Rumble Fish Essays (271 words) - English-language Films, Rumble Fish

Rumble Fish Hinton Rumble Fish is the sequel to The Outsiders. The characters names are different, but it is still taken place in the same time period. In the story Rumble Fish, Rusty James is a greaser who has a lot of fights in and out of school. He meets up with the Motorcycle Boy and whenever Rusty is in a big situation or fight, the Motorcycle Boy always helps him out. Rusty isn't a great kid. He has a police record and has been suspended for possession of a knife. Bad things can happen to you if you don't have a knife in certain situations. For example, Rusty was in a fight and it was going to be fought with knives. Nobody in his group had one, so Rusty lost. Then he met the Motorcycle Boy and everything was back to normal until the big fight. Rusty got hit, stabbed, and knocked out. Usually the Motorcycle Boy would help him out, but instead he wasn't there, nowhere to be seen. Rusty was put in the hospital. The main conflict in the story is Rusty James, and his fighting all of the time. It isn't good for him or his reputation. Rusty usually wins and someone always is looking to beat him at his own game, which is fighting, Rusty's specialty! The conflict is resolved when Rusty James is in a fight against another greaser and the Motorcycle Boy isn't there to save Rusty. After all of this happens, everyone starts making fun of Rusty. The mysterious thing is that the Motorcycle Boy is never seen again. Now Rusty has no friend's what so ever! Read Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, It's worth the read!

The Representation of Irish Nationalism

The Representation of Irish Nationalism Introduction The attempts to revive the Irish political nationalism have seen considerable Irish literary achievement. The country’s long history as a British colony and the effects of that colonization shapes the struggle for Irish nationhood and identity even today, both politically and imaginatively.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Representation of Irish Nationalism specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The country’s struggle for independence intensified towards the turn of the 20th century culminating in partial independence in 1921 from British colonization (Abrams 2304). The long history of colonization has had profound effects on the cultural, political, economic and social aspects of the Irish; a situation Ireland is struggling with even today, in its efforts to establish a distinct Irish culture and an Irish nation state. The nationalist struggle for Irish identity and nationhood began in the t urn of the 19th century culminating in partial independence from British colonization in 1921 (Abrams 2305). This struggle is integral to Irish recent history and is a central focus for the many political activists, poets, artists and writers who attempt to give the Irish national spirit a voice. The three literary works: Yeats’s â€Å"September 1913†, â€Å"Easter 1916†, and Joyce’s â€Å"The Dead† revolve around the period preceding and after the Irish independence and subsequent creation of an Irish State. The three literary works touch on the problems and the issues associated with the Irish nationalist struggle in the early 20th century and its aftermath. The Themes: Yeat’s â€Å"September 1913† and â€Å"Easter 1916† Yeats’s Poetry comprises of poems written by an Irish poet, William Butler Yeats in the twentieth century (Yeats 1). In the two poems, â€Å"September 1913†and â€Å"Easter 1916†, Yeats u sed the themes of national unity, nationalism, social division and the freedom of expression in the context of his country, Ireland. Through themes and figurative language, the poems reveal Yeats’s feeling regarding the Irish struggle for independence. In particular, the theme of nationalism dominates in the â€Å"Easter 1916† poem, where he mentioned the national heroes who died during the rebellion such as MacDonagh (Abrams 2308). He said, â€Å"Now and in time to be, /whenever green is worn,† (Finneran 182). Green in this context referred to the national color of his country and a color of the Irish solders’ uniforms. In this case, he alluded that the struggle for independence was still on in Ireland.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In â€Å"September 1913†, Yeats introduces the theme of freedom from oppression. Although Yeat s was a patriot and advocated for independence of Ireland, he often criticized his country for the suppression of the right to free expression. In this poem he says, â€Å"Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, / it’s with O’Leary in the grave† (Finneran 108), which shows that Ireland he had imagined no longer existed. His mention of O’Leary implied that the heroes who fought for Ireland’s freedom died in vain. He also alluded that Ireland lacked patriots who were willing to continue fighting for its freedom: â€Å"Yet they were of a different kind, /the names that stilled your childish play, /they have gone about the world like wind†, (Finneran 108). The middle classes comprising of the contemporary Roman Catholics had failed to fight for the same cause Yeats had fought for during that time; as such, Yeats felt betrayed by the contemporary Irish society (Abram 2303). Another theme that Yeats uses in his poems is that of social division, w hich appears in â€Å"September 1913†. Yeats detests the contemporary middle classes in Ireland and their corrupt practices (Abrams 2303). In the first three lines of this poem, he detests the money grabbing practices: â€Å"What need you, being come to sense, /But fumble in a greasy till, / and add the halfpence to the pence (Yeats 8). In this case, Yeats viewed the middle classes as selfish as they cared less about their history and only cared about money. Neither, did they care about the Irish freedom fighters or their religion, Catholic. In contrast, in Joyce’s â€Å"The Dead†, Gabriel seems scornful of Irish language and Ireland as a whole; he claims that he is â€Å"sick of own country, sick of it† (164). In this regard, Joyce laments the lack of real Irish nationalists as represented in the character Gabriel. Similarly, in the â€Å"September 1913† poem, Yeats appears to favor â€Å"aristocracy and peasantry for their economic benefits but hates the middle classes because of their indifference to Irish freedom or nationalism† (Abrams 2303). As Yeats implies, â€Å"their selfishness destroyed the once romantic Ireland and made nationalism appear meaningless or less prominent† (Abrams 2307).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Representation of Irish Nationalism specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In contrast, the premise of national unity stands out in Yeats’s masterwork of â€Å"Easter 1916†. This poem, written after the Easter rebellion in 1916, expressed the spirit of unity by the use of the word â€Å"our† to emphasize the importance of reconciliation of the middle classes who were behind the rebellion. In contrast, Joyce’s â€Å"The Dead† criticizes the cultural imperialism that threatens the harmony of the Irish and the revival of the Irish language and culture (Abrams 2306). The mood in â€Å"Easter 1916† is harmonic and apologetic; he apologizes for his misjudgment of the middle classes in his earlier poem, â€Å"September 1913†. He says, â€Å"Polite meaningless words, and thought before I had done, of a mocking tale or a gibe, to please a companion† (Finneran 180). In this regard, he recognizes their role in the rebellion and implies that the middle classes carried the Irish honor and as such, were part of the Irish history. In the â€Å"September 1913† poem, Yeats had indicated that he resented the middle classes for their critical attitudes towards Ireland (Finneran 111). Nevertheless, their role in the Easter Rebellion saw him change his mood from resentful to reconciliatory to promote unity. Themes: Joyce’s â€Å"The Dead† In ‘The Dead’, Joyce includes the Irish language to bring out the theme of national pride. During the last decade of the 19th century, the Irish underwent profound cultural revival; â€Å"they str uggled to define their identity† (Abrams 2307). A movement emerged to revive the national culture and language. As such, the Irish developed a renewed interest in the Irish language and literature including learning Gaelic that had been forgone as Irish adopted English language in public communication (Abrams 2307). Thus, this cultural revival gave the Irish a sense of identity and national pride. Joyce’s â€Å"The Dead† was written during this cultural revival: a time when the search for Irish identity and nationalism was at its peak. In â€Å"The Dead†, Gabriel’s interaction with Miss Ivors shows the significance that the Irish attached to Irish language. Gabriel totally refuses to acknowledge Ms. Ivors’ Irish nationalism. â€Å"Was she sincere? Had she any life of her own behind her propagandism?† (Joyce166).Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Similarly, Ms. Ivors disapproves of Gabriel’s regular travel abroad and challenges his assertion that the European languages contain more cultural elements compared to his Irish language: â€Å"why do you go to France and Belgium, said Ms. Ivors, instead of visiting your native land†, Well, it’s partly to keep in touch with the languages, said Gabriel† (Joyce 164). In this regard, Joyce compares the cultural values and language of Ireland and those of Britain as represented in the character Gabriel Conroy. In this story, West Ireland symbolizes Irish Nationalism, with Gabriel representing disloyalty to Irish culture and language, whereas Ms. Ivors appreciates her native culture. As Gabriel implies in his speech, the West of Ireland values and practices contravenes the Irish traditions on hospitality (Joyce146). Further, following Ms. Ivors provocation, Gabriel develops a negative attitude towards anything Irish. Thus, Joyce uses the two characters to contr ast two different attitudes developed towards Ireland during the Irish struggle and its aftermath. Gabriel, though cultured in Irish culture, holds a low opinion of his nation; instead, he turns to British culture, which he perceives as sophisticated and better (Joyce 164). Ms. Ivors, on the other hand, is passionate about her native culture and leans towards the Irish traditions and culture. She spends her holidays in West Ireland where she can use her limited native language, Gaelic, freely (Joyce 157). She even accuses Gabriel of betraying his own culture by calling him a ‘West Briton’, (Joyce 166) as he identified himself more with English culture than his own native culture. This turns out to be true as Gabriel, in his speech after dinner, quotes from Robert Browning, an English poet. He even criticizes the true nationalists like Ms. Ivors: â€Å"the new generation growing up in our midst† (Joyce147). Here, Joyce alludes to cultural imperialism by the Englis h culture that threatens to erode the revival of Irish culture, and by extension, the Irish nationalism. Yeats in his â€Å"September 1913† directly criticizes the middle classes for their indifference towards Irish culture (Finneran 118). In contrast, Joyce, through two characters, Gabriel and Ms. Ivors, ridicules cultural imperialism warning that there are consequences for cultural traitors towards the end of the story. One can see Gabriel’s paralysis as due to his association with English culture rather than his own culture (Joyce 166). Yeats in the â€Å"September 1913† also shows the element of cultural betrayal but, hints that the Irish struggle for independence would continue. He criticizes the middle classes of doing little to protect their country and rues the death of Irish nationalism. He laments the loss of the glory that once his romantic native land prided. Yeats, unlike Joyce, used figurative stylistic devices to highlight the Irish situation duri ng their struggle for independence. Yeats used symbolism in â€Å"September 1913† and â€Å"Easter 1916.† In the â€Å"September 1913† poem, the expression â€Å"wild geese spread† and â€Å"wing upon every tide† (Finneran 108) symbolizes the Irish nationalists in asylum, in countries such as Austria, France and Spain. The inclusion of the names of the freedom fighters such as O’Leary symbolizes the Irish glory. In addition, the title â€Å"Easter† in â€Å"Easter 1916† poem symbolizes the rebirth of the Irish nation state. It is an illustration of the renaissance of Yeats’s view about the middle classes because of their position in the Irish Rebellion. Conclusion Irish literature is central to Irish nationalism and the modern Irish experience. Yeats, through the two poems, â€Å"September 1913† and â€Å"Easter 1916† captured the cultural reality of the Irish in this era. He believed that the Irish culture had the power to revive and reflect the Irish identity: â€Å"Now and in time to be, /whenever green is worn,† (Finneran 182). Similarly, Joyce in â€Å"The Dead† alludes to cultural imperialism and its consequences on nationalism. Thus, the dominant theme explored by Irish literature regards nationalism and continuity of the Irish culture. Abrams, Mayers et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W. Norton Company, Inc., 1986. Print. Finneran, Richard. The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. New York: Simon Schuster Inc., 1996. Print. Joyce, James. Dubliners. New York: Signet Classics, 1967. Print. Yeats, William. Selected Poems and Three Plays by William Butler Yeats. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1962. Print.

Free Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Free Trade - Essay Example Privatisation; this means transfer of past public owned organisation services and goods to private sector Limited intervention; governments should not interfere with markets expect in building infrastructure. Unembroidered market prices; this implies that governments will desist from controlling market prices. Export - led development; this are development strategies that emphasize export and foreign trade instead of protecting domestic industry. (Dornbusch, pp.69-85) Do open market economies grow faster than closed ones Many studies on market economics have argued that open trade system enhances a faster growth of economy. The point for this strong favour in terms of open trade is based on studies and on a conclusion that outward- based economies realize faster growth rates than those economies that are inward oriented. However, this seems to be overstated, as Dornbusch, (pp.69-85) observers, currently the advantages of open markets are being oversold continuously in the related literatures and in the IMF and World Bank publications. Yet, it is hard to understand the advantages of liberalization of markets among market economies. Economists reports that the effects of openness are very complicated and general mixed as to what extend the trade polices impact the growth of economy. More so the fact that studies explain trade openness in different ways makes it hard to classify countries depending on their level of trade openness. Thus, it does not come as a surprise when different results are obtained when different measures are used. (Dornbusch, pp.69-85) The correlation between free market and the economic growth of a country is a hotly debated issue in the trade and development literature. Until now, this issue remains unresolved. It is important... This essay stresses that the correlation between free market and the economic growth of a country is a hotly debated issue in the trade and development literature. Until now, this issue remains unresolved. It is important to note that, many literatures on this topic have put a lot of attention on the correlation between trade policies and economic growth instead of emphasizing trade levels and growth. This paper makes a conclusion that free trade or open trade is characterized by removal of trading barriers between countries. This is meant to stimulate more trading between countries which is faster and without any hindrance. The policy makers of these policies argue that free trade leads to higher economic growth in countries. However, free trade policies advanced by the IMF and the WB has lead to poor and middle economic countries to experience more economic hardships brought about by stiffer monetary policies. Some of the economies collapsed or stalled. A good example is the Asian crisis. Keeping in mind all the arguments presented open trade definitely is a cause of concern and cause of slow economic progress amongst the populace of the world but it is extremely important to remember that it is not the only cause of concern, some of the policies undertaken by states are implemented incorrectly which result in growing poverty and economic hardship being witnessed in many countri es especially African states. However, it cannot be stated that liberalization or open market is the ONE and ONLY cause of increase in economic hardships amongst the world’s populace.

Business and Ethic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business and Ethic - Essay Example Members of different groups traditionally have been underrepresented and disadvantaged socially, politically, and economically. Also, critics distinguish social categorization processes; the nature of evaluative, conscious, and affective issues that are elicited; and the sign of stereotypes and differentiated emotional changes (Gilbert et al 2001). Discrimination and prejudices are unethical because they violate constitutional rights and freedoms, they are illegal and unlawful. Social and individual differences have a great impact on human relations and discrimination issues and lead to such problems as low motivation and poor communication, unequal treatment, unfair labor relations and aggression. Thus, the constitution and modern society is based on freedom of expression and freedom of speech. every individual has a right to express different attitudes and opinions, have certain religious beliefs and belong to a particular culture. In spite of these issues, the main cause of discrimination is different attitudes caused by social variations and backgrounds. Complicating the interpersonal dimensions of dealing with competence, of course, is the competitive atmosphere, both within and among firms. In order to avoid discrimination and prejudices, definitions and descriptions of competent work must be clear, consistent, and fairly applied.

Development, impacts, implications of a contemporary political movment Essay

Development, impacts, implications of a contemporary political movment for change (Environmentalism) - Essay Example The beginnings of an environmental crisis which looms large over the world can perhaps be traced to the Industrial Revolution in Europe which led to natural resources being used, often indiscriminately, for the purpose of scientific progress (Reynolds, A Brief History of Environmentalism, n.dd). At a parallel level, European colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America were also subjected to much ecological damage for industrial growth. Though Henry David Thoreau pioneered environmentalist thinking in the USA, it was John Muir who laid the foundation of the Sierra Club in 1892 through which the government received ample financial aid for it to undertake wilderness conservation measures (Reynolds, n.d.). The emergence of environmental activists such as Wangari Mathai from Kenya shows that environmental concerns cannot be divorced from an engagement with the imbalances of power engendered by colonialism. In contemporary times ecocriticism has become an integral part of most academic disc iplines. It has been particularly influential in the field of postcolonial studies where scholars have found a close connection between the discursive and economic power wielded by the West and the environmental damage inflicted by Western nations upon the nations of the Third World. The first breakthrough in American environmentalism came with Rachel Carson’s work Silent Spring (1962) which spoke of the impact of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), a commonly used pesticide on the environment. The work created immediate controversies and numerous American industrialists clamoured for its ban, accusing the author of baseless indictments. However, the work caused enough stir for President John F Kennedy to order a thorough investigation into its claims. The research revealed the hugely detrimental effect that DDT had not merely upon the physical environment but also on human health since it was commonly used as an agricultural pesticide. Following this the use of DDT was ba nned in the USA (Lear x-xi). This is an important episode in the history of environmentalism for it fortified American environmentalist movement besides proving the efficacy of protest movements led by seemingly politically disempowered individuals against multinational conglomerates. It is a sad fact that even today, several countries continue to use DDT and many such pesticides. These continue to affect the lives of millions of people and their health even today. The reasons for this can be traced to the lobbying power of the corporate firms that produce these pesticides and the lack of civic action on the part of the citizens of these nations. This can be remedied to an extent through the spread of awareness of environmental issues. In short, the issue of environmentalism needs to extend its reach to these nations in order for it to be an effective tool. In the 1970s began the era of international cooperation on the subject of ecological conservation, the manifestation of which w as the Earth Summits summoned by the United Nations. The first among these was held in Stockholm in 1972 and was titled â€Å"UN Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm† (â€Å"Earth Summit,† The United Nations Official Website n.p.). These forums of international debate and discussion have laid bare not merely the urgent need to incorporate the

The Relationship Between Feminism and Anthropology

The Relationship Between Feminism and Anthropology The relationship of feminism and anthropology can bring a new development to the way ethnographies are written and done. Lila Abu-Lughods statement feminist ethnography is an ethnography with women at the centre written for women by women can be seen as an effort to find a distinct way of doing and writing ethnography. In this essay I will look at the roots of feminism and feminist anthropology. I will then discuss Abu-Lughods statement and try to explain how her statement is beneficial to anthropology and whether it is possible to do research her way. I will secondly look at the advantages and disadvantages of the statement. I will focus on notions of partial identity and objectivity. Finally, I will conclude by discussing some of the issues surrounding the empowerment of women, and that although Abu-Lughods statement does have some benefits it misses the important point. I will argue that feminist ethnography should be used as a political tool for disadvantaged women and it should reflect a collective, dialectical process of building theory through struggles for change (Enslin:1994:545). Feminism can be defined as both a social movement and a perspective on society. As a social movement, it has challenged the historical subordination of women and advocated political, social, and economic equality between the sexes. As a social and sociological perspective, it has examined the roles that sex and gender play in structuring society, as well as the reciprocal role that society plays in structuring sex and gender (Oxford dictionary 2007). There are three main categories in which the different waves of feminism can be divided. Among the first one which was from 1850 to 1920, during this period most research was carried out by men. Feminists aimed to bring the voice of women in ethnography, they gave a different angle on experiences of women and the surrounding events. This brought a new angle because male ethnographies only had the opportunity to interview other men e.g. what were women like. Important figures during this period were P.Kayberry who worked with B.Malinowski at LSE. She focused on religion but she examined men and women in her work. Moving on to the second wave of which was from 1920s to 1980s, here the separation between sex and gender was made by important feminists. Sex as nature and gender as culture. This takes us to the nature culture dichotomy which is important when we are focusing on the subordination of women in different societies. The dichotomies between sex/gender, work/home, men/women, and nature/culture are important in social theory for raising debates. Important figures in the second wave feminism were Margaret Mead she made a lot of contribution in her work on the diversity of cultures here she helped to breakdown the bias that was based on concepts of what is natural, and she put more emphasis on culture in peoples development. Most important works of Mead was Coming of Age in Samoa (1928). Another important figure was Eleanor Leacock who was a Marxist feminist anthropologist. She focused on universality of female subordination and argued against this claim. This second wave of feminism was influenced by a number of events in history, the 1960s was closely linked to political ferment in Europe and North America, like the anti-Vietnam war movement and the civil rights movement. Feminism was something that grew out of these political events during the 1960s. Feminism argued that politics and knowledge were closely linked with each other so feminists were concerned with knowledge and we have to question the knowledge that was being given to us. Feminism during 1960s called for the establishment of womens writing, universities, feminist sociology and a feminist political order which would be egalitarian. Feminists became interested in anthropology, because they looked to ethnography as a source of information about whether women were being dominated everywhere by men. What are some of the ways that women are living different societies, was there evidence of equality between men and women. Did matriarchal societies ever exist and to get the answers to such questions they turned to ethnography. This takes us to the issue of ethnography and what we understand about women in different societies. It became obvious that traditional ethnographic work neglected women. Some of the issues surrounding women are; ethnograhies did not talk about womens worlds, it did not talk about what went on in womens lives, what they thought and what their roles were. When we discuss the question are women really subordinated, we realize that we do not know much about women in different societies. B.Malinowskis work on the Kula did discuss the male role in the exchange of valuables. But during the 1970s Anette Weiner (1983) went to study the same society and she found out women are playing an important role in Trobriand society too. Their involved with the Kula, exchanges, rituals etc but Malinowski never wrote about it. Female anthropologists of the 1970s would go and look for important men, and then they would study their values, their societies, what was important to them. These anthropologists assumed, that men followed male logics in this public/private divide in line with this divide between the domestic and public sphere. They would also assume that what went on in the public sphere, economy, politics was more important the domestic side. The concept of objectivity came to be regarded as a mode of male power. Feminists claimed that scientific ideals of universality, timelessness, and objectivity were inherently male-dominated and that the more feminist attributes of particularism, empathy and emotionality were devalued (Abu-Lughod 1990). Feminists argued that to take over male domination these female attributes had to be given more importance and made clear. Abu-Lughods ideal way of doing research is when a female ethnographer takes part in the ethnography, rather then removing herself, who listens to other womens voice and gives accounts (Abu-Lughod 1990). The female ethnographer is able to do so because although the women studied differ from the ethnographer, she shares part of the identity of her informant. The female researcher therefore has the appropriate tools to understand the other womans life (Abu-Lughod 1990). this is why according to Abu-Lughod female ethnography should be an ethnography with women at the centre written by and for women. Abu-Lughod says that early feminist anthropologists did not really do anything about knowledge. They had good intentions but they didnt do much as they were trapped in ways of thinking that had been given to them by the masculine nature of the academy. Let us now discuss the first part of Abu-Lughods statement, whether feminist ethnography should be an ethnography with women at the centre written by women. Abu-Lughod claims that women understand other women in a better way. The female researcher shares some form of identity with her subject of study (Abu-Lughod 1990, Caplan 1988). For example some women have experience of form of male domination which puts the researcher in a good position to understand the women being researched. At the same time, the researcher keeps a certain distance from her informant and therefore can both have a partial identification with her subject of study, so blurring the distinction between the self and other, and still being able to account being able to account for others separateness (Strathern view in Caplan 1988). In a Weberian sense, the female researcher can use herself as an ideal type by analyzing the similarities and differences between herself and other women. According to Abu-Lughod, this i s the best objectivity that achieved (Abu-Lughod 1990, Weber 1949). Pat Caplan (1988) offers a good example of partial identity and understanding between women. According to Caplan the most important task for an ethnographer is to try and understand the people whom she is studying. Caplan writes about the research she did in Tanzania, East Africa. In her twenties, the women in the village were happy, satisfied and free but when she went back ten years later she realized the problems women were facing daily. While Caplan could not empathise with her informants at an earlystage of her life, because their identities were too different, she could atleast do in her thirties. In comparison a male ethnographer would probably never have realized the difficulties women are facing in their society (Caplan 1988). There are two criticisms to this argument. Firstly, to understand women, the female ethnographer has to take men into account as well because as it has been argued in the second wave of feminism the relationship between men and women is an important factor to understand society. So the partial identity between women that gives Abu-Lughods statement its importance but it loses it when a man enters the stage (Caplan 1988). Secondly, there is a danger to feminist ethnographers who only base their studies on women, treating women as the problem or exception of anthropological research and writing monographs for a female audience. In the 1980s feminist writers have argued that the construction if only two sexes and genders is arbitrary and artificial. Peoples sexual identities are infact between the two extremes of male and female. By only looking at womens worlds and dealing with an limited female audience, feminist ethnographers, even though stressing the marginalized part of the dualis m, enforce the traditional categories of men and women rather then allowing for a plurality of gender of genders (Moore 1999, Caplan 1988). Nancy Hartstock says why is it that just when subject or marginalized peoples like blacks, the colonized and women have begun to have and demand a voice, they are told by the white boys that there can be no authoritative speaker or subject (Abu-Lughod, p.17). To be in favour of Abu-Lughods argument it can be said that maybe the putting forward of this kind of ideal types, or points of reference, of men and women is what we need in order not to fall victim to daunting relativity and imprecise ethnographic work ( Moore 1999, Harraway 1988). For Abu-Lughod it is important for the ethnographer to be visible, this is because the reader can contextualize and understand the ethnographer in a important way. Whether the ethnographer is a woman should also be made clear. The ethnographer would also have to tell the reader about all of her background e.g. economic, geographic, national so the reader can properly understand the research. By only saying that the ethnographer is female and that sh e is doing research about women for women, the differences between all these women are overlooked. For example what would a white middle-class American single woman have in common with a poor Sudanese woman from the desert who has seven children, than she has in common with a middle-class Indian businessman who flies to San Francisco atleast twice a year? (Caplan 1988). Women are different everyone in the world and they come from different cultures so how can a ethnographer even if shes female say that she can write ethnographies about women and for women in general? It is unlikely that a non-western, non-middle class, non anthropologist will read the female ethnography written by a feminist scholar (Abu-Lughod 1990, Caplan 1988). There is a danger to implicitly apply Western stereotypes of feminity when doing research on women in parts of the world where the idea of being woman might be very different from the one we are familiar with (Abu-Lughod 1990). This criticism, is not totally dismissing Abu-Lughods statement because the anthropologist explicitly talks about partial identity not absolute identification or sameness. Abu-Lughods theory is strong in a way also, because she emphasizes particularity rather than universality and generality. In Donna Haraways words, The only way to find a larger vision, is to be somewhere in particular (Haraway 1988, p.590). Abu-Lughod focuses on stopping the male-centeredness in human science. This, as has been argued, is not enough: If women truly want to counter the male-centeredness in ethnographic writing, they not only have to get rid of the fact that it is mostly written by men for men, but should also counter all the other aspects of alleged scientific ideals such as universality, objectivity, generality, abstractness and timelessness. Female ethnographies, in that sense, do not have to be about women only in order to be distinct from conventional or male ethnography (Lutz 1995). On the other hand, feminist scholars have argued that male researchers tend to ignore womens lives and accounts, regard it as inappropriate to write about them or find it unnecessary to deal with their issues (Caplan 1988). In that sense, in order to compensate this imbalance, someone, i.e. the feminist scholars, has to do the job in order to give more power to women (Caplan 1988, Haraway 1988). The participation of women in public life has changed specially after the second world war, but there are still differences: womens voices are considered as being less competent, irrational, emotional and not worthy (Lutz 1995). Feminist scholars have also faced difficulties in the professional world, they might not have faced prejudice against their theories but situations like finding publishers for their research, less job opportunities (Caplan 1988). Feminists in return have reacted to this by adopting a tactic of resistance, rather than assimilating to masculine topics or styles of writing, they have stressed and looked for their distinct feminist ethnographic style (Lutz 1995). Abu-Lughod has therefore by bringing up her theory given power to anthropological feminists she has given them a tool to reflect different realities in a female way. This argument raises another question of who is actually being empowered by a feminist ethnography. Is it the women who are being studied? Or the feminist ethnographers themselves? What should matter more than reflexive ethnography or a feminist style of writing. What should matter more than the way an ethnography is constructed, or the way it is seen by the reader; what should matter more is the conclusions the researcher draws from ethnographic work and how it its put into praxis and used to empower the informants themselves. This applies more to a female ethnography that needs to counter the discrimination of women all over the world (Enslin 1994). It is important to give women their voice by writing about them but also accounts of marginalized women by themselves (e.g. autobiographies of black non-western women) remain marginalized, even in the field of womens writing or studies: feminist ethnography in Abu-Lughods terms thus undermines the agency of the women who are being studied (Enslin 1994). Female ethnographic writing has also been criticized for being exploitative. When a female researcher tells personal life stories and problems of the women whom sh e is studying, the researcher tends to give more intimate details than more positivist masculine researchers do, for her own academic purposes she is misusing her informants (Enslin 1994).

The Harsh Treatment of Women in Afghanistan Essay -- Culture

The Harsh Treatment of Women in Afghanistan Since the tragedies of September 11th 2001, Americans have really opened their eyes to the political state of Afghanistan. The poor treatment of women in Afghanistan is an issue that, for many Americans, just seems to be coming to light as a serious concern that requires outside attention. Extreme Islamic leaders in the country persist in limiting the freedom that Afghan women have. Women in the Taliban-controlled country suffer unusually hideous acts of torment and are forced to abide by outrageous regulations because of stringent enforcement methods. Afghan women daily live lives restricted by Taliban law and risk having to endure cruel punishment and torture, yet Afghan political leaders continue to justify the their treatment of Afghan women. The Islamic women of Afghanistan are denied many of the same liberties that Americans take for granted everyday. Although the religion that they have faith in, according to Janelle Brown’s â€Å"Terror’s First Victims†, â€Å"guarantee[s] women status in society as individuals and religious d...