Goodbye Mother by Reinaldo Arenas Research Paper - 1

Goodbye Mother by Reinaldo Arenas - Research Paper Example The short story opens with the death of the personas mother. The mother is portrayed as a powerful figure that has overall authority over her children. He recalls how the mother was strict and looked after them with an iron fist. The mother is symbolic of the country, Cuba. They loved their country, but with the revolution, it is constantly changing from the beautiful place they once knew to an ugly, terrible state â€Å"haven’t you notice the smell, the flies†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦?† The country is now ruled by dictators, and all the good things are slowly dying (Arenas, pg.316). They have been replaced by beetles, flies, rats and maggots, which have been used metaphorically to refer to the oppressors. Since the coming of the Cuban revolution to power, the people have been oppressed. After the collapse of their motherland, the citizens display their loyalty to their country by choosing to die for it. He is gives a detailed description of the disgraceful behavior of the oppressors by using the flies and maggots to give a vivid a picture. After days of decomposition, the bodies have a started to rot and maggots have invaded it. It displays the rot in the revolution and how the oppressors are devouring the countries resources and mistreating the citizens. After the death of the mother, the sisters stab themselves to death as a sign of solidarity. This signifies the collapse of the pillars of the country. The social and economic aspects of the community are all eroded â€Å"watch how we gracefully glide over the field and garden doomed†¦.† During the revolution era, the country experiences so many calamities (Arenas, pg.316). Cuba suffered massive abuse of power and mistreatment by the dictators. In the Short story, flies have been used metaphorically to compare them to the behaviors and style of leadership employed by the dictators. The dictators have executed and massacred the martyrs, and the young adolescent boys shot in the firing squad. They are

Stem-Cell Research Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stem-Cell Research - Term Paper Example The practical use of blood stem use has been in existence for over 40 years with many clinical trials using tissue derived stem cells (Hug, 2010 104)Today stem cell research has developed into one of the most promising and influential fields of medical science. The nature of its experiments and methods, as well as the results, has also made it easily the most controversial. Its connection with cloning has opened it up to attacks from religious groups and with many believing that the science aims at enabling humans to play god. Stem cells are cells with the ability to divide indefinitely and result in a variety of specialized cells in a process known as developmental plasticity. This ability is common in embryonic cells, and they give the cells the highest potential for growth. Moreover, stem cells can be categorized into three different groups based on their differential abilities. Namely, embryonic, adult, and foetal stem cells, it is worth noting that adult stem cells have only rec ently come to be discovered since the presupposition was they rarely contain stem cells, this has been proved wrong by recent research . Tominipotent cells are to be found in exclusively in early embryos from an individual cell in this category, a complete organism can be formed. On the other hand, pluripotent cells exist as undifferentiated in blastocyst (Popular issues 2012). ... Embryonic Stem Cells One of the distinguishing characteristics of the embryonic stem cell is that it can transform into any other cell ranging from brain to liver cells. The chief source of these cells is the fertilized eggs from couples who are going through the In Vitro Fertilization. The 5 to 6 days old pluripotent embryos can differentiate into any one of the three germ layers (Appasani, 2010 pg 182) After the separation of the stem cells, replication of stem cell into stem cell lines follow that is a tedious process which does not guarantee results. Replication of stem cell lines may go on in culture dishes countless times and through a period of many years. Adult Stem Cells These can be found in both children and adults with the name setting them apart from the other kinds of stem cells. Adult stem cells are evident in human beings, but the process of their isolation and identification is what tasks specialists in this field. Consequently, the there is no clear cut information on whether they have restrictions to a variety of cells in relation to single tissue type or if they can exist as any tissue type (University of Edinburg Para 6). Foetal Stem Cells Unlike the other cell types, the foetal stem is easier to collect and have a lower likelihood of rejection (University of Edinburg Para 9). They are collected from aborted fetuses, the umbilical cord, or the placenta, however, Albeit considerably differentiated; they still have the potential to morph into other cell types making them excellent for transplant. However, the downside of these is that they can transmit condition such as leukemia that may not have been detected in the fetus. Besides, there is a plethora of moral and ethical issues, bearing in mind

Chinese Revolution Essay Example for Free

Chinese Revolution Essay The Chinese Civil War was one of the most turbulent, chaotic, and effective series of events during the Cold War Era. It is difficult to conceive of any fashion in which the under-equipped CPC forces would be able to match and eventually overcome a powerful political regime with support vast support from the United States. However, even with limited aid from their Soviet allies, Mao was able to pull the marginalized, the poor, and the oppressed together to strengthen the communist cause. Although many of the issues from which the war stemmed were presented well before any real violence took place between Chinese Nationalists and Mao’s Communist Party the strategies employed by the communists and the emotional vigor with which they clung to their hopes of progress remain the center points Mao’s eventual victory. When carefully assessed; it is evident the CCP victory in the Chinese Civil War was due to the ability of Mao to mobilize the peasantry and institute land reform, the mismanagement of the Guomindang by Chiang Kai-Shek during the Japanese invasion of China and the Chinese Civil War, and the proclivity to violence (inspired by intense hatred of the enemy) that was deemed necessary in order to bring power to the CCP. It is arguable that the KMD should have been at its strongest during the decade preceding the Chinese Civil War. Chiang Kai-Shek had been quite successful in his campaign against the independent warlords and had recaptured many key areas of Chinese territory. However, June Grasso argues that Chiang made a key mistake in his treatment of his defeated opponents. She details this folly, writing â€Å"†¦Chiang absorbed, rather than eliminated, many warlords and their armies, in effect swallowing but not digesting them,† (Grasso, 90). Chiang’s army was growing at a rapid pace and the KMD was claiming large territorial victories. To an outsider, the party may have seemed at its strongest. However, the KMD â€Å"†¦remained faction-ridden into the 1930’s,† (Grasso, 91) and party unity began a major concern. Grasso continues to explain that the eventual oppression of the communist base in China would be a monumental mistake from which the party would never fully recover. At first glance, the expulsion of radical communists to the fringes of China seemed almost necessary in order to secure political control for the KMD. In reality the communist purge concentrated most of the Nationalist power in major urban areas and disallowed the spread of KMD support. Eventually Mao would make the most of his wide-spread supporters which allowed for a larger base of communism in the country. Considering his small numbers and the rural beginnings of his revolution, Mao worked incredibly well with what he had. Mao evidently knew that he had little choice in the matter of battle strategy. As Maurice Meisner reports in Mao’s China and After, â€Å"†¦the Maoist forces learned to employ the tactics of guerilla warfare upon which their survival was dependent.† (Meisner, 31) Mao also presented the peasantry of Jiangxi with a reform to the oppressive feudal system which granted redistribution of land to tenants. Through the implementation of revolutionary agrarian policies, Mao was able to secure the beginnings of a unified opposition to the Nanjing regime. Policies that were deemed too radical by the middle peasantry were thought to be â€Å"†¦politically and economically counterproductive in a situation that demanded a broad base of popular support in a rural society†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Meisner, 32) Although Mao seemed to have many of the necessary ingredients to effect change among his countrymen, the Guomindang armies were too strong to be defeated this early in the development communist response to Chinese nationalism. Mao would lead the First Front Army, out of necessity, from their now obsolete home of Jiangxi to mountainous Northwest regions of China. The Long March devastated the numbers of Chinese Communism and left the party disbanded and broken. Amazingly, the march also birthed profound changes in party leadership and revolutionary spirit. First and foremost the disbandment of other party leaders in the early 1930’s and during the 6,000 mile march allowed Mao to pursue his own ideas for communist overhaul, particula rly in opposition to Stalin’s form of communism. His ideas would eventually be accepted by the CCP. Meisner also contends that the Long March had enduring psychological effects on the communist contingent that were undoubtedly the most important feature of this new communism. He writes, â€Å"For Mao, at least, the experience served to reinforce his voluntaristic faith that the people with the proper will, spirit, and revolutionary consciousness could conquer all material obstacles and mold historical reality in accordance with their ideas and ideals.† (Meisner, 34) This so-called revolutionary consciousness combined with the passionate will to overcome great adversity, as displayed by Mao’s marchers, served as the greatest engine of communist success during the Chinese Civil War. However, a preceding war with the Japanese would create a rare opportunity for Mao and the Red Army to seize power in China. One of the most important pieces of the intricate puzzle of Chinese political struggle was the invasion of the neighboring Japanese which continued through World War II. Although the Guomigdang harbored superior weapons and were concentrated in some of the most important strategic positions, their leadership and numbers would be forever weakened by their invading neighbors. Although the Japanese were unable to hold large territories in China due to its enormous mass, they captured major cities and ports formerly under Chiang’s rule. The Guomindang could do little to stop the advances of the Japanese Imperial Army. Chiang was aware that he needed Western military aid in order to reclaim the cities he had lost in the East. However, his retreat to the center left Chiang with a single option for military success: implementing a strategy of guerilla warfare. In reality this was not a viable option for the Guomindang. In his article Origins of the Chinese Revolution, Lucien Bianco contends â€Å"Mobilizing the rural masses would have required transforming the Chinese countryside and limiting the power of large landowners; hence Chiang’s aversion to the idea,† (Bianco, 149) displaying Chiang’s lack of attractive options. If he were to unite and mobilize the peasantry he would risk the overthrow of large landowners—a consequence that played directly into the communist strategy. In other words Chiang would have to sacrifice his dominance over the Red Army in order to pacify the invaders from Japan. This turn of events seems almost too perfect for a Red Army that was poised to attack behind Japanese lines using guerilla warfare. The Red Army continued to chip away at the Imperial Army and eventually amassed a force over 3 million (two-thirds of which were militia) and the communists eventually ruled over 90 million peasants. The peasantry, as well as women and other previously excluded groups, would now be able to partake in the newly forming democracy. However, the majority of peasants joined the Red Army cause because it was necessary for survival. (Bianco, 150) Japanese soldiers were terrorizing the Chinese countryside and committing large scale atrocities that forced the peasantry into action. As Bianco puts it, â€Å"The thing to remember is that the peasant was often safer if he joined a guerilla detachment: since his life was in constant danger anyway, he was better off if he at least had a weapon.† (Bianco, 152) Their antipathy towards their enemies, both present and future, gave them strength of spirit that could not be matched by the Japanese or the Guomindang. Further atrocities committed by the Guomindang against the peasantry, including theft of food and murder, only furthered the peasantry’s love of the communist movement. As one patriotic war ended, another was looming over t he Chinese country. Among the most important factors in the Chinese Civil War were the failures in Chiang’s leadership and military strategy as well as the advancement of the people’s revolution. Chiang did not have the numbers to defend his holdings while attacking the Red Army. With his numbers greatly spread throughout the massive country, Chiang had great difficulty stopping the communist advance. The Red Army eradicated the Guomindag presence in the North and moved swiftly into Chiang’s territory. As hyperinflation due to poor economic policies afflicted Chiang’s regime, Mao was eventually able to finish off his opponent and reclaim Beijing by 1949. (Grasso, 124-129) The aforementioned people’s revolution was a way of uniting the peasants against the common enemy. Everyone was expected to contribute to the war effort, not simply to preach its necessity. Grasso contends â€Å"Alone, the peasantry lacked the insights, what Marxists call ‘consciousness,’ to make a genuinely socialist revolution,† (Grasso, 121) highlighting the mutual necessity that the people and the party shared in each other. In his speech entitled How to Be a Good Communist, Liu Shao-Ch’I reiterates the necessity of party unity and revolutionary consciousness stating, â€Å"†¦we must modestly listen to the opinions and criticisms of our comrades and of the masses, carefully study the practical problems in our lives and in our work and carefully sum up our experiences and the lessons we have learned so as to find an orientation for our work.† (Liu Shao-Ch’I, How To Be A Good Communist, 251) In other words, the partnership of the peasantry and the party were one of the strongest tools in the successful victory of the CCP. The peasant ry’s hatred of their oppressors became a major motivation for the overthrow of the Guomindang. Gold Flower’s Story, a chapter of Jack Belden’s book China Shakes the World, presents an insightful and useful microcosm of the agrarian communist viewpoint in Northern China. The specific instances presented in her story are quite particular to women, evident in Belden’s assessment â€Å"And there was a Gold Flower, more or less, beaten and bruised, saddened and soured, in every farm of North China.† (Belden, 288) However, the emotional hardships and overall struggle of Gold Flower and the countless other members of the abused female gender share common themes with the whole of the revolution and the Communist and Maoist supporters. The mistreated women of China also provided an effective and powerful outlet from which Party leaders could find support. As Belden continues, â€Å"The Communist Party saw her and schemed to serve her and themselves through her. She was that spirit that forgets nothing and forgives nothing. There she stood at the gate, slow burning revenge incarnate, waiting a better time, waiting an opportunity,† (Belden, 288) one is immediately taken by the spirit of revenge personified in Gold Flower. This need for revenge in the form of vigorous and frequently violent action acts as fuel to the flame that was the revolution. Here, one can see an obvious divide between the two parties. The violence perpetrated by Mao’s supporters heeds immediate results in the form of social change and freedom from oppression. Of course, there was a plethora of mistreatment in all forms perpetrated against the marginalized masses of rural China. Gold Flower’s struggle represents a shift in economic and social precepts that provide the basis for revolution. Under the regime of Chiang Kai-Shek and his Kuomintang predecessors, these marginalized groups stood little chance of peacefully and diplomatically obtaining equality of social standing and political prowess. Gold Flower echoes this sentiment of hopelessness. Early in Belden’s account he writes, â€Å"She felt as if a great weight were pressing down on her. Not able to marry the man she loved, not able even to kill herself so that she could remain loyal to her lover, completely done in and drained of all strength, she at last fell into a deep stupor,† (Belden, 284) highlighting the depressing nature of Golden Flower’s life. If the young girls inability to freely choose her destiny stands as a metaphor for the frustrations of t he people of her region, her husband’s cruelty and overall attitude is most certainly akin to the landowners’ perspective. Blind to the injustices that those in power had maintained, Chang aggressively remarks â€Å"As for the poor, if they have not enough to eat, let them go. As for the rich, do you think their property was stolen from others?† (Belden, 305). Unwilling to sacrifice personal standing for the greater good of all, men such as Chang soon became an easy target for the coming backlash. Simply because it was the most accessible and immediately effective tool afforded to communist revolutionaries, violence became the most important means by which the marginalized would repel their oppressors. Violence seems to satiate (at least temporarily) the anger and helplessness felt by the poor of China. The roles of victim and perpetrator could be instantly reversed. The power of action was now in the hands of the oppressed. As Dark Jade put it, â€Å"This is our day. This means the end of our suffering. The beginning of our hope.† (Belden, 289) Although the fact of the matter is that war inherently brings a multitude of violent acts, it is evident that the motives behind communist violence among the peasantry were significantly more powerful than those of their opponents. It was their only chance of evading the â€Å"black society† (Belden, 284) into which they had been thrust. The feats that the CCP accomplished are astounding considering their humble beginnings. Though much of their success is owed to events preceding the civil war, Mao’s management of his party as well as the fervor with which the communists united and mobilized cannot be discounted. Again, it is my contention that the success of the CCP was due to multiple factors. The first of which was the ability of Mao to strategize the mobilization and unification of the countryside. Secondly, Chiang was unable to effectively manage his political and economic as well as military policies during the Japanese invasion. Finally, the emotional and violent response to Nationalist and feudal repression was of overt importance to the war efforts of the Red Army as well as the advancement of the CCP. When put in perspective the accomplishments of Mao; whether social, political, or military; are nearly unfathomable.

Archaeologists Interpretations of Sex and Gender

Archaeologists Interpretations of Sex and Gender How have archaeologists attempts to interpret sex and gender relations in the past changed? Gender, as a point of request in the investigation of prehistoric studies, has not been of essential enthusiasm until late history. It has just been as of late in the last thirty or forty years that the investigation of sex and gender relations as far as examining it in archaeological revelation has been a point that archaeologists have been truly seeking after. The subject of gender has still not been argued to the degree that which we need it to be, the sub topics considered a detail of investigation as opposed to the core interest. One of the obstinate conclusions on this theme is on account of it is for the most part accepted that the patriarchal society has been the prevailing social structure all through the current societies, along these lines to study sexual orientation relations is to summon a similar outcome through numerous social orders (Bettina and Wicker 2001).However, this is the centre issue with the path in which societies have been celebrated internationally through western conviction frameworks hence making suppositions about the way that sex and sex are considered inside those social orders subject to present day gauges of understanding it is imperative re-evaluate the way of social structures that have been resolved through one-sided suspicions keeping in mind the end goal to better build a photo of an antiquated social orders. In the last 40 years or so, Feminism has become one of the key influences for archaeologists, especially the post-processualists. Feminism was also one of the driving forces behind the interest in practice, meaning and identity in archaeological theory. It originated when women questioned why there was an absence of women in archaeological fields and also from the past that archaeologists wrote about. For instance, there were only a small number of fields that were run by women and although, there are usually more women that study archaeology than men, after they graduate, more men decide to get a job in archaeology. There is a drop off in number of female archaeologists with age. You could ask, why does feminism matter in archaeology? Some people would say that it is just about diversity, when it comes to feminism, allowing more equality between men and women. However, it is not just about this. It is also about the potential of archaeology as a subject. Many statements or stereotyp es made about gender and sexuality are still presented as timeless; Women care for children, men are superior leaders, etc. However, it can be argued that, the time depth of archaeology gives us the chance to modify these views and instead offer different narratives for the history of gender and sexuality. To show that it is not always the same, that it has changed through time and space. It is because archaeology is a potentially powerful subject that we have to think about these issues in the long term. In order to tackle the issue of gender, we must discuss what gender is and whether there is an absolute biological difference. One of the standard definitions of bodily identity is the classic biological description which is of two genders dictated by chromosomes, with females having XX chromosomes and males XY. The traditional biological view that sex defines gender was criticised by Simone de Beavoir who showed that the ideas of what a woman should be were not natural but cultural, I was not born, but rather, became a woman. People were expected to behave in certain ways. The idea that girls like pink, that they play with dolls not guns and that theyre passive quiet and submissive. Those classic ideas about what a woman was, particularly at the time Beavoir was writing are not at all natural but in fact cultural that are learned, that society placed upon us. In the New Archaeology, there was no consideration of gender. There was always the constant use of man and a failure to engag e with gender meant that there were essentially no roles for women in the past, and even if there were a role, it would most likely be secondary work and usually based on assumption rather than evidence. A particular example would be the idea that man was the hunter and woman the gatherer. Feminism had a huge impact in archaeology in the form of three waves which challenged he status quo. The first wave asked simple questions such as; where are the women in the past? Why arent there that many female archaeology professors? Why do men receive more benefits than women? Meg Conkey and Joan Gero who wrote the book Engendering Archaeology ­, which was the first active attempt to think about what the role of women in prehistory was. A lot of first wave feminism comes out of these two archaeologists (Gero and Conkey 1991). The second wave of feminism is even more concerned with the role of women and the sense that archaeologists have always presumed that men did all the important stuff (Nelson et al 1994). Janet Spectors book What This Awl Means thinks about the role of women in Dakota Village. As a result of all this, we get an increasing emphasis on the study of past gender relations. So, it is not just about what women are doing but about what the relationship between me n and women in the past. The third wave of Feminism begins to critique the other waves by asking whether the gender categories are universal, why do we assume that categories such as men and women have any meaning in the past? It also began to ask about transgender people, alternative genders and also different histories of sexualities. It is about thinking in a more complicated way and by this point, were not basing upon basic categories about men and women. Mary Louise Sorensens book Gender Archaeology focuses more on gender archaeology rather than feminist archaeology, thinking about the different gender combinations and how it all plays out. At this point, it can be argued that it is not just about women now. Archaeologists have taken a huge interest in masculinity, asking questions such as; How were male identities constructed in the past? How has the role of men changed? A solid example can be found in the works of Paul Treharne on the bronze age in Europe where he is looking at the idea of a warrior identity which we see in some of the graves in central and eastern Europe. This idea that there was a particular role in society and that they also had a particular look. The traditional sex model suggests that sex is biologically determined, that its clear genetically but also through sexual characteristics and the idea that sex is universal and natural. Opposed to this, we get the concept of gender, and gender in this sense is culturally determined, the product of our own experiences and the society that we grow up in as well as demonstrating through clothing, behaviour and possible bodily alterations. If we argue that that this is what it is about, if its sex being biological and gender being cultural, then isnt this just a nature/culture divide. In a sense, no. It is a lot more complicated; XX and XY are just two of eleven different possible chromosome combinations. Some people can be genetically XX but have male characteristics and vice-versa. In fact, the two-sex model, the idea that sex is just these two opposed identities is just a particular product of the way that we have thought about science in the west, in the same way that gender is a co nstruction and that we are easily willing to accept that. We see it as culturally determined, the product of the society we grow up in. Judith Butler looked at what we call Gender Performativity which was the attempt to move beyond the nature culture divide in our thinking about sexuality in the past. She argues that gender and sex are not pre-determined by our biology but something that we produce through practice and performance. Butler argues that there are male and female regulatory ideals and so it is not that we are born male and female but from the very moment we are born, our gender identity begins to be constructed and it is certainly affected by the regulatory ideals that society has for us (i.e. parents etc.). Butler uses the example of girling the girl; this notion that the midwife lifts up the baby and says its a girl. Begins the process for gender performance. Her argument is that in acting and performing the gendered regulatory ideals, we also sustain the gender performance. Her idea of a regulatory ideal is the idea that there are key concepts of what it is to be male and what it is to be female and t hat these are very particular and historically constructed and that we often attempt to try and live up to them or perhaps to question them? So, the idea that wearing certain clothes, acting in certain ways, having particular ideas about how one would want their life to work out, the idea that women should want to have children. All of these help us to live up the standards that we can never actually quite achieve. In doing so, we help to sustain these regulatory ideals. At one point, we can undermine and challenge regulatory ideals. By doing this we can act to shift them. Butler is often accused of playing the body. We do not choose our genitalia so how can we perform our gender. Butler points out that we are not meant to deny the role of the body but instead to argue that our bodies and biology are caught up in social discourse. We do not live in a world where we can only understand our bodies through brute biology, our understandings of our bodies are also always shaped by our cultural context. You can think about how you think about your own body, whether you think about it as biological, the product of our DNA and genes we inherit from our parents, or whether is it cultural, eat particular foods to look a particular way. Modifications to the body can also be thought about; tattoos and piercing, as cultural things. As a result of this, they are often viewed as superficial. What is personhood? The condition or state of being a person (Fowler). Not everyone understands sex, gender or the body in the same way across time and space and equally different cultures understand what it means to be a person differently. Who we recognise as a person, at what point do we recognise a person is different across culturally. In the west, we understand people and personhood to be about individualism, the idea that we are physically determined by our biology, that people have free will and as a result, they are responsible or their own actions and that we think this is the same in all time and space, and we consider the idea of the individual to be a natural state of being. This is a person who is bounded and defined by their skin. When the same way our bodies are not natural, the production of the western individual is not natural at all. Our individualism is created and sustained by our technology and culture. So, we have mobile phones, sleep in private beds, have dia ries etc. All of these are cultural choices about the way we organise our world. The opposite of individual personhood is relational personhood and in this model a person is defined by the relationships that they have with others. There are differing ideas about free will and personal responsibility. If a person is defined by their relationships and the other people that surround them then free will and responsibility shift. In a more modern view, boundaries of the body, skin and person are viewed as more permeable. The point is that if personhood isnt the same everywhere today, was it the same everywhere in the past? As a result, should we be walking about individuals in the past? In one sense, yes. People such Hodder and Meskell would argue that we should be looking for individuals in the past and tell their stories. However, there are other archaeologists such as Thomas and Fowler, who believe that we shouldnt talk about individuals in the past as they are just a concept as a result of western philosophy. We should recognise that although past personhood might have some familiar aspects we cannot assume people in the past were individuals. Personhood allows us to think in interesting ways about what it means to be a person in the past. This stops us universally and presuming that everyone always and everywhere understands what it means to be human in the same way. BIBLIOGRAPHY Fowler, C. 2004. The Archaeology of Personhood: An Anthropological Approach. London: Routledge. Butler, J. 1993. Bodies that Matter: on the Discursive Limits of Sex. London: Routledge. Gero, J. and Conkey, M. (eds.) 1991. Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory. Oxford: Blackwell. Meskell, L. 1996. The somatization of archaeology: institutions, discourses, corporeality. Norwegian Archaeological Review 29 (1): 1-16. Nelson, S. 1997. Gender in Archaeology. London: AltaMira. Sà ¸renson, M.L.S. 2000. Gender Archaeology. Oxford: Blackwell. Spector, J.D. 1991. What this awl means: towards a feminist archaeology. In J.M. Gero and M.W. Conkey (eds.) Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 388-407. Treherne, P. 1995. The warriors beauty: the masculine body and self-identity in Bronze Age Europe. Journal of European Archaeology 3 (1): 105-144 Gilchrist, R. 1999. Gender and Archaeology: Contesting the Past. London: Routledge.

Berghaus’ Case Study :: Business Management Studies

Berghaus’ Case Study 1) Berghaus is very successful business having an annual growth rate of 25%. This indicates that there is an increasing demand for their products. They also have an export ratio of 50% meaning that their distribution rates are very good. Last year alone their per-tax profits were  £750,000 and a large amount of this money can, most probably, will be reinvested into the company for further development. Also, its pre-tax profits in 1991 were  £750,000 which is obviously not a small amount, Berghaus clearly mean business. By the sound of it, that number is only expected to increase in the years to come. It has an export ratio of 1988-9 of more than 50%, which is the vast majority, within the whole of Europe, meaning that its export increased by a great deal during those years specifically, and we assume it still increases in other years too, although maybe not as much as between 1988-9. 2) In the context of Berghaus, market differences mean many things. Berghaus currently conduct sales through large number of countries, from Germany through the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and as a result Berghaus have found out that the world cannot be treated as though as one market. Each country has its own customer preferences and may have certain social attitudes to a certain type of clothing, and these are known as market differences. Due to this Berghaus has to develop a certain product for a specific country and then modify that product or completely reconstruct it for another country. This as a result means higher costs are involved in research and development and also different advertising methods would have to be implemented. This market difference has meant Berghaus have had to operate quickly and efficiently to design, produce and distribute the product across all the parts of the world, beating all opposition and this is obviously very difficult for Berghaus. 3) There are many different reasons for the success of Berghaus, and these can be mainly divided into four parts, Production, Finance, Marketing and Management. Production is simply the fundamental part of the company, without it no product would exist to sell. Designing new products is what makes people want a certain product and Berghaus have strategically produced a wide range of products meaning that they will be able to successfully cover the different fields in the market. This means that they have more areas for money coming; by having more units and product innovation is an essential key t their success. Production has also been economised by the introduction automated production with continual processes. This allows an easy and flexible method to

The Interaction Between Body and Writing :: Teaching Writing

The Interaction Between Body and Writing My first text for this assignment was this haiku: thank god for spring in Ypsi; makes it easier to get out of bed. It seemed appropriate to the task of attempting to write in English without using any technology, as the haiku form is traditionally concerned with the natural world. I envisioned the grass and earth on my property, newly bared to the sun again after the snows, and the letter-making materials available on the site. I could hear my paper unfolding in my head; since the point of the project was to come to terms with the bonded nature of language to technology in writing, I could see whole paragraphs about my use of found sticks and mud as well as bits of discarded junk that my landlord had left lying around since last fall. My argument would be that the use of materials that had originated from the natural world and been manipulated by technology that were now returning to their natural home symbolized the interwoven relationships between thought and feeling and action that is written communication. I had some lovely big ideas. But then I started wandering around in my head a little bit, and some interesting questions came up. Having grown up in ballet and still acting in the world to some extent as a dancer, I wondered if dance is also a technology in the same way that the alphabet and writing are. It seems to me that social dance, while it does serve the purpose of communication to some extent, has no articulated 'alphabet' of signifiers that compare to words and letters. Dance forms like ballet and flamenco, however, most definitely do. For the trained dancer and the educated audience member, ballet is a system of movement with numerous gestures, movements and shapes that signify specific meanings. The manner in which dance is formed, however, via the body of the 'author,' doesn't perform the same separating function that Walter Ong claims writing does in his essay Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought. The technology of dance is contained within the author, but the technology of writing is e xternal to the author. While writing "promotes 'objectivity'" by distancing the performer from his/her ideas via performance (326), dance to some extent preserves the unity of thought/emotion and the thinker. With my confidence shored up by Naomi Baron's discussion of the

Airline Regulations

AIRLINE REGULATIONS Research Paper AVSC 1220 TREVOR CARTER ID # 10524707 *The airline industry operates like the veins of the United States by pumping precious cargo throughout the country. Most *people don’t realize how different the airlines were a few decades ago. The entire industry was regulated by the government. Regulation is usually considered a more socialistic liberal idea that is opposed by conservative capitalists. Although I personally believe in a government with a small limited *role* in our daily lives, I have come to the conclusion that the airline industry is a rare exception that needs to return to regulation which would benefit the airlines and the consumers in numerous ways. In the days of regulation the government had total control of routes, fares, gates and almost anything necessary to operate an airline. It also created many barriers to entry which would prevent any new start up airline. All the government would have to do is not allow them at any airports or not approve of any route application. Economists complained that regulation was inefficient so in 1978 the Airline Deregulation Act was passed allowing the free market to dictate airline prices and schedules. The following thirty years have proved this to be a terrible mistake. There are a wide range of facts when looking for the change in price of a ticket today compared to the airlines under regulation. Some say the tickets are 15* % cheaper. Others claim there is hardly a difference because one must account for the 10% travel agent fee that is avoided with today’s online booking. So there is clearly no great ticket price benefit due to deregulation. However in the past tickets were fully refundable and you could change your destination without numerous penalties. Today people scour the internet for a discounted ticket which will usually mean a few stops along the way that may not be in the general direction of their destination. Some passengers may have to fly into alternative airports to receive a discount. Southwest airlines now flies into most major airports just as the legacy airlines do, however, in Southwest’s early days they broke into the freshly deregulated industry by basing their operation out of LUV field Dallas (not Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport) and flying to locations such as Burbank, CA. The reason for this was because it is much cheaper to operate out of these airports to avoid paying high prices for gates and other airport fees. Southwest also undercut the pay scales across the board. They were the first low cost carrier. By *saving all this money they would be able to provide cheaper tickets to customers and the free market was beginning its control on the industry. This started the domino effect of airlines entering the market. *With a few major airlines doing most of the long haul flights many commuter airlines have started business with 100 seat type jets. Most people will see US Airways Express and think it is a division of US Airways; however that airplane might be one of 4 or 5 airlines that fly under the US Airways paint scheme. The air is absolutely saturated with all of these small jets. The air traffic control system *needs to be upgraded because of this. Instead of having 737’s make two or three flights a day on a short haul trip say from Philly to Buffalo, they will have these 100 seat regional jets make 5 or 6 flights a day. With fuel prices soaring this does not seem efficient. Safety of the consumer is also being endangered. For the last year or so many small regional airlines were hiring a large amount of pilots due to a shortage. The minimum flight time qualifications were dropped lower than they have ever been before. Some new hires are getting in the cockpit with as little as 300 hours. The average airline pilot has several thousand hours. With flight training declining every year due to the high cost, commercial pilots are becoming scarcer. When you add more airplanes while fewer pilots are being trained it creates a huge shortage. The Federal Aviation Administration pushed the mandatory retirement age to 65 adding 5 more years to a pilots career if he chooses to stay which many aren’t and won’t, due to the terrible state of the industry and conditions they have been working in. This is just a temporary fix that might stave off the shortage for a few years but hiring will start again and there won’t be enough pilots let alone enough experience pilots to fly all of these airplanes. Under regulation when oil quadrupled in the 70’s, the price was passed onto the consumer by raising ticket prices. This is unfortunate but it is a part of the way our economy works. Today with prices rising, the airlines will not raise prices and instead try to run other companies into the ground by lowering prices. This is not healthy competition. The airline industry lost 25 billion dollars from 2000*-2005. During that period a*irfares dropped 10* percent while 20 airlines went bankrupt. US Airways and Northwest Airlines have removed their obligation to their pension funds by pleading in *bankruptcy court that they couldn’t operate *without* do*ing so. This wiped out over 8,5*00 pilots retirement funds between the two of them. Over 7000 Delta pilots have also since lost their retirements. * Pilots have conceded roughly 25-35*% pay cuts along with losing their retirements in order to keep these airlines afloat and ensure the passenger gets a good deal on their ticket. Within the past few weeks Aloha Airlines joined the ranks and went out of business continuing the downward spiral of the airline industry specifically over the last 10 years. Delta and Northwest announced on April 14th a plan to merge which would create the largest airline in the world. There is also speculation of many more mergers and or bankruptcies to come. Mergers are a sign of these companies being better off w orking together than separate. That is certainly not the healthy competition the lawmakers of the 60’s and 70’s envisioned while forming this plan. Deregulation has lent instability to an industry which serves to make the world flatter. Maybe it would be in the broader interest if this industry went back to the era of regulation. Not that the system was flawless but at least with a guaranteed return on capital, airlines wouldn’t be forced to cut corners and compromise safety *. * There has been recent talk of law makers on Capitol Hill revisiting the regulation idea due to the horrible state of the industry. Hopefully they will work quickly and save the sinking ship before it’s too late*. SOURCES L. Smith Jr. , Fred. â€Å"Airline Deregulation. Library of Economics and Liberty 25 Nov 2008 http://www. econlib. org/library/Enc/AirlineDeregulation. html. *Barnum, John. â€Å"What Prompted Airline Deregulation 20 Years Ago? What Were the Objectives of That Deregulation and How Were They Achieved. *† Find Law Library 08/15/1998 25 Nov 2008 http://library. findlaw. com/1988/Sep/1/129304. html. *Bailey, Elizabeth E. â€Å"Airline Deregulation Confronting the Paradoxes. † Regulation: The Cato Review of Business and Government* 15, no. 3. Available online at: *http://www. cato. org/pubs/regulation/regv15n3/reg15n3-bailey. html*. *Transportation Security Administration*