...being. Using this as the basis for understanding our individual identities within the context of a civilized, democratic society, we should be able to co-exist harmoniously in a country founded on the following familiar words from the United States Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The reality of the situation, however, is arguably that white culture has interpreted these words to mean that anyone who identifies themselves as not white, either by some physical trait, or a set of ideologies that do not mirror the protestant values on which this country was founded, is essentially and innately substandard. As a result, they are marginalized and assigned a sub-par position within society. Certain groups are notable for the social and political resistance they begin to demonstrate against the white establishment. Two notable groups which have shown (and continue to show) such resistance are African-Americans and the LGBT community, significantly notable because both groups, while varying dramatically in some elements of their struggles, also dramatically parallel one another by virtue of the fact that both aim to have their human identity acknowledged and affirmed. This paper will discuss the significance of resistance as it applies to the acknowledgement and affirmation of a shared...
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...In “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History,” Jennifer Price does more than merely describe a pink bird and its history. Through her use of allusion, diction, and irony, Price mocks the American people for its pretentious ideals; she is able to develop her view of the American culture. First, Price references many prominent people in this piece, Price references many prominent people in this piece for example. However, when reading the essay and recognizing the allusions, Price did not follow it with an appositive, a word or phrase that renames the noun. The reason for this was to add ethos and demonstrate that these people were most likely popular back in the day. The use of well-known people adds credibility to Price’s argument...
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...African American Vernacular English (AAVE), which is more commonly known as ebonics and sometimes referred to as Black English, is a dialect that stems from American English. African American Vernacular English is known in the black community as a language that should be spoken amongst peers and families, as it is often looked down upon to speak AAVE in professional, educational, or even places where it can be assumed that there won't be many likeminded Black Americans around to understand the usage of AAVE. Young black children in school often become socialized to think that a speaking AAVE, a dialect that is commonly used in at home and around familiar faces, is inappropriate and to speak that is to present yourself and your family as uneducated....
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...created a need for mutual understanding of worldviews. Through stories drawn from Symonds and Fadiman, it is possible to see how Hmong practice has created a therapeutic myth that closely resembles American medical practice of sickness and health. Through analysis of these two worldviews, I will demonstrate how Hmong cosmology and American medical practice are closely related in the story of Lia Lee. For the Hmong, the shaman plays a crucial role in...
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...CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Technology has always been a great part of people’s everyday lives. The innovation of every piece of work has been developed through the use of advanced technology and new innovations. These new technologies and innovations are bringing people to new perspective of daily living. Nowadays, people are very technology conscious that it seems that they cannot live now without these new technologies, such as using the internet to feed their conscious minds, to browsing for new menus, to searching the most popular and highest paid personalities, to political issues point of view, and sometimes to showcasing the talents of the most talented even though some of these talented are specially able people. Many people are very thankful that one of the greatest inventions in human kind is the mobile phone.Many tools and applications have been invented and are continuously being produced. One of the most significant technology advances in education is also the use of mobile application. Through these mobile phones, people can easily communicate with one another, whether some of these people are normal or some are especiallyabled ones. Also, through these mobile phones, conflicts or misunderstandings can be solved; sometimes a fight can also ignite through it if it was not used for good. But of course, we need to use the technology wherein we can benefit from it, and also we need to think of other people’s sake. As the saying goes, you are truly living and loving...
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...The main protagonist of Ralph Ellison invisible man is not the only one who remains unseen as the novel unfolds. Another element also cloaked in invisibility follows our unknown character throughout the novel, changing both beat and tempo as the novel develops. Rather like the invisible man, the ongoing musical beat that runs through out the invisible man’ may not be visible yet it is very clearly felt and heard. It is the distinct incorporation of the inflowing musical beat that allows for an interloping of ideas based upon the visible, the invisible and the creative with the novel. The main theme within the ‘invisible man’ is that of the more obvious theme of invisibility. Ellison explores through the use of music such as in the form of jazz the moments or experiences where invisibility takes control. Such breaks in visibility signify a chance for the protagonist to escape and break the mould of the what can be called ‘constitutional visibility’ allowing for the exploration of ones own identity and individuality. An individuality and identity that is not in any way restricted to what is generally accepted as visible. Our Guarantee To You No Quibble Money Back Guarantee! We are so confident in our ability to produce top level academic work that we are prepared to back it with a "No Quibble, Money Back" guarantee! Such breaks that allow for such explorations to take place within the novel can be seen from the very beginning where in the prologue the protagonist recalls...
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...post-World War II years, a cultural and literary movement began. A new generation of American writers, artists and thinkers reacted and expressed their ideas in obscene forms. They were called “The Beats” who were formed in the 1950’s by poets Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Howl by Allen Ginsberg illustrates America’s post-World War II culture and political issues through his journey and views. The use of metaphors, tone, and descriptive language draw parallels between the ideas of, conformity to institutions, sexual repression, and religion. According to the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Allen’s Ginsberg was a popular poet after World War II. He was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1926. Ginsberg attended college at Columbia...
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...military without cultural awareness. 1. What Is Culture? a. The Definition of Culture b. Characteristics of a Culture 2. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea c. About North Korea d. The Korean War 3. Juche e. Kim Il-sung f. The Effects of Kim Il-sung and Juche 4. Diplomacy With North Korea g. The Threat North Korea Poses h. Hope For the Future A diplomatic relationship with North Korea may not be possible at this time, But taking the time to get know and understand their culture and their angst against the US may help us further our relationship with them in the future. Alvin Anderson SSG Rockhold ALC 718-12 May 19, 2012 North Korean Culture What is culture? Culture is many things. Culture is almost everything. The word culture is very broad and encompassing. There is no simple, universally accepted definition for the word culture. It is by definition: the behavior and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic or age group. It is characterized a group of peoples’ traditions, religion, food, customs and language. Culture is dynamic. Culture is static. It both changes with the times and withstands the test of time. Culture is what will be left of us when there is nothing left of us. Culture in my opinion is a peoples’ way of life. Our culture permeates into every detail of our daily lives and we seldom notice it. Our culture is Thanksgiving dinner on the fourth Thursday...
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...education In this article by the renowned Professor Emeritus of applied linguistics, he seeks to emphasize the need to have a different teaching approach to reading and composition for foreign students and a different way for American students due to the cultural differences and nature of rhetoric. Although babies do not learn languages through grammar books or dictionaries, it is a subconscious process, and they learn through exposure to the language and surrounding environment. Learners of a language are subjected to a conscious process, and have to learn the language through memorizing alphabets, grammar rules and memorizing vocabulary and common phrases. Contrastive rhetoric as described in the article has three assumptions that; each language has a set of rules for writing unique to it that linguistic and rhetorical conventions of a first language interfere with the learning of a second language and that spoken word and written words are cultural phenomena. As rhetoric concerns itself with what goes on in the mind rather than what comes out of the mouth, we have to realize that diversity affects not only the languages, but also the culture. Language, in turn, is the effect and the expression of a certain world view that is manifested by a culture. Language presents a kind of destiny, so far as human thought is concerned, this diversity of languages leads to a radical relativism and thoughts. Rhetoric being a means of thinking or a way of finding available means to...
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...R. Sarenka Smith 13 December 2013 Race, Civil Rights, and Literature—Paper #3 Cultural Heritage Through the Creation of Art and Language: Recovering Ancestral Identity in Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow “People who can’t call their nation. For one reason or another they just don’ know. Is a hard thing. I don’ even like to think about it.” --Lebert Joseph, Praisesong for the Widow Paule Marshall’s autobiographical article “From the Poets in the Kitchen,” published a month before her novel Praisesong for the Widow, describes stories from her childhood that reflect the immigrant experience, addressing the constant presence of the Caribbean and its influence on Marshall’s life while growing up in the United States. Marshall’s mother and her female friends, immigrants from Barbados, would gather in the Marshall kitchen after their days of working in low-paid jobs to chat, gossip, and “tackle the great issues of the time” including the economy, politics, war, and their nostalgia for home. They discussed their adopted home, America—acknowledging both the racism they endured, and also the wealth of possibilities that the country offered. These women and their stories were, for Marshall, the origins of her fiction. She asserts that a writer’s ability to render everyday speech is derived from close listening, and the talk that “filled the kitchen” additionally functioned as a kind of therapeutic catharsis, a release of creative energy. The special kind of...
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...The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas Marlene Monarrez University Of Phoenix ENG125 James Iddings February 24,2012 Overview Imagine a city of perfection, where excitement fills the streets and happiness is present within every household. In the short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin, this is exactly what is described. LeGuin starts the story by introducing us to the utopian city of Omelas. However, the survival of Omelas’ happiness depends on the mistreatment of one forsaken child. Although all of the citizens know about the child, most choose to accept that “all the prosperity and beauty and delight would wither and be destroyed” if the child were treated fairly. Some, on the other hand, after seeing the child and the horrible conditions it lives in, decide to walk away from it all and leave Omelas forever. LeGuin’s fantasy utopia is much like the world we live in today. There are many who suffer at the expense of those who prosper every day. Symbolism People in the world today undergo an immense amount of suffering just for the happiness of others. One example that I can think of off the top of my head would be slavery. For over two hundred years, Africans were the property of others (usually wealthy White men). They were bought, sold and held against their will. In a sense, slavery reminds me a lot of the child that was locked away in Omelas. People knew about it but there was very little that they could do. Much like the child in Omelas...
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...Yong Soon Min: Art Connecting With Cultural Experiences Yong Soon Min is a Korean born artist that emigrated from South Korea to the United States as a seven year-old child. Having been born at the end of the Korean War and growing up in the Cold War Era, she felt a strong connection to her cultural ties and grew up with some discomfort in having to adjust to life as a an immigrant. She derives inspiration for her artwork through her own personal experiences as both Asian and American while embodying the motto “Personal is political” (Oxford University Press 317). A great deal of her work is done in a mixed media format or as a performance piece and often calls for audience participation (Oxford University Press 317). DMZ-XING Yong Soon Min, DMZ-XING, 1994, (Mixed-Media Installation) One such piece by Min is called DMZ-XING (1994), a mixed-media piece taking its name from the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Yong Soon Min created an installation in 19pictures, and a series of narrative texts strewn about (Min 134). Here, she was capturing and retelling her own story as well as the stories of several families from Asia—Cambodia, Korea, Viet Nam, and others—that escaped from their homelands due to the onslaught of wars, and the experiences that they encountered while acclimating to the new experiences they would find for themselves in America (Min 134). Particularly in focus within the art piece is the story of a Laotian man, Mr. Saengaly, who fled with his wife to America...
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...American society is more diverse now than at any previous time. It is no surprise that knowledgeable educators both inside and outside the academy say that an important goal of higher education is to prepare the ability to work effectively with people from different backgrounds. Promising approaches include creating learning environments that promote and value diversity, as well as intentionally exposing students to competing environment that include multiple racial students. Such challenges can promote high levels of intellectual and personal development. Therefore, diversity on campuses is not gratuitous or an idealistic goal; it is essential in order for students to learn how to live and work effectively with others who differ from themselves. Although U.S. colleges and universities enroll more international students than any other country in the world the studies show that nearly 40 percent of international students reported having no close American friends in boarding school. Most international students report some degree of culture shock when they arrive and begin their studies typically indicated as stress, anxiety, feelings of powerless and isolation. While exposing to new values, attitudes and behavior pattern,...
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...Culture is one of the basic things in life. Whether when we are working, dealing with people, spending time with family or even doing our daily routine. Culture is learned since we were born, no matter we as human realized the differences or not. Culture is the full range of learned behaviour patterns that are acquired by people as members of a society like in a family. A culture is a complex, interrelated with anything that consists of the knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, skills, and habits learned from parents and others in a society. Culture is the basis of transparent material of adaptation for humans. The word culture itself comes from the Latin term pronounce as cultura, which is related to cult or worship. In general, the term refers to the feedback of human interaction. Culture is knowledge that acquired that people use to interpret experience and generate social behaviour. This knowledge forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behaviour. Somehow, culture also has the characteristics of being learned, shared, trans-generational, symbolic, patterned, and adaptive. There are also many dimensions of cultural diversity, which is focus on centralized vs. decentralized decision making, safety vs. risk, individual vs. group rewards, informal vs. formal procedures, high vs. low organizational loyalty, cooperation vs. competition, short-term vs. long-term horizons, and stability vs. innovation area in this assignment. This assignment will...
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...Native American Music: A Root of Contemporary Music Yet Explored What is Native American Music? As our class brainstormed ideas for research, I already knew what topic I wanted to explore. Having been a musician, closely involved with music my entire life, I directed my focus toward Native American music. Before I began to develop any sort of directed, narrowed research questions, I asked myself first, “What is Native American music?” Regarding various definitions of the so-called “genre,” I discovered that Native American music shouldn’t be typified into any genre or defined style of music. It was the perspective toward music that was unique to Native peoples, and this perspective is key in understanding the Native American influence on later creations of music. Definition and Philosophy Native peoples tend to view their music in a distinctly different way from Euro-Americans. To Natives, music is thought; music appeared to be particularly inclusive into Native Americans’ way of life, and is unique in its origin, meaning, and efficacy. To ask “what is Native American music?” would be a question foreign to Native Americans, especially during the time that Native American music was first discovered. One aspect of music specific to indigenous peoples is its place in daily life. In fact, “its place in human affairs are much more significant to Indians than its mode of construction or technical character.” (Native American Music, 1980, p. 12) Unlike the Euro-American perspective...
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