Upin & Ipin: Promoting malaysian culture values through animation

Malaysian children lately have been exposed or influenced heavily by digital media entertainment. The rise of such entertainment tends to drive them away from understanding and appreciating the values of Malaysian culture. Upin and Ipin animation has successfully promoted Malaysian folklore culture and has significantly portrayed the art of Malaysian values including Islamic values by providing the platform for harmonious relationship among different societies or groups or religious backgrounds. The focus of this research is to look into the usage of Malaysian culture iconic visual styles such as backgrounds, lifestyles, character archetypes and narrative (storytelling). Therefore, we hope that this research will benefit the younger generation by highlighting the meaning and importance of implicit Malaysian culture.

The feminine character and temporal freedom in three historical novels by Angelina Muñiz: Morada interior (1972), "El Mercader de Tudela" (1995) y "La Burladora de Toledo" (2008)

We focus on the representation of time in Muñiz’s historical novels. Concretely, we stress the attitude of the feminine characters towards time and history. Muñiz’s female personages continuously transgress temporal borders and move freely between different historical periods. We relate Muñiz’s particular vision on time and on the separation lines between historical periods to her situation as an exile. The author is continuously crossing borders between the past of her homeland and the present of her adoptive country. We argument Muñiz is recreating this “borderfree” attitude towards time in the female characters of her historical novels.