Dear Scholars,
It is my great pleasure to present the December 2025 issue (Vol. 02, No. 02) of LitCult: A Journal of Literary and Cultural Discourse (ISSN: 3049-1266). LitCult continues to affirm the enduring significance of literary and cultural studies in shaping and enriching our understanding of human experience across time, space, and civilizations.
Literature and cultural narratives have long constituted a central force in the evolution of human civilization. In recent decades, particularly in recent times, both local and global developments have significantly reshaped, and in many cases destabilized, cultural narratives across the world. These shifts have disrupted collective meaning- making processes, ethical values, and shared worldviews, producing what may aptly be described as a cultural shock to global humanity.
In this context, artificial intelligence has moved beyond its earlier perception as a mere mechanical or instrumental tool. Increasingly, AI is being normalized as a moral actor, one that influences and, at times, dictates human choices. Advanced AI systems are now perceived less as neutral technologies and more as autonomous decision-making agents shaping education, warfare, governance, creativity, and knowledge production. Consequently, humanity is confronted with the erosion of a long-held belief that moral judgment is an exclusively human faculty. Furthermore, in the age of synthetic media, where AI-generated voices, images, and texts proliferate, the notion of truth itself has become unstable. Authenticity is no longer self-evident; instead, societies increasingly rely on credibility ecosystems and public perception rather than objective proof alone.
Another significant contributor to contemporary cultural discourse is the persistent tension between climate vulnerability and developmental imperatives. Whether in India or within global development frameworks, ecological cultures are frequently compromised in pursuit of dominant development models. The long-standing narrative that climate vulnerability is primarily a “developing world problem” has lost much of its political legitimacy, as global power centres increasingly acknowledge the interconnected nature of ecological crises. Nevertheless, the tepid political responses to climate change have alarmed cultural thinkers worldwide, generating a shared planetary anxiety and a heightened sense of moral urgency.
The year 2025, particularly in India, has also witnessed the academic and political sanctification of religious and sectarian discourses. As a result, debates concerning the existence of God and the role of religion in public life have intensified. On social media platforms, the assumption of linear moral progress has come under sustained scrutiny, especially among younger generations. Globally, a discernible shift is evident: contemporary humanity appears to be disengaging from institutional religion while gravitating toward experiential, ethical, and philosophical forms of spirituality. Amid widespread uncertainty and instability, renewed interest in meditation, indigenous wisdom traditions, contemplative practices, and spiritual philosophies has emerged as a meaningful response to existential anxieties.
Simultaneously, the dominance of universalism has been increasingly challenged in both political and academic spheres. Nations are now framing policies through the lenses of civilizational identity, tradition, and cultural specificity rather than adhering strictly to universal liberal norms. Consequently, a singular global worldview has given way to plural, and at times competing, civilizational narratives.
In recent years, robust cultural initiatives have further advocated the decentralization of Western dominance in global agenda-setting. The present moment marks the emergence of multiple narrative centres, challenging hegemonic Western power structures and dismantling the idea of a singular global mainstream. What makes 2025 culturally distinctive, therefore, is not crisis alone, but narrative dislocation—the breakdown of assumptions that once underpinned global modernity, such as progress, control, certainty, and human centrality. In their place have emerged fragmented, reflexive, and ethically charged narratives that demand close critical attention.
It is imperative that literary and cultural theorists observe these transformations with precision in order to locate the evolving epicentres of our narrative fabric. LitCult is committed to providing a platform for such engagement. The journal aspires to foster dialogue that enables critical reflection on, and meaningful responses to, the narrative dislocations of our time.
This edition of LitCult exemplifies that commitment, presenting a carefully curated collection of twenty-three research articles, two book reviews, two poems, and a dialogue. Together, these contributions underscore the journal’s mission to explore and articulate the complex and multifaceted intersections of literature and culture.
I extend my deepest gratitude to all contributors, supporters, and members of the Editorial Board, whose invaluable efforts have brought this vision to fruition. I extend my special gratitude to the reviewers for their academically profound and timely evaluations of the submitted papers. LitCult is deeply indebted to them for generously offering their expertise and scholarly insight without any remuneration. In the coming years, the LitCult team is actively exploring meaningful ways to formally acknowledge and, where possible, remunerate the invaluable contributions of our reviewers.

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