This study examines the evolution of the center–periphery structure in Japanese intellectual history through the thought of Motoori Norinaga and Yanagita Kunio. It explores how Japan sought self-identity and independence under external cultural and academic pressures. During the Edo period, under the influence of Chinese civilization, Motoori Norinaga reinterpreted the Huayi distinction, emphasizing indigenous tradition and Shinto thought while rejecting China’s absolute centrality and repositioning Japan as a cultural center. In the modern era, facing a Western-dominated academic system, Yanagita Kunio proposed “national folklore studies” to secure the autonomy of Japanese scholarship through a strategy of relative centralization. By comparing their approaches, this study reveals both continuity and transformation in Japan’s center–periphery structure. It argues that despite differences in historical context and disciplinary focus, both thinkers retained the hierarchical logic of the center–periphery framework while redefining Japan’s position within it.

This study examines a comparative rhetorical analysis of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s 2015 and 2023 open letters. It explores how he strategically employs Aristotelian appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos to influence political discourse in Nigeria. Through a qualitative analysis of both texts, the research reveals a clear evolution in Obasanjo’s rhetorical approach, shaped by the country’s shifting political and socio-economic landscape. The 2015 letter adopts a confrontational tone anchored in authoritative ethos and fear-based pathos, reflecting national instability and leadership dissatisfaction, while, by contrast, the 2023 letter embodies a more inclusive and hopeful rhetoric, emphasizing collective responsibility and logical argumentation to engage an increasingly participatory electorate. The study demonstrates how political communication adapts to contextual realities and public expectations. It contributes to the growing body of African rhetorical scholarship by highlighting the dynamic interplay between credibility, emotion, and logic in shaping persuasive political messages. The findings suggest that rhetorical evolution is not merely stylistic but a strategic response to democratic maturation and audience awareness.

The vitality of a nation is deeply intertwined with the vigor of its youth, making youth affairs a strategic priority. Since China entered a new era, its youth have engaged with the world with unprecedented breadth and depth. They actively participate in international affairs, demonstrating a level of rationality, tolerance, confidence, and self-reliance seldom seen before. This article adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating pragmatics with news discourse. Employing a literature review and a mixed-methods design that combines quantitative and qualitative analysis, it examines how language is employed in China Daily to construct and project the image of Chinese youth. The study finds that the newspaper’s discourse strategically adheres to collaborative and appropriateness principles to foster a positive and influential youth image. In the process of adhering to pragmatic principles, news reports have successfully shaped multiple positive images of contemporary Chinese youth: they are not only deeply engaged in social affairs and shoulder the responsibility of promoting national development, but also play the role of cooperators in international exchanges.

Arabic language retention is widely theorised as central to the cultural reproduction of Arab diaspora communities, yet its empirical relationship with cultural maintenance has rarely been examined through systematic multivariate analysis in the Indian context. Drawing on original survey data from 214 third-generation and beyond Yemeni-origin households across three Indian states Telangana, Maharashtra, and Karnataka this study tests Arabic language ability as a predictor of cultural maintenance practices, supranational identity, and employment outcomes. OLS regression analysis reveals that Arabic ability is the single strongest predictor of cultural maintenance (β = .497, p < .001), accounting for over 52% of variance in cultural maintenance scores in a five-predictor model (R² = .528). Kruskal-Wallis tests demonstrate significant state-level variation in both Arabic retention and cultural maintenance (H = 142.35 and H = 145.04, respectively, both p < .001), with Telangana communities exhibiting substantially higher scores than Maharashtra and Karnataka counterparts. Joint family structure further moderates cultural maintenance (H = 19.005, p < .001). These findings suggest that language is not merely a marker of heritage but an active transmission mechanism a cultural carrier that transports and reproduces Yemeni identity across centuries of settlement. The results have implications for theories of long-settled diaspora, heritage language maintenance, and the relationship between linguistic and cultural assimilation in South Asian Muslim communities.

The Israel–Palestine conflict remains one of the most complex and contested issues in contemporary international politics. A central question in this debate concerns whether Israel’s actions in Palestinian territories and neighbouring regions are primarily motivated by legitimate security concerns or reflect broader patterns of territorial expansion. This article examines the historical development of the conflict, focusing on the emergence of competing nationalist movements and the impact of colonial and postcolonial dynamics. It analyses how security has been constructed as a guiding principle in Israeli policy, while also exploring critiques that interpret these actions as forms of occupation and territorial consolidation. The study further considers the role of settlement expansion, military strategies, and administrative control in shaping the political and geographic landscape of the region. In addition to political analysis, the article incorporates the human dimension of the conflict, emphasizing how lived experiences influence perceptions of security, identity, and belonging among both Israelis and Palestinians. By bringing together these perspectives, the article highlights the complexity of the issue and the limitations of binary interpretations. The findings suggest that the distinction between security and expansion is not always clear-cut, as policies often reflect overlapping motivations and consequences. The article concludes that a nuanced and multidimensional approach is essential for understanding the conflict and for informing more balanced academic and policy discussions.

This paper investigates media framing and its impact on the postcolonial identity construction of Half of a Yellow Sun, a novel set in the Nigerian civil war of 1967 1970, by the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which prefigures conflicting narratives based on local propaganda, foreign journalism, and political discourse. Using the Media Framing Theory and Postcolonial Theory, this paper questions the ways in which information propagation, selective reporting, and ideological bias constitute divergent perceptions of Biafra, nationhood and identity. This study will claim that by revealing the politics of representation in the media discourse related to war time, Adichie reclaims narrative authority. The textual analysis of this paper shows that literature is a counter-frame to misconstrued media histories, thus re-creating postcolonial Nigerian identity internally.