White Skin, Black Mask Essay Example for Free

White Skin, Black Mask Essay Frantz Fanons astounding debut novel, Black Skin, White Masks (1952), originally titled An Essay For The Disalienation Of Blacks, defined colonialism and its effect on the black man and took him further into the region of the human mind. After taking a position at a psychiatric hospital in Algeria, he became involved in its war, eventually deserting his cranial post to become a full-time militant in the Algerian National Liberation Front, and stemming from this period he penned his infamous manifesto, The Wretched Of The Earth. A failed assassination attempt years later confirmed his potency. This complex documentary also reveals the hypocrisies and inconsistencies lurking within Fanon, the most surprising of all, when he married a white woman. Part reconstruction, part archive, Black Skin, White Masks features rare footage of the man himself and experts attest to his brilliance including Professor Stuart Hall, Francoise Verges, psychoanalyst Alice Cherki, psychiatrist Jacques Azoulay (who worked and studied with Fanon), Fanons brother Joby, Mme Felix Fanon, and his sister-in-law and niece and finally cultural critic Homi K Bhabha offers valuable insight into Fanons relevance today. Isaac Juliens absorbing ode to Frantz Fanon is a fitting tribute and in breathtaking homage and style he offers the truth, the poetry, the bitterness of history and a glowing epiphany to the man himself. Black Skin, White Masks is a provocative walk through a land filled with colour, human need and exotic diversity that leaves no stone unturned. Black Skin, White Masks was an eye opener for me. It helped me realize how African Americans were treated in the our society for many years. I now realize why the older generation of African Americans hate when the younger generation use the nigger/nigga. It could bring back memories of racism that no one wants to remember. Rage is what I felt when I read the first paragraph of the novel, but its not my place to judge a entire race for past experiences that didnt happen to me. I also realized how real life in the past was: dying for saying the wrong thing, and being judged just by the color of your skin. I glad I took the time to read Black Skin, White Masks it helped me realize a lot and gave me a better understanding of how life was during segregation.

Why Dating Shows Are so Popular in China Nowadays Essay Example for Free

Why Dating Shows Are so Popular in China Nowadays Essay 1.Introduction In recently years, Chinese television has been picking up the trends of reality shows, especially dating shows. These fast emerging match making shows have captured millions of viewers and have become very popular in Chinese society. Although the shows contain lots of problems and bring up many controversial topics in our lives, nearly everyone in China is enthusiastically watching one or more of these weekly dating shows. The question is, why? Historic reasons, social reasons and commercial reasons have all contributed to the dating shows popularity. 2.Dating shows nowadays Every Saturday and Sunday night on television, a jury of more or less than 20 single women question a few guys one by one after watching his introductory videos; then press a button to turn off the light if they think the guy is not â€Å"date-worthy†. After three rounds of interaction, if there are girls keeping the light on for the candidate and he likes one of them, he succeeds in the match. And if all twenty-four lights go off, the male loses. In turn, guys can first choose his favorite girl and if he survives the trial, he will have a chance to pick a girl for a date. Most of the shows have the similar pattern. Sometimes situations would inverse, which is a jury of guys can judge a few women one by one. Basically it could be describe as a process of young men and women judging and choosing each other. If lucky, one could find himself or herself a date. Apart from the participants, there will be a humorous host to help organize; also, there will be two or three guest experts to give comments and advice to the participants. 3. Historic Reasons The changing of Chinese women For centuries, patriarchy was rooted deeply in Chinese society. Chinese women owned very limited choice in their lives, especially their marriages. In fact, in Han Dynasty, the Three Obediences and Four Virtues that set the standards of behavior for women. It required women to obey her father and other male family members. In traditional Chinese culture, females should be quiet, tender, compliant and conservative. Pillai (2009) said in her article Women in the Ancient Chinese Culture, â€Å"For almost two thousand years, the life of the Chinese woman was unbearable.† Therefore, they had almost no freedom in choosing husbands. As they have equal chances to receive higher education as men do, now urban Chinese women are becoming more open and self-confident. Faced with completely unfamiliar male candidates, knowing their performance will be shown on TV to millions of viewers, the ladies on stage are never afraid of speaking their opinions on life and marriage and make judgments on the male candidates. It seems that women are in charge of the game—they decide a man’s fate on the stage. All these facts seem to indicate that the Chinese society is going to enter an era of feminism. So compared to ancient China, women in modern China are offered a lot more opportunities to take positions and influence society in their own way. The changing of Chinese dating pattern Back in ancient China, a matchmaker was instrumental in settling a marriage. They provided communications and consulting astrogical charts to ensure the compatibility of the prospective bride and groom as well as the two families. So in ancient China, there was little opportunity for getting to know your future partner, since the heads of the bride and groom’s families would arrange marriages. Sometimes the couples first meeting was on the day of their wedding, a situation most singles today would find outrageous. What is happening today is both men and women are giving more freedom when comes to choosing who to date and who to marry. One can decide his or her date based on various personal standards. By participating dating shows, participants can meet all kinds of potential partners and more likely to find someone who fits their requirements. The changing of people’s attitude towards dating and marriage According to the previous historic reasons, men and women could hardly meet each other before marrying. Therefore, their marriages were purely for reproducing, for relations between families and mostly for stable life for the rest of the lives. So in ancient China, when a man or woman tried to find a life partner, they were not really looking for a love of the life rather than a wife who can take good care of the family or a financially reliable husband. According to what Chen (2003) said in her article Marriage and the Family in China, â€Å"to many people nowadays, income, housework and procreation are no longer top priorities; more important is having a loving, loyal and understanding spouse.† To make a conclusion, two people marry nowadays is because the pleasure that connubial relationship brings them. 4.Social Reasons Viewers’ psychology When browsing the Internet, you can see lots of people are talking about the dating shows. The funny part is, lots of people don’t really buy the performance or the fake romance on stage and they are talking about how lack of intelligence those shows are. Then why those shows are still so popular? I read lots of people’s comments and it shows that many people are watching those so-called boring shows because they are boring after work or on the weekends. Watching those dating shows can take large amount of their dull time. Moreover, viewers have been intrigued by the guests outspoken remarks and the occasional arguments that break out. Liu (2011), the Chinese psychiatrist claims that curiosity is born with human beings, so the curiosity and the tendency to the privacy are innate. As another reason why people enjoy the show, viewers tend to enjoy watching other people’s sometime dramatic dating process and conversations during partners, which originally should be private and personal. Social controversial topics bring up by the shows The show is more than a dating game. It is like a multi-dimensional mirror that reflects social values.—Lin (2010). Materialism Bergman (2010) writes in his article, China’ TV Dating Shows: For Money or for Love, that in China, more and more young women nowadays consider true love as materials. In spite of the outlook or character of the possible suitor, what really concerns those girls are whether or not they have houses, the size of the houses, and wealthy bank account and someday also a fancy car. One famous case involves Ma Nuo, a 22-year-old girl who showed up on Chinas most popular dating show, If You Are the One. She arrogantly rejected a male contestant’s invitation of bike riding and then came up with the famous and controversial reply, Id rather cry in a BMW car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle. Ma is not the only one, there are far more girl participants thinking and acting just like her. These girls on the stage represent and reflect this generation’s materialism that has become the trends in our society. These girls bring materialism to their dating has brought up social controversy. Chen Zhigang, a critic and playwright, said, They have grown up in a society that is quickly accumulating material wealth. They are snobbish. They worship money, cars and houses because the highly developing economy has made them do so.† This phenomenon is unimaginable back in the China 10, 20 years ago. Are those material girls wrong and superficial? Or is it an improvement in China showing nowadays people are becoming more and more realistic? Some people disdain this materialism while some others say it’s understandable. This is a very controversial question brought up by the dating shows that worth thinking about. Sheng Nan and Sheng Nu (singles who are in their late 20s and over 30) The popularity of television dating programs reflects a collective anxiety of single people, particularly the colony of sheng nan, sheng nu, and their families, said Xiang Jianxin, vice-president of Baihe.com, a dating network company. Dating shows provides lots of Sheng nan and Sheng nu a platform to meet potential date so they often appear on the dating shows. They tend to be successful on their career but they don’t have much time in their life to meet potential dates and need help on finding a good relationship. Unlike the old China, where young men and women would get marry at very young ages like 20 or younger, people’s marry age seems to keep postponing. More and more young people are now focusing on establishing their career instead of finding a good marriage. Therefore, as they get older, they start to be anxious about this marriage thing under the pressure from their family and society. Compared to ancient China, although women in modern China are offered a lot more opportunities to take positions and influence society in their own way, traditional patriarchal values still play an important role. Influenced by such social atmosphere, women are always look for men who are more wealthy and successful than themselves, while men prefer women who have inferior education, incomes or intelligence than they do. This situation can be considered as a social dilemma, which was very much brought up by the dating shows. Conversations on the topic of career verses love can often be viewed on the stage of the dating show. How will this complex be solved? People are very interested in this controversial social problem. 5.Commercial reasons Television companies’ commercial exploitation Commercial exploitation means media or business company hype for their own benefits. By exaggerating, normally they can reach the commercial effect that regular news or advertisement can’t. Usually commercial exploitations are well planned and fellow some routine. The show is as dramatic as a TV soap opera, says Liu Tingting, a married office worker in Beijing and regular viewer of the show. Browsing the comments for the shows on the Internet, you can see many people pointing out that plenty of the dramatic plots and conversations happen in the dating show are planned ahead. Sometimes the television company pays for some pretty women to participate the show and those women are simply acting on the stage. Cha (2012) claims that dating shows are also in the show business and are counted as entertaining shows. This means its ultimate goal is to entertaining the public and to increase its viewer base. Finally it benefits from the popularity. So those participants are used as tools to become popular by the shows in some way. Also, the host and the guest experts play very important roles in the shows. They sometimes judge the participants, sometimes make fun of them and always come up with dramatic comments. Television company draws viewers’ attention by presenting dramatic and controversial scenes on the stages, and eventually reach their goal of profiting. Therefore, in some way, the reason why dating shows are so popular in China is television companies’ commercial exploitation. Personal commercial exploitation Like television companies, there are certain kinds of people who want to become famous by showing up in the public, in this case, the stage of popular dating shows. This is also called commercial exploitation. Nowadays in China, attending dating shows has somehow become a shortcut of become a celebrity. Now we have already got a bunch of dating show stars, some of who have now even starting to take commercial offers and have made a lot of money. Remember the BMW girl Ma Nuo? She can be a great case here. Ma Nuo, a shallow, sharp-tongued, single girl, treats her chastity like used toilet paper because she wants to be a super star, one netizen, Wang Xi Jie, wrote on the popular Internet forum Tianya.cn. There is one article on the Chinanews online that talked about this personal commercial exploitation phenomenon. In this article, the author pointed out that nowadays is getting more and more common to have different girls commercial exploiting themselves on the dating shows and listed several popular ways of how they did it. By being typical material girl, by being cute like a child, by talking in a very sweet voice, by making shocking decisions, by being intellectual and by posting sexy photos can all be the methods of becoming famous. Those girls who acting like this have started to make money by their popularity. In Chinese society, now so many young people want to become famous by taking shortcut rather than making effort. So due to the fact that one can easily be known by the public simply by being dramatic, dating shows become more and more popular with the young girl.

Types of African Feminism

Types of African Feminism The primary reason for the difference in the African feminism and Western feminism is the fact that it has developed in a different cultural context. In todays ever changing world, African women are diligently trying to redefine their roles in ways so that they can make themselves more receptive and carve out an activism which is more aware of the culture. This is not an entirely unforeseen challenge, since the taboos of gender hierarchy, the status of female being always ancillary, and their struggle to carve out a niche for themselves within traditional African culture has been prevalent since ever. The types of African feminism which emanated in various parts across the continent do not grow out of eccentricity within the context of industrial societies which is in contrast with the western feminism. In the West, economic and social inclination historically caused the women into leading more active roles in the economy, and feminism prevalent in west has always given more preference to womens struggle for control over merely an entity for reproduction and sexuality. However, the experience for African women has been different since ever. The debates on African feminism do not focus on theoretical questions, the female body, or sexual identity. Rather, like many of its Third World counterparts, African feminism is distinctly heterosexual, supportive of motherhood, and focused on issues of bread, butter, culture, and power. The issue of clitoridectomy which is practice in Africa and with some tribes it is practiced as a ritual is one that African women are whole heartedly working to resolve. African women are now trying to investigate new ways to inculcate their own views of womens development into African development principles and the non government organizations as well. Since the early nineties, the effects of national policies on women have been highly critized by the women leaders from both inside and outside of government. The women of Africa had to pay a heavy price for their criticism of the national policies where the political leaders and the military victimized them by disrupting the demonstrations, the markets were burnt and some of the women were also jailed and thats not it, they were also forced out of the public positions to curb this menace. However these hardships of reformation in economic structure and democrization have inspired them towards greater courage in raising their voice a gainst the distress and focusing attention on womens status within their societies. Although present African literary criticism is a result of the influence from the west, assessment and the evaluation which are relevant to the African encounter must be stemmed from methods native to African art traditions. The vitality reflected in African life today arises from the traditional consciousness which entrench the arts in all forms of life. In pre-colonial Africa, this intricate relationship exhibited a ceaseless search for ways to improve contemporary condition and wedged creativity in all areas of life. Colonial impact promoted disconnection from African traditional reality and existence which ultimately lead into cultural, social, political and other forms of disjoints. According to Ngugi wa Thiongo, the involuntary extrication from familiar ways of knowing was recorded in narrative form: There is a well known story amongst the crowd that the Mubia told the people to shut their eyes in prayer, and when later they opened their eyes, the land was taken. Significantly, parts of the new account of events and experiences emphasized on African peoples extrication from traditional land and arts. As a result, African literature began early to investigate the changing aspects of present African existence and the literary criticism was set out of action in the exploration of the explicit expressions of the new, script oriented legacy. Further, the colonial education system omitted the woman resulting in her social, cultural and political disarticulation in the new indulgence. Her ensuing silence has yet to be taken care of in present African experience. The scarcity of African literary genres that reinforce the African womans involvement in the recreation and upkeep of the vision of large social group provides evidence of her silencing and evident faintness in Africas encounter with the West. Her involvement is more manifested in the postcolonial arena. Although the African writers did not keep her out from the emerging culture that overwhelmed African experience for a mostly exterior audience, her depiction became challenging in the present setting which prepared rules for her partaking in the new indulgence. This seems a small issue except that the duty of reaffirming the African womans existence was left to educated western African men who, themselves, were insufficiently engraved in the new dispensation. Held back with the duty for self-repossession and the risk of a lost native land, a substantial number of early writers visibly enunciated the African male. For quite a long phase, depictions of the African female in this period after colonialism reverberated with the idea of community and or the female principle. While most post-independent Africans are acquainted of the vitality of art in African society, that understanding however is hardly ever used to substitute the new African narrative agenda in compliance with traditional customs. This is because of the fact that an accession of the colonial experience pre requisites that most elements within familial inheritance be re theorize as obstructions to creativity and advancement. As a result, most of the present narratives re-inspect the known African world or find the rediscovered terrain defined by the colonial conflict. Recipient of conditions of underdevelopment-already-in-progress, they admit the violence of the contemporary African city with its bright lights that disguise corruption and immorality. And, such acceptance deduces harmony with a modern African state. Such a result is at odds with the extensive belief that African ways of knowing emphasize on the dominance of community because it takes for granted a narrative vision that depicts characters whose experiences are non-important to societal objectives and goals. This study of the African woman pursues to go beyond current pressures to normalize the hardship and disagreement in the African womans experience. Rather than assisting her full domestic and international involvement, such pressures obstruct her and slows down the African advancement. A brief survey of some existing viewpoints in present African literature will exemplify what I mean here. An established view in African literary criticism is entrenched in the need to carve out a niche for the female African writer and critic within the present literary tradition. This methodology stems out of the years of silence and struggle that many African women scholars experienced in the academic arena. Many African women scholars were against the silencing which seemed backed up by a male-dominated African literary criticism. In theory, activist feminism is of the belief that only the African woman can persuasively explore her experience. This school strives for authentication of the African woman through in-depth assessment of other exclusionary traditions. Subscribers also agree that: African feminist condemnation is definitely engaged criticism in much the same way as enlightened African literary condemnation grapples with decolonization and feminist criticism with the politics of male literary supremacy. Though most followers believe that for African feminists, the double commitment to womens liberation and African emancipation becomes one, they find that Negritude, for example, was unreasonable in making romantic and mythic images of the African woman. Also, the African male writer and/or critics praise of African motherhood is seen as domineering and unpleasant because their expressed views agree to other prescribed female role which is at the core of most African poetry. However, this schools line of reasoning ignores the fact that the creation of mythic African womanhood is corresponding with the proposition that the African womans world be seen through her own eyes. By assuming an approach to liberation that is universal in scope or nature, African liberation and African womens freedom, this route evokes a glorification of the African woman with mountains on her back. It uses a post colonialist feminist notion that asks for a conceptual filter of inclusion by exclusion, to set up hindrances similar to those whose removal remains part of its plan. But stated assurance to the cause of the African womans emancipation is usually present as a major concern. Significant analyses supports an argumentative research programmed that comprehend the African womans emancipation as a struggle against non-feminists, perceived archconservative and men. Borrowing from activist acclimatized believes, this research programmed readdress the African womans world for her, setting boundaries that are based on what she must see rather than on her reality. However, this school agrees to the existence of pockets of power which allowed women by identifying characteristics of womens involvement in decision-making institutions within traditional African communities. Generally, it faults all men for keeping power to themselves and, in particular, African men for not belittling and incapacitating African traditions that seek the continuation of oppressive roles for the African woman. Missionary Feminism: This school of thought uses a more ethical route. Some characteristics of feminist awareness ground the thinking of most believers. One of its earliest expounder was Amanda Berry Smith, a 19th century African American missionary in Africa. Part of her report on African women presents most of the issues that current missionary feminists deal with and deserves quoting in detail. Account is filled with the usual stories of barbaric morals, the art practices of a witch and the darkness projected for non-Christians. Within her narrative, her own rights to conduct the religious worship to the Bishop is not considered domineering because the Bishop needed her services and the backward natives were too uninformed to eat by the clock. Unable to recognize herself as a returning native, Smith fails to see that the sword-carrying African male walking ahead and his troubled wife are both victims of slave raids that demanded able-bodied African men to defend women and children from invaders of African bodies for the trans-Atlantic slave dealings. Continued narrow-minded reading of this African family caravan is based on the evidence that armor-wearing and glorious-white-horse-riding men are gallant, non-African innovations while cutlass or spear-carrying African men are ancient and domineering. In other words, cutlass or spear-carrying men cannot? Safe guard or protect women or children in misery. But this way of looking at Africa is contemporary. For example, in Alice Walkers The Color Purple, Netie is both preacher and social critic in fictional Olinka and echo prevailing US views of Africa and African women. Also, Walkers holding the Secret of Joy encompass this burden of social criticism on-behalf-of tyrannized African womanhood into the area of activism in creative writing. As per the narrative objectives of Walkers works, African women are either intrinsically incapable of seeing the degree of their own subjugation or they lack required impartiality in their thoughts and writings about it. Among the works of African-born women writers, Buchi Emechetas writings best demonstrate this school of thought. This approach intends to readdress the African woman toward a better way of life. It explores issues like the cruelty of polygamy; the irrational anticipation of mothers who cannot bear to see their daughters choose different lifestyles; the incapability of the modern African woman to decide about feminist ideas and attitudes and, of course, FGM which stands for female genital mutilation. It persuades by promising to put African women at the centre and realization through the expression of the discrimination they experience in fictional form. Using the consciousness raising approach, it induces the need for a crucial union of westernized, feminist and African culture. Crucial to this school of ideology is the idea of the African womans transformation into a self sufficient, independent individual. However, her independence requires the nullification of African conception of sharing and community because these bind the woman to tradition. It calls for new kind of sharing involving favorable reception of the West and western feminist ideals which indicates alteration to a new equality. Drastically there is usually no proposal to western women to share western cultural customs with African women or their own Africanized sisters. Those who follow the ideology of this school assume the African past is predictable and malicious and they seem amazed at the African womans incapability to cope in a transitional society that lacks independence and access to self-authentication mechanisms at the international level. Efforts to validate supportive traditional structures are perceived as lack of creativity and emerging romanticism. Also, challenge for the African woman involved in the conversion process is the classification of the present African male as a modern man who is yet distinct from modern men. Publication in African languages is seen as confining access to African womens works, and the knowledge of a European language envisage resourcefulness. Typical of this approach, recommendations command continued burden of traditional restrictions that control womens behaviors. Although usually involved in issues of womens growth, the missionary feminists evaluation is not suggestive about which cultures constraints should guide behavior; but it is never ambiguous about the benefits of European language choices. Given the complicated relationships between language and culture, the proposition that local advancement is improved through publication in English or other European languages demands precise responses to the postcolonial knowledge. Focusing interest on the perceptual distances created between Africans by slavery and colonialism, this approach also maintains a secessionist vision that refuses to acknowledge African progress on both sides of the Atlantic. Its continuing elicitation of Africa as the Dark Continent and accusation of people of the African Diaspora as dreamers of needless, if not impossible, dreams is a test to African and African Diaspora scholarship, unity and advancement. Given this schools missionary center of attention, statements like African societys narrow-mindedness of ones right to choose ones fate rather than consider the common good. Create a quandary for the would-be African missionary feminist. Also when interpretation like the following are offered as admissions of limited feminist realization or indicators of retarded progress, it becomes hard to question these same assertions as legitimate indicators for the relegation of African American women in highly developed countries like the United Nations. Whether it is the cruelty of polygamy, African-descended womens rape and exploitation in United States slavery, or current ceilings on the African feminists hope, it will be easier said than done to use the masters tools to take to pieces the masters house. Despite our annoyance with history, all African-descended women are accountable for the expansion of research programmed that is receptive to the unique locations we dwell in. In the final investigation, the missionary feminists plan does not state publicly the West as a haven for the knowledgeable, optimistic and tradition-free, contemporary African woman. That is the dare for all women of African descent. Opposing to this school of thought, the new African woman is not an fragmentary version of the western feminist. If, as Audre Lordeimply, growth does not depend on a western-based adaptation agenda, then transcendence of existing subjugation must not mean that the present-day African woman will be better-off in a customized col onialism. Neo-colonial Feminism: Colonialisms exclusion of African womanhood, the all-encompassing ambivalence regarding postcolonial thematic constructs, and the ruthless reality of present-day Africas snail-paced financial growth all create unique troubles for the growth of research agenda on the African woman. Identifying locations for revolutionize and new methods of endurance in the postcolonial state are the chief focal point of this school. Questioning the modern African womans views of alteration, some concerns of this school lie on top with those of missionary feminism; but some of the methods are analogous to those employed by activist feminism. This school points out the African womans need of development in refined idea and action, insisting that adjustment to changing norms must be accompanied by accomplishment of power within the changing society. Changes in the domestic ground and the work place are emphasized. Hardly ever challenging, neocolonialist feminism focuses on the African womans sense of her identity. As result, the major targets are her thoughts and awareness of security in African constructions of comprehension. This approach exposes enunciation of established bases of the postcolonial womans achievements and makes her inability to exploit the resulting negated the reason for seeking advancement. Circumscribing her through the discharge and omission of ideas that authenticate her points of origin, this school makes it hard to develop present-day economic and ideological markets that hold up the African womans intellectual products. Even though neo-colonialist feminist idea acknowledges this weak market, it argues that the present-day African womans advancement depends on her exclusion from the encouraging background of African ways of knowing. Rather than accept that the western educated African has evolved the capability to include two or more cultures, neo-colonialist feminist thought maintains that such aptitude predicts the lack of a important African worldview. An argument of this nature precludes the odds that pre-colonial African thought is open to ideas about womens self-sufficiency, and concludes that feminism is far-off to the African womans experience. Key fraction of the neo-colonialist feminisms call to the African female is established on the expression of the nonexistence of an autonomous point of view about women in the works of male authors. As a strategy, this approach encourages removal of the African woman from the African base by isolating women writers works through the implication that their successes are beyond African mens. Writers like Aidoo, Sutherland have made distinguishing offerings to the genres in which they work Aidoo in the short story, Sutherland in the play, in the novel. They have managed to build up their themes in such a way that their selected forms are undividable from the way in which they see women and society in general. In each case, the chosen form reflects the experiences of the woman. Finally, Sutherlands plays time after time build up analogies between the role playing of the theatre and sexual role playing in society. Therefore, while the African woman writers achievement facilitates her removal from African society, it restructures her as an event in western literature in Africa. The point here is that separating the African woman from African society is at odds with African ways of knowing. Knowledgeable or not, African men, like other men from different societies, represent neither an independent cultural nor national union. Although it is not necessary that men and women always be in agreement on all fronts, Africas development is coextensive with the acknowledgment of the existence of a familiar base, shared experiences and heritage. It is vital to affirm here that western feminism posits a different viewpoint, not a separate society, culture, politics and so on, from western male controlled customs. In general, western feminism assumes the legitimacy of woman-as-woman as it redefines western knowledge bases while validating womens constructive partaking. This fact is essential to the different approaches that notify western white feminisms and the freedom struggles of women of color in general and African women scholars in particular. Most ingenious writers in postcolonial Africa presuppose the influence of an African narrative belief and customs in their works. Although depiction of the African womans experiences confirm her position and authority within African conception of the world, it has been difficult to define the utility of these associations in the scripto-centric, new indulgence. Colonialisms premature spotlight on writing as a male-dominated activity created hindrances for the education of women and the early investigation of women-centered ways of knowing in the African awareness. This made it complicated to comprehend womens progression in the changing society. African feminism explores the writing of the African woman on the continent and the diaspora. Recognizing her circumscription in many areas of modern-day understanding, it emphasizes the requirement for an expansion of limitations so as to assist justification of her partaking as woman-as-woman. African feminism asserts the African womans nar rative and viewpoints as routes to understanding her experiences. African feminism more often than not adopts a descriptive standpoint and emphasizes understanding of African cultures and social systems. Insisting on a different way of reading Africas written narratives, it presupposes that the African story in a European language has more than one level of meaning. Also, in accordance to writers in other parts of the world, the place of the African writer is unique on the basis of language and history. This for the first time we have a group of writers dedicated to polarity of audience. Interpretations by the African feminist school include general and encircling views and close readings of selected texts. This school of thought deliberately take concepts of African womanhood retained in African American culture from slavery to the present as well as the unlike meanings of African womanhood inside the conventional African knowledge base. African feminism insists on sustained application of concepts which uphold a structure of knowledge that assumed her visibility essential for effective partaking. Refusing to be downgraded to the position of a friendly other who endorses her own suppression, African feminism emphasizes that current self-articulation reinvigorates a sense of completeness embedded in a viable past. Although it is in accordance with activist feminism on the requirement of developing an objective African feminist archetype, it rejects its challenging strategies that limit investigation of pre-colonial Africas constructions of knowledge to gender conflicts. In this view, references to sensible adjustments made by women of African descent using the African awareness in times of inconsistency are useful. For example, this school sees women like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth as resisting and combating disabling epitomes through the use of ingenious applications of African customary assertions of womens intrinsic freedoms. The concept of pleasant cohabitation is supposed at the core of the African knowledge base. For the modern African woman working inside unrecognized African and western systems of knowledge, the potential of this school of thought are never-ending. As Wa Thiongo notes early in his career, the African womans magnificence in the tribe must foremost be recognized by herself rather than by an unknown, conflicting worldview. Clearly, persuasive African literary significant and logical strategies should have the potential to accept and practice Africas right to an all-inclusive tradition. This does not prohibit learning from and borrowing from other cultures. But it requires continuous revisions of multi-dimensional research programmers in hunt of fundamental ideals and significant change. Nwaononaku even though the African feminist approach remains perceptive to issues that are significant to the present-day African woman, it does not go far enough in its exploration. This is because it usually appraises her losses and announces her beauty through textual exploration of well-known postures like the actuality of grandmother roles or the extensive family in African societies. This approach creates inkling that in-depth explanations and analysis are not essential for developing feasible methodical strategies when researching African womens life and literature. To a certain degree, this attribute of African feminism creates false universalisms, which in turn give rise to difficulty in the commencement of new analytical frameworks to advance research and creativity using such explanations. While African feminist scholarship is brilliant, it principally mirror existing understanding and emphasizes textual readings. This work instigates a new approach to the understanding of the African experience by increasing the scope of relevant aspects of public structure. Working from the postulation that prior to the African womans voice was silenced through slavery and colonialism; it was heard within societal structure that assumed womens partaking as important to normal cultural practice. For example, Achebes Things Fall Apart is a priestess and a healer whose responsibility allows her have power over of spaces that the fearless Okonkwo is precautious about entering. Certain of these spaces and the societal situation on a moonlit night, she runs through the town with a sick Ezimma on her back. All through Chielos race that night, her voice calls out compliments to distinguished community personages and agbala. Suggestive of only self-confidence and reliance on a rich ideological resource base, Chielos voice shows no hint of subjugation or concealed womanhood. The fact that Ezimma recuperate after the encounter with Chielo also articulate about Chielos power in agbala. Important to the re-envisioning of African womanhood here is the inconsistency of agbala. Always in alliance with women, agbala is a prophesy, a force ahead of human understanding and might. But it is also the name given to a man without a title (Achebe 1958). The brave Okonkwo quiver in the attendance of the former and despise the latter. Agbala is an early hint of the womans location in a traditional Igbo. Embedded in Igbo narrative customs, Nwapa does not refer straightforwardly to the Igbo practice of multi-voicing. Like Achebe, Nwapa also employ and investigate the concept of duality-in-existence. Within the practice of duality in which all has its contrary and accompaniment, Nwapa, the narrator, names everything at least twice. To start with, the traditional narrative mode presupposes that narrative land exists as an accompaniment to the world of the living. It is observed as an equivalent universe whose world revolves in ways analogous to the world of the narrator and her/his audience. Through narratives, society members name the contents of Spirit-land, the complement of the world of the living. Through imagery and reference, the narrator provides the way to and the proximity with Spirit-land. These references and symbols are vital to the relationship with the communitys ancestors and are essential to African life and living. The woman-as-mother is the most important narrator to the child. She teaches the child about the societys ways of understanding and perception. In this way, the woman-as-mother happens to important to the essential development and continuation of the community. Chielo, racing through the town with Ezimma on her back symbolizes this role and function. There is no male counterpart to this role of the priestess in African life. And, Okonkwo must chase later and stay in the shadows as woman- as-priestess and agbala renegotiate the childs wellbeing and persistence. Important here is the fact that the procedures of ritual and negotiation are rooted in narrative tradition and practice. Like Achebe, Nwapa also makes use of this association in Efuru in which the most important characters have praise names the complement of given names. According to Achebe names mirror the situation of ones birth and family conditions. Nwapas manifestation of Efuru in her variety of roles and functions model customary narrative practices and modes. On the foremost and most obvious level is Efuru (the lost one), the unproductive woman. As an infertile woman, this character challenges the notion of Nneka Mother-is-Supreme a notion Achebe introduces in his investigation of Okonkwos exile in Mbanta, his mothers home of birth. Agreeing with Achebes expression of duality-in-existence: Wherever something stands, something else will also stand beside it, Nwapa present a character whose incapacity to be physically fertile will create a major quandary expressed by Nneka: what happens when the woman is devoid of child? Do women with no children share in the authority that motherhood endows on mothers in the society? By the storys end, Nwapa crack the puzzle by presenting Ugwuta-Igbo as a complement to barrenness Uhamiri, the woman of the lake. For the disabled condition of unproductiveness, the beautiful Uhamiris plentiful wealth provides an differing and necessary complement. Efurus wealth makes available to her alternate opportunity to motherhood. She utilizes it to take care of Ogea, Ogeas parents and others in the society who would else have no access to the compassionate interventions associated with motherhood. Budding from the complicated web of relationships is an Efuru whose praise name, Nwaononaku (the one who dwells in wealth), is noticeable in an economically productive life. Efurus unproblematic profits in the marketplace mirror an ideologically rich resource base, which the society supports using the Uhamiri metaphor. Understanding womanhood as an expansive structure for explaining womens role in most African communities hence require an epistemological specificity and historical authenticity of African ways of knowing. An approach that belongs intrinsically from Igbo (African) thought, it permits for logical depth whether or not the woman is organically and/or economically prolific. By exploring fundamentally paired-outcomes within the epistemological dissertation, it becomes possible to elucidate the need for womens participation. In Nwapas Efuru ,for example, Nwosu and Nwabata look for out Efuru who agrees to teach and take care of their daughter, Ogea. Eventually, Efuru also start to take care of Nwosu and Nwabata. Since Nwosu is Efurus sister, prevalent African customs allow both to recreate Ogea as Efurus maid as a way to lessen despair and anguish for Nwosu who has lost his yams to flood. Nwapas narrative project is decisively based on Igbo notion and practice of dialogue and rhetoric. As an alternative for proverbs, she uses dialogue to re-examine the issue of male death as an accepted form of payment for any death asserting the dominance of a mutual search for life. Deriving her visualization from Igbo narrative customs, she stresses the scope to which Ikemefunas death by Okonkwos hand is incoherent not only with Okonkwos character but with Ugwuta (Igbo) thought and character. Structurally, Ogeas arrival in Efurus family is introduced using a framework that is analogous to that which presents the arrival of Ikemefuna to Okonkwos household. This construction signals Nwapas decisive use of Igbo rhetorical modes to employ Achebes presentation of the use of male death

Everyday Use by Alice Walker Essay -- Alice Walker Everyday Use Essays

Everyday Use by Alice Walker In the short story Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, is narration by an African American woman in the South who is faced with the ultimate decision to whom she should give away the two quilts. Dee, her oldest daughter who is visiting from college, perceives the quilts as popular fashion and believes they should undoubtedly be given to her. Maggie, her youngest daughter, who still lives at home and understands the family heritage, has been promised the quilts. The two daughters each have opposing views on the value and worth of the different items in their lives. Walker uses this conflict to make the point that the significance of heritage is more important than style; so Mama she decides based upon the appearance, personalities and the idea about the family artifacts. Maggie is not as attractive as Dee. She is thin and an awkward girl. Her mother says â€Å"good looks pass her by.† Furthermore, she carries herself like someone who has low self-esteem, which her mother describes as â€Å"chin on chest, eyes on ground.† Maggie has characteristics like her mother, she is an example that heritage in both knowledge and form passes from one generation to another. Mama is a full-bodied woman who does the needed upkeep if their home and wears overalls daily because she does not care about her appearance compared to her eldest daughter. Dee, on the other hand, is an attractive woman in college. Mama describes Dee as having, â€Å"nice hair and a full figure.† Dee t...

Children with Learning Disabilities Essay -- Education Disability Essa

Children with Learning Disabilities Do you know anyone who suffers from a learning disability? There are several disabilities out there, so chances are you must know someone who battles with the day-to-day hassles. But, are learning disabilities really a hassle? More often than not, this can be considered a misconception. Learning disabilities (LD) affect the way a person â€Å"of at least average intelligence receives, stores, and processes information† (NCLD 2001). This neurological disorder prevents children especially from being able to perform well academically. Therefore more time and special programs are fostered to them. Once one is educated about what the disability means, the causes of LD, what programs are available to overcome the difficulties of learning, and parents learn methods to help the child at home-- the learning disability is no longer considered a hassle, but instead a battle to be conquered. As common as learning disabilities may be, not every child in America is affected, however, the number may be larger than one thinks. In 2001, over 2.9 million children were diagnosed with a learning disability. The number is not accurate since some definitions of a learning disability are different than others. (NCLD 2001) Some of the most common are dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. Typically one who suffers from a learning disability has difficulty in writing, reading, speaking, listening, and mathematics (NCLD 2001). They may also have short-term memory loss and will frequently let their emotions overpower their reasoning. They may have a hard time paying attention in class and find ways to avoid work, especially when they find the material too difficult. (Silverman) They are disorganized in bo... ...ion about Learning Disabilities. Retrieved March 26, 2002, from http://kidsource.com/NICHCY/learning_disabilities.html NCLD (2002). The ABC’s of Learning Disabilities. Retrieved February 16, 2004, from http://www.ncld.org/LDInfoZone_FactSheetIndex.cfm NICHCY (2004, Jan.). Learning Disabilities. Retrieved February 16, 2004, from http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs7txt.htm#intro NIMH (19999, June1). Learning Disabilities. Retrieved February 16, 2004, from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/learndis.htm NLM (2003, July 25). Medline Plus. Retrieved February 16, 2004, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/learningdisorders.html Silverman, Linda (n/a) Gifted Children with Learning Disabilities. Retrieved April 21, 2004 from http://members.aol.com/discanner/gtld.html

Famous Women Pilot: Amelia Earhart Essay -- Female Pilot, Biography

Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous women pilots in our history. Her childhood wasn’t the best out of everyone’s, but she used flying as a distraction. Amelia attempted to do things that no one else would attempt and she was the first women to break many records and fly to different places. Amelia was the first woman to attempt to fly around the world even though if it meant risking her life. She changed what women pilots could do and she encouraged them to fly and become pilots. It is still a mystery till today about her disappearance. Amelia Earhart impacted women in aviation even before she disappeared on her journey around the world. Amelia’s childhood didn’t start off or end up as great as it could have been. Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. Her parents struggled financially when she was young. It was tough for them to pay for things and that impacted their family life (â€Å"Amelia Earhart†). Amelia spent a lot of time at her grandparents house. At that time her dad, Edwin wasn’t doing well with his job and he had a bad drinking problem. Amy, Amelia’s mom and the two girls left her father. Her parents got together and tried to work things out, but it eventually didn’t (Fleming 9). While Amelia was still young, she worked as an American Red Cross nurse during World War I in Toronto, Canada. Once the war ended, Amelia went to New York to attend Columbus University and got a degree in nursing. Her nursing job was one of the many jobs Amelia had to help pay for the daily needs of the family. She paid for all the things that were r equired for her plane since her family couldn’t afford these expenses (â€Å"Amelia Earhart†). Overall, she used flying as her distraction to all of the d... ...ng the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery. Ed. Josh Lauer and Neil Schlager. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 57-58. Global Issues In Context. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. Parr, Jan. Amelia Earhart: First Lady of Flight. New York: Franklin Watts, 1997. Print. Pelt, Lori Vori. Amelia Earhart: The Sky's No Limit. New York: Forge, 2005. Print. American Heroes Ser. Stone, Tanya Lee. Amelia Earhart. London: DK Pub., 2007. Print. Wagner, Heather Lehr. "'A New Career'." Amelia Earhart, Famous Flyers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2003. American History Online. Facts on File, Inc. Web. 26 Novem ber 2013 Waldman, Carl, and Jon Cunningham. "Aviation and Exploration." Encyclopedia of Exploration: Places, Technologies, and Cultural Trends, Volume 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 6 Nov. 2013.

Culture shock Essay

Culture in simplicity is a body of learned behavior, a collection of beliefs, habits and traditions, shared by a group of people and successively learned by people who enter the society. Furthermore, culture is learned, not inherited. If this is correct, then it can be assumed that it is not impossible to learn new cultural traits and to unlearn old ones. Therefore, it must be feasible to integrate cultural differences. Cultural adaptation would involve many essentials as, language; verbal and non-verbal, economics, religion, politics, social institutions, values, attitudes, manners, customs, material items, aesthetics and education. Culture shock is primarily a set of emotional reactions to the loss of perceptual reinforcements from one’s own culture to new cultural stimuli, which have little or no meaning. In layman’s terms, culture shock is the anxiety resulting from losing one’s sense of when to do what and how. There are many different ways to experience culture shock. It can be experienced across the world or as near as one’s backyard. Some aspects of culture shock include strain caused by the effort to adapt, sense of loss and feeling of deprivation, status, profession, possessions, feelings of rejection and rejecting members of the new culture, confusion in role, values, self-identity crisis, anxiety, disgust, anger on foreign practices and feelings of helplessness of not being capable of adapting to the new environment. Culture shock is a widely experienced phenomenon when people enter a different country. Many Americans would venture that they consider themselves very culturally accepting. Often, when these same Americans travel abroad, they experience culture shock. It is not always a negative thing. Often it is just the shock of being in a place that is completely different in every way from anything one has ever known. The first Push factor is that operating in an unfamiliar environment is stressful and â€Å"hard work.† Secondly, it leads to feelings of helplessness as well as self-doubt. The role of an individual may be confused due to the new environment. Lastly, the more one learns about a different culture, the more visible differences become. The different practices could disgust a person, and the person would feel â€Å"guilty† because they â€Å"failed to respect local customs.† A good example is walking through a door regardless of other  people coming behind. I did it so many times with a clear mind not knowing how detrimental in was to my reputation on campus. So many kids misunderstood my ignorance to certain American cultural norms and hated me with a passion. The two Pull factors are loss of status and the ever-common homesickness. Whenever something new happens to me, mostly in shock, I remember home. I feel so demoralized and want to return back home. The stages do not always have smooth transition and take a different amount of time for each different individual. There is the initial contact, disintegration of the old familiar cues, reintegration of new cues, gradual autonomy and independence. Each stage is described according to the individual’s perceptions, emotional ranges, behaviors and interpretations of these. Disintegration is a period of confusion and disorientation where the differences become increasingly noticeable as different behaviors, values, and attitudes are introduced. The next stage is reintegration, which is characterized by a strong rejection of the new culture. This is the stage when visitors to a new and different country like me usually return home. It is when an individual wants to return to what they’re used to and know. Autonomy is when there is a rising sensitivity to the understanding of the new culture. The individual is relaxed and capable of understanding what happens around them. This stage is marked by the growth of personal flexibility and the development of appropriate coping skills. The last stage is independence. This is described as attitudes, emotionality, and behavior that are independent but not â€Å"independent† of cultural influence. Basically this stage is when the individual reaches a self-actualized state of being in which they choose to explore the diversity of the world, while still maintaining their sense of self as a changing being. It is the capability of having preconceptions, assumptions, values, and attitudes challenged. I believe that culture shock has a behavioral core, meaning the behavior determines the stage of shock, it has an emotional core, meaning the emotion experienced determines the level. Preparing for a two-year overseas college degree program in Lagos, Nigeria, I submitted to no fewer than five shots as a protective measure against everything from yellow fever to hepatitis. Although I managed to avoid any  dreaded tropical disease during his assignment, I contracted one malady for which there was no vaccination. The disease was culture shock. To speak of my own experiences, I have traveled abroad several times to different countries. Each time I left Nigeria, I was convinced that the culture in the country I was visiting would not be that much different. Every time I arrived, even so close to Nigeria in South Africa, I was bombarded by a culture difference than mine. Even within these individual countries there were different â€Å"sub-cultures† that were completely new to me. I spent a few months in South Africa and just when I thought I had gotten used to the culture, something would happen that made me experience culture shock all over again. That was quite a clash of different cultural beliefs and a difficult one to explain to my parents! One specific example of cultural difference is the market bargain. In America, when one goes to purchase an item, most times, no matter where one purchases it, it has a set market price. In Nigeria, there is no such thing as a set price unless you go to big stores. The vendors expect and want their customers to haggle with them and bargain the prices down. When I first tried to buy a necklace, the vendor got insulted because I wouldn’t haggle and refused to sell the necklace to me. Eventually I got the hang of haggling, but as soon as I got used to that, American culture found other differences to swing my way. Towards the end of my most recent two-month stay in a college where I intend to get my college degree, I feel reached a stage of autonomy in the model of culture shock. I was astonished by the sight of students who disregard the riches of the world and dressed in shabby outfits in practice popularly known as ‘hippies’. Many of them had metals pierced through their tongues, nipples, belly buttons, lips and eyebrows. In other countries, there’s nothing wrong with that, it was just shocking to have something I had always taken for granted so blatantly pointed out! I was appalled to find out just how â€Å"Nigerian† I am. Therefore an understanding of cultural self-awareness is important to understand ones own logic and structure before one can understand another. Another essential ingredient is communication. For a long time, my work supervisor nursed a bad impression toward my attitude to work because I  always responded contrary to her instructions. The only reason was the difficulty I had to apprehend the American accent. This problem lingered until I explained myself out. Because of this problem, many students feel uncomfortable interacting with me. It seemed to me like an unending quest to blend into the society because I had no other option other than explaining myself to a student body of seven hundred. Proficiency in communicating can also play a major role in adjusting to culture shock. Enhancing intercultural communication improves the procedural insight of a person interacting with those of another culture. For example, it is a known fact that Americans can be very expressive and open; blunt fits well, an American expatriate going to Nigeria, for instance, will face difficulties in holding back their thoughts as Nigerians are a fairly reserved set of people. Cultures have different perceptions of how each of these categories should be interpreted to be appropriate. Americans have very high individualism and relatively low power distance; thus, they prefer to do things themselves and are equal in terms of power. Conversely many of the underdeveloped countries such as Nigeria, Hong Kong and Columbia are characterized by a large power distance and low individualism, these nations tend to be collectivist in their approach. In summary, the home culture of an expatriate predisposes them to certain behaviors and situations. It allows them to operate efficiently in the environment. However, moving to another country changes that operating environment and makes their ‘mental software’ less efficient and effective. Better cultural understanding gives informational knowledge, in essence, about the host country and culture. My advice is not to mimic or copy local behavior, instead, just be yourself. Concepts such as values, needs, behaviors and norms are required to be understood. This information can assist them in better executing their work tasks and by knowing that culture shock may be present and is not a permanent disease will hopefully reduce their symptoms. In order to avoid culture shock, I suggest cross-cultural training programs that emphasize the cultural differences between behaviors of two different cultures. It would provide skills and information regarding the culture so that the visitor knows what to expect with their new culture. The training is aimed at cognition and designed to change the way people  think about differences between different societies. Communication, in-groups, and socially acceptable activities as well as socially unacceptable activities are all discussed and explained. Personally, as much as I think that would help limit culture shock, nothing short from going to the different cultures itself would eliminate it completely. A doctor can’t cure a patient with out ever seeing them; I don’t think culture shock can be prevented with out exposure. I personally don’t see a problem with culture shock as long as it doesn’t result in something harmful to oneself or others. A result of learning about another culture abruptly through culture shock, is that the individual learns about his or her self, his or her own culture, and new identities in the different culture. The individual learns to grow towards multicultural perspectives and develop alternative futures for his or her self, thus making his or her self a more culturally accepting person.