ISAR Publisher

International Scientific and Academic Research Publisher

Submit Manuscript
ISAR Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Abbr. Title:
ISAR J Arts Humanit Soc Sci
ISSN(Online):
2583-9691
Publisher:
ISAR Publisher
Chief Editor:
Prof. Asoc. Jonida Bushi (Gjuzi)
Country of origin:
India
Language:
English
Frequency:
Monthly
Format:
Online
Journal starting year:
2023

Chief Editor

Prof. Asoc. Jonida Bushi (Gjuzi)
Prof. Asoc. Jonida Bushi (Gjuzi)
Editor-in-Chief

Head of German Language Department, Faculty of foreign language, University of Tirana, Albania. Email: jonida.bushi@unitir.edu.al; Scopus ID: 57226250157; Orchid ID: 0000-0002-0156-4065

Editorial Board member

Prof. Jamal Assadi
Prof. Jamal Assadi
Editor

Associate Professor of English Literature at the College of Sakhnin. Email: jamal-a@sakhnin.ac.il; AD Scientific Index ID: 5009903; Scopus ID: 55838573900

Ngoma Mushinda Betao
Ngoma Mushinda Betao
Editor

Teacher-Researcher at the University of Kinshasa (Assistant of Professor) Assistant of the Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Embassy in Beijing. Email: ngoma.mushinda@unikin.ac.cd

Dr. P.K. Rajagopal
Dr. P.K. Rajagopal
Editor

Associate Professor and Head PG & Research Department of Political Science, NSS Hindu College, Changanacherry, Kottayam, Kerala, India. Email: pkrgopal@rediffmail.com; ORCID: 0000-0002-2658-1312

Dr. Benard Kodak
Dr. Benard Kodak
Editor

Associate Professor of Linguistics, Dean, School of Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Craetive Industries, Maasai Mara University, Kenya. Email: bkodak@mmarau.ac.ke; ORCID: 0000-0001-9960-2017

Dr. P. Pachaiyappan
Dr. P. Pachaiyappan
Editor

Associate Professor, Department of Education, GRT College of Education, Tiruttani-631209. Tamilnadu, India. Email: pachaiyappan.p@grt.edu.in

Abbas Kassim Atyah
Abbas Kassim Atyah
Editor

Assistant Lecturer, Department of History, Education for Girls, University of Basra, Iraq. Email : abbas.alansary@uobasrah.edu.iq; ResearcherID: AFY-6348-2022; ORCID: 0000-0003-1527-4760

Dr. Tarachand Madhav Sawsakade
Dr. Tarachand Madhav Sawsakade
Editor

Head, Department of Political Science Dhajaji Nana Mahavidyalaya,Faizpur Dist. Jalgao (Maharashtra)

Dr. Ajit Kumar Singh
Dr. Ajit Kumar Singh
Editor

Assistant Professor, AIBAS, Amity University Rajasthan Founder and director, Managing Wellbeing Counselling Services. Scopus Author ID: 57221149195; ResearcherID: AAE-5369-2021; ORCID: 0000-0002-5126-8221

John Erwin Prado Pedroso
John Erwin Prado Pedroso
Editor

Associate Professor, Professional Education Department , College of Education, West Visayas State University, Luna Street, La Paz, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines. Email: johnerwin.pedroso@wvsu.edu.ph

Dr. Ajay Kumar
Dr. Ajay Kumar
Editor

HOD, Physical Education, SMGC, Mokhra Rohtak, Dept. of Higher Education, Haryana. ResearcherID: QYQ-7862-2026

Dr. Meenu Nain
Dr. Meenu Nain
Editor

Principal SMGC, Mokhra, Rohtak, Dept. of Higher Education, Haryana

Latest Articles
Original Article4 downloads
Psychological Interventions Enhancing Social Support for Breastfeeding Mothers in Bulawayo Clinics: The Roles of Counselling and Community Psychologists
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22726725
PDFView Article

Breastfeeding is critical for maternal and child health, yet rates in Bulawayo remain suboptimal due to psychosocial barriers including stress, low maternal confidence, and weak social support. Current healthcare systems often neglect integrated psychological and community-based interventions. This study examined psychosocial challenges hindering breastfeeding practices and determined how integrated counselling and community psychology interventions can strengthen social support systems in Bulawayo clinics. Guided by Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory and Cohen and Wills' Social Support Theory, this qualitative study adopted an interpretivist philosophy and multiple case study design. Purposive sampling selected 20 breastfeeding mothers, 10 healthcare providers, and 5 counselling psychologists from Bulawayo clinics. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, and analysed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis framework. Two themes emerged: psychosocial challenges hindering breastfeeding, with subthemes of psychological distress and low self-efficacy, cultural beliefs and misconceptions (particularly intergenerational transmission of colostrum avoidance), and weak social support networks creating a "support vacuum". The second theme identified integrated interventions strengthening social support, including counselling psychology interventions addressing individual psychological needs, community psychology interventions reducing social isolation, and integrated collaborative approaches combining both strategies. Novel findings include the intergenerational transmission of harmful cultural beliefs and recognition that neither counselling nor community interventions alone are sufficient. Breastfeeding mothers in Bulawayo face significant psychosocial challenges requiring comprehensive support. Integrated counselling and community psychology interventions addressing both individual and systemic factors are essential but currently unavailable. Integrate counselling psychology services into routine maternal healthcare, establish community-based peer support networks, implement culturally sensitive education engaging elders and develop integrated intervention frameworks with adequate funding and training.

Original Article7 downloads
URDU TRANSLATION AND CROSS-CULTURAL VALIDATION OF THE WAY FINDING QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STROKE PATIENTS
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22726710
PDFView Article

Background: Spatial navigation is integral to independence and quality of life; its impairment is a recognized but frequently underassessed sequela of stroke. The Way Finding Questionnaire (WFQ) is a validated 22-item self-report instrument that evaluates navigational ability across three domains Navigation and Orientation, Spatial Anxiety, and Distance Estimation and has demonstrated strong psychometric properties in Western populations. No Urdu-language version existed prior to this study, limiting its applicability within Pakistan's predominantly Urdu-speaking population.

Objective: To translate the original English WFQ into Urdu and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the resulting Urdu version (WFQ-U) in patients with stroke.

Methods: A cross-cultural validation study was conducted at Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, enrolling 70 stroke patients aged 18–65 years via convenience sampling. The translation followed the six-stage Beaton et al. framework, encompassing forward translation, synthesis, backward translation, expert committee review, pilot testing, and documentation submission. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency) and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; test-retest reliability, one-week interval). Content validity was determined using the Content Validity Index (CVI). Concurrent validity was examined through Pearson correlation with the Floor Maze Test (FMT).

Results: The sample comprised 33 males (47.1%) and 37 females (52.9%), with a mean age of 46.91 ± 9.90 years. The mean total WFQ-U score was 75.29 ± 11.67. Cronbach's alpha was 0.987 (Day 1) and 0.977 (Day 3), indicating excellent internal consistency. The ICC for test-retest reliability was 0.825 (95% CI: 0.780–0.865). The overall CVI was 0.825. Pearson correlation between the WFQ-U and the FMT was r = 0.929 (p < 0.05), demonstrating strong concurrent validity.

Conclusion: The WFQ-U is a valid and reliable patient-reported outcome measure for assessing navigational ability in Urdu-speaking stroke patients. Its adoption in Pakistani clinical and research settings is recommended.

Original Article30 downloads
Can We Continue Our 14-Billion-Year Evolutionary Journey? Yes, By Moving Beyond Our Bureaucratic Way of Life
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22726685
PDFView Article

The 14-billion year journey of our universe has finally yielded human beings possessing absolutely fantastic potentials for continuing evolution. Even the sky is not the limit of where humanity might go in the future. And this is true for all 8 billion of us, based on interdisciplinary knowledge of human behavior. We all have the potential not only to fulfill our dreams, but to go far beyond them. We have the possibility of developing an Evolutionary Way of Life. However, we remain unable to fulfill our potentials because, from the very moment of birth, we all—and this included people like Einstein, Beethoven and Edison—experience a Bureaucratic Way of Life that stands in the way of humanity’s ability to reach for the stars. It is an overall way of living that involves (1) patterns of hierarchy with limited interaction, (2) narrow specialization with limited integration of knowledge, and (3) conformity with limited personal autonomy. Most recently, that general pattern of behavior has yielded dire threats to the human race in the form of an Invisible Crisis linked to the possibility  of the very end of the human race through nuclear war, climate change or a pandemic. However, there is indeed a way out of these dangers for all of us, namely, the East-West Strategy. This is an approach that builds on the interdisciplinary vision of the renowned sociologist, C. Wright Mills, whose The Sociological Imagination was rated by the International Sociological Association as the 2nd most influential book for sociologists which had been published during the entire 20th century (the 1st was published by Max Weber, a founder of sociology). In this paper I present the nature of that strategy in some detail. Using this strategy, every single one of us can learn to fulfill his or her vast potentials.

Original Article12 downloads
AMERICA AND OIL DIPLOMACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22671935
PDFView Article

The Middle East has remained a strategic central to United States Foreign policy largely because of its abundant petroleum resources and strategic geo-political position in the global oil politics. Since the end of the Second World War, successive American administrations have employed oil diplomacy as  a key instrument for advancing national interests, ensuring energy security, safeguarding global oil markets, and maintaining political and military influence in the region (Mearsheimer, 2001). This paper examines the historical evolution of America’s oil diplomacy in the Middle East, with particular emphasis on its strategic objectives, diplomatic engagements, and the implications for regional and global politics. The paper adopts a quantitative historical research design and relies on secondary sources, such as scholarly books, peer-reviewed  journal articles and in some extent government documents. The paper is guided with realist theory, the paper argues  that, the United States has consistently integrated diplomatic, economic and military strategies but in the lens of lay man’s  understanding always hide on  the acquisition of nuclear weapons by those States she tags as rogue nations in the region. The above assertion, has helped America to protect her access  to Middle East oil. The paper concludes that, America’s oil diplomacy has significantly influenced political developments, alliance formation, and security dynamics, just like the one currently playing on in Iran with America and her ally, Israel. The paper recommends that the United States pursue a more balanced foreign policy that promotes sustainable energy cooperation, regional stability, and multilateral diplomatic engagements in response to the evolving global energy security.

Original Article12 downloads
Rewriting Women’s Destinies: A Feminist Reading of Myth and Agency in Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22671885
PDFView Article

Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces of Night reimagines Indian mythology and folklore through a feminist lens, critically examining the interplay between tradition, patriarchy, and female agency. The novel juxtaposes mythical narratives with the lived experiences of contemporary women, illustrating how cultural conditioning reinforces gender roles while also offering subversive spaces for resistance. Hariharan’s portrayal of Devi, Sita, and Mayamma reflects the constraints imposed on women by cultural expectations while also highlighting their varied modes of negotiation and defiance. Drawing from Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s theory of subalternity and Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s critique of Third World feminism, the paper examines how the female protagonists reclaim agency despite being relegated to the margins. Furthermore, it interrogates the role of mythology as both a tool of oppression and a site of potential emancipation. Critics such as Susie Tharu and K. Lalita have emphasized the need for reinterpreting classical narratives to uncover silenced female voices, a perspective that aligns with Hariharan’s literary strategy. By deconstructing the patriarchal underpinnings of myth and reality, this study argues that The Thousand Faces of Night offers a critical feminist discourse that challenges normative representations of Indian womanhood, advocating for self-definition beyond societal prescriptions.