Monday, September 30, 2019

Analysis of ‘Creep’ by Radiohead Essay

* How does the use of simile contribute to the persona’s expression of alienation? (2 marks) The simile â€Å"just like an angel, you’re skin makes me cry† compares the object of the persona’s desire to an angel, an ethereal being, in order to convey how unreachable and unapproachable she seems to him, thus contributing to his expression of alienation. * What is the effect of the repetition of the word â€Å"perfect†?(2 marks) The repetition of the word â€Å"perfect† emphasises the importance of achieving perfection to the persona. * Is the use of obscenity effective? Why? Why not? (2 marks) I believe the use of obscenity in this song is effective as it conveys the frustration and anger the persona feels at not belonging as well as his jealousy towards those who do. (â€Å"You’re so f**ing special, I wish I was special†) * How would you describe the tone of this song? (2 marks) The tone in this song ranges from calm and quiet reflection in the verses to anger and frustration during the choruses. * How is contrast used in these lyrics? (2 marks) The lyrics in the songs opening contain very soft, gentle imagery of things like angels and floating feathers â€Å"in a beautiful world.† Contrast is then created through the use of obscenity and a change from poetic language into blunt speech (â€Å"What the hell am I doing here?†) This contrast heightens the impact the persona’s anger and frustration over not belonging has upon listeners, emphasising how strongly he has been emotionally affected by it.  [That contrast is much greater, by the way, when you listen to the scala & kolacny brothers choir sing it because they’re children and their voices are so angelic, contributing to the angelic imagery in the lyrics] * How is a sense of realism and verisimilitude created through these lyrics? (5 marks) The realism in this song is achieved through the use of obscenity and the frank tone to lines like â€Å"What the hell am I doing here?† A sense of verisimilitude is also established through the use of slang words such as â€Å"creep† and â€Å"weirdo† which contextualise the song as describing what could be seen as a typical aspect of the teenage experience. Realism = achieved through obscenity, straight-talking, conversational-style (2nd person pronoun?) Verisimilitude = Perhaps to the teen, this is such a typical thing feeling like a â€Å"creep† and a â€Å"weirdo† just because you don’t belong. How do these lyrics contribute to your understanding of the Area of Study â€Å"Belonging†? (10 marks) These lyrics reinforce my understanding of the need to belong as an essential aspect of human nature that stems, in part, from a belief that there is a benefit in belonging; that it brings with it privileges which cannot be found in isolation. They also highlight for me the irony in people wanting to belong in order to â€Å"be special,† as the persona puts it, when in fact it is not belonging that really makes someone stand out as an individual. The persona in this song wants to belong with a person he uses simile to describe as an â€Å"angel,† a symbol of perfection. The repetition of â€Å"perfect† in the lyrics of the song emphasises the importance of achieving perfection to the persona, because it will allow him to belong with this â€Å"angel.† The persona is even jealous of the angel for being so â€Å"perfect† and â€Å"special†, as conveyed through the tone of jealous anger created by the use of obscenity in the line, â€Å"You’re so f**ing special / I wish I was special.† The persona thinks that if he can be â€Å"perfect† like the angel then he too  will be special and privileged. The irony of the song is that it is clear to the reader that it is the persona, and not the angel, who is really special. The persona is â€Å"special,† or different from what is usual, because he does not belong. If he were to be â€Å"perfect† like the angel then he would be just another beautiful person â€Å"in a beautiful world.† In other words, he would become ordinary. To conclude, the lyrics of this song show me how essential the need to belong is in humans and how this stems from a belief that there is a privilege in belonging; that it makes you special. More importantly, however, the lyrics demonstrate that, ironically, it is actually through not belonging that we make ourselves stand out as unique individuals.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Female Bounding Colour Purple Essay

Do you agree with the view that the British actions at Amritsar were justified in the aftermath of world war one The British actions at Amritsar were justified in the aftermath of world war one to an extent. The war seemed to boost the self esteem on Indians and unite them, suggesting threat against the raj, however the view in source 10 shows that there was no proof of a conspiracy, source 11 agrees with this but also shows why dyer might have acted in this way. Source 12 agrees with the fact that the actions were justified in the aftermath of world war one. The aftermath of world war one increased the self esteem if Indian as they were fighting alongside British soldiers, it also strengthened the arguments of the Indian politicians that India should be given a greater say in Indian affairs, this suggests that Indian nationalism was starting to progress. Muslims and Hindus had also joined together, forming the Lucknow pact, which shows that the Indians were becoming more powerful as they were joining together but the day of the massacre in Amritsar only included mostly Sikh people who were gathered to celebrate their religious festival showing that the attacks weren’t necessary. local officials also went on strike as a result of the aftermath of the war, suggesting that support for the raj was crumbling, showing that maybe the action of the British at Amritsar were due to the fear of Indian nationalism and the falling support for the raj. However source 10 clearly says that â€Å"it is not proven that any conspiracy had been formed† and that Dyer had acted â€Å"beyond the necessity of the case† showing that his action was not necessary and fair as there was no proof and evidence at the scene at jailaiwad bagh to justify that the actions of the British. Source 11 is a letter by Dyer saying that if he had hesitated it would have â€Å"induce attack† showing that the British might of felt that the Indians had gained power after world war one so they might attack . The source also suggests that there was no proof that there was going to be an attack, but dyer assumed it and therefore has fired without warning, this supports source 10 which says that it wasn’t proven that there was a â€Å"conspiracy†, showing that dyers actions were not necessary. However after world war one hartal were being organised to protest against the Rowlett acts, the two men who had started these hartals were arrested by the authorities, this lead to riots in Amritsar. The riots soon turned into an anti European attack, European women and children were beaten. Therefore source 11 could suggest that the reason Dyer fired without warning at the â€Å"dense crowd† was due to his fear of an attack as there were meetings being held in jalilawad bagh discussing the Rowlett acts, therefore dyer had presumed that a similar result to the Amritsar riots was bound to happen. The result of the riots at Amritsar support source 12, which is a letter by the European women thanking dyer for his actions which â€Å"saved the Punjab and thereby preserved the honour and lives of hundreds of women and children† this show that the women has felt threatened by what had happened at the riots which they also presumed would of happened at jailiawa bagh. However there was no proof on the day of the massacre that there was a conspiracy or any form of rebellion. To conclude, the British actions at Amritsar were justified in the aftermath of world war one to an extent , the Indian confidence had risen and they started to unite which shows that they were heading towards nationalism which was a threat to the raj, the Amritsar riots had also made an influence of the actions of dyer on the day of the massacre as many European women and children were killed , this might of showed that the same was bound to happen in jalianwala bagh as many people were gathered together and some were also discussing and protesting against the Rowlett acts. However as it says in source 10, â€Å"it is not proven that any conspiracy had been formed to overthrow British power† suggesting that dyers actions were necessary as there was no proof on the day.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Macbeth †a Study of the Criminal Mind Essay

Shakespeare delves straight into the theme of murder and the study of the criminal mind. The trio of witches subtly expose themselves to be concocting a devious plan in the first scene itself. â€Å"When the hurly-burly’s done. When the battle’s lost and won. That will be ere the set of sun. Where the place? Upon the heath. There to meet with Macbeth†. (I. i. 3-7) As the play progresses, Shakespeare reveals the underlying causes for the murders but stalls the unsettling outcomes, the effect of being a criminal. Each of the main characters in ‘Macbeth’ contribution to the central theme grows throughout the play. The Three Witches and Lady Macbeth’s manipulation of Macbeth and the growing insanity of the couple is an example of such cause and effect and can be related to real life. The Three Witches or the ‘weird sisters’, skulk like sinister thoughts and unconscious temptations to evil. Their cunning stems from their paranormal powers however, their true ability lies in exploiting the weaknesses of their interlocutors. Despite their absurdity through comical yet malevolent rhyme, are clearly the most dangerous characters in the play, being powerful and wicked. However, the audience is left to question the witches’ allegiance. They could be autonomous, toying with the human emotions, or agents of destiny who prophesize the inevitable. The Weird Sisters seem to have an intentional resemblance to characters in Greek mythology known as the Fates. They too were three sisters who controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from life to death. The Weird Sisters control the thread of life of all the major characters in the play, and it is in their power to do what they want to them. The prophecies foretold by the witches are seemingly self-fulfilling. Macbeth may not have murdered King Duncan if he was not pushed to do so by the witches, the night he and Banquo met the witches on the moor and had their futures told. â€Å"The thane of Cawdor lives. A prosperous gentleman; and to be king stands not within the prospect of belief. No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence you owe this strange intelligence? Or why upon this blasted heath you stop our way with such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you. † (I. iii. 72-78) Shakespeare offers no easy answers in the play. He keeps these witches outside the limits of human comprehension. They embody an unreasoning, instinctive evil; that of a criminal mind. Lady Macbeth is already plotting the murder of King Duncan as we first catch sight of her in the play. Even from this, it can be seen that she is more cunning, more ruthless and more ambitious than her husband. Lady Macbeth wishes that she were a man, and could carry out the deed herself but she is aware that is not possible. Thus, she must push Macbeth into committing the crime for her. The link between gender and power is a key feature to Lady Macbeth’s character as Macbeth suggests that she is quite masculine and is limited because she had inhabited a female body. This creates a relationship between masculinity and ambition and violence (in some cases murder). Lady Macbeth and the witches are used by Shakespeare to emasculate Macbeth’s idea: â€Å"For thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males† (I. vii. 73-74). These shrewd women apply ‘female’ methods to achieve power and control. Manipulation of their husbands will thus further their desires. Shakespeare implies that men do not have to be the only ones who are cruel and power seeking but women also. Due to social limitations however, they are unable to pursue their ambitions. Macbeth feels the need to commit the murder to prove himself to his wife as she is able to manipulate him with noteworthy effectiveness. Lady Macbeth questions his manhood continually as inside, Macbeth is quite frail. He hesitates at first, but gives in as she overrides his protestations. Lady Macbeth stays stable as King Duncan is murder, and it is she who steadies her husband after the crime has been perpetrated. Shortly afterward, she begins to spiral down into insanity – just as aspiration affected her more strongly than Macbeth before the murder, does culpability plague her more strongly afterward. Toward the end of the play, she is sleepwalking through the castle, trying to wash away the guilt that stains her. Her sensitivity to the act becomes her one weakness. Lady Macbeth then kills herself, showing her inability to deal with their crimes. The initial impression of Macbeth is a brave, strong and capable man, as we first heard of him in the wounded captain’s account. This notion is becomes problematic once he encounters the three witches. It can be seen that Macbeth’s physical courage is joined by a tendency to self doubt – the prophecy that foretold him to be king brings him joy but also creates inner turmoil. He is manipulated into committing murders that he doesn’t truly want to do. Macbeth however, hides his feelings as he says â€Å"I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know. † (I. vii. 79 – 82) He fluctuates between fits of fevered action, in which he plots a series of murders to secure his throne, and moments of terrible guilt (as when Banquo’s ghost appears) and absolute pessimism (after his wife’s death, when he seems to succumb to despair). Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show the terrible effects that ambition and guilt can have on a human who lacks strength in character. Often, examples in real life start off with an innocent person who is mentally incapable of handling such a thing, and is influenced by something in their lives. With this in mind, Shakespeare’s Macbeth truly is a study of the criminal mind. It can be seen through the inner workings of the Three Witches, the manipulation by Lady Macbeth and the growing insanity of both Macbeth and his wife, as they are not able to cope with the guilt of committing a series of crimes.

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Organizations Internal and External Labor Markets Assignment

The Organizations Internal and External Labor Markets - Assignment Example Compensation standards set in the organization are considerably grounded on the internal and external labor market conditions prevailing. For example, in this particular organization, the remuneration standards for those skills and expertise which are found in abundance in the labor marker are kept at low levels, while the rare skills which are rated highly by the organization but not found in abundance in the market need to be remunerated above industry standards. This is done with the aim of attracting, retaining and developing potential talents from the industry which accounts for one of the most potential competitive strengths for the organization (Osterman, 2004, p.2-3). Thus, it is seen how wage rates in the organization are determined and influenced by the existence, abundance or scarcity of human resources in the market. Likewise, the existing internal labor structure and strength of the organization forms the basis on which aspects such as career development planning, succes sion planning etc are designed in the organization. For this, labor forecasts are done to portray the future talents and skills which would be required for meeting organizational objectives. Long-term objectives of the firm might call for an increase in particularly skilled resources while a shrinkage in the demand for some other resources. It is crucial to determine or identify the gaps between the existing level of talent in the organization and the expected future talents which would be required in the organization. The organization plans it’s training and developmental activities based strongly on the skills it desires to nurture for accomplishing future goals. Besides that, the present recruitment and selection strategies are also designed in a way which helps to the future workforce requirements in the organization.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Islamic Empires Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Islamic Empires - Assignment Example This displays the compactness and discipline of the ancient sultan community. The Topkapi palace Harem also captured my attention. Harem displays the secrecy of the Sultans. The creation of the harem is done with the consideration of secrecy and privacy. For the sultan housed in the harem, they are provided with all hospitable requirements such as kitchens and bathrooms (The Topkapi Palace Museum). As one enters the Topkapi Palace the harem captures one view as it differentiation from other building makes it beautiful. A view of the palace attires and garments is also captivating. In this section, the costumes and attires by the Sultans are displayed. The costumes portray the original picture of fashion. The attires are exceptionally woven to depict both superiority and sacredness of the sultans. In the Palace, the Chambers of the Sacred Relics is also captivating. The chambers consist of all relics since 1517 (The Topkapi Palace Museum). All relics presented are of great value to the ancient community that resided in the palace. The most significant relic in the chambers is the Prophet Bamboo bow. In addition, the chamber has all the swords used religious leaders and the first four Caliphs. The chambers display the massive history of the era leading to the creation and development of the Palace. In addition, the chambers provide a person with an understanding of the role relics used by leaders in the ancient community. The imperial treasury also bears great significance in the palace. The treasury is divided into four areas, the treasury salon I, II, III and IV. Each treasure salon housed different relics and gifts. One major treasure in the chambers is the gifts presented to Prophet Mohammed (The Topkapi Palace Museum). The collection in the treasure is vast and captivating. All the important relics in the palace were conserved in the treasury which provides a visit understand the community of the

Differentiate between neligence, intentional and constitutional torts Essay

Differentiate between neligence, intentional and constitutional torts. What act(s) can cause a tort liability - Essay Example For example: an employee of the criminal justice department conducted his duties without making sure that others are not harmed by his means of conducting duty, due to this others may have been inflicted with harm or injury, thus the official is held responsible for conducted his duties in a negligent manner. Criminal justice officers experience intentional torts when they indulge knowingly and freely indulge in activities due to which citizens or other individuals of a society may be harmed (Vaughn, 1999). For example: a police officer uses coercive methods to obtain a confession from a suspect, due to his act the suspect gets badly injured, the police official is held responsible for using coercion and the confession obtained from the suspect might not be used as evidence in the court of law. A criminal justice employee may be held responsible in a case of constitutional tort if he fails to conduct his duties in accordance to the constitution of the country (Carlson, 1985, p.342). For example: if a police official makes an arrest and forgets to read the Miranda rights to the suspect, the police official may be held responsible for acting according the constitution and the suspect may be free to leave as his Miranda rights were not read to him (Peak, 2011, p.281). Various activities conducted by the officials of the criminal justice system lead to tort liability, these activities includes: negligent behaviour, wrongful charges for arrest, breach of right of privacy, upholding information and evidence, and coercive interrogation. When an official of the criminal justice system is said to have acted in a negligent manner, he is said to have not exercised his duty of due care (Peak, 2011, p.341). This means that while conducting his duties, an official has not ensured to eradicate practices and procedures that may harm an individual and that are foreseen. Therefore a police official has to exercise his duty of care while conducting his

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

SEE BELOW FOR INSTRUCTION Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SEE BELOW FOR INSTRUCTION - Research Paper Example This paper discusses the components of Betty Neuman’s theory and how they can be employed in the nursing practice Every system that deals with patients is an exceptional array instrument that responds to the environment. Ideally, the responses are covered in a structure that determines the relationship with the environment. Consequently, the theory assumes that there are stressors that have universal tendencies that have a potential of upsetting the stability of the patients. The theory also assumes that the line of defense should act as a caveat to environmental stressors (Meleis, 2011). Essentially, the assumption is that in the absence of a barrier enables the stressor to penetrate the line of defense effectively affecting the well-being of the patient. Every patient has the internal mechanisms that act as a resistance to any form of external aggression. It is essential that potential risks to patients are determined and appropriate measures taken to deal with the issues that may affect the stability of the clients. The theory also notes that clients in hospital environments constantly exchange energy with external surroundings. Moreover, the model intimates that there should be prioritization in terms of identifying the first line of action in so far as dealing with the stressors is concerned (Meleis, 2011). The treatments should be ranked as a consequence of making treatment effective. Neuman’s theory focuses on the extent to which an individual can interact and relate to the environment. Patients have a basic reaction to the environment, and the degree of response leads to the depletion of energy effectively leading to illness. The flexible line of defense is an important component that acts as a barrier to potential threats (Meleis, 2011). Stressors portend a number of negatives that may affect the stability of a patient. Prevention is critical in dealing with the stressors. The primary treatment is important and

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Song Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Song Analysis - Essay Example Buble wrote these lines when he was on a tour to Italy where the separation from his beloved pained him too much, and he wished to get back to his beloved at the earliest. A close reading of the song explores certain other poetical devises such as the repetition of some phrases, images and the usage of figurative speech that add imaginative coloring to the song. Buble begins the song with a note of pathos in his words. For Buble, even the great cities like Rome or Paris does not pacify his unquenchable thirst to reach home and share some sweet moments with his beloved. Like a child’s crossness, he repeats, ‘I wanna go home.’ The repetition of the phrase is capable of haunting the minds of the listeners who feel the intense desire of the writer to reach home. The multitude of people, ‘Another aeroplane (Line 17),’ ‘Another sunny place (Line 18), ‘Another winter’ (32) and so on, does not satisfy the writer. While reading through the lyrics of the song, one gets various images of the male narrator of the song, his journeys, alienation, and his earnestness for reunion. From the narration, it is quite evident that the narrator is a busy man, travelling from one place to another and could not find sufficient time to reach home. He himself admits that his words are cold and flat and his beloved needs more than that. This also brings to us the image of a beloved, anxiously waiting for the letters and presence of her lover. The narrator’s words, ‘I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life/It’s like I just stepped outside’ (Lines 25-26) bring out the image of a discontented person. The lyricist has resorted to some figure of speech to enkindle the feeling of the narrator in the song. One can find the usage of the figure of speech simile in the lines, ‘I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life,’ and in, ‘It’s

Monday, September 23, 2019

Conflict Theory in Garage Sale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Conflict Theory in Garage Sale - Essay Example Competition among groups in society is always the cause of conflict (Hensli, 12). Most often the cause of conflict is when the garage sale is more patronized by the buyers where it may create possible closure of legitimate businesses because of scarce customers. Looking at the assumption of conflict theory, it dictates that conflict arises when there is a scarce resource (customers). When this happens, owners of legitimate businesses would dictate the situation prohibiting individuals to engage in garage sales. They could enforce laws because they are considered the dominant group in selling by virtue of their business permit. Being a dominant class or group means they could impose rules to protect their privilege and interest to the expense of the inferior group. However, individuals involved in such business who want to earn a living doing garage sale may repulse the idea through protesting causing tension between the two groups. Conflict theory assumes that the economic factor is always the cause of conflict. In addition, tension continues to occur because of exploitation or manipulation of others. Reference Henslin, James. Sociology. A Down-to-Earth Approach. Allyn and Bacon publishing. 2007.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

How ICT requirements are met in an organisation Essay Example for Free

How ICT requirements are met in an organisation Essay Report B: How ICT requirements are met in an organisation Before Haden was introduced ICT, everything was done by hand. This took longer and was not a reliable method of processing information. Haden has many departments and altogether they have many computers. I am going to only analyse one of those departments because doing the whole building with the number of computers will be ridiculous. The department I will be analysing is the Fraud department. This department deals with all the people committing benefit fraud. They work with the police to get those people in court. The Fraud department found it hard to cope without computers. When the computers were introduced everything was easy. Everything needed ICT. In the Fraud department there are 45 computers. Here are the specifications of the hardware. Hardware Input devices Keyboard- There is 40 standard QWERTY keyboards and 5 ergonomic keyboards. Ergonomic keyboards are QWERTY but the layout is different. The keyboards connect by PS/2 port. Mice- There is 45 standard mice. These come as default on all the computers. The mice connect also connect through PS/2 port. Digital Cameras- These cameras are devices that can take photos or moving images (films) and transfer them on to a PC. The images are JPEG, GIF, UGA, UFO or PSO. There are a total of 4 cameras in the department. The digital cameras connect to the via USB port. Scanners- There is 2 scanners in the department and they also transfer images to the computer. They work like photocopier but can transfer the images to a PC. This device also connects through USB port. Web Cams- The web cams are used to project moving images on to the internet. Only 7 computers have these and they are only used for handling confidential documents. The web cams connect to the computers by the USB port. The web cams are used for personal use. Well, thats what I think! An input device is something that transfers raw data into a computer for it to be processed. These can include images and evidence from fraud suspects. Output devices Monitors- There is 45 monitors. 5 flat screen monitors, also know as LCD (liquid crystal display) screens and the rest are standard default monitors which are CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors. The monitors connect through the serial port. Colour printer- The colour printers are used to print documents with Hadens header on them. The colour makes it more professional. The printers connect through the LPT or parallel port. These are the main output devices. They take raw information/data and give it back to us processed. Every computer has many different specifications inside and outside. The computers are all the same so it will be easy to describe them. Below are the specifications. Compaq Deskpro 40 GB Hard drive CD/CD-RW Drive Floppy Drive Zip Drive 512 mb DDR RAM 64 mb DDR Geforce 4 graphics card Creative soundcard Ethernet Card Modem port 4 USB 2. 0 ports 2 serial ports 2 LPT/parallel ports 2 Fire wire ports 2 PS/2 ports 1 game pad port 1 Network port The hard drives are big so that a lot of data can be stored. But there is a downfall to that. It is easier for files to get lost and the file security is not great. The RAM is a ridiculously large. It seems like the computers are made to play games and not do work. This also applies for the graphics card. It also has a large card memory. Most of it is wasted because it is not being used. The department can save a lot of money they had computers which are a bit lower on the specifications. (RAM, Graphics card etc) As all the computers are same, it is easy for me to describe only one of the computers specifications because they have the same specifications like the other computers in the department. There is a large server for the department. The server is very fast and quick. Below are the server specifications. Intel Pentium 4 M 3. 0 GHz processor memory 1024 mb DDR RAM 120 GB Hard drive Tape drive CD/CD-RW Drive Floppy Drive All the computers are Compaq brand. They are reliable and safe to use. Software The computers have different software installed on their hard drives. The computers are new. They have Microsoft Office 2002 installed on their hard drive. They also have other programs like anti-virus. Microsoft Word- This is the default word processing application. It is easy to use and it has many features like recording macros and inserting pictures. Microsoft Excel- This application is installed on the system but it is not used often. It may be used to do calculations for wages and salaries. I am not very sure what it is used for in this department. Microsoft Access- This application is not used. Database- Haden have there own database. It is very complicated to use their database. It comes up as a black screen with white writing. Almost like MS-DOS on old computers. The database holds information of people that have benefits and that commit fraud. You have to be trained to use the database because it is so complicated. This is what I think are in the databases: Name, address, post code, county, age, gender, contact details, national insurance number etc. Outlook Express- Easy to use and is fast for sending and receiving information. The e-mail is not for personal use. The companies boss can other employees can read the personal e-mails. Information is not confidential so it is a great and fast method of transferring data. Internet Explorer is used to surf the web for web related fraud. The internet has a special tracking device that seeks out people using other peoples insurance numbers and other details to get money. Intranet- All the computers are linked to an intranet. The intranet is a small network that only the company personnel can enter. No one from the outside, like me, can enter the intranet. Some of the files are password protected and only those who have the password can enter. Others are common files that everyone linked to the intranet can access. All personnel have their own password. They also have a card key that is used to enter the PC otherwise they do not have access. Norton System works is an antivirus application. All the computers have this software to protect against viruses. There is however a disadvantage. There is no internet firewall. Although one will be installed soon, the security is at risk and therefore hackers can enter easily. Evidence Eliminator is an application that is used to destroy unwanted fraud evidence from the Fraud departments computers. The evidence will no longer be available for hackers. Evaluation Hadens use of ICT is excellent. They are faster now than before computers were introduced. The department of Fraud has found that using ICT is a must for them. Most of it is writing up databases. They have improved in using their own database that has outstanding security due to it being hard to use. There are several advantages and disadvantages. The main one is that the computers can get out of date and will require fixing all the time. Another disadvantage is in the Fraud computers the security is not that good. Hackers can attack it easily. The evidence eliminator application will have to be used several times because there is no firewall and hacker can attack any time. The Fraud department has to step up its security to insure that it is safe to transfer files through the networks. Overall, the organisation has improved in keeping things up to date. The security has to improve for the internet, other than that; the company is sophisticated and well improved.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Van Genneps Stages of a Rite of Passage

Van Genneps Stages of a Rite of Passage Van Genneps stages and understanding a rite of passage in relationship to one or more rituals Wittgenstein (1987, p.14, Chapter I. Introduction) set a large challenge for anthropology that has yet to be taken up. After reading the Golden Bough, he argues that Fraser made a crucial mistake by trying to deduce what things mean. He accused Fraser of not understanding that practices signify nothing but themselves, and that the extent of anthropology could be to delimit and work out the practical structure of such tasks. For the past fifty years or so, anthropology has largely ignored Wittgensteins remarks and has built an anthropology that privileges the observer. It privileges the observer because it is only the observer who can read into phenomenon their underlying socio-cultural meaning. It is precisely this sort of reifying reductionism that we find in Van Genneps (1909) theory of the rite of passage. Rites of passage present an irresistible and difficult focus for the ethnographer: they are constellations of compacted meanings removed from the process of everyday life. In the authors own experience, they are also some of the most frustrating things to analyse. Presented with so many unusual phenomenon, the ethnographer asks, what does this mask mean only for your informant to respond with a shrug. This difficulty of compacted meaning may partly explain why ethnographers are so quick to ignore the phenomenon involved in a rite of passage in favour of reading it as a structural process. This difficulty may also explain why, fully one hundred years after it was published, Van Genneps Rites of Passage theory remains unchallenged in the anthropological world. That said, Van Gennep’s overall structures has remained remarkably adept at matching up to all the rituals people apply to it. However, there should not be taken as a mark of its success. It one is to recall that the success of Evans-Pritchards structural-functionalism (Kuper: 1988, pp. 190-210, Chapter 10 Descent Theory: A Phoenix from the Ashes), was more based on the tastes and cultural paradigms of anthropologists than it was on its correspondence to any ethnographic reality. This essay will argue that Van Genneps stages of rites of passage do indeed cohere to many rituals, however, like Turners schemes (1995), these stages do little to explain to us the significance of ritual. In order to do so, this essay will argue, it is necessary to turn to how the phenomenologically experienced reality of ritual constitutes the social reality of a ritual. To make this argument this essay will focus on three rites of passage: French marriage ritual in Auvergne (Reed-Dahany: 1996), Yak a healing rituals in Zaire (Devisch: 1998, 1996) and refugee experience in Tanzania (Malikki: 1995). The last example proves the most difficult for Van Genneps theory: because though it corresponds to his stages, nothing about the experience of refugees would correspond to the socially rigid categories Van Gennep claims are central to rites of passage. From this example, this essay will argue to understand rites of passage we need to consider more fully the relationship of time-out-of-time in culture. For until we confront the question of what allows a certain unit of time to be taken out of the experience of the everyday, we will be no closer to understanding how rites of passage deal with other senses of time-out-of-time. Van Gennep (1909, Chapter I The Classification of Rites) attempts to demonstrate a there is a universal structure underlying all rites of passage. While there might be physiological, factors involved (e.g. coming to puberty) the mechanisms that determined the rites of passage are always social, and these social constructions display a cross-cultural similarity. Rituals and ceremonies in Van Gennep’s scheme serve the function of guaranteeing ones path through liminal transitory categories as one passes through the stages of separation, transition and reincorporation that he claims are present in all stages of rites of passage. What we can note about this model already is that the ritual serves the purpose of a unit of causation in a socially determinist model of society: there is a societal need that ritual fulfils. Because of this functional model, we are none the wiser as to how a society determines the exact elements of a ritual, or how people experience the ritual. Van Genneps approach is based on a socially functional model: though he is far more inclined to admit the power of the individual in the social form sui generis than is Durkheim (Zumwalt: 1982:304). That said, he still claims (Van Gennep, 1909, p. 72, Chapter Six Initiation Rites) that in mutilation: the mutilated individual is removed from the mass of common humanity by a rite of separation which automatically incorporates him into the defined group. His emphasis here is on the social end process: as if it could somehow be separated from the phenomenological experience of the pain. Thus, the process of scarification that marks many initiation rituals is merely placed as part of the logic of social cohesion: following such a pattern, it is hard to explain the beating and terror that often accompanies initiation rituals. Indeed, it ignores the central challenge Merleau-Ponty (1962, p.115, Part I The Body, Chapter III The Spatiality of Ones own Body and Motility) posed when he asked: H ow can we understand someone else without sacrificing him to our logic or it to him? The domain of phenomenology is closely linked to that of ritual. Jackson (1996, p.3, Chapter I Introduction) characterises phenomenology as a project designed to understand being-in-the-world. This attempt to understand how inter-subjective experience is constituted is a possible answer to the question Merleau-Ponty poses above how does one understand the other. Characteristically, phenomenology attempts to answer this project by not privileging one domain of experience or knowledge, as none of them can encompass the totality of the lived experience. Instead, it is an investigation into (Ricoeur, 1979, p.127, Chapter IV The Structure of Experience) the structures of experience which proceed connected expression in language. This is what Merleau-Ponty would call the preobjective. This understanding of the importance of structures that escape linguistic formalisation has also been part of the emphasis of the study of ritual in anthropology. In Levi-Strauss (1965, pp.167-186, Chapter Nine The Sorcerer and His Magic) classic examination of north American healing sorcerers he emphasises how the experience of the healing takes place between the triad of patient, sorcerer, and social body. He also emphasises the importance in this relationship of the sensory experience of the sorcerer. However, despite this emphasis, he is undertaking his analysis from a recorded text, and his emphasis is on the structural coherency sorcery provides rather than its embodied experience. He writes (ibid: 181): In a universe which it [the social body] strives to understand but whose dynamics it cannot fully control, normal thought continually seeks the meaning of things which refuse to reveal their significance. So-called pathological thought, on the other hand, overflows with emotion al interpretations and overtones, in order to supplement an otherwise deficient reality. The sensory experience of the ritual as understood by Levi-Strauss is constituted as a means-end relationship to get to the desired goal, the assertion of the cosmological unity of the social body. Here we can see the same pattern of assumptions about bodily meaning we noted earlier in Van Gennep. This emphasis, a legacy of Durkheim, characteristically means that repetition, often the element of ritual that constitutes its definition, is overlooked as window-dressing to the mythical meat of the ceremony which is that which can be vocalised (and thus objectified). This legacy can also be found in the two anthropologists whose writing about myth has defined the field, Van Gennep and Turner (1986, 1995). In Van Gennep, central to his notion of ritual as a rite of passage is a sacred-profane dualism, which is also kept in Turners scheme, though he also includes the notion of the marginal or liminal. In this distinction we can see that both theorists only deal with the relationship between the sacred and profane in terms of social structure and fail to deal with these elements interpenetrate in everyday lived reality. In a sense, their distinction is similar to that made by Mauss (1993, p. 12, Chapter I The Exchange of Gifts and the Obligation to Reciprocate) when understanding the gift. Mauss claims that the person for whom the sacrifice is performed enters the domain of the sacred and then rejoins the profane world, which is separate from the sacred, though conditioned by it. For Turners early work, and for Van Gennep, ritual is the heightened activity in which the sacred-profane worlds are mediated between. What is advantageous about these approaches is that they identify ritual as the situation or drama par excellence, as an organisation of practice constructed and defined by participants and it is a practice in which the participants confront the existential conditions of their existence. However, there are problems with Turner and Van Gennep’s approaches which parallel that of Levi-Strauss. In both cases, the emphasis is on the formal unity of the social world. Kapferer (1997, pp.55-61, Chapter II: Gods of Protection, Demons of Destruction: Sorcery and Modernity. The Transmutation of Suniyama: Difference and Repetition) illustrates some of these problems when analysing the Sri Lankan suniyama, or exorcisms. While he agrees with Turner that the suniyama constitute their own space-time, he also makes clear the extent to which they borrow from everyday life. Rather than seeing resolution and unity in the suniyama, he notes that the reactualisation of the ordinary world amid the virtuality of the rite is a moment of intense anxiety. In the events of the chedana vidiya, the tension, he argues, is not just about the destructive forces of the demon but also about the re-emergence of the victim in the ordered world. One can see in the suniyama that the lived world is not reducible to categories, despite the attempts at structuration. It is an excellent example of what Jackson (1989, p.5, Chapter I Paths Towards a Clearing) calls mans rage for order, and simultaneously usurpation of that order coupled with an awareness that the order is always exceeded by the lived world. Kapferer refuses to push dualistic or triadic models onto the Sri Lankan suniyama, and argue for it being a continuous process orientated at the restitution of social action. One of the ways this uncertainty the rage for order and its ambiguity or infirmity is manifested is in sensory experience. It is here that the Durkheimean project is unable to provide a satisfactory analytical framework and where phenomenology can provide some edifying lines of inquiry. None of these lines of inquiry are pursued by Reed-Dahany (1996), who illustrates the extent to which Van Gennep can be utilized, and also the extent to which Van Genneps scheme founders in its constructionist model, in her analysis of marriage practice in Auvergne. She notes that (ibid: 750) in the early morning after a wedding, a group of unmarried youths burst into the room to which the bride and groom have retired for the night and present them with a chamber pot containing champagne and chocolate. The youth and the newly wed couple then consume the chocolate and champagne together. The participants describe is as something which appears disgusting, and yet actually tastes really good. Reed-Dahany utilises Bourdieus work on taste to show how this reversal of the established bourgeois order simultaneously parodies marriage and bourgeois taste. Like the examples we see in Turners work, the sacred ritual of marriage here is associated with the inversion of established meanings only for these meanings to be ever more forcefully reinserted after the period of liminal disaggregation. We can see how such a ritual fits Van Genneps scheme very well: the couple are segregated from society (both from each other before marriage, and then from society the honeymoon afterwards) before being reaggregated. Thus, Reed-Dahany has no problem in understanding the ritual of la rà ´tie as a ritual of reincorporation in the sense Turner had meant it. Through the partaking of food with the unwed they are allowed to re-enter society, the wet-substance consumed standing in for fecundity. Indeed, as Reed-Dahany notes (ibid: 752) Van Gennep himself had commented on these rituals in his work on folk customs in rural France and had pursued much the same conclusion. Yet what Reed-Dahany notes is that the focus for the people involved in the ritual are the scatological reference implicit in the ritual: these elements of parody of bourgeois society that take place at the level of bodily praxis are left unexplained by Van Genneps scheme, in which any set of symbols is replaceable with anot her as long as they have the same social purpose. This is why Van Gennep has great problems explaining rites of passage that are not formal. Yet, it is not the case that rites of passage and other temporal markers must be institutionalised. As Malikki (1995, p. 241, Chapter Six Cosmological Order of Nations) notes: historical consciousness is lodged within precarious accidental processes that are situated and implicated in the lived events and local processes of the everyday. In her work, Malikki looks at the creation of a mythico-history among Hutu refugees who fled the mass killing of 1972 in Burundi for Tanzania fifteen years ago. She contrasts two groups; the first, living in an urban environment, deploy their ethnicity and history only rarely, situationally and relationally, and attempt not to stick out. In contrast, at the refugee camp, the inhabitants were continually engaged in recreating their homeland. Malikki (ibid: p.3, Introduction An Ethnography of Displacement in the National order of Things) notes: The camp refugees saw themselves as a nation in exile, and defined exile, in turn, as a moral trajectory of trials and tribulations that would ultimately empower them to reclaim, or recreate anew, the homeland in Burundi. One of the noticeable elements in this construction of a mythico-history is the way in which it internalised exterior categories, and then subverted them. For instance, Malikki draws attention to the way in the powerful discourse of inter-nationalism, refugees are in an ambiguous space, particularly polluting, between national boundaries. Malikki uses the work of Van Gennep and Turner to understand how the Hutu refugees in the camp had turned this liminal space into a trial of separation, which would empower them to return. The narratives that people told Malikki were incredibly standardised, they functioned, as Malikki notes, as moral lessons, that represented (ibid: p. 54, Chapter Two The Mythico History) a subversive recasting and reinterpretation of [events] it in fundamentally moral ways. In Malikkis work, we can see that rites of passage can be lodged in accidental processes and contingent historical events. Even here, they seem to fit the categories of Van Genneps classificati on. However, one notes that nothing about these classifications explains the way these patterns were then sedimented into a rite of passage that structured and organised practice. She notes that one of the key moments in this history is when the refugees arrive across the border in Tanzania, and are able to meet other refugees from Burundi (there appeared to be little widespread national connections before then ibid: p.103, Chapter Two The Mythico History). Thus, collective effervescence of consciousness, which, as the narrative describes, allowed people to understand the final secret of the Tutsis, was not just experienced verbally. The supplanting of the social order with chaos (though an ordered chaos) was accompanied by very physical processes. The fear of pursuit, the bodily feeling of cramp and hunger, the sight of corpses on the road: all these were processes that the refugees took great pains to describe to Malikki. The refugees referred to this moment as one of revelation, and this memory, which must have in part formed the social bond that allowed for the creation of the mythico-history, was a silent history of bodily feeling and gesture as much as i t was one verbalised. If we develop Malikkis understanding of the similarity between rites of passage and the refugee experience slightly, there is a parallel between the symbolic death and rebirth in the liminal stage of separation in a rite of passage, normally accompanied by ritual action that provides the unity of a shared painful experience, and the collective pain of that crossing into Tanzania in 1972. These phenomenological bodily experienced realities are not marginal to a group feeling of cohesion: rather than social aspects of the rite of passage stem from these silent memories of bodily experience. We will now turn to an analysis of the rites of passage in the Yaka healing cults of Zaire. In contrast to the social world of the Yaka, which is patrilineal, femaleness, uterine filiation and mediatory roles are cyclical and occupy a concentric life-cycle (Devisch: 1996, p.96, The Cosmology of Life Transmission). It is within this contrast that the healing rituals takes place. The healing rituals a re not a collection or commiseration, rather, they are bodily and sensuous, they (ibid: 95) aim at emancipating the initiates destiny clearing and enhancing the lines of force in the wider weave of family. It is not just in the matrilineage that healing occurs however, for (Devisch: 1998, p.127, Chapter Six Treating the affect by remodelling the body in a Yaka Healing Cult) it is in the interplay of physical links and individualising relationships a person weaves through his mothers lineage with the uterine sources of life and the primary and fusional object that the Yaka cultures in Kinshasa and south-west Congo localise the origin of serious illness, infirmity and madness. The ritual allows for the rebirth of the individual, and occurs at the margins (physical and cultural) of the society. This re-sourcing of the body is very fundamentally sensory. For instance, in the period of seclusion a young Mbwoolu become body doubles, and become an inscribed body envelope that serves as his interface with the social body. It is important to note there that the Yaka identity is structured as an envelope and knot. Harmful things like thievery of sorcery are associated with this knot being tied too tightly or loosely, inversion of normal bodily functions, such as flatulence or ejaculation outside of coitus can be understood as the knot being tied too tightly or gently. The person in this sense is constructed inter-subjectively, spreading outwards in a myriad of exchanges and well formed knots. The transference to the Mbwoolu involves an enacted cosmology where the objects and the initiate are covered with a red paste. Devisch notes that the notion of the person in these ceremonies is to be found to be located at the skin level, through a myriad of exchanges. At an early stage in the ritual, the initiates and the Mbwoolu figurines are floated in water, and this is the beginning of a process that continues throughout the ritual, as the initiates skin is turned inside out. In this process, the illness is displaced onto the Mbwoolu, and his insides become a receptacle for the power of the healing ritual. The figurines become a social skin to be idealised, socialised and protected. The importance of sensory experience in the ritual is also in the moment where the master shaman bites off the head of a chicken and sprays the initiates with its blood. Devisch (ibid: 146) also talks about the importance of the fusional absorption in the rhythm and music, then (ibid) [the] tactile olfactory and auditory contacts envelop, and are finally interwoven into an increasingly elaborate utterance, by the mirrored gaze. By this Devisch is alluding to the process by which the initiate converts the primary fusional object into phenomena of identification by incorporation. In this process of incorporating the figurine into themselves, all the senses are in use. What is noteworthy and excellent in Devischs work is that while he does occasionally lapse into statements about trance-inducing music, she is clear to emphasise that sensual phenomenon are not part of a means-end relationship to induce the required result, nor are they somehow secondary to the meaning of the ritual. Rath er, he emphasises that the sensory experience is in many respects, the ritual that the experience of being covered in red clay and submerged in water and having your skin reversed cannot be separated from the transference of your illness to the statues. What Mauss (1993, p.2, Chapter I The Exchange of Gifts and the Obligation to Reciprocate) was right to emphasise when he claimed sacrifice was a total social fact was that questions of sacrifice are questions of Being first and foremost. They occupy a place were the social world is made and remade. In Devisch, what is understood to constitute the central aspects of the Yaka healing cult are sensory experience. This is very different to the understanding laid out by Van Gennep and Turner. For while Devisch makes clear that in the Yaka healing cult one is separated from society pending ones reincorporation, he does not allow the socially functional explanation to obscure what the ceremony might mean. One can see the difference if we contrast Turners work to Devischs. For Turner, the performative and sensory aspects of healing function at its normative pole, the pole at which ritual healing is a resolution of social and emotional conflict. The power of dominant symbols, for Turner, derived from their capacity to condense structural or moral norms the eidetic pole and fuse them with physiological and sensory phenomena and processes – the oretic pole. In Turner, the oretic pole, where emotional and bodily praxis is centred, is a given. For Devisch, this given in Turners work is a critical problem, for it prevents his understanding that the basis of creativity in ritual (1993, p.37, 1.6 Body and Weave: A Semantic-Praxilogical Approach) is to be sought not in liminality but in the body seen as a surface upon which the group and the life-world is inscribed. We have seen in three rituals how Van Genneps classification superficially fits the pattern of behaviour. However, like in the work of Victor Turner, we have seen that Van Gennep cannot explain the detail of rites of passage using his system of classification. In his system, the details of a ceremony become marginal, whereas for the practioners they are central. To explain such details we need to pursue a phenomenologically informed anthropology such as that which Devisch practices. For if a rites of passage is a primarily embodied experience, then the body cannot simply be a receptacle for social value rather, one would argue, it can also be a generative movement, both of meaning and of experience Bibliography Devisch, R. 1998: Treating the affect by remodelling the body in a Yaka healing cult. In Strathern Lambek, Bodies and Persons. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Devisch, R. The Cosmology of Life Transmission. pp.94-115. In, Jackson, M. (ed) 1996: Things as they are: New Directions in Phenomenological Anthropology. Indiana: Indiana University Press. 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