Winnebago Tribe Of Nebraska Essay Example For Students

Winnebago Tribe Of Nebraska Essay At the time of first contact with Europeans in 1634, the Winnebago tribe inhabited Red Banks, the South Shore of what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin (Radin 1990). Although it appears that the tribe migrated into the area during the second of four Siouan migrations from the East, the tribe has no migration stories. The Winnebago tribe asserts that their people originated at Green Bay. All other locations mentioned within the tribe’s creation stories are also located in modern day Wisconsin. The tribe is thought to have migrated to the area along with the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri tribes. Sometime after the 16th century, they were isolated from other Siouan groups and formed their own distinct way of life. We will write a custom essay on Winnebago Tribe Of Nebraska specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now As is common throughout Native American history, the name given to the Winnebago by Europeans is the name used through another tribe of people when referring to them. â€Å"Winnebago† is not what the tribe initially called themselves, but what their neighbors, the Algonquin peoples and the tribe’s geographical neighbors, called them. Many similarities exist between the two groups as a result of their close proximity. Prior to contact, the Winnebago’s called themselves â€Å"Hotcangara,† which has been interpreted to mean â€Å"big fish people† by tribal observers. The Winnebago tribe, and their geographical area are associated with numerous effigy earth mounds. During anthropologist’s first attempts to interpret the mounds in the 19th century, the earthen mounds were thought to be antiquarian. After speaking with tribal members, however, researchers found that many of the tribal elders remembered when some of the mounds were erected. The moun ds themselves were built as an effigy to the particular clan’s animal, and it appears that the mounds were essentially property markers that were erected near clan habitations and plantations. Similar effigies are also seen in porcupine quillwork, on war bundles, and on woven bags still used by the tribe today. The Winnebago speak a Siouan dialect called Chiwere (Sultzman). With the exception of the Dakota Sioux who were originally located at the western edge of Lake Superior, the Winnebago were the only Siouan speaking tribe of the Great Lakes. Their language is nearly identical to that of the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri. These tribes acknowledge that they separated from the Winnebago not long before the tribe’s first contact with Europeans. Despite the fact that the Siouan language family is named after the Sioux tribes, Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota, the Winnebago are probably a more important branch of that particular language family. This is because it is closer in relat ion to the Dhegiha dialect of the Osage, Quapaw, Omaha, Kansa, and Ponca, many of whom refer to the Winnebago as grandfathers or elder brothers. Prior to contact, the Winnebago resembled the Algonquin in many ways. They fished using dugout canoes, and hunted buffalo from the prairies of southern Wisconsin. The Winnebago also gathered a form of wild rice from the nearby lakes during the fall. The tribe supplemented their hunting and gathering with horticultural crops. In fact, the Winnebago were one of the northernmost horticultural groups in North America. Despite the limited growing season at Red Banks, the Winnebago managed to grow three types of corn in addition to beans, squash, and tobacco. The tribal members used pottery for cooking and food storage, and copper implements created using resources from the south shore of Lake Superior. The Winnebago also resembled the Algonquin in that they were patrilineal with respect to descent and clan membership (Sultzman). This means that clan membership is determined through the father. Clan membership is important because the twelve Winnebago clans served both ceremonial and socia l functions. In Winnebago society, the clans were grouped into two major moieties, an Upper Sky group with four clans, and a Lower Earth group consisting of eight other clans. Clan membership was also extremely important among the Winnebago tribe for political reasons. The Winnebago’s Chiefs governed the tribe with the aid of a Tribal Council composed of a principal member of each individual clan. Traditionally, the Thunderbird and Bear clans were the most important groups in Winnebago society because the hereditary Chiefs of the tribe were always chosen from the Thunderbird (Upper) and Bear (Lower) clans (Radin 1945). The Upper Chief of the Thunderbird clan was the tribe’s representative of peace. Despite the tribe’s apparent emphasis on war, the Upper Chief could not go to war, or participate in any of the tribe’s war ceremonies. He was responsible for pleading for clemency for an accused criminal, and for providing refuge to prisoners in order to maint ain their safety. His lodge was a sacred asylum, and no one dared violate it. The Lower Chief’s duties, on the other hand, were a sharp contrast from those of the Upper Chief. He was associated with the policing of the tribe, as well as responsible for disciplinary and war functions. The Lower Chief was charged with inflicting punishment on criminals, housing prisoners, and guarding the village. In addition, he took charge of the tribe when they were on a communal warpath, or hunt. His lodge is where the sacred war bundles were stored and guarded against contamination. .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c , .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .postImageUrl , .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c , .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c:hover , .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c:visited , .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c:active { border:0!important; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c:active , .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u488ad220e17c7053290dff14e1e0df2c:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: SINGLE PARENTHOOD EssayFrom five years of age, both boys and girls in the Winnebago society were exposed to a series of talks from an older male relative in order to teach them various tribal customs (Radin 1990). This training ended abruptly at puberty when both sexes were sent out to fast. Boys were sent out overnight after their faces were painted with charcoal and instructed not to return until dawn. If they were not blessed, then they were sent out for progressively longer periods of time to fast and pray until they were blessed by the Spirits. This was the only puberty rite for male adolescents. Females, on the other hand, had a different puberty custom. Although als o encouraged to fast and become blessed, girls were required to do so while residing in a menstrual lodge. From the onset of menses to menopause, Winnebago women were required to reside in a menstrual lodge for a few days each month over the course of their entire adult lives. A lodge may contain anywhere from one to three women at any given time, but no reason was given as to why a limit of three women was placed on each lodge. Women were required to retire to the lodge because it was believed by the Winnebago that if a menstruating woman were to come into contact with sacred objects, the object would lose it’s power. Great care was taken in this society to keep menstruating women away from anything of value, even other tribal member’s food. It was almost as if the menstruating woman was cursed. As soon as a girl returns to her parent’s lodge after her first menses, she is then considered ready for marriage. Both men and women were married off as soon as they r eached the appropriate age, and their spouses were chosen by their parents. No ceremony was involved aside from the exchange of presents. Polygamy was permitted in Winnebago society, but rarely chosen. If a man did choose to take a second wife, it was generally a female relative of his first wife such as a sister or niece. The religion of the Winnebago is difficult to describe. It appears to have been a close spiritual relationship with perceived supernatural powers (Radin 1990). The Winnebago of the past, and many of today, believe in guardian spirits. They attempted to bring such spirits into close relations with themselves through fasting, prayer, mental concentration, offerings, and sacrifices. In their religion, the concept of evil, death, reincarnation, an afterlife, and the soul all exist. Origin myths, such as the origin myth of the medicine dance, placed an Earthmaker, or Great Spirit, as the giver of life, and other spirits as his intermediaries. Through both the spirits and shamans, the Earthmaker bestowed blessings upon the Winnebago people. The tribe also believed in a creature dubbed the Trickster (Radin 1956). The Trickster is an impulsive creative and destructive force who does not consciously make any decisions. He does not understand the concepts of good or evil, but he is nonetheless responsible for both. He is not moral or social because he possesses no values, yet somehow it is through his actions that all values came into being. He is not however the only being in the Winnebago religion that possesses such powers, other various supernatural beings, as well as man and the animals are connected with the same characteristics. In recent times, other religious ideas have permeated into the Winnebago society. Two apparently related revival movements have occurred within the Winnebago society (Radin 1990). The first is the teachings of the Shawnee Prophet. He proposed that all Native American tribes must return to the older, purer way of life that they lived before contact with the Europeans. The second is the peyote (mescal) religion. Peyote was apparently brought to the tribe by a man named Rave when he returned from a trip to Oklahoma in the early 1900’s. The man claimed that eating peyote cured him of disease. Later, elements of Christianity were mixed w ith the ingestion of peyote. The peyote cult spread quickly along family lines and is still practiced today in many Native American tribes, including the Winnebago. The Winnebago tribe first encountered white men in 1634 when Jean Nicollet, an agent for Governor Champlain of France, sent him to the Green Bay area. The tribes pre-contact population is estimated to be about 8,000 people. Many believe that it was likely much higher. When Nicollet revisited the Winnebago in 1639, he estimated that the tribe had about 5,000 warriors. Such a number suggests a total population of around 20,000 Winnebagos living in the area. The higher figure, if true, would be consistent with the Winnebagos oral tradition which states that, due to over-population, several large groups, such as the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri tribes, left the Winnebago tribe a short time before Nicollets initial visit. For many reasons, such as epidemic disease and war in the region, when the French returned to the area 30 years later, the Winnebago consisted of fewer than 500 people. .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d , .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .postImageUrl , .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d , .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d:hover , .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d:visited , .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d:active { border:0!important; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d:active , .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u63362acf7ede6554925477ea1259926d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: America In Gilded Age EssayFrom near-extinction, the Winnebago tribe began a slow repopulation. In 1736, the French estimated the tribe to contain only about 700 members. Their population soon grew rapidly through intermarriage with neighboring Algonquin. As a result, the purest Winnebago bloodline may actually be the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri tribes. It should be noted, however, that even after intermarriage with Algonquin, the Winnebago made few changes to their traditional social and political structures. Remarkably, at a time in history when other native populations were declining, the Winnebago’s numbers actually increased. In 1825, American Indian agents in Wisc onsin estimated the Winnebago tribe’s population to be around 5,800 people. Even after a smallpox epidemic in 1835, the tribe’s numbers only dropped to about 4,500 members. The first accurate count of Winnebago peoples was done in 1842 after they were removed by the United States Federal Government from Wisconsin to Fort Atkinson, Iowa. At the time, there were 2,200 Winnebago living in Iowa, and an unknown population attempting to remain in Wisconsin. With Iowa statehood in 1846, the Winnebago were removed again. In 1845, the Winnebago exchanged their Iowa lands for an 800,000 acre reservation in Minnesota. The move placed the Winnebago as a buffer between the warring Dakota Sioux and Ojibwe tribes. Some Winnebago managed to remain in Iowa, but most of the tribe was removed to Minnesota during the late 1840’s. The new location consisted of poor soil and a short growing season, not to mention the constant battles taking place there between the Dakota Sioux and the Ojibwe. The Ojibwe used the Winnebago reservation as a battleground to attack the Dakota Sioux. As a result, in 1856, the Federal Government allowed the Winnebago to exchange the reservation for another located farther south in Minnesota. Unfortunately, as the Winnebago tribe’s population declined, they were forced to surrender a portion of their reservation in 1859 because it was deemed by the Federal Government to be â€Å"excess lands.†In 1862, the Winnebago were again forcibly gathered together and deported by the Federal Government. This time, they were sent by steamboat to the Crow Creek reservation of the Yankton Sioux in South Dakota. Conditions were unbearable at the Yankton Sioux reservation. Many members of the Winnebago tribe attempted to return to Minnesota or Wisconsin. The remaining 1,200 Winnebago living in South Dakota fled down the Missouri River to the Omaha reservation in eastern Nebraska for refuge. In 1865, the Federal Government finally accepted the Winnebago self-relocation and purchased 40,000 acres from the Omaha tribe to provide them with their own reservation. Again in 1868, in the Federal Indian Bureau’s infinite wisdom, a plan was proposed to once again relocate the Winnebago tribe. This time, they wanted to remove the Winnebago to North Dakota so that they could act as a buffer between the Lakota Sioux and the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes. The Winnebago promptly declined the offer, an d unbelievably, the Federal Government left them in Nebraska. During this time, Winnebago men and women were regularly being arrested in Wisconsin and returned to their reservation in Nebraska. Within a month, the same individuals were usually already back in Wisconsin. In 1875, after ten years of arresting the same Winnebago over and over again, the Federal Government purchased homestead lands in Wisconsin for the Winnebago, and let them remain there if they wished. As a consequence of this purchase, over half of the Nebraska Winnebago returned to Wisconsin in the late 1800’s and have remained there sprinkled across ten counties ever since. The Winnebago who remained in Nebraska eventually lost a portion of their reservation to whites through the Allotment Policy which took effect in 1887. Currently, both the Nebraska and Wisconsin Winnebago tribes are federally recognized. For this paper, due to their close geographic proximity to myself, I chose to concentrate on the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. The Winnebago tribe of Nebraska currently operates under a constitution consistent with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska). They are governed by a tribal council which consists of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, and nine other elected council members. The Chairman is elected from within the tribal council and acts as the administrative head of the Tribe for a one year term, while other Council members serve three year terms. The Winnebago Tribal Headquarters is located on the 30,647 acre Winnebago reservation which houses 1,204 members in Thurston County, Nebraska. At this time, 3,736 Winnebago Indians have tribal membership in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Remarkably, unlike many other Native American tribes, the Winnebago still own over ninety percent of reservation lands, despite the fact that much of it is allotted to individual tribal members. The majority of employment available on the reservation is currently provided by â€Å"WinneVegas† (the tribal Casino), the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Service, and the tribe itself. Anthropology

Report of the Tomb of the Warriors essays

Report of the Tomb of the Warriors essays In 1947 two Chinese farmers accidentally stumbled onto a huge tomb of a king that died over c.2200 years ago the kings name was Qin Shi Huang. The special thing about this tomb is that it is guarded by several self firing cross bows and approximately 6000 fully armed terracotta life size statues containing archers, cavalry troop, charioteers, infantry and even horses guarding the tomb. State of the find and the treatment of the find A lot of the soldiers are still standing but a part of the tomb collapsed and knocked over several of the warriors. But so far 38 columns of soldiers have been excavated and approx 1000 soldiers have been restored to there original state. A museum has set up a little firing room so they can make duplicates of the men and sell them to other museums. Age of the find and dating methods used The vault is approximately 12500sq Km in size, it is believed that the tomb was built just after the king past away so that means its approximately 2200 years old as the king died in 210B.C. Back in this era it was common that people were superstitious. So I think the only reason king Qin surrounded himself in his army was to protect his soul from evil spirits and no man could last that long so he built his own life like army out of terracotta to protect him forever. ...

How Effective is Special Education Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How Effective is Special Education - Term Paper Example Special education literature review and investigation by preeminent scholars in special education suggest the effectiveness of special education to be reliable. A thorough study and analysis have been taken to test the extent to which efficacious special educational techniques have been formulated for handicapped and disabled students, the proper application and implementation of those techniques and the uniqueness of usage and employment of these techniques in special educational settings. Strong evidence has been found for the development of effective, affirmed methods and techniques through empirical observation for students with disabilities to predominantly practice in their educational treatments, but the authentic implementation of such policies has not been considered important on regular basis and in good faith. A wide variety of research has been undertaken to challenge the effectuality and adequacy of specialized educational interventions to meet the special needs of stude nts. Such literature evidence has shown that in order to provide the specialized educational interventions to mildly handicapped students, various programs and models have been developed which can be implemented in both regular and special educational settings and also can have social impacts on the disabled students. Yet, the specially designed methods for treatment of special children have not been effective up to the extent that obviates the impairment completely. Except few cases, the students having impairments cannot make commensurable improvements as compared to the students who are nondisabled and require regular education. Even special students in groups having learning difficulties have not shown betterments equivalent to nondisabled students who perform at a level below average. To be efficacious, generally the treatments for disabled students should include sensibly personalized pedagogies and intensive aid, coupled with recording and supervising of the

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Human Resource Management - Essay Example In order to keep an open mind to the situation of both the employees who are asking for lighter workload it is a good idea to start will looking at the client portfolios that each of the employees are currently holding. Those who have a tougher client listing should thus be catered to first as they are managing more than others. David has a more demanding client and as he has done his job in an efficient manner he should be considered above Jane for the time off. Not only this, but David has given his ideas on how he will make up his time off by working the extra hours which are certainly a plus for him. However, even David has conceded that there may be some effect of his lighter workload on his clients who are the main priority and so it then becomes difficult to let his off. In deciding the time that the employees have spent in the company and their track record there is also of great importance. In the end thought there will be an effect on either parties and there may well be th inking that will be established in the company that those who have kids have an easier job getting a lighter workload as compared to those who need it for other personal reasons. Electronic employee monitoring has taken off since the technological age has made it easier to do so. In certain cases there has been a lot of hue and cry over the idea of employees being monitored all the time in the workplaces. It, however, makes sense at times to be able to track the use of office time and resources. Employers should be able to gauge how much of the time employees spend doing work and how much is being spent otherwise as this can determine how employees are promoted and given other benefits. It is also necessary for companies to avoid espionage from the inside even and monitoring helps to do this. To avoid these threats call monitoring is perhaps within certain permissible limits. There is a downside, as such practices erode the privacy of the employees and certain ethical

The best ideas Essay Example for Free

The best ideas Essay It is ingrained among most people that important discoveries and concepts are results of concerns about problems of huge complexity. Nevertheless, if we allow more reasoning about that, we are bound to find out that is not always the case since history has been showing us plethora of , say, cientific development triggered by investigation over facts often dismissed as trifles. In order to bolster the argument just stated, it will be useful to refer to the pioneer of Genetics, namely Mendel. Those who would doubt a reclusive monk could make any good science out of growing peas will be appalled by his outstanding achievements. Mendel, tending the pea trees as usual, realised that the collor of the pea beans, whether green or yellow, could be predicted under some controlled unaccuracy provided the parents trees were known. Moreover, after several experiments sedulously carried out, he came to the conclusion that the collor outcome in question was result of the crossing of the parents features following some determinative selection rules. Then gene concept was born and proved to be correct and useful through nowasdays. Apart from the preceding historic report, we can think of a number of other instances in which everyday facts conceal valuable information just waiting to be uncovered such as symmetry in a snowflake, shape of droplets, reflection upon a lake, waves ruffling around a bathtube, wings of a butterfly etc. Were we to look carefuly into them, we would come up with a lot of physical facts almost ubiquitious in nature whose consequences are more complexes than one can imagine. Therefore, it is seems to be clear that the best ideas quite often result of looking into passionately into simple thing surrounding us. Methaphorically speaking, nature tell us her secrets in the silence of commonplace things rather than in the hustle and bustle that builds up in our minds clustered in a noisy complexity.

Impact of widowhood on elderly women in nigeria

Impact of widowhood on elderly women in nigeria The paper examines the social structured context and implications of widowhood in Southeastern Nigeria. It argues that in spite of the efforts by formal and informal agencies to alleviate the burdens of widowhood, the gender informed discriminatory practice of mourning which exacts a heavy toll on women persists. In this case, widows are exposed to harsh and often cruel mourning practices which are especially tasking for elderly women who have to contend with frail physical health, loss of partners and the mental, psychological and physical stress of widowhood. Therefore, while these practices are norm oriented they expose the elderly widows to psychological and social coping challenges. However, these elderly widows are also often led into activities and social strategies perceived as capable of alleviating the burdens of widowhood. Equally interesting is the finding that widows who are actively engaged and enjoy social support cope better with the challenges of widowhood than other s. In view of the above, the paper argues for a more active role by social workers in informing care provisioning and policies for lessening the burdens of widowhood on elderly women. INTRODUCTION The plight of widows has been a recurrent theme in the efforts to address perceived or real gender imbalance in African societies even in contemporary times. In spite of this the traditional conception of mourning which places a higher burden on women has obviously defied reform efforts. Hence the focus on widows actually derives from the traditional and patriarchal nature of African societies in which women are often regarded as the silent role players. In such a situation a woman who loses her partner may confront culturally structured scenarios different from the case of a man in the same situation. Therefore, the imaginings of widowhood in African societies are socio-culturally structured and reinforced and generate significant gender imbalance. Widowhood, meaning loss of ones spouse whether early or later in life entails a lot of things, mostly problems for the bereaved. Its effects may even be worse when the bereaved is an elderly person. Her self identity also changes in the sense that it brings on an era of identity crisis. This is because the widows feel that the real essence of their being married has been lost by the death of spouses. Coping with this identity crisis depends to a large extent on the individuals capacity and will. For traditionally oriented women, the role of wife is central to their lives, structuring their lives not only in their house holds but also on the job and in answering the question who am I and these women often put wife of at the top of their lists (Atchley, 1996). Social recognition and acceptance also pose a problem to widows because often times, widowhood in African societies goes with the erosion of social recognition. Widows often face problems of declining social recognition and acceptance after the death of their spouses and this can be linked to their losing their central roles of wife. In dealing with the societal attitude, these women get involved in other activities that they think will help them get recognition from the public and this can be seen in their active involvement in politics. The elderly people in the society are often stereotyped as lazy, wicked, hard to please disgusting, sickly and sometimes even diabolical (Korieh, 2005). This can be explained by the fact that they are viewed as burdens and distractions from ones immediate family and responsibilities. This stereotype is wrong because in the society, old people who are kind, peaceful and God fearing can still be found and this shows that one being evil or nice has nothing to do with age but the persons character and dispositions in life. According to Hazelrigg (1977), age by itself is not the cause of anything and it gets meaning only from how we use it to sort people. Thus, although age is used systematically to distinguish and categorize people, age in itself explains very little or nothing at all. The loss of a spouse can be a very traumatic experience particularly for many older women who devoted most of their lives to their marriages, husbands and children. Widowhood has thus been called the exemplar of a stressful life event and perhaps requiring more adjustment than any other life transition. (Hatch, 2000; Gallagtor et al, 1983). In addition to this, isolation and exclusion from the social environment sets in all in the name of widowhood practices and rituals and the woman is not expected traditionally to look after herself or freshen-up. This is often defined crudely as not bathing or combing her hair (See Basden, 1966). He aptly captured this practice in traditional Igbo society. According to him the woman mourning: Moves from her deceased husbands house to a small but in another part of the compound. While dwelling in this hut, she wears no clothes unless perhaps a rag; she must sit on a block or wood and nowhere else. Instead of a sleeping mat, a banana leaf must suffice (Basden, 1966; 278). A prominent theoretical orientation in gerontology, the activity theory of aging argues that normal aging involves maintaining as long as possible the activities and attitudes of middle age (See, Havighurst, 1963; Brehm, 1968). The basic assertion of this theory is that individuals should be just as active and involved in a variety of different roles and responsibilities in their later years as they were in their middle years. Judging by the loneliness and feeling of aloneness these widows experience after living for decades with their spouses and losing them when their companionship is most needed- at retirement one would agree that the activity theory to a large extent captures the situation of these widow (See Atchley1996). Thus, according to Brehm (1968), except for the biological and health changes older people have essentially the same psychological and social needs as middle aged people. From our study, it was discovered that this activity theory is of very great significance as a reasonable number of elderly widows used in the study agreed that active involvement in occupation helped them deal with widowhood and its related stress. For them, it helped them overcome loneliness, provide them with resources and kept time moving. This is in live with the contention of Kunkel (1979), that working class widows adjust better during bereavement than those sick, jobless or incapacitated. Based on both the likely erosion of social recognition and insurmountable loss which widowhood occasions, widows have often had to face socio-psychological challenges. These challenges result from both the societal attitude to widows and more crucially the psychological and even physical health of widows. As the above discussion shows, the case of elderly women may be worse given the unexamined stereotype about their attitudes and behaviour (See Korieh, 2005). Therefore this study sought to ascertain the socio-psychological impact of widowhood on elderly women in a typical traditional setting in Nigeria. Such an exercise has undoubted policy and research implications since discrimination against widows form part of the much decried harmful traditional practices against women. Hence the outcome of this study may be instrumental in informing social policies for protection of women as well as pinpointing empirical and theoretical social work response to the problems of widowhood. The study was conducted in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. Three quarters in the local government area viz Nkpunano, Nru and Ihe-owere were purposively chosen for the study. A total of 500 respondents were chosen through purposive sampling in the above three quarters. All the respondents were identified elderly widows above fifty years of age in these communities. The multi-stage sampling technique was used in actually selecting the above respondents while the questionnaire and interviews were used as instruments of data collection. The findings of the study reported below was based on a total number of 448 elderly women who fully responded to the study instruments. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MENTAL/EMOTIONAL STRESS AND WIDOWHOOD IN ELDERLY WOMEN IN NIGERIA. One glaring socio-psychological impact of widowhood identified in the study sample is mental/emotional stress. In the case, quite a good number of the respondents reported experiencing this type of psychological imbalance. As the table below indicates, the enormity of responsibilities widowhood lays on them triggers off mental/emotional stress in addition to physical stress. Table i: Distribution of Respondents by Nature of Health Stress. Stress Respondents Percentage Mental Stress 7 1.6 Physical Stress 280 62.5 None 161 35.9 Total 448 100 From the table above, apart from the 161 widows (35.9%) who declared they had no stress at all, 280 (62.5%) suffered from physical stress while 7 (1.6%) suffered from mental stress. This was as a result of the weight of responsibilities handed down to them after the death of their spouses. As has been indicated in the literature (See Basden, 1966), the isolation of the widow and the shabby treatment meted out to her in the name of culture in Igboland can generate and heighten emotional and mental stress. In fact as one of our respondents stated, most of the times I fall sick, it is because I think of how to care for my family and I dont seem to come up with any solution. Therefore in the Igbo area of Nigeria generally, as our study reveals, widows are confronted by social practices and observances such as disinheritance, and isolation which have adverse effects on their mental and psychological balance. Mental/emotional stress is a situation in ones mental well being or emotional state occasioned by tragedy (See Atchley, 1996). According to Atchley this stress can be manifested in the form of extreme anxiety, worries, frequent head-ache, high blood pressure, insomnia, heartache and regular hospital visits precipitated by mainly by worry. In patriarchal societies, especially where the widows are suspected of killing their husbands widows are left entirely without social support (see Korieh, 1995). This is usually worse for the women who do not have adequate educational background or who were prevented from obtaining further education. According to one of our respondents, a close relative of her deceased husband tried justifying the treatment meted out to her by asking her how come it was our brother who died? Therefore, the death of a womans spouse in Igboland is usually a great psychological and physical challenge to the widow and her children. The woman who is bereaved is usually expected to be the chief mourner, assisted by relatives and friends, the wailing, weeping and hysteria are expected to go on for days before the mans burial and even afterwards (Afigbo,1989). As has been reported in the literature such wailings and bitter lamentations are culturally expected (Basden, 1966; Meek 1937 cf Afigbo, 1989). This practice of prolonged wailing and anguish enforced by culture may often affect the psychological and mental balance of the woman (See Afigbo, 1989). In addition to this, widowhood may also occasion psychological and mental imbalance in some women especially older women whose mental faculties and emotions have been weakened by the challenges of living. Another key practice of widowhood in Africa which affects a womans psychological balance is the compulsory period of seclusion and isolation (Nwoga, 1989). In this case, the woman is isolated from the community for a specified period. According to this scholar, the isolation is combined with a regime of total neglect of the hygiene and body needs of the woman and incidentally, the practice of widowhood known as Igba-nkpe has also been noticed among Islamic communities. According to Trimmingham (1959), this period is known as iddat or idda among the Moslems and covers an average period of four months and ten days but in Igboland, the period lasts full 12 calendar months though radical Christianity has reduced it in some cases nowadays to six months. Due to their ages also, there are more reports of depression, poor health or new or heightened illnesses among these widows than there is among non-bereaved elderly widows and some of them do not live longer than one year after the deaths of their spouses (Gallagher and Thompson, 2001). This is because depression sets in at the loss of a spouse and most of them tell themselves that there is nothing to live for anymore. At some other times, married women friends see these widows as threats to their own still existing marriages and as a result terminate their relationships with these widows at the death of their spouses. ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT IN OCCUPATION AND COPING WITH WIDOWHOOD AMONG ELDERLY WOMEN Women across the globe have shown enviable courage, resourcefulness and residence in carrying on despite the trauma caused by widowhood, the isolation imposed on them by widowhood and the difficult tasks of earning a living and protecting themselves and their dependent family members. These women work outside the home as the breadwinners, make decisions, head their households and sometimes organize other women in areas of public life (ICRC, 1999). The above is no less the case with elderly widows in Southeastern Nigeria whose burden may have been doubled by the reality of aging. However, the women as our findings indicate see maintaining a sense of balance through engagement in occupation or meaningful economic activity as critical to surviving the coping challenges of widowhood in old age. Therefore, as can be noted from the table below, most of the widows were actively involved in one form of occupation or the other in order to earn a living for their families, and maintain some le vel of socio-economic functioning considered necessary to coping with widowhood: Table ii: Distribution of Respondents by Perceived influence of Active Involvement in Occupation on Coping: Active Involvement Respondents Percentage Yes 399 89.1 No 49 10.9 Total 448 100% It can be noted that 399 respondents (89.1%) stated that active involvement in occupation helped them deal with the stress of widowhood. This is in agreement with the literature which asserts that active involvement in occupation assists widows to deal with widowhood (See Kunkel, 1979). These widows when further questioned expressed different reasons for their involvement in active occupation but given that finance usually is a big problem to widows, 126 (31.6%) and 154 (38.6%) respondents respectively believe in active involvement because it provides money for the upkeep of the family and prevents too much thinking for the widows: Table iii: Distribution of Respondents by Importance of Active Involvement in Occupation. Importance of Active Involvement Respondents Percentage Prevents loneliness 56 14 Prevents thinking 154 38.6 Provides money resources 126 31.6 Keeps time moving 63 15.8 Total 399 100 Apart from involvement in occupation, these widows engaged themselves in some sort of social activities. These they did most times to get their minds off their problems especially at those periods the pains of loss of a love one and maltreatment by in-laws were very intense. The table below goes to show that a reasonable number of widows get themselves occupied socially in one thing or the other as a way of avoiding being engrossed in the throes of pain or endless contemplation of life without ones partner: Table iv: Distribution of Respondents by Social Strategies Adopted by Elderly Widows: Social Strategy Respondents % Active involvement in meetings 77 17.2 Stepped up interaction with family 42 9.4 Move involvement in religion 259 57.8 Introversion 14 3.1 Just keeping busy 56 12.5 Total 448 100 Given that most of the respondents were Christians, it was not out of place to discover that majority of them adopted or resorted to prayers as a social strategy to cope with widowhood. In the interviews as well, it was observed that a good number of them adopted church activities as a solace from the loneliness and difficulties associated with widowhood. Apparently, the widows as the interviews revealed held strongly to the popular notion that when all things fail, God never fails. One of them said in vernacular, Ekpere bu ikem. Chukwu bu onye nkwado m. This simply means in English, Prayer is my strength, God is my provider. From the foregoing therefore, the study revealed that most of the elderly widows at one point or another adopted economic strategies to help them cope the hardship associated with widowhood. Such strategies ranged from petty trading down to taking up additional jobs. On the other hand, they also adopted social strategies to assist them in their daily affairs as widows. These womens involvement in occupations and church activities as means of coping or overcoming widowhood are largely in agreement with the views of some scholars who have written on widowhood (see, Kunkel, 1979; Atchley, 1997). SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE AND THE ALLEVIATION OF PROBLEMS OF WIDOWS IN NIGERIA. As the study revealed, widowhood in Southeastern Nigeria poses a variety of problems to women ranging from low social prestige, disinheritance, and forceful remarriage amongst others. Widows in Southeastern Nigeria often encounter the most severe forms of these discriminations in spite of the increasing modernity of all spheres of the society. One dimension of this gender discrimination is that once the man dies, the widow faces the incidence of disinheritance by in-laws. In western societies, a woman is entitled to all she ever had or shared with her deceased husband but as this study found out in Southeastern Nigeria widows, though preferring to continue to work on the lands owned by their late husbands cannot do so because land inheritance is impossible for them as a result of cultural norms which forbid this (Korieh, 2005). According to Oluwa (2005), though in paper the statutory and customary laws indicate that widows should inherit or be sole beneficiaries of their dead husbands properties (especially where children exist), this does not apply in practice. Rather in some cases where the woman is desperate for these lands and property, she is forced to conform to the tradition of widow inheritance. In this case, the woman is treated as part of the properties of the dead men and is also available for inheritance. She b ecomes the legal wife of her inheritor and the children inherited and those born by the inheritor are considered to belong to the new husband (Evans Pritchard, 1951). The study also discovered that for fear of ostracism and related punishments, widows suffer in silence, especially when they are denied traditional sources of support. This usually causes economic hardships and deprivation. They lose their honour and respect as soon as they lose their husbands. Their husbands being traditionally their main sources of honour and respect, once dead gives room for them to be treated with disregard as humans especially by in-laws (ICRC, 1999). This can be explained by the popular Igbo adage which says that Di bu ugwu nwanyi, (a husband is a womans honour). It was further discovered that widowhood in Igboland is usually a great psychological and physical challenge to the elderly widow. The wailing, weeping and hysteria are expected to go on for days, before the mans burial and even after wards; as is obvious in the literature, such wailings and bitter lamentations are cultural expected (Basden, 1966, Meek, 1937 of Afigbo, 1989) and this prolonged wailing and anguish enforced by culture may often affect the psychological and mental balance of the woman. The list of problems is almost in exhaustible and these call for the intervention of social work services to help alleviate if not eradicate them entirely. From the study it was noticed that those widows who involved themselves in occupation cope better than those who did not. Social workers should therefore take cognizance of the need to sensitize the idle widows to get busy in order to overcome both the financial and emotional hazards of widowhood rather than wallowing in self pity. In this case social workers can go the extra mile of linking widows with systems or organizations where these jobs no matter how small can be found. They can also act as advocates for these widows on the issue of in-laws maltreatment. This role of advocacy should be extended to the policy makers bringing to their notice the ills suffered by the widows especially the elderly ones so that ways of enforcing already existing policies will be found and new ones established. These policies should cover areas such as Medicare for widows, living arrangements (this can be achieved by building low cost houses), changing or eradication of harmful widowhood practices etc. Perhaps beyond the above public policy responses is the critical need for a widow oriented social work practice which while cognizant of the socio-cultural and psychological burdens of widowhood in Southeast Nigeria sees the elderly widows as a special group. Basically, aging and its resultant physical infirmities and socio-psychological withdrawal makes the elderly widow particularly vulnerable to widow induced stress. Hence, social workers acting in their capacities to function as enhancers of coping capacity, linking agents and promoters of effective humane operation of social systems (see, Ekpe Mamah, 1997 on the functions of social work) can do a lot to improve the situation of elderly widows in a male dominated society like the Igbo Southeastern Nigeria. The re-examination of the main findings of this study indicates that the situation of elderly widows can be explained along the lines of the popular continuity theory in social work. According to this theory the individual in the course of growing older is predisposed towards maintaining stability in the habits, associations, preferences and lifestyle that he/she developed over the years (Peterson, 1976; McCrae and Costa, 1984). According to these Scholars, peoples habits, preferences, associations, states of health and experiences will in large part determine their ability to maintain their lifestyle while retiring from full time employment and perhaps adjust to the death of a loved one. Therefore in accordance with our findings in the study, it can be inferred that activity at old age helps the elderly overcome loss of their loved ones especially their spouses and this activity if possible should be in the areas preferred and chosen by the individual with which he/she had been accustomed to over time.

Common Features of a Shakespeare Comedy

Common Features of a Shakespeare Comedy What makes a Shakespeare comedy identifiable if the genre is not distinct from the Shakespeare tragedies and histories? This is an ongoing area of debate, but many believe that the comedies share certain characteristics, as described below: * Comedy through language: Shakespeare communicated his comedy through language and his comedy plays are peppered with clever word play, metaphors and insults. 1. Love: The theme of love is prevalent in every Shakespeare comedy.Often, we are presented with sets of lovers who, through the course of the play, overcome the obstacles in their relationship and unite. Love in Shakespearean comedy is stronger than the inertia of custom, the power of evil, or the fortunes of chance and time. In all of these plays but one (Troilus and Cressida), the obstacles presented to love are triumphantly overcome, as conflicts are resolved and errors forgiven in a general aura of reconciliation and marital bliss at the play's c lose.Such intransigent characters as Shylock, Malvolio, and Don John, who choose not to act out of love, cannot be accommodated in this scheme, and they are carefully isolated from the action before the climax. * * Complex plots: The plotline of a Shakespeare comedy contains more twists and turns than his tragedies and histories. Although the plots are complex, they do follow similar patterns. For example, the climax of the play always occurs in the third act and the final scene has a celebratory feel when the lovers finally declare their love for each other.Moreover, the context of marriage—at least alluded to, is the cap-stone of the comedic solution, for these plays not only delight and entertain, they affirm, guaranteeing the future. Marriage, with its promise of offspring, reinvigorates society and transcends the purely personal element in sexual attraction and romantic love. * Mistaken identities: The plot is often driven by mistaken identity. Sometimes this is an inten tional part of a villain’s plot, as in Much Ado About Nothing when Don John tricks Claudio into believing that his fiance has been unfaithful through mistaken identity.Characters also play scenes in disguise and it is not uncommon for female characters to disguise themselves as male characters, seen in Portia in the Merchant of venice. Shakespeare’s 17 comedies are the most difficult to classify because they overlap in style with other genres. Critics often describe some plays as tragi-comedies because they mix equal measures of tragedy and comedy. For example, Much Ado About Nothing starts as a Shakespeare comedy, but takes on the characteristics of a tragedy when Hero is disgraced and fakes her own death.At this point, the play has more in common with Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare’s key tragedies. The 18 plays generally classified as comedy are as follows: 1 All's Well That Ends Well 2 As You Like It 3 The Comedy of Errors 4 Cymbeline 5 Love's Labourâ⠂¬â„¢s Lost 6 Measure for Measure 7 The Merry Wives of Windsor 8 The Merchant of Venice 9 A Midsummer Night's Dream 10 Much Ado About Nothing 11 Pericles, Prince of Tyre 12 The Taming of the Shrew 13 The Tempest 14 Troilus and Cressida 15 Twelfth Night 16 Two Gentlemen of Verona 7 The Two Noble Kinsmen 18 The Winter's Tale 2. 3. Comedy is a drama that provokes laughter at human behavior, usually involves romantic love, and usually has a happy ending. In Shakespeare's day the conventional comedy enacted the struggle of young lovers to surmount some difficulty, usually presented by their elders, and the play ended happily in marriage or the prospect of marriage. Sometimes the struggle was to bring separated lovers or family members together, and their reunion was the happy culmination (this often involved marriage also).Shakespeare generally observed these conventions, though his inventiveness within them yielded many variations. 4. Eighteen plays are generally included among Shakespe are's comedies. In approximate order of composition, they are. These works are often divided into distinct subclasses reflecting the playwright's development. The first seven, all written before about 1598, are loosely classed as the ‘early comedies', though they vary considerably in both quality and character.The last four of these—Loves Labour's Lost, the Dream, the Merchant, and the Merry Wives—are sometimes separated as a transitional group, or linked with the next three in a large ‘middle comedies' classification. The Merry Wives is somewhat anomalous in any case; it represents a type of comedy—the ‘city play', a speciality of suchwriters as Ben Jonson and Thomas Dekker—that Shakespeare did not otherwise write. The next three plays. Much Ado, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, are often thought to constitute Shakespeare's greatest achievement in comedy; all written around 1599-1600, they are called the romantic, or mature, comedies. The next group of three plays, called the Problem Plays, which include Alls Well that Ends Well, Troilus and Cressida, and Measure for Measure that were written in the first years of the 17th century, as Shakespeare was simultaneously creating his greatest tragedies. The final cluster, all written between about 1607 and 1613, make up the bulk of the playwright's final period. They are known as the Romances which include Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, and often The Two Noble Kinsman. (The problem plays and romances were intended to merge Tragedy and comedy in Tragicomedies.Many minor variations in this classification scheme are possible; indeed, the boundaries of the whole genre are not fixed, for Timon of Athens is often included among the comedies, and Troilus and Cressida is sometimes considered a tragedy. 5. Shakespeare's earliest comedies are similar to existing plays, reflecting his inexperience. The Comedy of Errors—thought by many scholars to be h is first drama, though the dating of Shakespeare's early works is extremely difficult—is built on a play by the ancient Roman dramatist Plautus. Characteristically, Shakespeare enriched his source, but with material from another play by Plautus.The Subplot of The Taming of the Shrew was taken from a popular play of a generation earlier, and the main plot was well known in folklore, though the combination was ingeniously devised. The Two Gentlemen of Verona likewise deals with familiar literary material, treating it in the manner of John Lyly, the most successful comedy writer when Shakespeare began his career. 6. However, the young playwright soon found the confidence to experiment, and in Loves Labour's Lost, the Dream, and the Merchant, he created a group of unusual works that surely startled Elizabethan playgoers, though pleasurably, we may presume.In the first he created his own main plot and used a distinctively English variation on the Italian Commedia Dell’Arte traditions for a sub-plot. He thus produced a splendid array of comic situations. The play's abundant topical humor was certainly appreciated by the original audiences, although today we don't always know what it is about. In any case, the major characters are charming young lovers, the minor ones are droll eccentrics, and the closing coup de theatre, with which a darkening mood brings the work to a close, is a stunning innovation. Already, the eventual turn towards tragicomedy is foreshadowed.A Midsummer Night's Dream mingles motifs from many sources, but the story is again the playwright's own; moreover, the play's extraordinary combination of oddity and beauty was entirely unprecedented and has rarely been approximated since. The Merchant of Venice mixes a social theme, usury, into a conventional comedy plot to deepen the resonance of the final outcome as well as to vary the formula. Here, the threat that is finally averted is so dire as to generate an almost tragic mood, again a nticipating developments later in the playwright's career. . The mastery that Shakespeare had achieved by the late 1590s is reflected in the insouciance of the titles he gave his mature comedies (Twelfth Night's subtitle—'What You Will'—matches the others). That mastery is accompanied by a serious intent that is lacking in the earliest comedies. Shakespeare could not ignore the inherent poignancy in the contrast between life as it is lived and the escape from life represented by comedy. In Much Ado, as in The Merchant of Venice, a serious threat to life and happiness counters the froth of a romantic farce.Even in As You Like It, one of the most purely entertaining of Shakespeare's plays, the melancholy Jaques interposes his conviction that life is irredeemably corrupt. Feste’s song at the close of Twelfth Night gives touching expression to such sentiments, as he sends us from the theatre with the melancholy refrain, ‘the rain it raineth every day' (5. 1. 3 91). We are not expected to take him too seriously, but we cannot avoid the realization that even the life of a jester may be a sad one.The mature comedies thus further a blending of comedy and tragedy. 8. In the end, however, all of Shakespeare's comedies, including the later problem plays and romances, are driven by love. Love in Shakespearean comedy is stronger than the inertia of custom, the power of evil, or the fortunes of chance and time. In all of these plays but one (Troilus and Cressida), the obstacles presented to love are triumphantly overcome, as conflicts are resolved and errors forgiven in a general aura of reconciliation and marital bliss at the play's close.Such intransigent characters as Shylock, Malvolio, and Don John, who choose not to act out of love, cannot be accommodated in this scheme, and they are carefully isolated from the action before the climax. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 9. In their resolutions Shakespeare's comedies resemble the medieval Morality Pl ay, which centeres on a sinful human who receives God's mercy. In these secular works, a human authority figure—Don Pedro or Duke Senior, for instance—is symbolically divine, the opponents of love are the representatives of sin, and all of the participants in the closing vignette partake of the play's love and forgiveness.Moreover, the context of marriage—at least alluded to at the close of all but Troilus and Cressida—is the cap-stone of the comedic solution, for these plays not only delight and entertain, they affirm, guaranteeing the future. Marriage, with its promise of offspring, reinvigorates society and transcends the purely personal element in sexual attraction and romantic love. Tragedy's focus on the individual makes death the central fact of life, but comedy, with its insistence on the ongoing process of love and sex and birth, confirms our awareness that life transcends the individual. 10.

External Factor Are Affecting the Ecosystems Essay

The word ecosystem refers to the combined physical and biological components of an environment; these organisms form complex sets of relationships and function as a unit as they interact with their physical environment. Ecosystems are constantly changing naturally, and they’ve got a specific and stable climax, equilibrium. Living as well as non-living factors may have an impact in an ecosystem such as the impact of humans in ecosystems by hunting, fishing, agriculture etc. r climate change may affect an ecosystem and dare it to adapt to the conditions. Will human’s activity affect the equilibrium of the arctic wolves ecosystem? Equilibrium refers to balance, so†¦ will human’s activities affect the balance of the physical and biological components of the tundra? Human activities, which affect the arctic wolf’s ecosystem, the tundra, are pollution, chemical contamination and overdevelopment. All of them are harmful to the ecosystem. Pollution affects in directly the tundra, habitat of the Arctic wolf. Pollution leads to Global Warming and this affect the global temperature, as a result ice melts and the tundra is affected because its an ecosystem nearly made up on ice, so eventually the ecosystem would be endangered and also the species that are contained in the ecosystem. Lately, thousands of â€Å"green† organizations have been generated to promote the green habits and to try to reduce pollution worldwide, reducing also the vulnerability of the tundra biome. Their projects consist in reducing wastes of any kind of energy source and saving any resource we get. This will involve social aspects also in the way that our society must take part and have an impact into world pollution, which will finally affect the tundra ecosystem; it has lately become popular to be ecofriendly. This ecologic movement has also affected the fashion industry which lately looks for looks with more pure materials, not much synthetic ones, also they’ve preferred clothing with pure cotton, even not only the materials of clothing are involved but the message in the clothing’s have taken a very special impact in the society. Hunting, affects directly and indirectly to the ecosystem of the Arctic wolf, it affects the interaction of living organisms by hunting the animals. The overhunting of species such as the musk ox and caribou in Alaska and North America were even near of extinction. This would create unsustainability on the ecosystem because there would not be equilibrium in the food chain and all the animals that have any relationship with the specie would me affected by don’t having a predator or a prey. Hunting in the tundra has had a very negative effect because important species suck as the musk ox have nearly got to extinction. By 1950, herds in North America were reduced by ninety percent, so this made the American population realize what was really going on in their country. They were loosing biodiversity and so laws were created to protect animals. This had an economic impact, because musk ox’s (prey of the arctic wolf) leather was part of the market so it has also a social impact, not only from for hunters but for the fashion industry which had a relation with musk ox’s fur and leather. Chemical contamination also affects the Arctic Wolf’s ecosystem. Lately, Petroleum and Coal or Natural Gas, Iron, Lead or Zinc mines and mineral exploration and exploitation and extraction are increasing worldwide especially in the Arctic. The development affects the Caribou, which are one of the main species present in the Arctic wolf habitat. Overdevelopment indicates to the building of roads and buildings in the tundra, this lead to more circulation. Fragile tundra areas of plants are taken out for the creation of these roads. Without plants to give nutrients to the soil, earth will stop being rich and will abolish the community of flora in the tundra. After discussing all the direct and indirect human impact in the environment, hunting, chemical contamination and overdevelopment are certainly harmful for the ecosystem. These activities attempt to the balance of the ecosystem by attempting against the living organisms that live in the tundra, ecosystem of the arctic wolf and by attempting against the non-living factors in the ecosystem such as climate. Even tough there are solutions for these activities to reduce or to stop, they are not completely efficient. In my opinion after all my investigation, apart from the pollution affecting indirectly to the tundra, the other activities are not a major concern for the arctic wolf’s ecosystem. As seen, human activities impact in the arctic wolf’s ecosystem is not positive (although they don’t damage much the tundra) toward the ecosystem. My final conclusion will be that external factors are definitely against the equilibrium of the arctic wolf’s ecosystem.

Frank Lloyd Wright Essays (3051 words) - Modernist Architects

Frank Lloyd Wright Essays (3051 words) - Modernist Architects Frank Lloyd Wright NOTE: Received an A with some corrections. If your professor is one who checks bibliography's be careful with mine. Art History 5 December 2000 Frank Lloyd Wright American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright is considered the pioneer in modern style and one of the greatest figures in twentieth-century architecture (Twombly, 16). According to Frank Lloyd Wright: having a good start, not only do I fully intend to be the greatest architect who has yet lived, but fully intend to be the greatest architect who will ever live. Yes, I intend to be the greatest architect of all time. It appears that from the beginning, Frank Lloyd Wright was destined by fate, or determination, or by his mothers support, to be one of the most innovative and celebrated architects of the twentieth century. Throughout his life, he designed nearly 900 structures, some 400 of which were actually built. He was principally known for his highly original methods of uniting buildings with their surroundings (Hirsh, 189). Wright was also renowned for initiating new architectural and engineering techniques but was often criticized by the more conventional architects who opposed his new methods (Twombly, 17 - 18). Frank Lincoln Wright (he would later change his middle name to Lloyd) was born on June 8 1867 in Richland Center, Wisconsin, to Anna Lloyd-Jones Wright and William Russell Cary Wright. Anna Lloyd-Jones was a teacher from a large close-knit Welsh family of farmers and ministers. His mother and her family would have a tremendous influence on Frank throughout his life. Franks father, William, was a devout Unitarian preacher and musician. The Wright family spent many evenings listening to William read such works as Emerson, Thoreau, and Blake . In 1869 through 1878, the Wright family traveled the country, relocating to Iowa, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, where William held pastorate positions (Taliesin Preservation). His father moved from job to job dragging the family along which often resulted in financial difficulties. In 1878, the Wrights eventually returned to the hills of Wisconsin, close to the strong support of Annas family. Finally, settling back in Wisconsin, William Wright became secretary of the Wisconsin Conference of Unitarians and Independent Societies (Gill, 57). Anna relied heavily upon her family to help rear her children. Frank spent numerous hours helping his uncles in the fields, who taught him the importance of hard work. His aunts and his mother intellectually guided him in education, religion, and nature, which played an important part in forming Franks architectural philosophy. Using Froebels geometric blocks to entertain and educate her son, Anna seems to have struck on the genius and imagination her son possessed. Anna consistently encouraged Frank to achieve great things in the field of Architecture (Gill, 58). In 1885, Frank quit high school and entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison (as a special student). He studied civil engineering because the school did not offer any courses in architecture. No longer working in the fields, Frank worked for the dean of engineering in order to supplement the family income but he was not enthused with his situation and dreamed of going to Chicago (Gill, 74). After two years at the University, Frank left and moved to Chicago. In Chicago, Frank found a job as a draftsman with the major firm headed by Louis Sullivan (Art Through the Ages, 1058 - 1060). Sullivan had a profound influence on Frank and became his mentor in architecture (Twombly, 153). With the industrial age, came a growing suburban population. The firm of Alder and Sullivan concentrated on downtown commercial buildings, whereas Frank accomplished residential contracts. His work soon expanded and he accepted contracts outside the firm. When Sullivan discovered this in 1893, he felt betrayed, accused Frank of a breach of contract, and demanded that Frank discontinue working outside the firm. Rather than drop his night job, Frank walked out on the firm (Gill, 87-88). Frank Lloyd Wright quickly built up a practice in residential design that eventually expanded to include commercial architecture. Through designing a prairie-style home and implementing new techniques and materials, business thrived. He created the philosophy of organic architecture, the central principle of which maintains that the building should develop out of its natural surroundings so that the indoors and

Stravinsky essays

Stravinsky essays Igor Sikorsky was born in 1889 and died in 1972. He was born in Kiev Russia. He was born in Russia but he would say that the proudest day of his life was when he became a U.S. citizen. Although he loved to make helicopters and work with aeronauctics, he had other interests such as astronomy. Among his many other talents he was a writer, he wrote a short book called "The Message of the Lords Prayer" and an autobigraphy called the "Story of the Winged S". Many people refer to Sikorsky as the " Father of the Helicopter." Sikorsky did not want to accept the fact that people were calling him the " Father of the Helicopter." The book did not explain exactly why he thought he wasn't the "Father of the Helicopter". Igor invented three helicopters for the army. They were the XR-1, the Platt-LePage ( which because of it's big size had to be put under developmental changes) and a later model the VS-300 the armys third helicopter. This third helicopter was Sikorsky's best helicopter. The army iked it because it had three two bladed ajustable rotors and it could operate at zero air speed. Each of the rotors were about 4 feet in diameter. Igor Sikorsky went to Yale University and received a doctors degree for all of his achievments. Igor was renowned as a constructor of safe and reliable aircrafts. Igor called all of his helicopters "heli". The most successful of all of his helicopters was the - Igor Sikorsky died in 1972. When he died his son Sergei said"mourn that he is gone, be grateful that he was". They say Igor Siorsky ws the most gentle, mild mannered, gracious, and courteous individual there ever was. ...

Foreign Currancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Foreign Currancy - Essay Example It is even predicted by the IMF that it will overtake the US economy by 2016(Economy Watch, June 2, 2010) In November 2011, U.S. debt to China amounts to $1.13 trillion. This is 25% of the total $4.6 trillion of US debts. In 2011, China exported $1.58 trillion worth of production, 18% of which is exported to the US, while it has imported $333.9 billion from US, creating a trade deficit of $295.5 billion.(Kimberly, Amadeo). This massive surplus is the effect of China’s monetary policy of keeping their Remnibi lower than the equilibrium rate. This monetary policy is the subject of debate of IMF, the World bank, the government ,and other financing bodies. However, despite its robust economy, its GDP per capita income has remained relatively low as compared to United States. China’s GDP per capita is $4,428 while US has $47,153.(The World Bank) In effect, China is not subsidizing US economy because both countries benefit from the deal. The proceeds of the US debts are spent on federal programs while payments of interests of loan is spent by China to propel its economic growth. US debts also kept interest rates low. It is threatening because by holding too much ownership of U.S debts, China can use it as an economic weapon and shift the economic balance in its favor. Being second greatest in the world’s economy, China can use this power as leverage for imposing demands. For instance, in 2009, China proposed for a new global currency to replace the dollar because it was alarmed of the drop of dollar rate, and was afraid that its investments would deteriorate (Macdonald, Joe. 24, Mar. 2009). China has been reported to feel uneasy about relying on the dollar to store its reserves. It has also pressed for changes to give developing countries more influence on the IMF, the World Bank and other financing institutions. To reduce its complete reliance to dollars, China now swaps currency with G-20 trading partners like Hong Kong and Argentina. G-20 is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies and was formed to discuss the international financial system. To date, there is no report on the success of this proposition. What is its impact to the U.S. economy? The reduction of China’s demand for dollars leads to a domino effect – increase of interest rates that would hamper revival of the economy. Threatening to pull out all of its holding from the US will create havoc because if China calls its debts all at once; demand for dollars would be increasingly high, causing a dollar collapse that would disrupt international markets. This would trigger another financial crisis wherein everybody suffers including China (Kimberly). This is more unlikely to happen because it will reflect of China’s competitiveness. When China raises its export prices, US consumers will think twice and buy US products instead. As a policy, China keeps its currency Remnibi, lower than the dollar, a strategy that works for its advantage because it makes product imported from China lower than the U.S. products, and in the final analysis, be able to create more jobs for the Chinese, and be able to fund the growth of its economy. The US is trying to persuade China to revise its policy of having an undervalued Remnibi. The Remnibi is said to be 40 percent below it real value thus making its products excessively low and the US exports comparatively high, but whether this will be heeded by the Chinese government remains to be seen in the light of recent

The Skirmish at Lexington, Massachusetts Assignment

The Skirmish at Lexington, Massachusetts - Assignment Example There is a similarity of occasions that took place in both the British officer and a witness, but there are some contradictions as to what party started the attacks. The availability of the difference in telling the truth may be due to various reasons. First, the officer might be protecting the image of the forces as well as trying to portray a good image of the country to the world. Finally, the witness might not be sure of the happenings as he went ahead to ask those who were in their company of the happenings (Wood, para.8). The British officer in my view gave the accurate happening of the events. The officer seems to have closely followed the events and as a confirmation, the witness said that the local militia was being recruited for the day. In addition, a member in the company of the witness fired to the British soldiers as they dispersed which confirms that the British officer was accurately telling the events (Jefferson and Dickinson,