What kind of thinker are you Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What kind of thinker are you - Essay Example Critical thinkers usually tend to be self-disciplined, self-directed, self-monitoring and self-corrective; they raise crucial questions about an issue then go ahead to formulate questions clearly and precisely to come up with the most effective way of reasoning (Hills, 2011). There are six stages in critical thinking that include; the unreflective thinker who is not aware of the significant flaws in his way of thinking, the confronted thinker who are aware of problems in their way of reasoning. The third stage is that of the novice thinker, who is aware of the problems in his thought process and tries to improve his thinking although this type of thinker is not consistent, proactive thinker is the fourth phase where the thinker acknowledges there is need to have a regular and consistent training in order to improve their thinking process. The fifth phase if that of the advanced thinker where the individuals begin to advance in their thinking process due to the amount of practise they have put in place and the final phase is the master thinker where an individual becomes skilful and insightful, he is analytical and reflective in his thinking process. Another area of critical thinking that was key in learning was the procedure of becoming a critical thinker, the various way that an individual can develop his thinking process through the six phases of critical thinking to become a master thinker. The importance of the critical thinking can also not be underrated in the learning process as it explains how and where the process of critical thinking is useful. My critical thinking has changed since starting the study of critical thinking in that I did not initially acknowledge my thinking process was flawed but after learning about the process of critical thinking, I now realise the flaws in my thinking. My stage of development has been that of an unreflective thinker, this is informed by the

Developing an Innovation Strategy for a Healthy Lifestyle at the Essay

Developing an Innovation Strategy for a Healthy Lifestyle at the Co-operative Food Group - Essay Example Innovation entails coming up with new ideas and implementing them into new process, service, and product, resulting in the dynamic growth of the organization or national economy and increase employment opportunities. Innovation is not a one-time process, but it is a long and cumulative process that requires the organization to engage in decision-making processes that range from generation of new ideas to implementing them (Child, Gakkai, Kagono, and Urabe 3). Fuglsang (6) states that the definition of innovation comprises of two aspects: innovation and creativity, exploitation and exploration, or selection and variation. In other words, innovation is viewed as comprising of two integrated processes. New suitable inventions or ideas have to be discovered in a creative manner. The interaction between those two processes is very vital for the success of the innovation (Fuglsang 6). Blue Ocean The proposed innovation strategy for adoption by CF captures the blue ocean innovation concept as well as low cost strategy with regard to operations ambitions. In the blue ocean innovation approach proposed by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, competition as a market force threatening smooth operations, CF will find it advisable to explore new product and market profiles without the traditional limitations of competition (Kim and Mauborgne 3). Overcoming the completion limitation, referred to as red ocean, will facilitate CF accessing unlimited opportunities in new markets. Coupling this approach to the low cost leadership strategy, the blue ocean innovation will ensure that the operations at CF remain sustainable, particularly in the financial constrained operations space experienced today in Europe. Four main areas of the innovative strategy will be encompassed in the model as enumerated below. The proposed model below enumerates the approach that Cooperative Food needs to embrace in order to highlight healthy products brand image, eliminate competition and reduce operation costs. Critical Analysis In view of the major players that CF has, different approaches may prove effective to deal with specific competitive threats posed by each of the competing sides. The identification of the major competitive threats is perhaps important in the enumeration and quantification of the competitive input required at CF. some of the main market players likely to pose competitive threats to CF include ASDA, TESCO, Morrisons, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s. ASDA presents a particular market competition threat by its popular consumer involvement strategy referred to as ‘Chosen by You’ category of products which enter on the company’s menu through recommendation by the customers (Cooperative Food 6). With respect to capturing customer demands, the magnitude of this competitive threat illustrates the success levels likely to be attained by CF if a more customer caring and customer response approach formulate marketing concepts adopted. As an illustr ation of the ASDA wrought competition expected in 2012, over 1,000 such customer requested additions will enter into the competitive aspect. CF must therefore adopt more

Effect of Media on Eating Habits Essay Example for Free

Effect of Media on Eating Habits Essay Currently this is a serious and growing concern for public health officials, registered dietitians, and families interested in living their day to day lives in a healthy manner. Youth are at the highest risk. According to the National Health Examination Survey, children ages 11-13 have highest rate of daily television viewing (Brown, 2008, p. 316). In a 2007 study, children were more likely to be overweight when they watched more television (Gable, Chang Krull, 2007). Currently, the second leading cause of actual death according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is poor diet and physical inactivity (Schneider, 2006, p. 270). Trends that lead to poor diet and physical inactivity, eventually obesity in adults and children alike, stem from habits that form early on in childhood. This creates an endless cycle that perpetuates from generation to generation. Obesity is currently an issue that threatens the majority of Americans and its prevalence has increased substantially in the last three decades (Schneider, 2006, p. 72). It’s caused by a number of different factors including genetics, physical inactivity, and poor eating habits. Two of the three factors noted can be strongly associated with television media. A study conducted at the University of Minnesota in 2009 found an increased incidence of eating in front of the television was primarily due to advertising and reduced metabolic rate in adolescence (Barr-Anderson, Larson Nelson, 2009). Reduced metabolic rate decreases one’s need for calories. Individuals of this demographic typically don’t take this fact into consideration and eat as much as before their exposure to television was such a significant part of their daily routine. This tendency leads to unwanted and unnecessary weight gain. Increased weight has shown to elevate the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and most kinds of cancer not to mention obesity (Schneider, 2006, p. 270). A less commonly recognized phenomena related to this issue is that people don’t know what healthy choices are and in turn, they are more likely to fall victim to any temptations set before them. These enticements are provided most commonly by television media advertising directed at less educated, more easily influenced audiences. For example, inexpensive fast food that is a particularly popular type of advertising might seem like a logical source of food for some families that do not have access to, or know anything better. Environment There are many problems that make up this complex and layered situation. Many social, cultural and economic factors contribute to these dietary patterns and eating habits that develop over a lifetime (Schneider, 2006, p. 77). The amount of time children spend with different sources of media from: television, film, video games, and computer or online media is exceedingly taking up the greater part of their time. With the average five and a half hours children spend using media on a daily basis, the only thing they spend more time doing is sleeping (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004). From age two to twenty, only eighteen years, that adds up to over 29,900 hours spent with media and 1. 8 times more than the 16,000 hours spent in school grades k-12 (Grossberg, 2006, p. 93). That equals out to approximately 20 hours per week according to a study done in 2006 (Francis Birch, 2006). Not only in the time spent exposed to media is a risk factor for children, but the way in which the media is consumed is also a major contributor to this situation. In the home, if there is a lack of parental control monitoring children’s media exposure, children are then at a higher risk of being influenced. Children heavily influenced by the media have the ability to manipulate how money is spent and savvy companies see them as the consumers to be targeted (Peregrin, 2001, p. 6). Children sometimes even spend their own money on the products they see repeatedly reinforced around them. Advertisers use this well known fact to target children because they know the powerful influence children can have on their parents purchasing decisions (Peregrin, 2001, p. 56). In an article written in 2001, Registered Dietitian, Adrienne Dorf expressed her opinion about educating childr en who are exposed to excessive media. She emphasized the need to explain the difference between television programs and commercials to children who may not be able to differentiate the two. Dorf urged parents to explain the idea of sales and the fact that the food advertised via commercials may not be the best for our bodies. Dietary habits form over a lifetime and are greatly influenced by the social environment and family setting as well as the media (Schneider, 2006, p. 277). From time to time parents struggle with taking their children into the supermarket for groceries just because they don’t want to fight about what the new craze is in sugary cereal or what unhealthy snack crackers are showing more commercials on television or the latest cartoon characters face on their box. It is a common to see a mother or father who gives in to please their child when he or she throws a tantrum in the middle of the aisle to get something they want. This repeated action can be a detrimental in the long run if it persists and continues. Impact Food industries have a goal to sell as much of their product to the public as possible. They will do anything they can to encourage American’s to eat and spend more money on any of their products. Most food advertised is high in fat, sugar, and salt leading to children in the grocery store begging their parents for candy and unhealthy snack foods (Borzekowski Robinson, 2001). Foods advertised taste â€Å"good† resulting in advertisements publicizing foods with high amounts of sugar, fat, and salt towards younger generations. For example, fast foods and high sugar cereals are two of the most commonly publicized items during children’s programming. Studies have shown that children under the age of 6 years of age cannot distinguish between television programming as opposed to commercial advertising (Borzekowski Robinson, 2001). The primary problem is that children who spend excessive amounts of time exposed to television media are more likely to be overweight. According to the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience, Youth Cohort (NLSY) a strong dose-response relationship was found between television viewing and the prevalence of overweight (Brown, 2008, p. 316). Adolescents from 10 to 15 years old who reported watching more than 5 hours of television per day had greater odds of having a BMI in the 85th percentile (Brown, 2008, p. 316).

History Of Piet Mondrian History Essay

History Of Piet Mondrian History Essay Pieter Cornelis Mondrian was born March 7, 1872 in the small Dutch village of Aamersvoort. He was the second oldest of 2 brothers and one sister. His father made a living as a teacher but had talent as an amateur artist and was gifted in drafting. His father noticed at an early age that his son Piet had a gift for drawing and was able to give him drawing lessons. Credit must be given to his Uncle Fritz Mondrian, an artist as well that was self taught and made a living within the commercial art world. He taught the young Mondrian the basics of painting and his father took him to the countryside to sketch landscapes. Mondrian senior had hopes that his son would follow in his footsteps into the more stable profession of teaching. After winning his licenses he was allowed to teach at primary and secondary schools. Piet met his fathers demands by teaching but was not satisfied personally and in 1892 decided he was after all, going to become an artist. (Mondrian Biography) He studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, from 1892 to 1897 with an allowance provided by his Uncle Fritz. There he studied either full time or attended evening classes and while there he joined several artist societies. He exhibited his work, for the first time in 1893 (he was 21). Traveling back and forth between Amsterdam and various parts of rural Holland he devoted practically all of his time to painting landscapes, first in the style of the The Hague School then gradually more and more abstract, omitting details he felt irrelevant. His work started to take on a more abstract style as the details of form started to get omitted, as he felt they were irrelevant. As his work got more abstract the more recognition he received and criticism from the art community. (Mondrian Biography) In 1909 Mondrian joined a theosophical society that cast him away from his religious up-bringing as a Calvanist, but took him on a trip far from his foundation of thinking and influenced his art by his intellectual transformation. His style became a quasi-random and had disorderly qualities of nature, which started to transform his better known works of horizontal and vertical lines. The horizontal lines represent femininity and the worldly, the vertical defining masculinity and the spiritual. He coined the term neo-plasticism where he aimed to create a balance between the horizontal and the vertical, keeping in tune with the universe and his theosophical beliefs. In 1911 he saw for the first time the Cubist styles of Braque and Picasso at an art exhibition in Amsterdam. Soon after this he moved to Paris, the hub for French art and cubism, and it is believed by many, their works influenced this move. (Mondrian Biography) Mondrians style went through a transformation. He painted a series of trees, the earliest the Red tree, it has realistic form and the texture is soft. In less than a year in 1911, the painting of the Gray tree still can be considered representational but can be seen for the more abstract style. A year later his painting of an apple tree is composed of short, straight lines and slight curves, symbols of a trees elements rather than actual details. Mondrians style got simpler with implied lines and geometric shapes and their relationships to each other on the canvas. Mondrian was taken by the cubist movement, he was already advancing to a more abstract style, rejecting mixed colors and curving or diagonal lines in order to make paintings of squares and rectangles. (Baker. 297) Mondrians evolution as an artist represents the origin and essence of De Stijl. Working to free painting completely from both the depiction of real objects and the expression of personal feelings, he developed an austere style based on the expressive potential of fundamental visual elements and their relationships. (Frank. 408) He labored to achieve balance and harmony, modifying shapes and lines in limitless variations. He never received much payment for his work and not until after his death was his work internationally acknowledged as one of the most important developments in twentieth-century abstract art. He felt he had found, as he put it, A new way to express the beauty of nature, to gain pure reality. After moving to Paris he was internationally recognized for his exhibitions. He loved the night-life, parties and especially the dancing in Paris. He was said to have enjoyed the company of young women. His sales of art were few in Paris but he survived by painting copies of famous paintings from the Louvre. Piet returned to Holland in 1914 to visit his ill father. (Mondrian Biography) The Great War as it was called erupted in 1914 most people felt it would not be a long fought war, with Prussias rapid spankings in the 1860s and 1870. The unthinkable happened and it became a full-scale war of nearly all societies. This was the first time the world was at war making for the moniker of World War I. Germany craved a larger empire to be had by packaging Russia into parcels and incorporating parts of Belgium, France, and Luxemburg. The French were interested in getting back Alsace and Lorraine which was ceded to Germany following the Franco-Prussian War. The British craved to harden their footings in Egypt and the Suez Canal. This World War was wide-spread and involved more than the large European powers and Japan: their colonies were involved as well. Over one million Africans, one million from India, and over one million members of the British common-wealth fought in the battle fields. (Hunt. 394-401) The Netherlands were able to remain neutral during the Great War. It did so, in large part to the fact that both aggressive powers had too much at stake to let their enemy invade the country. The War, transformed the feasibility of the Dutch remaining neutral. So much so, that the hopes and desires attached to neutrality in 1914 had disappeared in 1918 and the force of non-involvement had also been threatened. The war years and all the dealings the Dutch had involved themselves in with trade and picking friends on both sides failed to live up as a valuable foreign affairs policy. They were a tiny industrially challenged country that could not protect its very independence and nation state identity, without needing assistance from elsewhere. In another war situation neutrality could not sustain. (Abbenhauis) Mondrian was trapped in Holland for 4 years. His father died in 1915 and after his death he moved to an artists community where he conversed with artists such as Van Der Leck and Van Doesburg. Van Doesburg founded a magazine called De Stijl Mondrian wrote some articles for the magazine. This group felt that architects and sculptors should work together to build a new society more in tune with the Laws of the Universe. This De Stijl art movement is most synonymous with the red, yellow, and blue neo-plasticism paintings of Piet Mondrian. He moved back to Paris in 1919, in Paris he had some more exhibitions, joined an art group and met American artist Harry Holtzman in 1934. (Mondrian Biography) Hitler came to power in 1933 Mondrians work was put on the list of Entartete Kunst (degenerate art). After his experience during World War I when all his paintings were left behind in Paris, he decided to leave before the dawning of the German invasion. He was in London for two years and September1940, during the German bombardment he left for America. He arrived with borrowed money in New York City, Harry Holtzman found and paid for his apartment and introduced him to many friends. His life in New York influenced his career with internationally important works like Broadway Boogie-Woogie and his unfinished Victory Boogie-Woogie. He succumbed to pneumonia in a New York hospital in 1944, he was 71. (Mondrian Biography) Tableau 2 with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray This work completed in 1922, is oil on canvas measuring 21 7/8 X 21 1/8 and is located at the Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City. ( Frank.409) The paints used in this are derived from pigment mixed with oil as a base to carry the color in a liquid from. Artists such as Michelangelo and DaVinci were concocting and milling their own paints by hand and added it to oils available. In modern times linseed oil is used for pre-mixed paints and they store well, sometimes for years. Special oils and mediums are required to thin these kinds of oil paints. Linseed oil is one of the most common mediums for modern oil painters. Canvas comes in two materials: cotton and linen. Unprimed cotton is a natural off-white color, and is the least expensive. It comes in several grades of thickness and quality. (MacIntosh) The work is in the abstract style which Mondrian was best known for. The vertical and horizontal lines and blue, red, and yellow, are the primary style of his earlier mentioned self named neo-plasticism. The visual element of color is utilized in a bold way. The use of the three primary colors along with black and gray is almost shocking to the visual senses. The use of line as a visual element is clearly a bold separation for all the color elements. The design principles of unity and variety are used but there is no repeating in this design element, only single usage of each color. The black and yellow are the only two colors that are actually touching. This gives me an emotional fear of caution when I see them together. I really wish I knew what this means. The directional forces of the bold black lines carry your sight line outward toward the geometrical shapes. I dont feel there is repetition to Tableau 2 but I can feel a rhythm with the strong emotions from each primary color. I feel the content of this work has the appearance of being incomplete in some ways. My eyes want to travel along the incomplete black lines that stop short of the edges. It has a very grid-like quality, as if these colored sections hold meaning to something more important. I think the content of the work is to make the viewer want to see more.

Theories of the Totemism Belief System

Theories of the Totemism Belief System Anthropology is crucial for understanding the contemporary world. Anthropology offers both things to think about and things to think with. Anthropologists would be interested in Totemism because they study people throughout the world, investigating their history, behaviour, how they adapt to different environments, communicate and socialise with each other, along with examining the biological characteristics that make us human, our physiology, genetic make-up, nutritional history and evolution along with social features like language, culture, politics, family and religion. Totemism is a belief system where humans are believed to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being such as an animal or plant. The totem is thought to interact with a given kin group or individual and serve as their emblem or symbol. Totemism has been described as a cluster of traits in religious and in the social organisation of populates (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 2013). Totemism originates in populations whose traditional economies relied on hunting, gathering and mixed farming with the emphasis on rearing cattle. Totemism is a multifaceted set of ideas and ways of behaviour built on a worldview drawn from nature. There are ideological, mystical, emotional, reverential, genealogical relationships of social groups or specific persons with animal or natural objects, the totem. There is a difference between group and individual Totemism although they share a few basic characteristics; they happen with different emphasis and in specific forms. Generally societ ies have special names and emblems to relate to the totem, and those it sponsors engage in partial identification with the totem or symbolic integration to it. Usually, there is a taboo against people killing, eating, or touching the totem. Individual Totemism is articulated in an intimate relationship of friendship, respect and protection between a person and a particular species of animal; the natural object can grant special power to its owner. However, this relationship, in the case of the individual totem, begins and ends with the individual man, and is not, like the clan totem, transmitted by inheritance. An individual totem in America is: Usually the first animal of which a youth dreams during the long and generally solitary fasts which American Indians observe at puberty. He kills the animal or bird of which he dreams, and henceforward wears its skin or feathers, or sonic part of them, as an amulet, especially on the war-path and in hunting (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2013) Individual totems among the Slave, Hare and Dogrib Indians will always be a carnivorous animal, and must not be skinned, eaten or killed. A man will always carry a photograph of his totem; if they are unsuccessful in a chase he will smoke to it and make a speech. Group Totemism is the most widespread belief system. The totem is often an animal or plant that is respected by all members of the social group, because of a mystical or ritual relationship between the group, the spirit which embodies the totem represents the bond of unity within the tribe or clan. The group believe they are descended from a totem ancestor or that they and the totem are brothers. The totem can be viewed a group symbol and the protector of all members of the group. The animal or plant totem is the object of a taboo, just as the individual totem it is forbidden to kill or eat the sacred animal. It is possible for the totem symbol to be tattooed on the body, engraved on weapons or carved on totem poles. Males and females in some cultures have their own totem; however, typically Totemism is connected with clans or blood relatives. Marriage between members of the same totemic clan is totally forbidden. Group Totemism is usually associated with people in Africa, India, Oce ania, North America and some parts of South America. The first theory on Totemism was conducted by McLennan (1869) who searched for the origins of totemism, he belied that: The ancient nations came, in prehistoric times, through the totem stage, having animals and plants, and the heavenly bodies conceived as animals, for gods before the anthropomorphic gods appeared (LÃ ©vi-Strauss, 1969, p. 18) Many scholars believed this theory and set out with the assumption that some type of UR-totemism has existed, and that its faint contours could be discerned behind the left-over totemic systems fragments of present day (ibid, 18). McLennans theory was criticised by Taylor (1899) who discarded the confusion of Totemism with simple worship of animals and plants, and viewed Totemism as a relationship between one type of animal and a clan but he did argue with the idea that totems were the basis of religion. Franz Boas (1916) research was based on North West American Indians and he found a society employing a visual form of Totemism in the form of totem poles. The totem pole was made up of mystical characters from the tribes ancestral past. Item were chosen from nature and used for cultural purposes. Totem poles functioned as an emblem of a clan or family, showing its unity and the rights which each clan were entitled to, and as a reminder of each clans link to a spirit ancestor. Totems were also a form of communication as tribes had no written language, so the totem poles were used to tell their stories, legends and events. Totems could not only be for clans they could also be individual however, only the most affluent tribe members could afford to have their own totem carved. Boas (1916) argued against a psychological or historical origin of totemism because its characters could be linked with individuals, and are in every social organisation, appearing in various cultural contexts and would not be possible to fit all totemtistic phenomena into one classification. The first complete work on totemism was conducted by Sir James Frazer (1919) who developed several theories in regard to the origin of totemism. The first theory suggested that men have totems because they expect benefits from them: The connection between a man and his totem is mutually beneficent; the totem protects the man, and the man shows his respect for the totem in various ways, by not killing it if it be an animal, and not cutting or gathering it if it be a plant (Frazer, 1887, p. 3) His second theory was that totemism was a system of magic intended to provide a supply of food for someone else (Hopkins, 1918, p. 153), this was disregarded in place his final theory which was more radical than the others and based on the fact that: Some savages believe their offspring comes not from intercourse between man and woman, but from the spirits of animals or quasi-animals seen by the woman or from the food she eats. They think that the spirits which thus become their children are really the animals they have seen or whose flesh they have eaten before conceiving (ibid, p. 153) This is what Frazer called the conceptional theory. Totemism at this point had come under attack from American anthropologist Goldenweiser (1910) who began by listing five key characteristics believed to be symptomatic of totemism, an exogamous clan ( people marry outside of their own social group), the name of the clan derived from the totem, a religious attitude toward the totem; as a friend or brother or protector, taboos or restrictions against the killing and eating of the totem, a belief in the decent from the totem (ibid, p. 182-83). Goldenweiser (1910) concluded that: Each of these traits..displays more or less a striking independence in its distribution; and most of them can be shown to be widely-spread ethnic phenomena, diverse in origin not necessarily coordinated in development, and displaying a rich variability of psychological make-up (ibid, p.266) Although not willing to give up the idea totally he proposed an alternative definition of totemism in terms of the association between definite social units and objects and symbols of emotional value (ibid, p. 275). Lowie (2009) was more radical arguing that totemism did not exist and for all intense and purpose was an invention of anthropologists. Durkheim in his book The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1915) presented the most influential interpretation of religion from a functionalist perspective stating society was the soul of religion and was the foundation of all religious beliefs. Durkheim (1961) said all societies divide the world into two categories: the sacred and the profane. Religion is centred on this division; it is a unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things, things which are set apart and forbidden (Haralambos, 2001, p. 432). Thus to comprehend the role of religion in society, the connection concerning sacred symbols and what they signify must be determined. Durkheim used the religion of Australian aborigines in order to explain his theory. Durkheim referred to their religion as totemism stating it was the most basic and simplest form of religion. Aboriginal civilisations were divided into numerous clans each having duties and obligations towards their members, one of which is exogamy, where members are not allowed to marry within their clan. Each clan has a totem usually that of an animal or plant which is the emblem of the clan, a sign where each clan can distinguish itself from the others. The totem is the most sacred object in aborigine ritual. The totem is the outward and visible form of the totemic principle of god (ibid, p. 432). Durkheim argued if the totem is the symbol of god and society, therefore society and god are one. So people who are worshipping god are in fact worshipping society therefore, society is the real object of religious worship. Sacred things are considered superior in dignity and power to the profane and part icularly to man, thus, in relation to sacred things individuals are inferior and dependent (p.432). Durkheim said primitive man came to view society as something sacred because he is totally dependent on it. Furthermore, Durkheim argued the reason why society invents a sacred symbol like a totem is because it is easier for a person to visualise and direct his feelings of awe toward a symbol than towards so complex a thing as a clan (ibid, p.433). Durkheim believed in the collective conscience a set of shared values and moral beliefs, religion reinforces the collective conscience. The worship of society strengthens the values and moral beliefs that form the basis of social life. However, Goldenweiser (1910) said: The appearance of Durkheims brilliant but unconvincing treatise on religion brings home the fact that one of the phases of socio-religious thought, namely the problem of totemism, remains as replete with vagueness and misunderstanding as ever (ibid, p.288) Boas (1916) aiming at Durkheim as much as Frazer, denied that cultural phenomena could be bought together into a unity (LÃ ©vi-Strauss, 1969, p. 79). British anthropologists were less ready to give up on the concept of totemism. Malinowski (1925) gives an uncomplicated analysis of totemism relating to the function it has in a given society. Totemism plays a significant role in the ordering and control of nature by man (ibid, p. 22-23). The kind of mans attention in the totemic species shows also the kind of belief and cult to be there expected. Since it is the desire to control the species, dangerous, useful or edible, this desire must lead to a belief in special power over the species, affinity with it, a common essence between man and beast or plant (Malinowski, 1954, p. 45). Totemism as a style of social organisation maintains the status quo in society while as the same time serving as mans interests in a much deeper way: From the survival point of view, it is vital that mans interest in the practically indispensable species should never abate, that his belief in his capacity to control them should give him strength and endurance in his pursuits and stimulate his observations and knowledge of the habits and natures of animals and plants (ibid, p. 46) A criticism of Malinowski is he is guilty of operating entirely within the world of nature and his theory leaves us to explain why totemism, if it responds to human needs is not universal (Leach, 1969, p. 130). Evans-Pritchard (1951) said, Malinowskis theoretical conclusions are no more than descriptions in more abstract language (p.95). Radcliffe- Brown (1929) explored totemism from a structural functionalist perspective; he did not attempt to understand totemism in terms of beliefs, but as a collection of practices that serve to uphold the solidarity and equilibrium of the social group. Radcliffe- Brown described totemism as that circumstance whereupon: Society is divided into groups and there is a special relation between each group and one or more classes of objects that are usually natural species of animals and plants but may occasionally be artificial objects or parts of an animal (Radcliffe-Brown 1965, p. 117). Radcliffe-Brown (1965) said totemic objects are objects which have been accorded ritual value (ibid, p. 123) and he argues that: Any object or event which has important effects upon the well-being (material or spiritual) of a society, or anything which stands for or represents any such object or event, tends to become an object of the ritual attitude (Radcliffe-Brown 1965, p. 129). Here, Radcliffe-Brown comes really near to the utilitarian theories offered by Frazer and Malinowski however; this hypothesis does little to the general understanding of why particular plants and animal species have such a high ritual significance. In a further essay Radcliffe-Brown (1956) highlighted the significance of the conclusions about the relations between humans and animals. Moreover, after listening and examining stories told about animals by Australian aborigines, Radcliffe-Brown concluded they had one theme, and added the resemblances and differences of animal species are translated into terms of friendship and conflict, solidarity and opposition Radcliffe-Brown, 1958, p. 116). Overall concluding, the world of animal life is represented in terms of social relations similar to those of human society (Radcliffe-Brown, 1958, p.116). Radcliffe-Brown proposed the central terms in his version of totemism are opposition and integration adding Totemism stopped being a type of rel igion but was instead a mode of thought where nature had become an object of contemplation for the expression of socio-cultural differences (Tremlett, 2008, p.47). Radcliffe-browns previous idea that objects become totems because they are of ritual interest to society can be turned around: why are they not of ritual interest because they have been designated as totems? (ibid, p.130). Questions have been asked about the integrity of his studies because some anthropologists have accused him of appropriating other peoples research and passing it off as his own. The Australian anthropologist Elkin (1933) said there are many forms of totemism in Australia specifically: Individual, sex, moiety, section, subsection, matrilineal and patrilineal social clans, localised cult clan and dream-totemism. Elkin denied the unity of totemism but sought to preserve its reality on the condition that he might trace it back to a multiplicity of types he stated there is no longer one totemism but many totemisms, each in itself a single irreducible whole (p.113). Elkin (1933) denied the unity in totemism as if he thought it possible to preserve the reality of totemism on condition that it be reduced to a multiplicity of heterogeneous forms (Levi-Strauss, 1969, p. 35). For Elkin (1933) there is no longer one totemism but many totemisms, each in itself a single complex whole. LÃ ©vi-Strauss (1962a) says Elkin instead of helping to slay the hydra (of totemism) has dismembered it and made peace with the bits (ibid, p.66). Evans Pritchard in his book on Nuer religion (1956) regarded totemism as a symbolic formulation of intellectually constructed relationships, (Strauss, 1962. p. 27). He wanted to comprehend totemism in terms of extensive Nuer Beliefs about Kwoth which stands for God or Spirit; there were two manifestations of spirit, higher and lower, with the totemic spirit being the spirit of the below. Evans Pritchard noted that Nuer totems were not symbols of linages, because some linages had none and other linages shared the same totem but did not otherwise acknowledge kinship with each-other. Nor did the totems signify Spirit as such, but rather the connection between God and a specific linage. So, such a study fixed totemism within the religious beliefs and practices of a particular society. Levi-Strauss was very critical of the reality of totemism for him the totemic illusion is the product of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century effort by scientists to relegate the primitive outside the realm of culture (Leach, 1962, p. 127) because they wanted to protect the Victorian world-view by maintaining the Christian distinction between man and nature, thus, by failing to recognise the similarities between Western and primitive codes, scholars created false taxonomies and blurred the universal logic behind all so-called totemic phenomena (ibid, p. 127). Levi-Strauss was inspired by Radcliffe-Brown, whose analyses he attempted to expand upon. LÃ ©vi-Strauss was the leading academic in contemporary structuralism believing human minds have certain universal characteristics which originate in the common feature of the homo-sapiens brain (Haralambos, 2001, p. 910). These common mental structures lead people everywhere to think similarly regardless of their society or cul tural background. LÃ ©vi-Strauss developed a system to show the abstract divisions that he saw in totemism as a phenomenon in human nature. His system was implemented in a table of oppositions or mutual relationships. The basic relationship was between the binary opposites such as nature and culture. On one side there were in nature certain realities such as species of animal, or plants and specific animals and plants. On the other side, there was in culture various groups and individuals who identify themselves with particular species or with specific animal and plants. LÃ ©vi-Strauss (1962a) noticed four types of relationship between nature and culture within totemism: A species of animal or plant identified with a certain group; a species identified with an individual and finally a particular animal or plant identified with a group of animal or plant identified with an individual, a particular animal or plant (p.18). LÃ ©vi-Strauss (1969) stated each of these four groupings correspond to the phenomena that are to be seen in one people to another (ibid. 84). For the first grouping he suggested the Australians, for whom natural entities are linked with cultural groups (p.84); the second grouping was the individual totemism of North American Indians where an individual is linked with a species of nature (p.84). The third grouping the Mota people from the Bank Irelands of Melanesia named: a child is thought to be the incarnation of a specific animal, plant or creature which was found and eaten by the mother when she first found out she was pregnant(p.84). The final groupings were from Polynesia or Africa where fixed individual animals formed the groups support and worshbluefrost13ip (p.84). In conclusion LÃ ©vi-Strauss stated the difference between the classes of man and animal serves as the conceptual basis for social differences. Thus, for LÃ ©vi-Strauss totemism is an illusion and a logic that classifies- a post hoc explanation in which the structure of social relations is projected onto the natural phenomena, not taken from it. In conclusion, totemism is a belief system where the traits in the social organisation of people are believed to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being such as an animal or plant which serves as the group or individuals emblem or symbol. As anthropology tries to understand different cultures and provides knowledge about cultural variation in the world through details studies anthropologist would find totemism an interesting topic which has been proved by the number of studies which have been discussed. The first study on totemism was undertaken my McLennan in (1889) who explored the origin of totemism. Boas (1916) studied American Indians and their totem poles, concluding the totem poles functioned as the emblem of the clan showing unity and the rights each clan was entitled to. Frazer (1919) gave the first comprehensive work on totemism; he came up with three theories the final of which saw the origin of totemism as an interpretation of the conception and birth of children a belief he called conceptionalism. Durkheim (1915) hoped to discover a pure religion in a very ancient form and claimed to see the origin of religion in totemism. In 1925 Malinowski explored totemism as a function in a given society. Radcliffe-Brown (1929) researched from a structural functionalist perspective explored how totemism upheld the solidarity of the social group. Elkin (1933) explored numerous forms of totemism. Evans-Pritchard (1956) explored Nuer religion and the symbolic nature of totemism. The final theory discussed on totemism was by Levi-Strauss (1962a/1969) who explored totemism from a structuralist perspective. He gave the most incisive critique of totemism by denying its reality stating totemism is an illusion. Investigations of totemism has decline in recent times, those which have been undertaken have moved away from its universality toward explorations which consider totem structures in a more precise context.

James Baldwin’s Visions Of America and Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Me

James Baldwin’s Visions Of America and Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Many immigrant and minority narratives concentrate their efforts on the positive side of the American dream. These particular stories narrate a person's struggle and rise through the ranks of the Am6rican hierarchy focusing on the opportunities that seem to abound in this country. While these stories are well and good. they do seem to soft peddle the flip side of this country's attitude toward the immigrant and minority. America is a land of milk and honey and opportunity, but unfortunately most new officiates or unwilling participants in the American culture face an American nightmare that leaves its effects on the individuals, families and cultures for generations to come. America has its own deeply seated prejudices and stereotypes of people from outside its walI5 and these prejudices force some immigrants and minorities either to abandon former cultural ties in order to assimilate or to strap on the baldric of equality that changes their lives forever. Two authors, in particular, will help explore this idea that an immigrant or minority experiencing the trauma of bigotry must in some way attempt to reconcile their own cultural heritage with the demands of a new society that objects to their very cultural difference. James Baldwin and Richard Rodriguez experienced this type of immigrant and minority angst regarding their own ties to their cultural and racial backgrounds. Baldwin struggled with the desire to be a writer, not just a black writer, amidst the chaos and protests of the 1960's political movement and Richard Rodriguez battled between the pull of assimilation and the success it promised and his own feelings of familial betrayal... ...d, for their very words echo the sounds of their communities' cries for equal and peaceful co-existence. However, as both Baldwin and Rodriguez recognize and proclaim there will always be a need for their type of experiences because it is only through the loss of their cultural identity that they realized the precious gift it is. Works Cited Baldwin, James. "No Name In The Street". Visions Of America. Ed. Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. Persea 116oks: New York, 1993. 284-290. Harris, Trudier. New Essays On Go Tell It On The Mountain. Ed. Trudier Harris. Cambridge UP: New York, 1996. 1-28. Leeming, David. James Baldwin: A Biography . Alfred A. Knopf. New York, 1994. Porter, Horace. Stealing The Fire. Weslayan UP: Middletown, 1989. Rodriguez, Richard. Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez: An Autobiographv. Bantam: New York, 1983.   

Antigone Essay -- Greek, Sophocles

I. SUBJECT Antigone is a play about a woman who disobeyed the King's order to not bury her brother. The play was written by the famous Greek tragedian, Sophocles, in 441 B.C. The story took place in the city of Thebes and the time period is not mentioned. The main characters introduced in the play are of Antigone, Ismene, Creon, and Haemon. The primary focus was centered on Antigone and the consequences she faces after breaking the King's orders. In the beginning, the author introduced Antigone and her sister, Ismene, and their argument about their recently deceased brother. The argument involved Antigone wanting to bury her brother and Ismene encouraging her to obey the King's orders. Antigone ignored her sister's advice and chose to disobey the King by burying her brother. The King learned of Antigone's actions and sentenced her to death. After listening to his people he lessened her sentence to spend the rest of her life in an isolated cave. With the advice of a trusted prophet, he once again changes his perspective and decides to set Antigone free. However, he arrived at the cave and was shocked to see that Antigone had hanged herself. The situation caused chaos among the people in Thebes. Antigone's death greatly affected the lives of many other people. The King's son kills himself after seeing Antigone, his soon-to-be bride. In addition to his son‘s suicide, the King's wife learned the news about her son and ended her own life. The King is directly responsible for all the lost lives and heartbroken people, when he put his royal word above the word of the gods. II. THEME The theme of Antigone is that when the law of the state is put above the religious law, it can corrupt and disfigure the minds of mankind. Th... ...tigone is between the two mindsets of the two conflicting characters. Sophocles bases Antigone on his standpoint about the argument of the man-made law against the religious law. The conflict between the two opposing characters creates drama throughout the story. Antigone could also be referred to as a tragedy sub-genre. Tragedy "recounts casually related series of events in the life of a person of significance, culminating in an unhappy catastrophe, the whole treated with dignity and seriousness" (554). Antigone is one of Sophocles' many famous tragedies. It is centered around the tragic outcome that may take place in the occurrence of being prideful. Sophocles portrays that pride can result in tragedy and in disaster. In the story, Creon is prideful as his position of King and he ultimately brings his city to ruins. "Tragedy" played a major role in the story.