Research Article
Captivity and the Unsettled Self: Mary Rowlandson, King Philip’s War, and the Making of Early American Narrative
Stacie Connell*
Issue:
Volume 1, Issue 3, September 2026
Pages:
83-90
Received:
15 October 2025
Accepted:
27 October 2025
Published:
27 July 2026
Abstract: This study examines Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration (1682) as a foundational text in early American literature that connects theology, trauma, and identity through the framework of liminality and the unsettled self. Rowlandson’s narrative reflects the complex relationship between Puritan orthodoxy and psychological survival under harsh and often violent conditions during King Philip’s War. Through close textual analysis in conjunction with critical scholarship (Kolodny, Burnham, Derounian-Stodola, Logan), the research provided investigates how Rowlandson’s narrative of captivity negotiates the limitations of identity, gender, cultural belonging, and religion within a patriarchal, colonial society. The analysis demonstrates that the segmented “Removes” within the narrative structure not only physical displacement but also a spiritual and psychological transformation, moving the protagonist through a liminal phase of self-remapping. The results imply that Rowlandson’s text functions as both a personal testimony and a genre-defining captivity narrative highlighting tensions between female agency, trauma, and spiritual authority. The results establish Rowlandson’s narrative as a lasting framework for American captivity tales, foregrounding questions of liminal space, identity, survival, and the negotiation of cultural binaries. Ultimately, the Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration is a critical discourse on readings of early American cultural production and its negotiation of colonial and spiritual boundaries.
Abstract: This study examines Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration (1682) as a foundational text in early American literature that connects theology, trauma, and identity through the framework of liminality and the unsettled self. Rowlandson’s narrative reflects the complex relationship between Puritan orthodoxy and psychological su...
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Research Article
Analysis of Research on the Factors of Speech Comprehension
Lobar Kambarova*
Issue:
Volume 1, Issue 3, September 2026
Pages:
91-95
Received:
4 November 2025
Accepted:
17 November 2025
Published:
28 July 2026
Abstract: Understanding speech requires a number of factors. Acoustic data goes through several stages from reception to processing in the brain. When studying international experience in neurolinguistics, it can be seen that the main attention is paid to the study of what processes occur in the brain during speech perception, what factors influence speech comprehension. Through the analysis of research, it is possible to increase information on neurolinguistics in the Uzbek language, to form an idea of how to conduct research in this direction. In the perception of speech, information is provided about the presence of such terms as speech envelope, fine structure, such phenomena as cocktail party, McGurk effect.
Abstract: Understanding speech requires a number of factors. Acoustic data goes through several stages from reception to processing in the brain. When studying international experience in neurolinguistics, it can be seen that the main attention is paid to the study of what processes occur in the brain during speech perception, what factors influence speech c...
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Research Article
Digital Help-seeking and Online Support Ecosystems for Youth Psychosocial Wellbeing in Kenya: Pathways, Trust, and Ethics
Rosemary Judith Akoth Odhiambo*
Issue:
Volume 1, Issue 3, September 2026
Pages:
96-109
Received:
24 January 2026
Accepted:
24 February 2026
Published:
20 September 2026
Abstract: Kenyan youth increasingly seek psychosocial support through digital environments, yet little Kenya-specific evidence explains how online help-seeking unfolds as an ecosystem rather than as use of a single platform or intervention. This study adopts an exploratory, ecosystem-mapping approach to examine digital help-seeking pathways, trust dynamics, and ethical risks shaping youth psychosocial wellbeing in Kenya. The study triangulated three evidence streams: (i) a structured scan of commonly accessed digital platforms and web resources used by youth (including Google Search, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp communities, X/Twitter spaces, and institutional/NGO websites), (ii) rapid qualitative interviews with youth and mental health stakeholders (n = 28), and (iii) structured expert forum discussions involving practitioners and programme leads engaged in youth mental health and digital support. Findings show that youth help-seeking occurs within a distributed online support ecosystem dominated by mainstream commercial platforms rather than purpose-built mental health services. Five pathway typologies were identified: search-first self-triage, feed-based discovery and identity framing, peer-first confidential disclosure, influencer-guided meaning-making, and crisis-to-professional referral. Trust emerged as the primary determinant of sustained engagement, structured around confidentiality, relatability, non-judgment tone, responsiveness, cultural alignment, and community endorsement, often outweighing formal professional credentials or institutional affiliation. Ethical risks were pervasive and ecosystem-level, including privacy leakage (especially via forwarding and screenshots), misinformation and diagnostic confusion, unregulated counselling, exploitation through direct messaging, cyberstigma, algorithmic amplification of distress content, and safeguarding gaps for minors. Rather than evaluating intervention effectiveness, the study maps everyday digital practices and governance gaps, and proposes ecosystem governance priorities including credibility cues, moderation and peer-group norms, boundary standards for semi-formal counselling, and platform-integrated referral pathways. These findings reposition youth digital help-seeking in Kenya as both a psychosocial coping infrastructure and a risk environment, underscoring the need for youth-centred, ethics-informed governance rather than reliance on standalone digital mental health applications.
Abstract: Kenyan youth increasingly seek psychosocial support through digital environments, yet little Kenya-specific evidence explains how online help-seeking unfolds as an ecosystem rather than as use of a single platform or intervention. This study adopts an exploratory, ecosystem-mapping approach to examine digital help-seeking pathways, trust dynamics, ...
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