Choose any two stories from opening worlds which you find both moving and amusing. How do the writers arouse these responses and support your answer with reference to the text.

Choose any two stories from opening worlds which you find both moving and amusing. How do the writers arouse these responses and support your answer with reference to the text. In the stories "Two kinds" by Amy Tan and "The Gold-Legged Frog" by Khamsing Srinawk, the writers, whilst putting across a significant meaning also use their own style of humour to arouse amusing responses. "Two Kinds" is based on the complex relationship between a mother and her daughter. In particular Amy Tan focuses on the clashes between old Chinese culture and newer American culture. Tan, whose parents were also Chinese immigrants, uses her own past experiences to put together a touching and compelling story of generation clashes. The story is both moving and compelling because it deals with important issues such as the relationship and bond between mother and daughter but it also shows other aspects which can be considered amusing such as the languages spoken by the mother to her daughter and also the competition the mother has with her friend wanting the best for their daughters. The struggling bond between mother and daughter is shown when the mother is watching a talent programme on the television when she hears a girl playing the piano. This gives her an idea and she immediately calls her daughter over and hints that she should try this out. "Just like you. Not the best because you not

  • Word count: 663
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Judaism and the Enlightenment

Judaism and the Enlightenment The process of emancipation, and the period of enlightenment which preceded it, was a painful and traumatic experience for the Jewish people. The steady, but uneven, progress from pariah to citizen was achieved only in Western Europe and involved the rejection and transformation of an ancient way of life which had served the Jew well in all his times of trouble. The enlightened Jewish intellectuals viewed this change as not only inevitable but absolutely necessary if the Jews were to survive both as a religion and a people in the age of capitalism and the centralised, bureaucratic state. A new form of Judaism had be to forged from the anachronistic practices of the old. In this essay we will examine the development of the emancipation movement; the fight for equality with Gentiles, and contend that its underlying motive was to free the Jew from the atrophied social structure which enveloped the ghetto system and reinforced the pariah status of the Jew. In the medieval scheme the Jew was limited socially, ostracised legally and segregated economically. A line was drawn about him and every attempt to cross it was instantly detected and punished. In this way the Gentile helped the Jew to remain Jewish. However, within 25 years from the fall of the Bastille, (1789) the Jew in every land in Western Europe had

  • Word count: 2997
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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The Stories "A Stench of Kerosene and "Veronica " have the same message to get across which is the role of women and they have both presented two different cultures

Consider the similarities and differences in the presentation of Culture in "Veronica" and "Stench of kerosene" In both the Stories "A Stench of Kerosene and "Veronica " have the same message to get across which is the role of women and they have both presented two different cultures. The two authors have practically the same opinions about the role of women in a society and have tried to display this in their own way as the two stories are from different parts of the world. Both the stories focus on the fact that men in society dominate women and also their elders influence those women. The stories have shown us that women are treated similarly over the world no matter what culture they are. As there are some similarities there are also differences, which have yet to be discovered. In both the stories the there has been a fight and struggle for equal rights in a culture or a society. As the two stories are both based in rural parts of India and Africa they both have strong impressions of their cultures compared to a city where the cultural influence are minor. In the story 'Veronica' the author has tried to give the impression that women are born to grow up, get married and take care of the family evidence for that" I have to go cook my father will be home soon". The author shows that women are not supposed to be given the choice of an education and career. In 'Veronica'

  • Word count: 1231
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Define culture - The Penan are one of the few remaining nomadic peoples of the rain forest.

Culture is the distinctive way of life, of a group of people and their complete design for living it is also important for creating social heritage, and it provides people with guiding values, norms and ideals for living. Culture provides the foundation for our thoughts, emotions and actions. Human beings share the same biology and have the same physic nature however how we respond to a range of situations will depend on our cultural influence. Penan's roam the rain forest invisible to us, every step impulsive and holds promise of a better day as a government authorized logging frenzy has all but destroyed the Penan homeland in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo fewer than 300 Penan nomads remain alive today and to survive as a culture, they must keep moving, but they have almost nowhere left to go as loggers has invaded there homelands and is taking the meaning of home back to western civilization in order to make a better life for them selves. "If they continue to extract timber," said one Penan headman, "our lives will wither like leaves on the trees..." The world in which the Penan is living in, is threatened and is slowly coming to a halt at a rapid rate, as their homeland in the Malaysian state of Sarawak is undergoing one of the highest rates of logging on earth. The destruction of the forest in which these nomads have lived in for generations is

  • Word count: 908
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Summarise and critically evaluate the view of 'popular culture' taken by Adorno and Fiske.

Media and Popular Culture- LM235. Diagnostic Essay Summarise and critically evaluate the view of 'popular culture' taken by Adorno and Fiske. In the 70s and 80s, there was a mass development of Cultural Imperialism around the World as a flow of cultural products emerged from Western, developed countries. This included programmes, films and adverts that focused mainly on targetting consumers with Popular Culture. This was generally designed to be consumed as an entertaining and easy past time that involved nothing but passive intake. Programmes with easily understandable and adaptable story lines began to emerge and characters became recognisable, fitting into certain Genres such as that of a hero or a villain. A new wave engulfed the World as Popular Culture began to sell. Theodore Adorno and John Fiske argue opposing views of Popular Culture. Adorno argued that Popular Culture administered comfort and illusion and criticised mass culture as a product of a 'culture industry'. He argued that Capitalism fed people with the products of this industry in an attempt to keep them satisfied and politically apathetic. "Culture now impresses the same stamp on everything. Film, radio and magazines make up a system which is uniform as a whole and in every part" (Adorno: 10). Adorno saw that Capitalism was becoming more and more entrenched within society and that there was no sign

  • Word count: 1619
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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What Happens When Tradition and Western Progress Collide?

What Happens When Tradition and Western Progress Collide? The First Party In this short story by Attia Hosain, tradition clashes with western progress and culture. The story starts with a Muslim couple going out for a dinner party at a friend's home. Straight away the wife, who is more cultural than her husband, seems to stand out, act different. We must take in consideration that this could be her first social party with others and is very self-conscious about how she looks and acts. 'She sat on the edge of the big chair, her shoulders drooping, nervously pulling her sari over hear head...' This sentence show us her body language and how she very anxious and shy. The chair is described as 'big' because Hosain wanted to make a comparison in size and make the Muslim wife seem smaller and irrelevant to some extent. The words: drooping and nervously show again how 'on the edge' she is. The first image of an accident we come to is her view of the other lady(ies) and how they have 'dressed' themselves up. 'The women held a wineglass in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She wondered how it felt......The women had long nails, pointed and scarlet. She looked at her own - unpainted and carefully short- wondering how anyone could eat, work, wash with those claws dipped in blood.' This is her description and comparison of the other women around her. This also shows how

  • Word count: 661
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Doing business in China - the art of war?

Doing business in China - the art of war? Chee Keen Pang, Diane Roberts, John Sutton The Authors Chee Keen Pang, University of Central Lancashire, UK Diane Roberts, University of Central Lancashire, UK John Sutton, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China Abstract Examines Chinese attitudes towards the introduction and implementation of an international corporate culture into their working environment. Refers to Sun Tzu's military classic The Art of War and suggests his philosophy can be applied to business in China, and that the Western world should begin understanding this philosophy and the oriental mindset. Presents results of a study of Chinese employees at a Beijing, China hotel to determine attitudinal and behavioural patterns, and finds that the concept of corporate culture currently meets with strong resistance from many Chinese people who believe foreign ideals and concepts are not to be trusted. Article type: Theoretical with Application in Practice. Keywords: China, Corporate Culture, Culture, Employees, Hotels, National Cultures. Content Indicators: Research Implications** Practice Implications*** Originality** Readability** International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Volume 10 Number 7 1998 pp. 272-282 Copyright (c) MCB University Press ISSN 0959-6119 Introduction In an era where consumers are more demanding,

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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The Emergence of Jewish thought in the Enlightenment

Eric Vallee 7-30-03 Jewish history 2 The Emergence of Jewish thought in the Enlightenment The years during the Enlightenment were very crucial in the development of the culture of the Jewish people in Europe. This movement of the 18th century that called for critical examination of previously unchallenged doctrines and beliefs, that would help to open the minds of many different people. Modernism was becoming the norm, while traditional ways of doing things were left to a select few. The Jewish as a community have been treated like outcasts for thousands of years; outsiders in their own home and communities. The Jews were forced to establish Ghetto style living. They lived in confined areas with constant ridicule; harassment and sometimes pogroms would break out. They were segregated to certain jobs; they could only be craftsmen, moneylenders, or some sort of merchant. The governments in Europe passed Edicts declaring their Job status, where they could live, political status, and how much money people had to pay them back on loans. Some leading officials would pass doctrines stating that the governments automatically possessed their property and money, because the treasury was getting low or something on that track. This would also put such officials in good standing with the Christian Church. The people of that time must have felt so violated and uneasy. One day they

  • Word count: 2230
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Assess the extent to which debates about 'culture' are actually debates about power.

215467 76A4 Society, Media and Culture Assignment: Monday 21st March, 2005 Tutor: Pedro Nunes (Monday 12pm Seminar) Word Count: 1656 Question 3: Assess the extent to which debates about 'culture' are actually debates about power. The Collins English Dictionary defines culture as: 'The total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge which constitute the shared bases of social action; the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group; the artistic and social pursuits, expression and tastes valued by a society or class; the enlightenment or refinement resulting from these pursuits. One example of a culture within our world today is Popular Culture, which is generally associated with the entertainment of the lower classes, carrying some negative connotations. Popular Culture consists of, amongst other elements, soap opera, sport, popular television and music, and in more recent years can also be thought of to incorporate the sub-culture of celebrity. Another example from the opposite end of the scale is High Culture. This is seen to be produced for, and aimed exclusively at, the upper class sector of society. It encompasses areas such as opera, theatre, literature and classical music. However those who produce and construct the media possess the ability to turn

  • Word count: 1593
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Identity Anxiety

Identity Anxiety Kate Chanock In academic circles, identity has become the New Black: basic but sophisticated, essence yet also artifice. The Humanities' central question -- what it means to be human - is refracted through the prism of postmodernism into questions about what it means to be any particular kind of human, in any particular time and place. In history, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, politics, literature, media or cultural studies, our students go home each semester with assignments asking them to look at how identity is defined, inherited, shaped, nurtured, cherished, celebrated, colonized, contested, denied, suppressed, lost, forgotten, damaged, destroyed, reclaimed, reinvented, sought or bought, branded, marketed, imagined, remembered, realized, enacted or expressed. But bound up with the urge to examine who we are, how we know, and why it matters, is a sense of the fragility of identity. Just when globalization suggests the possibility of living as a citizen of the world, we shrink back, like the silkworms in Douglas Stewart's poem, which have lived "all their lives in a box!" -- and, even when the lid is taken off, will not climb out.1 Once agents in the export of identity from the cultural West, Australians now fear colonization by American popular - and unpopular - culture. The seas which have always washed in and out of the tide pool of Australian

  • Word count: 2079
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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