices affect hotel patronage in this locality

1 (0.3)

13 (3.5)

46 (12.3)

234 (62.7)

79 (21.2)

4.01

91 (24.4)

215 (57.6)

40 (10.7)

27 (7.2)

0 (0.0)

2.01

0 (0.0) 87 (23.3) 167 (44.8) 96 (25.7) 100 (26.8)

13 (3.5) 218 (58.4) 161 (43.2) 221 (59.2) 209 (56.0)

38 (10.2) 40 (10.7) 35 (9.4) 43 (11.5) 45 (12.1)

234 (62.7) 25 (6.7) 10 (2.7) 13 (3.5) 19 (5.1)

88 (23.6) 3 (0.8) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0)

4.06

2.03

1.70

1.93

1.95

Source: Field Survey, 2025

Table 4 summarizes participants’ perceptions of the influence of religious practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis (n = 373). The findings reveal a mixed perspective. The majority disagreed that religious beliefs dictate hotel choice, influence lodging based on gender, proximity to religious events, or adherence to specific religious values. Also, some participants agreed that their religion forbids hotel use or views it as taboo. Overall, the data suggests that while strict religious prohibitions exist, most individuals prioritize personal convenience and preferences over religious prescriptions when choosing hotels. This highlights a balance between traditional religious norms and pragmatic, individual decision-making in hotel patronage within the state. Discussion of Findings The findings reveal that social practices, particularly gender norms and traditional hospitality expectations, have a limited influence on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis. The majority of respondents disagreed that hotel usage strictly follows the gender rules prevalent in the state, suggesting that hotels are perceived as relatively neutral or semi-public spaces where conventional gender restrictions are less pronounced. This indicates a gradual shift from rigid socio-cultural controls to more individualised decision-making in accommodation choices, especially in urban settings. This finding aligns with earlier studies in hospitality and

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tourism literature which argue that modern hotels often function as socially neutral spaces that accommodate diverse users regardless of gender or social background (Lashley, 2000a; Timothy, 2019). In many developing societies, hotels are increasingly viewed as neutral service spaces rather than strict agents of local cultural norms, reflecting global hospitality standards and pragmatic consumer behaviour (Kotler et al., 2017). Abdurahiman et al. (2024) similarly observed that Urbanisation and social change in Nigeria have shaped how people engage with modern service spaces such as hotels. Furthermore, the findings indicate that hotel patronage is not primarily driven by the unavailability of friends or family to host guests. Instead, respondents emphasised convenience, anonymity, and suitability for specific purposes as the main reasons for using hotels. This supports existing literature which identifies privacy, comfort, and autonomy as dominant motivations for hotel use in contemporary societies (Kotler et al., 2017). More so, the study by Okeke et al. (2021) confirms that hotel patronage is increasingly influenced by personal convenience privacy, and personal needs rather than traditional social obligations. However, an important and culturally sensitive finding of this study is that respondents agreed that the hotel industry encourages or introduces indecent behaviour in the region, contradicting local moral and decency norms. This perception reflects longstanding tensions between modern hospitality practices and conservative socio-cultural values, particularly in predominantly Muslim or traditionally inclined societies (Salazar, 2011). These findings align with Eid and El-Gohary’s (2015) study which states that hotels are sometimes perceived as spaces where moral norms are relaxed or challenged, reflecting broader debates about religion’s influence on consumer behaviour in tourism. Such views may influence community attitudes towards hotels, potentially shaping regulatory pressures and social acceptance, even when patronage decisions remain driven by individual needs. This finding suggest that hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis is largely shaped by pragmatic considerations rather than strict adherence to prevailing social practices. This finding is in agreement with the Symbolic Interactionism theory which proposes that human behaviour is not determined by objective reality but by the meaning that individual attributes to such things which then is embraced and determine their interactions with others. In this context hotels, in many conservative societies, are symbolically linked with immoral activities through shared narratives, gossip, and community interactions. As a result, these symbols shape individual and collective perceptions that hotels are inappropriate or immoral, even if those hotels operate professionally. Symbolic interactionism helps explain how negative perceptions of hotels as immoral spaces are socially constructed and maintained, affecting willingness to patronize hotels. While hotels are seen as gender-neutral and functionally convenient spaces, they remain symbolically contested within the socio-cultural landscape due to perceived moral contradictions with local norms. This dual perception highlights the complex relationship between modern hospitality services and traditional social values in Adamawa State. On the other hand, the findings also indicate that cultural practices have a limited and largely passive influence on hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis. The majority of respondents disagreed with most of the statements relating to the role of cultural norms in shaping hotel usage, suggesting that hotels are generally perceived as culturally neutral service spaces rather

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than as institutions responsible for enforcing or reproducing local cultural practices. This perception reinforces the notion that hotel patronage decisions in the study area are driven more by functional considerations than by cultural conformity. Respondents’ disagreement that hotel products (such as recreational facilities) follow gender segregation rules further confirms that hotels are not viewed as extensions of traditional cultural institutions. This finding aligns with hospitality literature which argues that modern hotels often operate within a framework of standardized global service delivery that limits deep integration with local cultural norms (Kotler et al., 2017; Lashley, 2008). In culturally conservative environments, hotels tend to adopt neutral operational policies that neither explicitly reinforce nor openly challenge traditional values, thereby positioning themselves as culturally detached yet socially acceptable spaces. Interestingly, respondents disagreed that hotel products contradict traditional values or encourage social vices, suggesting a more nuanced perception of hotels than is often assumed in conservative societies. While hotels are sometimes socially constructed as morally questionable spaces, this study shows that participants do not strongly associate hotel accommodation with immoral behaviour. Similar trends have been documented in Nigerian hospitality research, where hotels are increasingly viewed as legitimate and professional service environments rather than sites of cultural erosion (Lashley, 2008; Okeke et al., 2021). The findings further reveal that proximity to cultural festivals, hotel-organised festival packages, or cultural-themed promotions do not significantly influence hotel patronage. Respondents strongly disagreed that hotels showcasing cultural events attract more visitors, indicating a lack of interest in culturally themed hotel experiences. This contradicts much of the global tourism literature which highlights cultural festivals and heritage displays as key drivers of accommodation demand (Richards, 2018; Timothy & Boyd, 2003). However, in the Adamawa context, this result may reflect the fact that festivals are traditionally communitycentred events where participation is rooted in kinship, religion, and locality rather than in commercial hospitality consumption. Despite the general perception of cultural neutrality, respondents agreed that hotel industry products promote the traditional culture of family hospitality. This suggests that while hotels do not actively embed cultural rituals or norms into their services, they indirectly support cultural values associated with care, hosting, and accommodation. This aligns with Lashley’s (2000b) conceptualisation of hospitality as a social practice rooted in providing shelter and comfort, values that resonate with African traditions of family hospitality even when delivered through commercial means. This finding indicate that cultural practices do not play a decisive role in shaping hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis. Hotels are largely viewed as utilitarian service providers whose relationship with culture is minimal, indirect, and passive. While they may reflect certain broad cultural values such as hospitality and care, they are not perceived as cultural institutions, festival spaces, or moral regulators. This reinforces the broader conclusion that hotel patronage in Adamawa is driven primarily by practical needs rather than by cultural alignment or cultural expression.

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The study findings further indicate a complex and somewhat contradictory relationship between religious beliefs and hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis. The majority of respondents disagreed that religious doctrines dictate their choice of hotels, suggesting that religious affiliation does not strongly determine accommodation decisions in the state. This supports broader hospitality study which argues that commercial hospitality spaces should be understood as professional service environments rather than moral or cultural threats (Lashley, 2008). Empirical evidence also shows that hotel patronage is increasingly shaped by functional considerations such as convenience, privacy, and service quality rather than by moral judgments or fears of cultural erosion (Okeke et al., 2021). More broadly, studies in cultural tourism emphasize that cultural values are dynamic and adaptive, interacting with modern service institutions rather than being automatically undermined by them (Richards, 2018; Timothy & Boyd, 2003). The respondents also disagreed that hotel patronage should be regulated by gender based on religion. This suggests that even in a region where religion is a significant social force, individuals do not expect hotels to enforce gender-based lodging rules. This finding is consistent with the globalisation of hospitality standards, where hotels operate under universal service policies that prioritise customer rights, privacy, and business ethics over religious regulation (Kotler et al., 2017). In addition, this aligns with studies that argue hotels are “neutral zones” where religious and gender boundaries become less strict (Lashley & Morrison, 2000). However, the findings further reveal that some of the respondents strongly agreed that their religious beliefs discourage or forbid hotel usage, often perceiving such spaces as socially inappropriate or taboo. This highlights an underlying tension between deeply rooted religious doctrines and the demands of contemporary urban lifestyles. The presence of strong religious morality enforcement in Northern Nigeria helps explain why some respondents view hotel patronage as taboo. Study on Hisba and moral policing show that religious authorities actively regulate public behaviour and acceptable social spaces, particularly in Northern Nigerian communities (Adamu, 2008). Consequently, although hotels are increasingly recognised as modern and functional service environments, they may still be viewed as morally sensitive spaces by conservative religious adherents. This is consistent with some hospitality scholars which shown that religion affects how people interpret hospitality and host–guest relationships across diverse faiths, indicating that religious values can inform consumer attitudes toward commercial accommodation services (Kirillova et al., 2014). The findings reveal a notable contradiction in respondents’ views, where some participants indicated that religion forbids hotel patronage, while others reported that religion does not influence their usage. The observed inconsistency between respondents’ expressed religious beliefs and their actual hotel patronage behaviour can be understood through the concepts of selective adherence and pragmatic accommodation. Selective adherence refers to the tendency of individuals to follow socio-cultural or religious norms in a partial or context-dependent manner, rather than uniformly. Pragmatic accommodation, on the other hand, reflects the adjustment of behaviour to meet practical needs such as convenience, privacy, and mobility. The interaction of these processes results in behavioural contradiction, where stated beliefs do not consistently align with actual practices. In the context of Adamawa State, this suggests that

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individuals negotiate between religious expectations and the demands of everyday life, leading to flexible and situation-dependent behaviour. Individuals may maintain religious identity while still adopting pragmatic behaviours such as hotel patronage for convenience, privacy, and modern lifestyle needs. This reflects a broader trend in religious studies, where personal religious practice is increasingly individualized rather than strictly communal (Hervieu-Léger, 2000; Roof, 1999;). The study also found that participants disagreed that proximity to religious event centres influences their hotel choice. This suggests that religious events are not major drivers of hotel demand in Adamawa, which contrasts with the common assumption that religious tourism and pilgrimages heavily influence hospitality consumption. Although as stated by Eid and El-Gohary (2015), in many regions, religious festivals and pilgrimages significantly affect hotel occupancy and patronage. However, in Adamawa, it appears that hotels are primarily used for personal and practical reasons rather than religious-related travel. Therefore this suggest that while religious doctrines may influence a minority of individuals who view hotels as taboo, the majority of respondents do not allow religion to regulate their hotel choices. This result aligns in agreement with the Social identity theory which state that the group an individual belongs to have a way of inflecting their behaviour or attitude, and if they don’t belong to a particular group, such group precepts may not really have any influence on such individual. Therefore in the context of socio-cultural practices and hotel patronage in Adamawa State, individuals identify strongly with their cultural, religious, and family groups, and these groups belief influences their patronage or preferences for hotel accommodation. If group norms discourage hotel use, individuals will avoid hotels to preserve their group identity and avoid social sanctions, and if otherwise, such an individual can patronize or have preference to use hotel wince the group such person belongs is indifferent to the use of hotels. This reflects a shift towards secular pragmatism, where individual needs, convenience, and personal standards override strict religious prescriptions. Thus, religious practices in Adamawa have a limited but complex influence on hotel patronage, shaped by both conservative religious values and modern urban lifestyles. Conclusion This study evaluated the influence of socio-cultural practices on hotel patronage in Adamawa State, with specific focus on social practices, cultural practices, and religious practices. It generated insights into how socio-cultural and religious meanings shape hotel usage within a religiously and culturally diverse environment such as Adamawa State. In terms of social practices, it was noted that social practices such as norms, gender segregation expectations, or societal pressure do not influence hotel patronage in Adamawa State. Also, with respect to cultural practices, hotel products do not contradict traditional values, encourage social vices, or influence patronage through proximity to festivals or cultural events. The study affirms that socio-cultural practices do not uniformly restrict hotel patronage in Adamawa Metropolis. Instead, religious practices operate selectively and symbolically, producing gendered outcomes that shape hospitality consumption. These findings have important implications for hotel operators, policymakers, and tourism planners, emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive hospitality strategies that recognize religious diversity while promoting inclusive and gender-

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sensitive service environments. Hence either cultural or social practices were not perceived as decisive factors in hotel choice. However, religious practices, were revealed to have more complex and nuanced patterns. This is because many disagreed that religion dictates hotel choice or enforces gender segregation in hotel usage, while a segment strongly agreed that their religion forbids hotel usage and regards it as taboo as align with social identity theory. Overall, the findings demonstrate that while social and cultural practices exert minimal influence on hotel patronage, religious practices particularly remain a significant factor shaping how hotels are perceived and used in Adamawa state Nigeria. These findings have important implications for hotel operators, policymakers, and tourism planners, emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive hospitality strategies that recognize religious diversity while promoting inclusive and gender-sensitive service environments.

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IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies: Volume 11 – Issue 1