journals
Journal Created as a Demo During Manifold Workshop
This journal explores the hidden crevices of global interactions and the way human beings, cities, nations and regions across the globe daily interact with each other. We shine light on ideas, theories and developments involving diplomacy, culture, sports, media, technology, the military, energy, ecology, and finance. We accept current and alumni students' work from the Executive Master in International Studies program in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6069/315K-AM53
This journal project is the result of a collaborative effort in language classes of teacher, graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Washington in Seattle, to share the joy of discovery of our own exploration of Indian songs. While many people have a general sense of what Indian songs are about, especially when performed with gestures and mime, it is not always easy to know precisely what is meant, which stands in the way of full appreciation. On top of that, song translations available on the internet are often more paraphrases than precise translations, leaving room for misunderstandings. And yet there is so much to be gained by listening carefully. Besides working on a more precise understanding, we also aim for a better appreciation of the aesthetics and rhetorics behind the lyricists’ craft. Different students approach songs in different ways, resulting in a wonderfully diverse range of analysis.
Some technical considerations: we provide lyrics in both Devanāgarī script and transliteration so as to reach a wide audience. For the transliteration, we follow standard scholarly conventions. We also provide wordlists with etymological notes, which are helpful in understanding the lyricist’s word choices. We cite the dictionaries’ full list of possible meanings, underlining the ones we consider closest to the meaning in the context of the selected song. This allows readers’ easy access to the full range of possible interpretations, so as to make up their own mind. As always, there remain ambiguities and alternative possibilities. Translations are works in progress, vetted in class workshops, but always with scope for improvement. We see our work as invitations to engage with the songs, not closures with the final interpretations. The individual song entries are not intended as formal papers: we simply provide some major points on the basis of our own analysis and what we read, cited under “Sources/Further Readings.”
This is an experiment, and we beg your patience and pardon for our shortcomings in interpreting these beloved lyrics. Most importantly, we ask our readers for their feedback, so we can keep improving in future installments.
We hope our readers will enjoy this fruit of our labor as much as we enjoyed researching.
