The Sum Total of the Equipment of the Human Individual

Culture in ancient times was defined as â€Å"the sum total of the equipment of the human individual, which enables him to be attuned to his immediate environment on the historical past on the other†. It reflects in effect what humans have added to Nature. It comprises the spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of a society and includes, in addition to the arts and letters, the value systems, traditions, modes of life and beliefs of the society. It also absorbs from other cultures and undergoes changes with time, sometimes beneficial, sometimes regressive. (Barlas, 15). Culture shock is a severe psychological reaction that results from adjusting to the realities of a society radically different from one†s own. The actual degree of culture shock may vary depending on the differences and similarities between the society studied and the persons† own society. The symptoms may range from mild irritation to surprise or disgust. (Scupin, 124). Usually after the person experiencing culture shock learns the norms, beliefs, and practices of the community, the psychological disorientation of culture shock begins to diminish. This paper will be based upon culture shock and international business. There are three areas where culture shock could affect you: 1. Emotions-you have to cope with the stress of international work and keeping an emotional balance in order to perform in a business. 2. Thinking style- you have to understand how your counterparts think and be able to develop culturally effective solutions. 3. Social skills and social identity- you need effective social skills to establish new business relationships. (Marx, 25). This differs from manager to manager, some managers seem to adapt in an almost chameleon –like way to different countries, whereas others cling desperately to their habits and their national approaches. Working in a new culture can produce a variety of reactions, such as; Inappropriate social behavior Inability to get close to your business partner and clinch the deal All of the above are possible reactions to culture shock, the shock we experience when we are confronted with the unknown the â€Å"foreign†. The term culture shock was coined by the anthropologists Oberg, who explained both the symptoms and the process of adapting to a different culture. The experience of a new culture is seen as an unpleasant surprise or shock- a shock that occur when expectations do not coincide with reality. (Marx, 5). In his original article, Oberg lists six main aspects of culture shock: 1. Strain caused by the effort to adapt. 2. Sense of loss and feelings of deprivation in relation to friends, status, profession and possessions. 3. Feeling rejected by or rejecting members of the new culture. 4. Confusion in role, values and self-identity. 5. Anxiety and even disgust/anger about foreign practices. 6. Feelings of helplessness, not being able to cope with the new environment. Culture shock in all its diverse form is completely normal and is part of a successful process of adaptation. Oberg also developed a model of adaptation that suggests that going abroad or working internationally put you through or cycle of distinct phases on the way to final adaptations. The first stage is the honeymoon phase, where all encounters in a new place are seen as exciting, positive and stimulating. The new life is viewed as providing endless opportunities and the manager is usually in a state of exhilaration. There is openness and curiosity, combined with a readiness to accept whatever comes. Most importantly, at this stage judgment is reserved and even minor irritations are suppressed in favor of concentrating on the n ice things about the job, the country, the colleagues, the food, etc. In the second phase, culture shock sets in- the manager realizes that something is not quite right. This experience of foreignness can start with a creeping awareness of disorientation and a feeling of not quite knowing what is going on. It can also include very negative symptoms, such as stress (being unable to sleep or eat), irritability, and a negative view of the job, the country and colleagues. This phase is characterized by a general unease that can involve being uncomfortable with the new situation but can border on hating everything foreign. The main reason for these symptoms is an uncertainty about our surroundings our future and ourselves. The usual signs if orientation and belonging do not exist, we don†t quite know who we are without the familiar social context, and the way our foreign colleagues behave seems all wrong. How individual managers deal with this particular phase and its emotions, thinking and expectations are essential for their overall adaptation in the long run. The ideal approach is to use the symptoms and the unpleasantness as a clear indicator that it is time to change our approach and to engage in some form of self-development both in dealing with our emotions and in understanding ourselves and others. The worst type of approach is to ignore the symptoms, to resort to superficial solutions or to adapt a rigid stance of believing that only out methods are correct and forcing these methods/management techniques on foreign colleagues. The third phase of recovery usually starts with accepting that we have a problem and that we have to work on it. Both recovery and the final adjustment phase usually involve a compromise between the feeling and thinking of the honeymoon phase and the culture shock phase. This compromise is between our exaggerated expectations and reality. In the final, adjustment stage managers are able to work effectively, know the limitations ways of doing things and most importantly, are able to be more flexible. (Marx, 8).

Dollar General Corporation Essay

Abstract Dollar General Corporation is United States largest small-box discount retailer headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee [1]. Dollar General offers both name brand products and generic merchandise [2]. Its competitors include Family Dollar, Dollar Tree which also operate in deep discount segment of US retailing. The following case study discusses about the various political, economic, social and technological forces that Dollar General have faced and their impact on the company. The report also talks about the critical success factors of Dollar General. The report is concluded by summary of key learning’s from the case study. PEST Analysis for Dollar General Political: In the year of 2006, Janet Calvert, a former store manager, filed a complaint that she was paid less than the male storage managers because of her gender, in violation of the Equal Pay Act and title VII of Civil Rights act of 1964. There were other plaintiffs which were added to this case. This case resulted in Dollar General reaching a settlement in principle, by which it would pay $15.5 million to the plaintiffs and their legal charges costing around $3.25 million. The company was expected to receive reimbursement of $15.9 million from its Employment Practices Liability Insurance if these payments were approved by the court. This case did impact Dollar General Approach towards pay setting policies and procedures for new store managers [3]. Economic: During the recession period from 2007-2009, the customers of Dollar stores suffered from unemployment and lower purchasing power. And even the people from higher income brackets started purchasing the dollar store products fo r seeking larger bargains. This led to the increase in the customer traffic and larger sales for Dollar stores. Dollar general  captivated upon this scenario and continually reviewed its merchandise mix, and adjusted it accordingly. It expanded its offerings of consumable goods to serve customers’ needs and increased its sales [3]. Dollar General captured trade-down shoppers who came from middle and higher level of incomes (who generally had not shopped at dollar stores for all these years, but came during the recession to find bargains). Over the time the company adjusted its pricing strategy for items by pricing it from $1 to no more than $10. And managers of this company also believed that the company’s ability to attract customers of varying economic status depends on offering both national and store brands [3]. This way Dollar General was able to satisfy the customers of varying economic status, which resulted in more sales and profit for the company. Social: Consumer psychology during the recession period was to get the products at a lower price and the store to be available at a convenient distance (not too far). During this time Dollar General varied its price from $1 to no more than $10 and offered consumable goods at a very reasonable price. And it has also opened new stores within the reach of 3 to 5 miles, so that every customer is able to get easy access to their neighbourhood store [3]. This resulted in satisfying customer’s need as well as increasing company’s sales. Technology: During the year 2008 when the cost of the fuel increased, the Dollar General’s distribution costs went up and the company’s gross profit was affected. In order to mitigate this problem, the company completed the installation of a voice pick system by the year 2010 in all the distribution centres, so that the employees in the distribution centres can communicate with warehouse software systems by speech recognition [3]. This was a good strategic move by the company as its use is expected to increase rapidly over the next few years with evolving technological advancements. The company also installed new analytical and monitoring tools to assist with inventory shrinkage reduction efforts [3], which was a major part of company’s effort to increase gross margin. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS’s for Dollar General In this case for instance, good leadership and management was a CSF for Dollar General. As we can see that, there was major expansion of business activities and stores with the entry of David Perdue (the company’s new  general manager) in the year 2003. In addition, the company through his leadership also initiated Project Alpha, which was based on extensive analysis of performance of each store and the company’s inventory management model. Few of the structural changes that company undergone during this project include shutting down over 400 underperforming stores and writing off old inventory. These strategic alignments have been the major part of company’s CSF, as it was able to focus more on most viable stores and new inventories which have led the company into high effectiveness in their business activities [4]. Moreover, the company specialized in low, middle and fixed income families as their major customers. This has been used as the company’s CS F, as this group forms the largest proportion in the market. Even though the purchasing power of this category is low when compared to the higher segments in U.S. but their huge population is a contributory factor for success of the company [4]. Dollar General Social responsibility Rick Dreiling, Chairman and CEO of Dollar General, explained the company’s commitment towards literacy through the Dollar General Literacy Foundation program. The company actively engages customers in a way: â€Å"At each and every cash register of a Dollar General store, customers get to learn about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation program through brochures with a postage-paid reply card that can be mailed in for a referral to a local organization that offers exclusively free literacy services. Further, they also have the opportunity to donate money to this worthy cause. In 2012, Dollar General Customers donated more than $10 million to directly benefit the Dollar General Literacy Foundation’s efforts in helping people learn how to read, speak English or get their General Education Diploma (GED) [5].† Key learning’s from the case From this case one can clearly understand that Dollar General played its cards right. When there was recession, the company retained its regular customers and attracted new customers by adjusting sales mix in order to drive more customer traffic and larger purchases. It expanded its stores by taking the advantage of weak real estate market to lower its operating costs for future years. Careful management of merchandise categories had allowed  Dollar General to increase its same-store sales. Private label brands during recession helped increase the growth of the company. These all strategic moves which were made under efficient leadership and management transformed the company into a leader in the dollar store retail sector with sales of more than $13 billion by 2011 [3]. References [1] Dollar General, Retrieved October 11 2014, http://www2.dollargeneral.com/About-Us/pages/Index.aspx [2] Dollar General, Retrieved October 11 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_General [3] Parnell, John A. (2014). Strategic Management: Theory and Practice. 4th edition. SAGE Publications. [4] Dollar General Case Memo Marketing Essay, Retrieved October 11 2014, http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/dollar-general-case-memo-marketing-essay.php [5] Amway, GM, and Dollar General among corporations making ‘Good’ A Goal, Retrieved October 10 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2013/08/29/amway-gm-and-dollar-general-among-corporations-making-good-a-goal/2/

History of Physical Education Essay

A brief history of physical education in the United States would kick off in the nineteenth century. There was growing popularity of formal physical education programs all across Europe where calisthenics and gymnastics were all the rage. American schools looked to follow the European model by incorporating physical education into the curriculum for primary and secondary schools. And a brief history of physical education would not be complete with a consideration of institutes of higher education that gradually built up extremely successful sports programs. How it began The brief history of physical education would start in just about 1820 when schools focused on gymnastics, hygiene training and care and development of the human body. By the year 1950, over 400 institutes had introduced majors in physical education. The Young Men’s Christian Association launched its very first chapter in 1851 and focused on physical activities. Colleges were encouraged to focus on intramural sports particularly track, field and football. But physical education became a formal requirement following the civil war when many states opted to pass laws that required schools to incorporate a substantial physical education component into their curriculums. But it was not till 1970 that an amendment was made to the Federal Education Act that allowed women from high school and college to compete in athletic competitions. Sex-based discrimination was completely outlawed from government funded programs at this point. THE HISTORY OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND ADAPTED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN GREECE. In Greece the latest years special education has followed the same progression as in any other country in Europe but in a very slow pace. Specifically, Special Education services were available to Greek children since the beginning of the 20th century, adapted Physical Education was introduced the last two decades. After the first half of the century various associations developed intense activity with the aim to protect specific groups of people with special needs such as, the blind, the deaf and motionaly disabled. The initiative had clearly charitable characteristics with pity as the main feeling. The state welfare was non-existent every kind of care and prevention was accorded to the authorization of the charitable organization that with full power decided during the course of the years about the life and the future of thousands of people with special needs. The offers of the individuals had the form of institutional care (enclosed protection) with the offer of basic knowledge. The interest of private initiative led to the introduction of various institutional units and schools; firstly in the area of Attica and then in other cities of Greece. Some of the first institutions, which were created, was the â€Å"house of the blind† in 1906, the â€Å"house of the deaf and dump† in 1923, and the â€Å"Hellenic organization for the protection and rehabilitation of disabled children†. In 1937 much late there were more branches created such as the â€Å"national institution for the protection of the deaf and dump† in 1937, the â€Å"lighthouse of the blind† in 1946, the â€Å" school of the blind in North Greece† in 1948 etc. These institutions housed a great number of children but the role of the individuals was not only always a charitable one. However, the private sector helped in its way the state preparation so as to take up later the responsibility and interfere institutionally. The first state interferences began in 50’s and concerned mainly legislation arrangements for the blind and after for the motionaly disabled. The state however was interested in the group of the mentally retarded children and later in the motionaly disabled, which the private agents had completely ignored. The first school, which was founded by the state for the mentally retarded children, was the â€Å" original special school of Athens† in 1937. Many people considerthe state interference in the space of special education during the 30’s non-occasional. The considerable evolutions of pedagogical and psychology sciences, the establishment of obligatory attendance for all the children and the great number of mentally retarded children comparatively with other groups of â€Å" inferior individuals† was a reality which the Greek state could not ignore. From the mid of 50’s the 70’s the developments in special education came again from the wide activity of the private sector while the state followed with mainly legislation inferences and the well known sympathy towards the people with special needs. So, during this period educational units were founded and â€Å"deaf and dumb† schools in various areas of Greece and units for motionaly-disabled people. Another offer of the private sector was the foundation of children’s neuropsychiatry clinics and schools for the group of â€Å"marginal adults† and â€Å" mentally retarded children†. The exemplification of the Greek state and the educational policy of the western countries begins in the mid of the 70’s approximately. Specifically towards the end of the 70’s measures were promoted for the professional rehabilitation of the disabled by giving motives to employers for the employment of these people. Since 1980 and then special classes for the children with, learning difficulties and slight mental retardment began to be estamplished. The Greek state in the 80’s seems to desire to participate actively with the other social factors in an attempt of reorganization of the philosophy and pre-existent structure concerning the people with special needs, which imposed their life and social back round. Precisely, emphasis was given in the whole development and the development of the potential of the people with special needs, their introduction in the productive procedure and their mutual acceptance in the social group. Today, thousands of individuals with disabilities are introduced to sports in various settings such as schools or in sports clubs in both segregated and integrated settings by a variety of national and international organizations. The momentum for such change is contributed to several reasons: †¢ One of the most important reason is the introduction and approval of a new law, which mandates not only free public education for all children, but most important integration of children with disabilities in schools settings. This law is consideredas a springboard for the recognition for all children’s rights to participate in physical education activities. †¢ A second reason, is beginning of 90’s the implementation of the program â€Å"Sports for All†, which is organized by the General Secretariat of Sports and implemented with the support of different municipalities within Greece. †¢ A third reason, is the mandatory exposure of all students of physical education in adapted physical activity course work during their core university studies. In this way they have the opportunity not only to be introduced, but also to become specialized later on this subject. This has considerably affected their attitude to teach integrated sports. †¢ A fourth reason is the organization of the Paralympic Games of 2004, which is considered one of the largest events in the world. Due to the magnitude of this event, Greece started to evaluate the current status of the movement for sports for the disabled people, as well as, begin to take important actions towards the best organization of the games.

Information Technology Ethics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Technology Ethics - Term Paper Example Cyber crimes are here to stay. As Price stated, â€Å"As the number of computer owners connected to the internet increases, so too does the opportunity for cyber crime† (Price, 2010). Chantler in his review of the book, â€Å"The Reality of the Threat† by Nigel Phair (2007) cited Phair’s description of the different cyber crimes (Chantler, 2007). Phair noted (as cited by Chantler 2007) that cyber crimes can be broadly divided into seven groups namely: 1) unwanted software; 2) identity crime; 3) phishing; 4) critical infrastructure protection; 5) intellectual property; 6) communications; and 7) terrorism (Chantler, 2007). Hacking activities, spyware, adware, cookies, Trojans, spams and viruses fall under unwanted software. Unwanted software may be found either outside or within the organization. The second and third types of cyber crime, identity crime and phishing, deal with proof of identity, authentication of internet users and the tools used to get information . Chantler goes on further to cite Phair’s description of the other divisions of cyber crimes (2007). Critical infrastructure protection crimes are the crimes which involve the destruction of the information structures such as telecommunications and computer networks. On the other hand, crimes on intellectual property are concerned with software piracy. Cyber crime on communications is another form of cyber crime which gets much attention from organizations. These type of crimes include risks and threats on â€Å"wireless devices, VoIP (voice-over-internet protocol) - such as Skype and Google-talk, third generation phone systems, issues with caller ID, clipping, v-bombing, sim boxing, internet dumping, PABX hacking, phoneline scanning, voicemail, cloning, Bluetooth, RFID† and issues on privacy (Chantler, 2007). Like any other group of society, terrorists have also resorted to digital technology in carrying out their activities. They use cyber space to commit crimes suc h as information warfare and distributed denial of service attacks (ddos) (Chantler, 2007). One of the most common crimes which Chantler failed to mention is cyber bullying. Over the years, there has been a proliferation of cyber bullying crimes worldwide. Cyber bullying is â€Å"bullying through email, instant messaging (IMing), chat room exchanges, Web site posts, or digital messages or images send to a cellular phone or personal digital assistant (PDA)† (Hazelden Foundation, n.d.). Cyber bullying involves online harassment which has become more severe through the years sometimes even the cause of some suicides among teenagers. Electronic Monitoring of Employees One of the offshoots of the advancement in information technology is the growth in the extent of workplace monitoring in several companies. Software such as Websense, SurfControl, SmartFilter and Xora have sprung up as corporations saw the need to monitor employees in the workplace. These software make it easy for m anagement to monitor the computer, internet or email use of the employees. A software like Xora can even go as far as monitoring an employee’s whereabouts through GPS technology on their company’s mobile phones (Dell & Cullen, 2006). According to sellers of Web and email monitoring software, employee productivity, corporate liability and bandwidth limitations are the major reasons why workplace monitoring is implemented by corporations (Lemos, 2001). In a study by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute, it was revealed that 76% of employers

Annotated Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 13

Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example The source further reveals that self service automated customer care need not be low quality now that they are often low cost. From the source, it emerges that Google needs to do a lot in terms of improving its customer service including making better designs of its products. This web article provides a detailed analysis of the strategies used by Google to position itself in the market. Among other issues that the article discusses is Google’s positioning with respect to Google branded smartphones, notebooks, and tablets. It emerges from the source that one of Google’s supply chain objectives is to commoditize sectors that it cannot dominate cheaply. Nassivera, J. (2014, June 12). Google introduces My Business service to improve company and customer relationship. HNGN. Retrieved from http://www.hngn.com/articles/33621/20140612/google-introduces-my-business-service-to-improve-company-and-customer-relationship.htm In this web article, Nassivera discusses about Google’s innovative product that goes by the name â€Å"Google My Business†. The product is dedicated to improving customer relations and is targeted at businesses across all economic sectors. The product makes it possible for businesses to identify and serve loyal customers though such services as Hangout and Google plus. Apart from the information that the source provides in respect of Google My Business, the business provides vital statistics related to the number of small businesses that own websites. Shwartz’s article reveals the thoughts of a Googler, DeWitt Clinton, on why it is not feasible for Google to maintain a customer support team. The article reveals that on a global scale, Google has billions of users every day, only a very minute percentage of this population requiring support. The organization would need roughly 20, 833 people to work as part of its support team to meet the global demand for support

BIOTECHNOLOGY Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BIOTECHNOLOGY - Coursework Example Human cloning in its most basic form is the act of taking one individual and making an exact biological replica of that organism (Genetic Science Learning Center, 2013). Dolly the Sheep was conceived and born into the world; however she suffered from a few health conditions, including rapid aging, which ultimately claimed her life at half the life span of a normal sheep. This means that cloning does come with the some obvious and unavoidable side effects that cannot go unaddressed. At the same time, it, also, offers some amazing potential benefits that cannot be ignored. For this reason, the debate over cloning of any living thing will remain ever-present for some time to come. Cloning is at the top of the list of potential biotechnological advances. Given the provided definition of biotechnologies, cloning, ultimately, fits in nicely with that definition. Cloning could provide means to treat illness, eliminate the need for unrelated organ donors, and better the medical futures of generations of people. Some researchers believe that cloning of animal and plant life could be the solution to hunger; not only can the numbers be forcibly produced, but disease and weaknesses can be bred out. It is human beings stepping into the role of creator and providing themselves with what they â€Å"need.† In this case, it is the ability to develop clones of living people for whatever endeavors that they see fit. This may allow human beings, particularly, to breed for desired traits and eliminate those that are not; they may even be able to inbreed resistance to certain diseases. It could, also, be beneficial for people unable to produce offspring of their own; inf ertility could be completely overridden (Oak, 2011).The potential positive outcomes are inviting. However, there are side effects that are far less attractive. There is the possibility of misuse of the technology, of course. There are the concerns involving the limiting of genetic

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 52

Leadership - Essay Example From a personal perspective, the cost of running an organization should be reflected by the organization performance. On this note, an organization that is laying off its employees and pays high salaries to the executives lacks the capacity to grow (Barkema & Gomez-Mejia, 2010). Notably, there are a number of reasons why organizations offer huge packages to their executive members. The main argument is to avoid executives turn over when business talent is limited and to motivate them to drive the organization to success. My decision to accept or refuse a high package from a failing organization would have consequences. To begin with, paying high salary to top level management will increase the expenses to the organization (Barkema & Gomez-Mejia, 2010). From a personal perspective, accepting the job offer would increase my burden in handling my duties. I would be forced to seek alternative ways to reduce the cost of running the organization. I would prefer an organization that provides less pay but maintains its labor force intact. This way, I would work together with a strong team to achieve higher profits. Increasing the company profits would provide an opportunity to review the salary scales in line with company income. On this note, declining an outrageous offer in failing company would be a wise decision in the long

Denver art museum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Denver art museum - Essay Example One can easily identify that Swentzell inculcated the traditional pottery making process discovered by Santa Clara potters. In the Artwork, one can see a Tewa clown with a broken horn. He is fully immersed in the process of repairing his horn, which seems to be broken. The foreground of the work consists of colors like brown and grey. The background consists of shades of black and blue. The combination of brown and black, especially the black stripes helps the viewer to realize the importance of the process of repairing the broken horn. I like this figure because it gives due importance to traditional pottery making technology. II. Tipi, Standing Bear The Artwork Tipi (see appendix -2), by Standing Bear represents the nomadic lifestyle of Native American tribal people. The Tipi is a particular dwelling place which is made up of buffalo hides. Linda A. Holley states that â€Å"As cloth material became available in the early mid- nineteenth century, covers started to change† (31 ). Now, canvas is used to make tipi. In this artwork, Standing Bear made use of drawings to decorate the same. From the artwork, one can easily identify that the construction of a tipi is simple. For instance, a number of sticks are used to make the structure. But the drawing that can be seen on the outer surface is complicated. For instance, in the Artwork, one can see a number of horses and human beings.

American Airline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Airline - Essay Example At the same time, it maximizes on the profits whenever apparent (Oliver, 108). In addition, this strategy trims down the stiff competition from rival airlines and enhances quality services (Koontz, 439). To understand how the airline maximizes profits and selling amount needed to determine the optimal mix of fare for this flight, the super 80 jet with a carrying capacity of 125 to calculate was provided. Exhibit 1 shows past information of this flight’s cumulative graph and shows that the fare for this flight ranges from $170-$750 per seat. Chances are that 20-25 booking opportunities will be vacant for us to retain the customers, as all tickets are refundable. This gives us enough time to bid new prices for the flight before any booking announcement has taken place. Additionally there is a 15% and 20% no show flow of local passengers, and obviously, demand is greater for the lower charge than the higher charge; hence, no fiscal records for no-shows. Profits are an unconstructive action due to spoilage and over-sale penalties, yet it is an affirmative action due to the optimal mix fares. The percentage of cost incurred due to spoilage is $150 each, and the penalty for over-sa le is $100 per passenger for five passengers and below, $250 per passenger for six to ten passengers and $500 per passenger for eleven and more passengers. Fares are determined by the rule of supply and demand; that is, when the departure date is near, and the fare decreases when the flight is sparsely booked, and seats start to run out the fare increases. In regard to the super 80 jet, the capability of bidding the prices is used to compel acceptance or rejection of bookings, which is from $170-$750 per seat. For example, a customer asked for the pro-rated fare, which is greater or equal to your bid price, the entire passengers are accepted with the same fare, thus determining the proceeds. As stated earlier, profits are determined

Private University In Sylhet, Bangladesh Essay Example for Free

Private University In Sylhet, Bangladesh Essay At first I want to give thanks to the almighty ALLAH for helping me to make this assignment. I also want to give thanks my course instructor Mr. Zubayer Al Mahmood sir for offering me to make such an interesting assignment for giving me valuable instruction to fulfill the assignment. I tried to put my best effort for making the assignment successful. By facing some obstacle such as, lack of information, lack of knowledge, lack of depth understanding about the Tourist places in Sylhet I have made this assignment. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ My selected presentation topic is â€Å"private university’s in Sylhet† Basically private universities founded by some private person who try to establish a higher education system for the students. All we are know that Private universities always play very important role in education sector. Very Huge number of students they study on private university. Every year private universities student’s r badly increased day bay day. There is some reason for this increasing. 1st of all private universities have some advantage and beside limited site number of public university’s and limited sit number. Besides there are other way to get higher education which is on national university’s and study abroad. Both of these systems have some disadvantage. That’s why Private University’s demand encasing day by day. Now let’s see about private universities of Sylhet. All we are know that there are 3 private University in Sylhet. Which is? ? Leading University ? Metropolitan University ? Sylhet International University Note: But good news is that some more private universities are waiting for government approved. They will start their academic curriculum soon. Northeast University Bangladesh is one of them. Northeast University gate Well, Leading University is the 1st government approved private university in Sylhet Division. Leading University started their academic curriculum on 2001 with the few number of student and few numbers of departments. It’s situated in â€Å"Modhubon Supermarket† in Bonder Bazar, which is the heart of Sylhet district. Now they have huge number of students and enough departments as well. Currently about 5000 students are studying here and also have 9 departments at Leading University. And 9 departments are given. below as a list. Library Room *And 9 departments are given below as a list. 1. Department of Business Administration 2. Department of Architecture 3. Department of Civil Engineering 4. Department of Computer Science Engineering 5. Department of Electrical Electronics Engineering 6. Department of English 7. Department of Law the University offers the following undergraduate programs: 8. Master of Business Administration 9. Master of Computer Science Engineering. University facilities: Mosque Well, This University provides huge number of facility’s for their student. The University follows the American system, with all its peculiarities, semester, credit, letter grades, credit transfer, a system tester and so on. Leading University provides activities designed by its own particular club, such as Debating Club, Sports Club, mosque, Cultural Activities Club, Social Service Club and Computer Club, BNCC, Sports club, And a Big Library. Computer Lab Now let’s know about Teacher Student Relationship: I can simply express this relation by using very well. Yes teacher Student Relation is very good. A relationship with your students that enables you to firstly be their mentor but also secondly to be their friend is a key aspect to becoming a successful teacher. We as teachers are the role models for the students. Having a trusting relationship with the students allows us to promote the best learning possible. Teacher is very helpful for the student especially for the wicked students. If any student get heard then teachers are try to convince them. Cultural Program Problems: There is some problem in Leading University. Some as there have no hostel facilities, small campus, no own playground etc Sylhet Metropolitan University is the second largest university in Sylhet. It’s situated in 7th to 8th floor Al Hamra Shopping Center in Zindabazar. The campus of this university is really nice, small and well decorated. There is also having sufficient students. Lot of department facility’s in here. In front of campus University facilities: Sylhet Metropolitan University provides lot of facility’s for their students. Such as digital class room ,nice Cantina facility’s, Debating Club, Sports Club, Cultural Activities Club, Social Service Club and Computer Club, BNCC, Sports club, And a Big. Library Room Library facilities. One special facility of this university’s is that have several Hostel’s facility. There have little number of students which is extra advantage of Sylhet Metropolitan University. Cultural Program Teacher Student Relationship: There also have nice teacher student relationship. Students are very interested to learn there lesion and teacher are also helpful. Sometimes teacher take extra classes if he get late to complete their syllabus. A relationship with your students that enables you to firstly be their mentor  but also secondly to be their friend is a key aspect to becoming a successful teacher. We as teachers are the role models for the students. Having a trusting relationship with the students allows us to promote the best learning possible. Canteen Problems: Every university has some problems. The main problems of Sylhet Metropolitan University’s is Small campus, no own campus, no big playground limited classroom, insufficient teachers etc. Sylhet International University is one of the private universities in Sylhet. The Sylhet International University a privately funded institution of higher learning and research is dedicated to providing quality education commensurate with investment. This is one of the largest universities in Sylhet. There have also huge number of students. It’s situated in Shamimabad Sylhet which is some of outside in main urban of Sylhet city. The principal aim of the Sylhet International University is to provide high quality education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels relevant to the needs of a dynamic society. University facilities: Sylhet International University also provides lot facility’s fore there students. Such as digital class room facility ,Cantina facility, Debating Club facility, Sports Club facility, Cultural Activities Club facility, Social Service Club facility and Computer Club facility, BNCC facility, Sports club facility, And a Big Library facility. One special facility of this university’s is that they have own campus and several hostel facility. Gate Teacher Student Relationship: Teacher and student relationship of this university’s is not so well. A relationship with your students that enables you to firstly be their mentor  but also secondly to be their friend is a key aspect to becoming a successful teacher. We as teachers are the role models for the students. Having a trusting relationship with the students allows us to promote the best learning possible. But one this is true that maximum student of this university they are addicted in politics and that is why teacher not interested to convince them. Campus Class Room Problems: Lots of problems are in these private universities; such as Political violation, small campus, and small class room, insufficient skilled teacher etc.

The Long Process Of European Decolonization English Language Essay

The Long Process Of European Decolonization English Language Essay According to Helen Tiffin, Decolonization is a process, not arrival it has been the project of post-colonial writing to interrogate European discourses and discursive strategies from a privileged position within (and between) two worlds (Tiffin 95). At the moment of decolonization there are two kinds of responses to the imposition of imperial language: post colonial writers either choose rejection or subversion of the imposed tongue and the empire by writing back in a European language. As part of this the Indian English writers thrive hard to project the hybridity of post colonial realities and the use of English as a linguistic expression of that hybridity must be accepted. Writers including Raja Rao, Rushdie and Roy were aware of the fact that the subversion of English is the only strategy that recognizes the influence of the colonial experience while, at the same time, dismantling its supporting biases. Therefore nativizing and acculturating it (Kachru 294) is the device these po st colonial writers adopted, thus transforming standard English into many englishes as are the diverse post colonial realities.(Ashcroft 8) These englishes allow the post colonial writer to voice his particular experience while exploiting the advantages of using an international language. Salman Rushdie comments on how working in new englishes can be therapeutic. In the essay Imaginary Homelands, he explicates that, the English language is not something that can simply be overlooked and disregarded, but is the site where writers should try to sort out the problems that challenge emerging or recently independent colonies. He believes that by conquering English we can conclude the process of making ourselves emancipated. What we find in the writings of these novelists is a resistance to the dominant language-culture which is facilitated through a naturalization of it and stretching it to contain some authentic Indian expressions. Thereby they are invested with a power to appropriate and dismantle metropolitan discourses and to assert post colonial difference from Europe. The linguistic hybridization which results from the manipulation of English as the normative linguistic code by the emerging post-colonial voices as an act of subversion and a necessary step in the direction of cultural liberation, becomes the source for new strategies of writing which have generated some of the most exciting and innovative literatures of the modern period (Ashcroft 8). These hybrid linguistic practices are a reliable sign of an authentic articulation of indigenous voices. Linguistic hybridization results in syntactic flexibility and rapid enrichment of vocabulary. The Indian English writer challenges and redefines m any accepted notions of language and indulges in creating different versions or constructing a new language in our multilingual contexts. These are the in between languages which occupy a space in between and seeks to decolonize themselves from the Western ex-colonizer and subverts hierarchies and brings together the dominant and the under-developed. The Caliban- Prospero paradigm can be seen as an illustration of resistance enacted by postcolonial Indian writers where Caliban practices what he calls the language of the torturer mastered by the victim. His appropriation of Prosperos language rather than his rejection of it, is an appropriation that extends and enriches the possibilities of the English language in ways that are, perhaps, no longer possible for the English themselves. As Graham Huggan suggests, Indian writing (especially in English) is to a large extent a transnational, diasporic phenomenon, the product of complex collisions/collusions between East and West (66). Therefore, the term postcolonial nowadays has a wider definition and it denotes an index of resistance, a perceived imperative to rewrite the social context of continuing imperial dominance (Huggan ix). Post colonial Indian writing showcases a number of linguistic tensions and any interrogation of the experiences involves a simultaneous interrogation of language also. Indian English liberates itself from the parent language and tries to be on its own surpassing its hyphenated status. The deformations, deviations and irregularities found in Indian English is part of an attempt by the writer to master the texture of the original while amending and altering it considerably to suit the local conditions leading to the birth of a brand new English. In its reinstatement as Indian English, it certainly shakes off its colour and becomes heteroglossic, true to what Bakthin opined as anothers speech in anothers language. English turns into playful manipulation in the hands of these writers. As a form of self-assertion Indian writers playfully manipulate the language and relates them to the roots and culture of ones own and introduces circumstances for their self-expression. R.K. Narayan advocates writing in a genuinely Indian way without being self-conscious about it; English has proved that if a language has flexibility, any experience can be communicated through it, even if it has to be paraphrased sometimes rather than conveyed, and even if the factual detail à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is partially understood à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ All that I am able to confirm merely after thirty years of writing, is that it has served my purpose admirably, on conveying unambiguously the thoughts and acts of a set of personalities, who flourish in a small town located in a corner of South India. (Press 123) The Indian writers communicate the Indian sensibility and consciousness to dissociate themselves from the subtle nuances of the language and its flexible idiom in an instinctive and effortless manner through narrative structures associated with the ones prevalent in Indian oral and epic traditions to vindicate the spirit of India and its quintessential unity. According to Rushdie, the moment the Indian writer tries to shed the insular mentality of exclusion and to use English as his own without any anxiety or self-consciousness the language of the other becomes his property on which its first user will have no substantial claim. This approach invests the Indian writer with a freedom to articulate which they aimed to achieve it. Indian English can be seen as a distinct variety whose body is correct English usage, but whose soul, thought and imagery is Indian in colour, and an Indian idiom which is representative of the unique quality of Indian mind while in compliance with the exactne ss of the English usage. Linguist Braj Kachru argues, using a non-native language in native context, to portray new themes and characters and situations is like redefining the semantic and semiotic potential of a language, making language mean something which is not part of its traditional meaning. It is an attempt to give a new African or Asian identity, and thus an extra dimension of meaning. A part of that dimension perhaps remains obscure or mysterious to the Western reader. The process of creating new meanings in English, for those who write in two languages is a process of transcreation (Kachru 48).The creation of new meanings accompanies the creation of new identities. Meenakshi Mukherjee claims that; The Indo- Anglian writer should be allowed the freedom to experiment with the language for his own artistic needs rather than be heaved into a system of linguistics in search of that elusive medium; a standard Indian English (214). Indian English literature is replete with experimental language which includes forging new words, new idioms, new turns of expressions, new syntactic structures and new rhythms, Indianisms, violating the syntax and grammar of English to echo the regional speech and to recreate an Indian consciousness and also to induce better linguistic results. R.K. Narayan comments that the presence of Indianisms are unavoidable in their situation as all writers are experimentalists, not attempting to write Anglo-Saxon English. The English language, through, sheer resilience and mobility, is now undergoing a process of Indianisation in the same manner as it adopted U.S. citizenship over a century ago. The process of transmutation is to be viewed as an enrichment of the English language or a debasement of it. These writers, says Mulk Raj Anand, aim at consciously reorienting the language and synthesizing Indian and European values in contemporary India.(20) Indians have found a sense of peculiar int imacy with the English language, making it a second natural voice for the Indian mind and sensibility. He sees realized in it the power of Indian inheritance, the complexity of Indian experience, and the uniqueness of Indian voice.( Walsh 65, 71) Indianisms can be accepted as permissible violations of the English language if they are introduced for the sake of reflecting cultural overtones and undertones.(Verghese 181) Shaking off the traces of foreign acquisition, the language is moulded today as anew idiom. The language has to be broken to it, as it were, and made new. (Kantak 223) The process of adaptation has been gradual and pervasive. Kantak rightly points out; Everything depends, of course, on the intimacy of the adoption, the level reached in the process of naturalization. (224) Most linguistic innovations are purposive and have an authentic ring about them. And it is not mere reproduction; the transformation of language takes place at a high artistic pressure.(235) Commenti ng upon the contextualization of English on India, Kachru observes: Indian English has ramifications in Indian culture(which includes languages) and is used in India towards maintaining appropriate Indian patterns of life, culture and education. This, in short, we may call the Indianess of Indian English, in the same way as we speak of the Englishness of British English. (Kachru 282) He again remarks; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the distance between the natively used varieties of English and Indian English cannot be explained only by comparative studies of phonology and grammar. The deviations are an outcome of the Indianisation of English which has, gradually, made Indian English culture-bound in the socio-cultural setting of India. The phonological and grammatical deviations are only a part of this process of Indianisation.(85-86) The appropriation of English language by Indian English writers results in innovations that enrich English. They also use the text to construct a world of difference, separation, and absence from the metropolitan norms which arose from the experience of colonization and a compulsive necessity to write in response to the imperial powers by asserting their differences from the assumptions of the imperial centers. The writers resort to many strategies or specific postcolonial literary techniques like fragmentation, plurality, and language to subvert Western-colonial constructs of identity and culture. It is also projected as a retelling of individual experience as against the colonial representations of history, language, and textuality. True to what Salman Rushdie famously remarked, that in post-colonial culture, the Empire writes back to the centre, these writings create a challenging discourse as against the dominant Eurocentric discourse facilitating a re-imagining and restructuring of it through breaking down certain colonial assumptions and grand narratives. Indian fiction in English can be read as a counter-discourse, as a response, in part, to earlier universalizing Western texts of English colonial writers. The Indian writers write using English vocabulary but indigenous structures and rhythms which goes in line with Chantal Zabuss theory of relexifcation Those who utilize this technique use English to simulate another language and therefore are not merely using English but also modifying it. In this process the expressions of the postcolonial are functioning as an interlanguage, mimicking neither the European target language or the indigenous source language (Zabus 315). To personalize and to correspond to a particular national or regional identity, Indian writers parade their mastery over language to nativize and indigenize English. Diverse ways of nationalizing English is used as an effective tool to demarginalize the postcolonial experience. This takes many forms and the most prominent of which is linguistic demarginalisation whic h leads to what Brathwaite calls a nation language, a need felt by a host of post-colonial writers. At the moment of decolonization, the imperial language which was an instance of the cultural baggage that restrained and smothered the natives was destabilized. The Indian writers uses the English medium to convey hitherto unknown and unfamiliar roles like a whole new set of customs, social objects, and relationships, universal responsiveness, which goes into the creation of a new culture. This represents the conversion of the weapon of the colonizer as a linguistic blade where it is redirected back at the colonizer thereby liberating the enslaving medium into a revolutionary weapon with Indian message. It helps the writer to indulge in self-reflexive narrative as a counter-discursive strategy to strike against the totalizing colonialist literature and also to erase the dominant universalist canon of Europe and endorse the marginalized canons of various local cultures. An expression o f culture-specific experiences and sensibilities through English, undermine the totalizing notion of one standard literary English language that can include all human experiences. As a result, Indian English cease to be regarded as postcolonial, but rather as an expression of uniquely Indian identity. The contemporary Bengali writer and critic Amit Chaudhuri, in his seminal anthology of 2001 The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature, comments on the way English is used in India. Though used by a small but substantial group, English is now an Indian language, English is not an Indian language in the way it is an American language; nor is it an Indian language in the way that Bengali or Urdu. English is not an Indian language, but it has served so many useful and essential purposes of a developing society, this for so long that it has now become a kind of linguistic habit with us and cannot be easily discarded without a proper substitute. Writers like Vikram Seth, Rohinton Mistry, Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Anita Desai and more recently Kiran Desai, Shashi Tharoor, Pankaj Mishra and Amit Chaudhuri get gushing reviews and are the propagators and ambassadors of Indian writing in English. The following comments of Gokak present the recent assessment of Indian English writers ; Indo-Anglian writing is direct and spontaneous- like creative writing in any other language. It is conditioned in many ways by the peculiar circumstances of its birth and growth. (162) The use of English in India for almost two hundred years has naturally nativized the English language and it has also caused the entry of new words into the language which truly represent our culture and traditions and which is also used in non-Indian settings. The Indian linguistic and cultural context is flourishing everyday with new set of lexical items and typical Indian collocations. Srinivasa Iyengar is of the opinion that Indian writing in English is but one of the voices in which India speaks. It is a new voice, no doubt, but it is as much Indian as others (3) Indian writing in English has come a long way from that teething stage, developing a diversity of themes, a variety of forms and techniques, and, not the least, an authenticity and idiomatic expressiveness. (S.N.Sridhar 292) In the process of Indianisation and thereby to decolonize English, writers express every modes of feeling and thinking peculiar to the cultural milieu through words which are culture bound to describe everyday objects and convey the Indian sentiment. Strategies like vernacular transcription, loan words, syntactic fusion and use of rhythmic patterns and social conventions of Indian languages helps to bridge the cultural gaps and makes the use of the alien medium more acceptable to the non-native speakers themselves (Sridhar 298). English has been re-built to reflect the clarity of thought and shades of feeling to the extent they can realize within their own ecosystems. The Indian novelists in English have accelerated the process of desired linguistic deviation and according to Kachru, the process of Indianisation of English is a linguistic and cultural characteristics transferred to an adopted alien language.(19) In an attempt to disengage language from its socio-cultural roots and to make it conducive to the new user, the Indian writer liberates English from the precision and accuracy of its usage and disintegrates the stereotypical language functions to accommodate the native feel of the life. This leaves the language with a better freedom for the writer to exploit. Only a gradual and wider usage of the language to contain the burden of our local context and experience can lead to a complete decolonization of the language rather than a deliberate attempt to Indianise it. According to Gokak Indian English should represent the evolution of a distinct standard- a standard the body of which is the correct English usage, but whose soul is Indian in colour, thought and imagery.(3) As from all these illustrations we can conclude that the reappropriation of the ex-colonisers language, within a postcolonial frame of mind is a crucial thrust in terms of style for postcolonial writers. The writers I have chosen illustrate how one can authentically represent their native culture through Indian English which, at the same time, abrogates the Standard English as well as appropriates it for local discourses, thereby re-structuring deconstructing and decolonizing the English language to liberate it from within and to remould it for the purpose of dismantling the power structures of English grammar which are symbolic of the hegemonic controls implemented. The English used by these novelists, is a distinct English which is idiomatic, using a colloquial register that will certainly be familiar to a British reader but which contains an unmistakably Indian reference. It represents the new varities of englishes that are relocated, resettled and reincarnated language and indige nized to perform culture-specific functions. Rao has tried in his novels to conform the English language to Indian literary style and rhythm, and to make it express local myths and ideas. These writers are of the opinion that the subversion of English is the only strategy that recognizes the influence of the colonial experience while, at the same time, dismantling its supporting biases. Thus, on the Indian continent the English language was put to a revolutionary use by Rao, Rushdie and Roy. There works are clear illustrations of their efforts to completely relinquish the habitual linguistic practice and the formulation of an innovative, unrefined, critical and radical syntax. Another way of decolonization ably achieved by Indian writers like Raja Rao, Rushdie and Roy are through the Indianisation and acculturation of English language. Hence they are capable of formulating a new english which defies the western canons of power and controls and one which suits their requirements and which opens up spaces for creativity in Indian English. All these approaches are for redefining the medium, and contextualizing English in yet other socio-cultural and linguistic framework. Raja Raos Kanthapura, Rushdies Midnights Children and Shame and Arundhati Roys The God of Small Things where the writers uses a multiplicity of indigenizations, is an exemplary illustration of the trend, which has plenty of language rooted in local Indian culture. The Indian narrative of resistance begins with Raja Rao whose nativization of English is the best approach to avoid confined by Standard English structures and usage. He expressed his resistance to the language of the dominant discourse by rewriting its given structures. Writers like Raja Rao, Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy are involved in a process of indigenizing English. Language in its decontextualised way serves to denaturalize and decolonise thus subverting, diverting and twisting into new shapes and transformed into an alien material in order to express new realities. These writers exhibit a more intentional and calculated linguistic experimentation at several levels the outcome of which will lead to a decolonizati on of English. This decolonization of the language goes hand in hand with a desire to make it a more penetrating tool of artistic exploration. Post colonial writers like Raja Rao, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy have contributed to the discourse of hybridity through their works of dissent, challenge or subversion. It can be efficiently wrapped up that the practitioners of Indo- Anglian literature wield a decolonising pen (Rushdie). Rushdies prediction that Indians were in a position to conquer English literature seems justified.

Comparison of Parks: Central Park and Forest Park

Comparison of Parks: Central Park and Forest Park The Central Park Construction began on 1858, continued during the American Civil War, and was completed in 1873. New York as the most important economic center in Eastern United States, rises and falls several times, and the Central Park rises and falls as well. And today it is one of the most successful park in the city. The Forest Park, which opened in 1876, more than a decade after its proposal. St Louis as big city locate in Mid-Western United States, plays a very important role in the US history, The Forest Park changes several times, also rises and falls in its history. These two parks participate a very important role in the city, both of them are very large parks, and built contemporarily. In this paper, I will compare the similarities and differences between these two parks and try to find out the reason by using the urban design knowledge based on the development of the city. â€Å"Forest Park was originally designed as an English Romantic park with open, flowing spaces and diverse environs. Today it retains much of that character, especially in the eastern half of the park. Many of the spaces envisioned in the original 1876 plan, which designed by M. G. Kern, and 1904 Worlds Fair plan remain in some capacity, with a range of modified uses. The parks topography changes a lot after River Des Peres brailed into concrete sewer tubes. In 1876, Forest Park already had a prepared plan and was established. The park was envisioned as a great romantic landscape, with winding trails and carriageways through deep woods and pastoral fields surrounded by informal water bodies and naturalistic streams. At that time, the land had several owners and was primarily the site of farms and coal mines. The River Des Peres wandered through the northern and eastern parts of the area and a major east-west thoroughfare, Clayton Road, passed through the property. The first park commissioners authorized a plan for the new park, â€Å"To preserve the natural beauties of the ground, so that it will always appear in fact as well as in name, a Forest Park.† The plan called for a hippodrome, floral decorations, a bandstand, and a Forest Park Zoo. In preparation for Opening Day, June 24, 1876, 19 miles of roads and 20 miles of walkways were built along with some bridges, water and sewer pipes, including Round Lake, Pagoda Lake and a portion of Peninsula Lake. Other facilities included a restaurant, bandstand, a large race track, and superintendent’s home. A small zoo was built and later a fenced area for five buffalo became a major park attraction. By 1891, there was a variety of animals to be viewed by the public at no charge. In 1876-77 St. Louis City and St. Louis County separated, with Forest Park remaining part of the City. By 1894 the park had 2.5 million visitors, brought there by street car and improved roadways. Park activities were diverse, including annual bicycle race, carriage rides, boating, cricket, lacrosse, baseball, tennis, croquet, golf, and harness racing. The most significant changes to the park came as the result of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which was held over much of the parks western half. To accommodate the fair, most of the trees in the western part of the park were removed, except for what today is Kennedy Forest. Large portions of the park were land-filled to accommodate the new structures. The River Des Peres was rerouted, channeled and sections of it were placed underground. The Art Museum and the Zoos Flight Cage were remained. Grand Basin and Post-Dispatch Lake were reshaped from Peninsula Lake. The plan for the fair required that the park be returned to its original condition after the conclusion of the fair, but too many trees had been cleared and the added wear and tear of the fair left an indelible mark on the parks natural systems. In addition, after the fair, the park became the home for cultural and recreational facilities the Jefferson Memorial, Zoo, and Worlds Fair Pavilion were soon added- all done in a piecemeal fashion that did not adhere to any comprehensive plan. In the years following the Worlds Fair, up until the late 1920s, Forest Park underwent a series of changes which altered the shape, design, and use of many areas of the park. Many of these changes involved the addition of active recreation facilities in the park, under the guidance of Park Commissioner Dwight Davis. The changes, while greatly expanding the attraction of the park for many citizens, resulted in a park whose natural systems and linkages were disturbed, a condition that exists to this day. The park continued to change, as new facilities, institutions, and amenities were built. In 1930, the River Des Peres disappeared from the park as it was buried in two underground sewer pipes. More and more of the parks passive green space was replaced by buildings, athletic fields, golf courses and paths. Highway 64/40 and the Forest Park Parkway were routed through the parks perimeters during this time. Some attempts were made to plan for the parks continued growth during this period, but none had any significant physical impact. The 1983 plan was adopted by the Community Development Commission of the City of St. Louis as the only comprehensive plan for the park since the 1904 plan for the fair and the original plan of 1876. However, it was not significantly implemented. There have been a number of changes to the park subsequent to the 1983 plan. The most significant have been a number of road removals, road re-surfacing and in-fill of the lagoons around Post-Dispatch Lake. In Fall 1993, a plan was prepared by the New York firm of Kelly/Vernell Landscape Architects to augment the 1983 plans landscape component. However, it was never adopted or implemented. †[1] A comparison between the 1983 and 1993 plans reveal different approaches to the park. The most significant differences are: different attitudes regarding Grand Basin/ Art Hill and Post-Dispatch Lake area in terms of active recreation and access, circulation and parking; the 1993 Plan incorporating a more extensive lake and lagoon system; different resolutions for the cultural institutions expansion needs; and some differences in roads and paths. â€Å"Central Park is of great importance as the first real park made in this country – a democratic development of the highest significance and on the success of which, in my opinion, much of the progress of art and esthetic culture in this country is dependent. â€Å" Frederick Law Olmsted, August 1, 1858 The creation of Central Park is the beginning of the nation’s urban landscape park tradition. It plays a role of open space on the island of Manhattan: â€Å"the dynamic tension between pavement and pasture, between city noise and rural quiet, between fresh air and foul; between private and public land, between city and state government; between city square and urban park.†[2] It shows how an extraordinary work of public art emerged from the crucible of New York City politics. By 1800 New York City’s burgeoning commercial future was clear. The Central Park was not a part of the government’s plan until 1855, which the population of the New York City get four times than 1811’s. The City officials recognized the need to plan for the growth which to build a big park to makes more open space. In 1857, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won the Central Park Design Competition. Before the construction of the park, the original inhabitants of the land inhabited need to leave, however most of them are low income African-American, German or Irish immigrants, which lived in a relatively small village (such as Seneca Village), around 1,600 residents occupying the area at the time. In 1857, by public land expropriation legislation was imposed, the lands were recovered, while Seneca Village and other communities were demolished to make room for the construction of the park. In 1860 by the effort of park commissioners, theyfinalize the negotiations for the purchase of an additional 65 acres at the north end of the park, between 106th and 110th Streets. Between 1860 and 1873, most of the major hurdles to construction were overcome, and the park was substantially completed. â€Å"Following completion, the park quickly slipped into decline. One of the main reasons for this was the lack of interest of the Tammany Hall political machine, which was the largest political force in New York at the time. Around the turn of the 20th century, the park faced several new challenges. Cars were becoming commonplace, bringing with them their burden of pollution, and peoples attitudes were beginning to change. No longer were parks to be used only for walks and picnics in an idyllic environment, but now also for sports, and similar recreation. Following the dissolution of the Central Park Commission in 1870 and Andrew Greens departure from the project, and the death of Vaux in 1895, the maintenance effort gradually declined, and there were few, All of this changed in 1934, when Republican Fiorello La Guardia was elected mayor of New York City and unified the five park-related departments then in existence. Robert Moses was given the task of cleaning up the park. Moses, about to become one of the mightiest men in New York City, took over what was essentially a relic, a leftover from a bygone era. Despite the increasing numbers of visitors to the park, Robert Moses departure in 1960 had nevertheless marked the beginning of a twenty-year period of decline in its management. The city itself was also experiencing economic and social changes, with some residents fleeing the city and moving to the suburbs in the wake of increased crime. The Parks Department, suffering from budget cuts and a lack of skilled management that rendered its workforce virtually ineffective, responded by opening the park to any and all activities that would bring people into it—regardless of their impact and without adequate management, oversight, or maintenance follow-up. Some of these events nevertheless became milestones in the social history of the park, and in the cultural history of the city. Management of the restored landscapes by the conservancy’s zone gardeners proved so successful that core maintenance and operations staff were reorganized in 1996. The zone-based system of management was implemented throughout the park, which was divided into forty-nine zones. Consequently, every zone of the park has a specific individual accountable for its day-to-day maintenance. Zone gardeners supervise volunteers assigned to them, (who commit to a consistent work schedule) and are supported by specialized crews in areas of maintenance requiring specific expertise or equipment, or more effectively conducted on a park-wide basis.† [3][4] Central Park which is the first park made in US, leads the American parks movement that occurred in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It did not change a lot after it was built, but the different management could leads a very different result in this Park. A good maintenance makes it more vibrant and serves people well in the city Forest Park is a unique land asset that seems caught between the need for reform and the need for revolution. It requires reform to correct the inadequate copy of the plan for New York’s Central Park, to redress damage from massive deforestation and earth moving for the 1904 World’s Fair, and to adjust the park to the automobile and other realities of the world of 1976. To compare those two parks we can find: The designer of the Forest Park probably was influenced by the Olmsted-Vaux plan for Central Park, Several of the features of the original design of Forest Park, the Grand Drive, the Promenade, the Sheepfold, the irregular lakes, reflect similar features in Central Park and other parks such as Prospect park in Brooklyn, which designed by Olmsted and Vaux as well. To compare the Forest Park and Central Park, we can find Olmsted and Vaux solved the problem of crossing park traffic brilliantly with four grade-separated east-west crossing and so successfully screened these from view. However the Forest Park visitors are acutely aware of the north-south commuter traffic passing their park. Kern’s curves and loops were designed to serve only a single system of traffic, whereas the designers of Central Park built into its infrastructure four grade-separated movement system: the transverse roads already mentioned plus pedestrian paths, bridge trails, and carriage drives. Unfortunately , lacking grade-separated transverse roads and because of the location of certain traffic-generating uses deep within the boundaries of the park, we cannot at the present time as in Central Park ban the automobile altogether on certain days and turn the entire park over to cyclists and pedestrians. Forest Park today is the result of these various plans as they were overlaid on each other over time. It is clearly apparent that the park is essentially split down the middle, with the eastern section being more reminiscent of the pre-Worlds Fair design approach and the western section reflecting the post-Worlds Fair design approaches. â€Å"Prosperous cities of that period sought to display their municipal pride with civic adornment, and parks ranked high as a cultural expression of the new wealth.†[2] In addition, the dynamic of intense urban growth which had been set in motion by Post-Civil War industrialization brought about a change in the contemporary attitude toward land use: the rapid obliteration of so much open space caused civic leaders to put a value on openness itself. Parks were viewed as therapeutic and often referred to as the â€Å"Lungs of the city,† More demonstrable perhaps than their effect on the health of the constituent populace was their effect on adjacent land values, an argument that was often candidly advanced by park proponents of the period. It was not accidental that, as in New York baronial mansions began to march up Fifth Avenue in response to the creation of Central Park, The fashionable quarter of St. Louis grew up at about the same time on the perimeter of Forest Pa rk. Nor was it accidental in either of these cities that their chief cultural resources clustered in or near their premier parks. In sum, Both Central Park and Forest Park are the treasures of their cities. For the government the park is also the very important cultural resources, and a good maintenance could makes the park more valuably. As the development of the city, the park may needs to be changed to match the people’s developing requirements , but the main idea of creating a great Park is never changed, which makes people living a better place. Bibliography Forest Park master plan: City of St. Louis. St. Louis, Mo.: Commission, 1995. Print. St. Louis Forest Park R/UDAT, Oct. 28-Nov. 1, 1976. St. Louis: St. Louis Chapter, American Institute of Architects, 1976. Print. Heckscher, Morrison H..Creating Central Park. New York, N.Y.: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008. Print. Central Park. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Mar. 2014. Web. 3 June 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park>. Olmsted, Frederick Law, Charles E. Beveridge, and David Schuyler.Creating Central Park, 1857-1861. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983. Print. Lehnerer, Alex.Grand urban rules. 2nd ed. Rotterdam: nai010 Publishers, 2013. Print. Martin, Richard.The New urban landscape. New York: Olympia York Companies (U.S.A.), 1990. Print. Dams, Bernd H..Central Park NYC an architectural view. by Bernd H. Dams, Andrew Zega.. New York: Rizzoli, 2013. Print. Altman, Sally J., and Richard H. Weiss.Forest Park: the jewel of St. Louis. St. Louis, Mo.: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Books, 2007. Print.

The Unconscious Heroe Essay -- Literary Analysis, Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a tale that sets its characters on a path of psychological turmoil and heroic satisfaction. The supernatural nature of the vampire as well as its seemingly human form allows one to analyze these characters as being archetypes of the personal unconscious for the human characters confronting them, particularly the shadow and the anima/animus as postulated by Carl Jung in his text Aion. Furthermore the purely human characters that encounter these vampires, and thus their own unconscious’, by doing so become themselves a hero archetype within their personal narrative as postulated by Joseph Campbell in his text The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This is made evident when comparing Jonathan Harker’s first self-motivated confrontation with Dracula in his sleeping chambers, in which Jonathan cannot vanquish the creature, with the episode in which Arthur Holmwood is successful in destroying the vampire Lucy Westerna. This essay will demonstrate how the interactions between human and vampire in the novel represent a heroic struggle between a person and their personal unconscious. Carl Jung states â€Å"He must be convinced that he throws a very long shadow before he is willing to withdraw his emotionally-toned projections from their object.† (Jung 7) This sentence best describes the state of Jonathan Harker when he first goes to confront Dracula. Dracula is a projection of Jonathan’s shadow and gains power over him because of Jonathan’s ignorance to his own unconscious mind. The text demonstrates that Dracula is a psychological projection and therefore not real through the use of dehumanizing imagery such as referring to him as â€Å"filthy leech† (Stoker 83) and as â€Å"such a monster.† (84). Jung also notes that examining the ... ...on when describing the plunging of the stake into Lucy’s heart, it proceeds to explain how her â€Å"body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions† (254) and describing Arthur â€Å"driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake.† (254) This scene serves as a metaphor for male dominance as can be seen when considering Freud’s notion that subconscious images of wood and sticks represent the phallus in the subconscious. If one continues to follow this reasoning this scene can be perceived as Arthur vanquishing the taboo Lucy with his mighty penis, there by restoring the balance in the universe with man on top. Furthermore, if one considers the phallic imagery used, this scene can be interpreted as the consummation of the engagement between Arthur and Lucy, further establishing Arthur’s dominance, as in the Victorian age the husband was the master of the wife.

Media Control: The Spectacular achievments of propaganda Essay

Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda. Synopsis of the book. Chomsky examines and explores the use of propaganda in the mass media. His focus remains on the â€Å"elite† as he would call them, or the corporations and politicians that control the mass media in our country. He speaks of how the U.S. government used propaganda in order to gain support for our country’s involvement in wars from Wilson’s presidency to Bush Sr., and now in our so-called â€Å"War on Terror† brought upon by George W. Bush. He explains how he believes this elite group of people control the minds of those that are less educated, and without an open minds. He believes that propaganda has been used through the mass media to guide this population towards supporting political interests. Why I chose this book. I had heard from many of my friends about Noam Chomsky and how he may just be the most important intellectual alive today. So while I was helping my friend with an assignment of hers I came across this book at her house. I flipped through a couple of pages and decided to use this book for this project. I thought it would provide a new insight into the role of our government in the media. How this book relates to this class. This book discusses the governments role in the media. Although Chomsky’s views might be considered somewhat extreme by some standards, his message s important. We have discussed the government manipulation of the media. For example, President Roo...

A “Janner” in the “smoke” Essay

As I step out of the carriage at Paddington station I feel a sensation that I feel every time I come back to this stunning and enchanting city that I love so much. The red telephone boxes, black taxis and the marvellous architecture. This visit I’m staying in one of the many travel inns in London, this one is situated the other side of the tower bridge which is a bit different to the kind of hotel that I normally stay in when I’m visiting London but this is no normal visit. This visit I am going to be a tourist and experience London from a different viewpoint. Now I have to find a taxi and drop off my bags. The taxi driver finds the hotel effortlessly and I am soon at reception checking in. My room is large and airy, decorated in standard â€Å"travel inn† style. I drop my bags and go down to the bar to find my friends, as tonight we are visiting the very popular Maxwell’s restaurant in Covent Garden. Well all I can say for the meal is superb! Burgers and chips may not sound very nice but they’ve ruined its greasy reputation. Now back in my hotel room I’m making my self a coffee from the mini bar and am running myself a pleasantly hot bath which I will lay in for a couple of hours. Today is Saturday and I will be visiting the famous Oxford Street with its many shops. The first one on my Itinerary will be Hamly’s toyshop, which I think is incredible and great for children of all ages! Also on this magnificent street is the Warner bros. Shop and Selfridges. Later on in the day I will stroll through St. James Park, which links on to Buckingham palace, any trip to London, shouldn’t be without this relaxing experience. Tremendous. Fantastic. In St. James Park the squirrels have become so used to humans that one came and ate out of my hand! I was astonished. Tonight I’m planning on staying in, ordering a pizza and watching the television, in order to re charge my batteries ready for another strenuous day. Its 7:00am and I’ve just been woken up by some couple next door having a row and I can’t get back to sleep so I’m going to set out earlier than expected go on a tour bus round main London. I’m on the tour bus now and its great. There are more people than I’d thought on the tour but most of them are foreigners. So far we’ve passed St. Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar square and many more magical and momentous tourist attractions. Next I will be visiting Covent Garden to do a spot of light shopping and watch the performers. Having a hot chocolate and a bun at a small coffee shop in Covent Garden and watching a street performer on a BMX doing flatland tricks that I didn’t think were possible. The one thing that I have noticed that all these performers have in common is that all use juggling in there shows whether they do it on bikes, with chain saws or other hazardous objects. In these 2 days I have already spent à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½120 on presents for other people! Toys, Clothes or food if I’ve seen it I’ve brought it. Tonight I’m having dinner in the oddly shaped building across the road from my hotel, which every time I walk pass I smell the most stunning smells ever. Spices and herbs, sweet smells of the elegant deserts and everyone who comes out, comes out smiling. Today is the day that I have been most looking forward to. Today I’m going to Madame Tussauds. The creepy looking figures look like they are alive. But first I have to wait in the long queue of anxious and restless people. There is a sign in front which says,† 2 HOURS FROM HERE†, which sounds ridiculous. Madame Tussauds. What can say it was worth the wait, which only came to an hour in the end. It smelt strange and the rooms were hot and sticky inside. Some Japanese tourist asked me to take their picture as they stood next to the Queen and prince Philip. But I fancy having mine taken with Madonna. You could spend all day here but unfortunately I don’t have that much time left. I’ve been lucky enough to secure some tickets to watch Chelsea F.C play at home so it is off to the station to catch the train to Stamford Bridge before catching the late train home to Plymouth. What will I remember most about this different trip to London? As a tourist I see how fast the city moves, how dusty, how sticky and how lonely city can be when you are on your own!

Marketing Anthropology Essay

Anthropology and marketing (together with consumer research) were once described as ‘linchpin disciplines in parallel intellectual domains’ (Sherry 1985a: 10). To judge from the prevalent literature, however, this view is not shared by many anthropologists, who tend to look at markets (for example, Carrier 1997) and exchange rather than at marketing per se (Lien 1997 is the obvious exception here). For their part, marketers, always open to new ideas, have over the decades made – albeit eclectic (de Groot 1980:131) – use of the work of anthropologists such as Claude Levi-Strauss and Mary Douglas whose aims in promulgating their ideas on binary oppositions, totemism and grid and group were at the time far removed from the endeavour of marketing both as a discipline and as practice. Can anthropology really be of use to marketing? Can the discipline in effect market itself as an effective potential contributor to solving the problems faced by marketers? There is no reason why not. After all, it is anthropologists who point out that there is more than one market and that these markets, like the Free Market beloved by economists, are all socio-cultural constructions. In this respect, what they have to say about the social costs of markets, as well as about the non-market social institutions upon which markets depends and the social contexts that shape them (cf. Carruthers and Babb 2000:219-222), is extremely pertinent to marketers anxious to come up with definitive answers as to why certain people buy certain products and how to persuade the rest of the world to do so. At the same time, however, there are reasons why anthropology probably cannot be of direct use to marketing. In particular, as we shall see in the following discussion of marketing practices in a Japanese advertising agency, anthropology suffers from the fact that its conclusions are based on long-term immersion in a socio-cultural ‘field’ and that its methodology is frequently unscientific, subjective and imprecise. As part of their persuasive strategy, on the other hand, proponents of marketing need to present their discipline as objective, scientific, speedy and producing the necessary results. How they actually go about obtaining such results, however, and whether they really are as objective and scientific as they claim to their clients, are moot points. This paper focuses, by means of a case study, on how marketing is actually practised in a large advertising agency in Japan and has four main aims. Firstly, it outlines the organisational structure of the agency to show how marketing acts as a social mechanism to back up inter-firm ties based primarily on tenuous personal relationships. Secondly, it reveals how these same interpersonal relations can affect the construction of apparently ‘objective’ marketing strategies. Thirdly, it focuses on the problem of how all marketing campaigns are obliged to shift from ‘scientific’ to ‘artistic’ criteria as statistical data, information and analysis are converted into 1 linguistic and visual images for public consumption. Finally, it will make a few tentative comments on the relations between anthropology and marketing, with a view to developing a comparative theory of advertising as a marketing system, based on the cultural relativity of a specific marketing practice in a Japanese advertising agency (cf. Arnould 1995:110). The Discipline, Organisation and Practice of Marketing The Marketing Division is the engine room of the Japanese advertising agency in which I conducted my research in 1990. At the time, this agency handled more than 600 accounts a year, their value varying from several million to a few thousand dollars. The Marketing Division was almost invariably involved in some way in the ad campaigns, cultural and sporting events, merchandising opportunities, special promotions, POP constructions, and various other activities that the agency carried out on behalf of its clients. Exceptions were those accounts involving media placement or certain kinds of work expressly requested by a client – like, for example, the organisation of a national sales force meeting for a car manufacturer. Even here, however, there was often information that could be usefully relayed back to the Marketing Division (the number and regional distribution of the manufacturer’s sales representatives, as well as possible advance information on new products and/or services to be offered in the coming year). Marketing Discipline As Marianne Lien (1997:11) points out, marketing is both a discipline and a practice. The main aims as a discipline of the Marketing Division were (and, of course, still are): firstly, to acquire as much information as possible from consumers about their clients’ products and services; secondly, to acquire as much information as possible, too, from clients about their own products and services; and, thirdly, to use strategically both kinds of information acquired to develop new accounts. Marketing thus provided those working in the Marketing Division with the dispassionate data that account executives needed in their personal networking with (potential) clients whom they cajoled, persuaded, impressed and pleaded with to part with (more) money. Marketing Organisation In order to achieve the three overall objectives outlined above, the agency established a certain set of organisational features to enable marketing practice to take place. Firstly, the Marketing Division, which consisted of almost 90 members, was structured into three separate, but interlocking, sub-divisions. These consisted of Computer Systems; Market Development and Merchandising; and Marketing. The last was itself sub-divided into three departments, each of which was broken down into three or four sections. 1 Each section consisted of from six to a dozen members, led by a Section Leader, under whom they worked in teams of two to three on an account. These teams were not fixed. Thus one member, A, might work with another, B, under the Section Leader (SL) on a contact lens advertising campaign, but find herself assigned to worked with C under SL on an airline company’s business class service account, and with D under SL on a computer manufacturer’s consumer survey. In this respect, the daily life of members of the Marketing Note that, unlike the Marketing department in Viking foods discussed by Lien. Department was similar to that of product managers described by Lien (1997:69), being characterised by ‘frequent shifts from one activity to another, a wide network of communications, and a considerable amount of time spent in meetings or talking on the telephone’. Secondly, tasks (or accounts) were allocated formally through the hierarchical divisional structure – by departments first, then by sections – according to their existing responsibilities and perceived suitability for the job in hand. Each SL then distributed these tasks to individual members on the basis of their current overall workloads. At the same time, however, there was an informal allocation of accounts involving individuals. Each SL or DL could take on a job directly from account executives handling particular accounts on behalf of their clients. Here, prior experiences and personal contacts were important influences on AEs’ decisions as to whether to go through formal or informal channels of recruitment. The account executive in charge of the NFC contact lens campaign described in my book (Moeran 1996), for example, went directly to a particular SL in the Marketing Department because of some smart work that the latter had done for the AE on a different account some months previously. Mutual respect had been established and the contact lens campaign provided both parties with an opportunity to assess and, in the event, positively validate their working relationship. There were certain organisational advantages to the ways in which accounts were distributed in the manner described here. Firstly, by freely permitting interpersonal relations between account executives and marketers, the Agency ensured that there was competitiveness at each structural level of department and section. Such competition was felt to be healthy for the Agency as a whole, and to encourage its continued growth. Secondly, by assigning individual members of each section in the Marketing Department to working in different combinations of people on different tasks, the Agency ensured that each member of the Marketing Department received training in a wide variety of marketing problems and was obliged to interact fully with fellow section members, thereby promoting a sense of cooperation, cohesion and mutual understanding. This in itself meant that each section developed the broadest possible shared knowledge of marketing issues, because of the knowledge gained by individual members and the interaction among them. Marketing Practice Accounts were won by the Agency primarily through the liaison work conducted with a (potential) client by an account executive (who might be a very senior manager or junior ‘salesman’ recruited only a few years earlier). Once an agreement was made between Agency and client – and such an agreement might be limited to the Agency’s participation in a competitive presentation, the outcome of which might lead to an account being established – the AE concerned would put together an account team. An account team consists of the AE in charge (possibly with assistants); the Marketing Team (generally of 2 persons under a Marketing Director [MD], but sometimes much larger, depending on the size of the account and the work to be done); the Creative Team (consisting of Creative Director [CD], Copywriter, and Art Director [AD] as a minimum, but usually including two ADs – one for print-, the other for TV-related work); and Media Planner/Buyer(s). The job of the account team is to carry out successfully the task set by the client, and to this end meets initially for an orientation meeting in which the issues and problems relayed by the client to the AE are explained and discussed to all members. 2 Prior to this, however, the AE provides the marketing team with all the information and data that he has been able to extract from the client (a lot of it highly confidential to the company concerned). The marketing team, therefore, tends to come prepared and to have certain quite specific questions regarding the nature of the statistics provided, the target market, retail outlets, and so on. If it has done its homework properly – which is not always the case, given the number of different accounts on which the team’s members are working and the pressure of work that they are under – the marketing team may well have several pertinent suggestions for further research. It is on the basis of these discussions that the AE then asks the MD to carry out such research as is thought necessary for the matter in hand. In the meantime, the creative team is asked to mull over the issues generally and to think of possible ways of coping ‘creatively’ (that is, linguistically and visually) with the client’s marketing problems. Back in the Marketing Department, the MD will tell his subordinates to carry out specific tasks, such as a consumer survey to find out who precisely makes use of a particular product and why. This kind of task is fairly mechanical in its general form, since the Agency does this sort of work for dozens of clients every year, but has to be tailored to the present client’s particular situation, needs and expectations. The MD will therefore discuss his subordinate’s proposal, make some suggestions to ensure that all points are overed (and that may well include some additional questions to elicit further information from the target audience that has taken on importance during their discussion), and then give them permission to have the work carried out. All surveys of this kind are subcontracted by the Agency to marketing firms and research organisations of one sort or another. This means that the marketing team’s members are rarely involved in direct face-to-face contact or interaction with the consumers of the products that they wish to advertise,3 except when small ‘focus group’ interviews take place (usually in one of the Agency’s buildings). The informal nature of such groups, the different kinds of insights that they can yield, and the need to spot and pursue particular comments mean that members of the marketing team should be present to listen to and, as warranted, direct the discussion so that the Agency’s particular objectives are achieved. In general, however, the only evidence of consumers in the Agency is indirect, through reports, statistics, figures, data analyses and other information that, paradoxically, are always seen to be insufficient or ‘incomplete’ (cf. Lien 1997:112). Once the results of the survey are returned, the marketers enter them into their computers (since all such information is stored and can be used to generate comparative data for other accounts as and when required). They can make use of particular programmes to sort and analyse such data, but ultimately they need to be able to present their results in readily comprehensible form to other members of the account team. Here again, the MD tends to ensure that the information presented at the next meeting is to the point and properly hierarchised in terms of importance. This leads to the marketing team’s putting forward things like: a positioning statement, slogan, purchasing decision The Media Planners do not usually participate in these early meetings since their task is primarily to provide information of suitable media, and slots therein, for the finished campaign to be placed in. 3 A similar point is made by Lien (1997. 11) in her study of Viking Foods. Focus Groups usually consist of about half a dozen people who represent by age, gender, socio-economic grouping and so on the type of target audience being addressed, and who have agreed to talk about (their attitudes towards) a particular product or product range – usually in exchange for some gift or money. Interviews are carried out in a small meeting room (that may have a one-way mirror to enable outside observation) and tend to last between one and two hours. 4 2 4 odel (high/low involvement; think/feel product relationship), product message concept, and creative frame. One of the main objectives of this initial – and, if properly done, only – round of research is to discover the balance between what are terms product, user and end benefits, since it is these factors that determine the way in which an ad campaign should be presented and, therefore, how the creative team should visualise the marketing problems analysed and ensuing suggestions from the marketing team. It is here that we come to the crux of marketing as practised in an advertising agency (whether in Japan or elsewhere). Creative people tend to be suspicious of marketing people and vice-versa. This is primarily because marketers believe that they work rationally and that the creative frames that they produce are founded on objective data and analyses. Creative people, on the other hand, believe that their work should be ‘inspired’, and that such inspiration can take the place at the expense of the data and analyses provided for their consideration. As a result, when it comes to producing creative work for an ad campaign, copywriters and creative directors tend not to pay strict attention to what the marketing team has told them. For example, attracted by the idea of a particular celebrity or filming location, they may come up with ideas that in no way meet the pragmatic demands of a particular ad campaign that may require emphasis on product benefits that are irrelevant to the chosen location or celebrity suggested for endorsement. This does not always happen, of course. A good and professional creative team – and such teams are not infrequent – will follow the marketing team’s instructions. In such cases, their success is based on a creative interpretation of the data and analyses provided. Agency-Client Interaction If there is some indecision and argument among different elements of the account team – and it is the presiding account executive’s job to ensure that marketers and creatives do not come to blows over their disagreements – they almost invariably band together when meeting and presenting their plans to the client. Such meetings can take place several, even more than a dozen, times during the course of an account team’s preparations for an ad campaign. At most of them the MD will be present, until such time as it is clear that the client has accepted the Agency’s campaign strategy and the creative team has to fine-tune the objectives outlined therein. Very often, therefore, the marketing team will not stay on a particular account long enough to learn of its finished result, although a good AE will keep his MD abreast of creative developments and show him the (near) finalised campaign prior to the client’s final approval. But marketers do not get involved in the production side of a campaign (studio photography, television commercial filming, and so on) – unless one of those concerned knows what is going on when, happens to be nearby at the time, and drops in to see how things are going. In other words, the marketing team’s job is to see a project through until accepted by the client. It will then dissolve and its members will be assigned to new accounts. Advertising Campaigns: A Case Study To illustrate in more detail particular examples of marketing practice in the Agency, let me cite as a case study the preparation of contact lens campaign in Japan. This example is illuminating because it reveals a number of typical problems faced by an advertising agency in the formulation and execution of campaigns on behalf of its clients. These include the interface between marketing and creative people within an agency and the interpretation of marketing analysis and data; the 5 transposition of marketing analysis into ‘creative’ (i. e. linguistic, visual and design) ideas; the interface between agency and client in the ‘selling’ of a campaign proposal; and the problems of having to appeal to more than one ‘consumer’ target. When the Nihon Fibre Corporation asked the Agency to prepare an advertising campaign for its new Ikon Breath O2 oxygen-passing GCL hard contact lenses in early 1990, it provided a considerable amount of product information with which to help and guide those concerned. This information included the following facts: firstly, with a differential coefficient (DK factor) of 150, Ikon Breath O2 had the highest rate of oxygen permeation of all lenses currently manufactured and marketed in Japan. As a result, secondly, Ikon Breath O2 was the first lens authorized for continuous wear by Japan’s Ministry of Health. Thirdly, the lens was particularly flexible, dirt and water resistant, durable, and of extremely high quality. The client asked the Agency to confirm that the targeted market consisted of young people and to create a campaign that would help NFC capture initially a minimum three per cent share of the market, rising to ten per cent over three years. The Agency immediately formed an account team, consisting of eight members all told. Their first step was to arrange for the marketing team to carry out its own consumer research before proceeding further. A detailed survey – of 500 men and women – was worked out in consultation with the account executive and the client, and was executed by a market research company subcontracted by the Agency. Results confirmed that the targeted audience for the Ikon Breath O2 advertising campaign should be young people, but particularly young women, between the ages of 18 and 27 years, since it was they who were most likely to wear contact lenses. At the same time, however, the survey also revealed that there was little brand loyalty among contact lens wearers so that, with effective advertising, it should be possible to persuade users to shift from their current brand to Ikon Breath O2 lenses. It also showed that young women were not overly concerned with price provided that lenses were safe and comfortable to wear, which meant that Ikon Breath O2’s comparatively high price in itself should not prove a major obstacle to brand switching or sales. On a less positive note, however, the account team also discovered that users were primarily concerned with comfort and were not interested in the technology that went into the manufacture of contact lenses (thereby obviating the apparent advantage of Ikon Breath O2’s high DK factor of which NFC was so proud); and that, because almost all contact lens users consulted medical specialists prior to purchase, the advertising campaign would have to address a second audience consisting mainly of middle-aged men. All in all, therefore, Ikon Breath O2 lenses had an advantage in being of superb quality, approved by medical experts and recognized, together with other GCL lenses, as being the safest for one’s eyes. Its disadvantages were that NFC had no ‘name’ in the contact lens market and that users knew very little about GCL lenses or contact lenses in general. This meant that the advertising campaign had to be backed up by point of purchase sales promotion (in the form of a brochure) to ensure that the product survived. Moreover, it was clear that Ikon Breath O2’s technical advantage (the DK 150 factor) would not last long because rival companies would soon be able to make lenses with a differential coefficient that surpassed that developed by NFC. 5 On this occasion, because the advertising budget was comparatively small, the media buyer was not brought in until later stages in the campaign’s preparations. The AE in charge of the NFC account interacted individually with the media buyer and presented the latter’s suggestions to the account team as a whole. 6 As a result of intense discussions following this survey, the account team moved slowly towards what it thought should be as the campaign’s overall ‘tone and manner’. Ideally, advertisements should be information-oriented: the campaign needed to put across a number of points about the special product benefits that differentiated it from similar lenses on the market (in particular, its flexibility and high rate of oxygen-permeation). Practically, however – as the marketing team had to emphasize time and time again – the campaign needed to stress the functional and emotional benefits that users would obtain from wearing Ikon Breath O2 lenses (for example, continuous wear, safety, release from anxiety and so on). This meant that the advertising itself should be emotional (and information left to the promotional brochure) and stress the end benefits to consumers, rather than the lenses’ product benefits. Because the marketing team had concluded that the product’s end benefits should be stressed, copywriter and art director opted for user imagery rather than product characteristics when thinking of ideas for copy and visuals. However, they were thwarted in their endeavours by a number of problems. Firstly, advertising industry self-policing regulations prohibited the use of certain words and images (for example, the notion of ‘safety’, plus a visual of someone asleep while wearing contact lenses), and insisted on the inclusion in all advertising of a warning that the Ikon Breath O2 lens was a medical product that should be purchased through a medical specialist. This constriction meant that the creative team’s could not use the idea of ‘continuous wear’ because, even though so certified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, opticians and doctors were generally of the opinion that Ikon Breath O2 lenses were bound to affect individual wearers in different ways. NFC was terrified of antagonizing the medical world which would often be recommending its product, so the product manager concerned refused to permit the use of any word or visual connected with ‘continuous wear’. Thus, to the account team’s collective dismay, the product’s end benefit to consumers could not be effectively advertised. Secondly, precisely because Ikon Breath O2 lenses had to be recommended by medical specialists, NFC’s advertising campaign needed to address the latter as well as young women users. In other words, the campaign’s tone and manner had to appeal to two totally different segments of the market, while at the same time satisfying those employed in the client company. This caused the creative team immense difficulties, especially because – thirdly – the product manager of NFC’s contact lens manufacturing division was convinced that the high differential coefficient set Ikon Breath O2 lenses apart from all other contact lenses on the market and would appeal to members of the medical profession. So he insisted on emphasizing what he saw as the unique technological qualities of the product. In other words, not only did he relegate young women who were expected to buy the product to secondary importance; he ignored the marketing team’s recommendation that user benefit be stressed. Instead, for a long time he insisted on the creative team’s focussing on product benefit, even though the DK factor was only a marginal and temporary advantage to NFC. As a result of these two sets of disagreements, the copywriter came up with two different key ideas. The first was based on the product’s characteristics, and thus supported the manufacturer’s (but went against his own marketing team’s) product benefit point of view, with the phrase ‘corneal physiology’ (kakumaku seiri). The second also stressed a feature of the product, but managed to emphasize the user benefits that young women could gain from wearing lenses that were both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ (yawarakai). The former headline was the only way to break brand parity and make Ikon Breath O2 temporarily distinct from all other lenses on the market (the product manager liked the distinction; the marketing team disliked the temporary nature of that distinction). At this stage in the negotiations, the account executive in charge felt obliged to tow an obsequious line, but needed to appease his marketing team and ensure that the creative team came up with something else if at all possible, since 7 corneal physiology gave Ikon Breath O2 lenses only a temporary advantage. As a result, the copywriter introduced the word ‘serious’ (majime) into discussions – on the grounds that NFC was a ‘serious’ (majime) manufacturer (it was, after all, a well-known and respected Japanese corporation) which had developed a product that, by a process of assimilation, could also be regarded as ‘serious’; moreover, by a further rubbing-off process, as the marketing team agreed, such ‘seriousness’ could be attributed to users who decided to buy and wear Ikon Breath O2 lenses. In this way, both the distinction between product benefit and user benefit might be overcome. The copywriter’s last idea was the one that broke the deadlock (and it was at certain moments an extremely tense deadlock) between the account team as a whole and members of NFC’s contact lens manufacturing division. After a series of meetings in which copywriter and designer desperately tried to convince the client that the idea of softness and hardness was not a product characteristic, but an image designed to support the benefits to consumers wearing Ikon Breath O2 lenses, the product manager accepted the account team’s proposals in principle, provided that ‘serious’ was used as a back-up selling point. Soft hard’ (yawaraka hard) was adopted as the key headline phrase for the campaign as a whole. It can be seen that the marketing team’s analysis of how NFC should successfully enter the contact lens market met two stumbling blocks during the early stages of preparation for the advertising campaign. The first was within the account team itself, where the copywriter in particular tended to opt for the manufacturer’s approach by emphasising the product benefit of Ikon Breath O2. The second was when the Agency’s account team had to persuade the client to accept its analysis and campaign proposal. But the next major problem facing the account team was how to convert this linguistic rendering of market analysis into visual terms. What sort of visual image would adequately fulfil the marketing aims of the campaign and make the campaign as a whole – including television commercial and promotional materials – readily recognizable to the targeted audience? It was almost immediately accepted by the account team that the safest way to achieve this important aim was to use a celebrity or personality (talent in Japanese) to endorse the product. Here there was little argument, because it is generally recognized in the advertising industry that celebrity endorsement is an excellent and readily appreciated linkage device in multi-media campaigns of the kind requested by NFC. Moreover, since television commercials in Japan are more often than not only fifteen seconds long and therefore cannot include any detailed product information, personalities have proved to be attention grabbers in an image-dominated medium and to have a useful, short-term effect on sales because of their popularity in other parts of the entertainment industry. At the same time, not all personalities come across equally well in the rather differing media of television and magazines or newspapers, so that the account team felt obliged to look for someone who was more than a mere pop idol and who could act. It was here that those concerned encountered the most difficulty. The presence of a famous personality was crucial since s/he would be able to attract public attention to a new product and hopefully draw people into retail outlets to buy Ikon Breath O2 lenses. It was agreed right from the start that the personality should be a young woman, in the same age group as the targeted audience, and Japanese. (After all, a ‘blue eyed foreigner’ endorsing Ikon Breath O2 contact lenses would hardly be appropriate for brown-eyed Japanese. ) Just who this woman should be, however, proved problematic. Tennis players (who could indulge in both ‘hard’ activities and ‘soft’ romance) were discarded early on because the professional season was already in full swing at the time the campaign was being prepared. Classical musicians, while romantic and thus ‘soft’, were not seen to be ‘hard’ enough, while the idea of using a Japanese ‘talent’, Miyazawa Rie (everyone on the account team’s favourite at the time), was reluctantly rejected because, even though photographs of her in the nude were at the time causing a 8 minor sensation among Japanese men interested in soft-porn, she was rather inappropriate for a medical product like a contact lens which was aimed at young women. Any personality chosen had to show certain distinct qualities. One of these was a ‘presence’ (sonzaikan) that would attract people’s attention on the page or screen. Another was ‘topicality’ (wadaisei) that stemmed from her professional activities. A third was ‘future potential’ (nobisei), meaning that the celebrity had not yet peaked in her career, but would attract further widespread media attention and so, it was hoped, indirectly promote Ikon Breath O2 lenses and NFC. Most importantly, however, she had to suit the product. In the early stages of the campaign’s preparations, the creative team found itself in a slight quandary. They wanted to choose a celebrity whose personality fitted the ‘soft-hard’ and ‘serious’ ideas and who would then anchor a particular image to Ikon Breath O2 lenses, although it proved difficult to find someone who would fit the product and appeal to all those concerned. Eventually, the woman chosen was an actress, Sekine Miho, who epitomized the kind of modern woman that the creative team was seeking, but who was also about to star in a national television (NHK) drama series that autumn – a series in which she played a starring role as a ‘soft’, romantic character. Although popularity in itself can act as a straightjacket when it comes to celebrity endorsement of a product, in this case it was judged – correctly, it transpired – that Sekine had enough ‘depth’ (fukasa) to bring a special image to Ikon Breath O2 lenses. Once the celebrity had been decided on, the creative team was able to fix the tone and manner, expression and style of the advertising campaign as a whole. Sekine was a ‘high class’ (or ‘one rank up’ in Japanese-English parlance) celebrity who matched NFC’s image of itself as a ‘high class’ (ichiryu) company and who was made to reflect that sense of eliteness in deportment and clothing. At the same time, NFC was a ‘serious’ manufacturer and wanted a serious, rather than frivolous, personality who could then be photographed in soft-focus, serious poses to suit the serious medical product being advertised. This seriousness was expressed further by means of ery slightly tinted black and white photographs which, to the art director’s – but, not initially, the product manager’s – eye made Sekine look even ‘softer’ in appearance and so match the campaign’s headline of yawaraka hard. This softness was further reinforced by the heart-shaped lens cut at the bottom of every print ad, and on the front of the brochure, which the art director m ade green rather than blue – partly to differentiate the Ikon Breath O2 campaign from all other contact lens campaigns run at that time, and partly to appeal to the fad for ‘ecological’ colours then-current among young women in particular. This case study shows that there is an extremely complex relationship linking marketing and creative aspects of any advertising campaign. In this case, market research showed that Ikon Breath O2 lenses were special because of the safety that derived from their technical quality, but that consumers themselves were not interested in technical matters since their major concern was with comfort. Hence the need to focus the advertising campaign on user benefit. Yet the client insisted on stressing product benefit – a stance made more difficult for the creative team because it could not legally use the only real consumer benefit available to it (continuous wear), and so had to find something that would appeal to both manufacturer and direct and indirect ‘consumers’ of the lens in question. In the end, the ideas of ‘soft hard’ and ‘serious’ were adopted as compromise positions for both client and agency, as well as for creative and marketing teams. Concluding Comments Let us in conclusion try to follow two separate lines of thought. One of these is, as promised, the relationship between marketing and anthropology; the other that between advertising and marketing. 9 Although convergence between anthropology, marketing and consumer research may be growing, the evidence suggested by the case study in this paper is that huge differences still exist. Marketing people in the advertising agency in which I studied may be interested in anthropology; they may even have dipped into the work of anthropologists here and there. But their view of the discipline tends to be rather old-fashioned, and they certainly do not have time to go in for the kind of intensive, detail ethnographic nquiry of consumers that anthropologists might encourage. If anthropologists are to make a useful contribution to marketing, therefore, they need to present their material and analyses succinctly and in readily digestible form, since marketing people hate things that are overcomplicated. It is, perhaps, for this rather than any other reason that someone like Mary Douglas (Douglas and Isherwood 1979) has been so favourably received. In the end, marketing people aim to be positivist, science-like (rather than scientific, as such), and rationalist in their ad campaigns. They aspire to measure and predict on the basis of observer categories, if only because this is the simplest way to sell a campaign to a client. In this respect, they are closer to the kind of sociology and anthropology advocated in the 1940s and 50s (which would explain their adoption of Talcott Parsons’s theory of action, for example), than to the present-day ‘interpretive’ trends in the discipline, and thus favour in their practices an outmoded – and among most anthropologists themselves, discredited – form of discourse. So, ‘if anthropologists are kings of the castle, it is a castle most other people have never heard of’ (Chapman and Buckley 1997: 234). As Malcolm Chapman and Peter Buckley wryly observe, we need perhaps to spend some time entirely outside social anthropology in order to be convinced of the truth of this fact. Secondly, as part of this positivist, science-like approach, marketers in the Japanese advertising agency tended to make clear-cut categories that would be easily understood by both their colleagues in other divisions in the Agency and by their clients. These categories tended to present the consumer world as a series of binary oppositions (between individual and group, modern and traditional, idealist and materialist, and so on [cf. Lien 1997: 202-8]) that they then presented as matrix or quadripartite structures (the Agency’s Purchase Decision Model, for example, was structured in terms of think/feel and high/low involvement axes). In this respect, their work could be said to exhibit a basic form of structuralism. One of these oppositions was that made between product benefit and user benefit (with its variant end benefit). As this case study has shown, this is a distinction that lies at the heart of all advertising and needs to be teased out if we are successfully to decode particular advertisements in a manner that goes beyond the work of Barthes (1977), Williamson (1978), Goffman (1979) and others. Thirdly, one of the factors anchoring marketing to the kind of structured thinking characteristic of modernist disciplines, perhaps, is that the creation of meaning in commodities is inextricably bound up with the establishment of a sense of difference between one object and all others of its class. After all, the three tasks of advertising are: to stand out from the surrounding competition to attract people’s attention; to communicate (both rationally and emotionally) what it is intended to communicate; and to predispose people to buy or keep on buying what is advertised. The sole preoccupation of those engaged in the Ikon Breath 02 campaign was to create what they referred to as the ‘parity break’: to set NFC’s contact lenses apart from all other contact lenses on sale in Japan, and from all other products on the market. At the same time, the idea of parity break extended to the style in which the campaign was to be presented (tinted monochrome photo, green logo, and so on). In this respect, the structure of meaning in advertising is akin to that found in the syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes of structural linguistics where particular choices of words and phrases are influenced by the overall structure and availability of meanings in the language in which a speaker is communicating. That the work of LeviStrauss should be known to most marketers, therefore, is hardly surprising. Marketing practice is in many respects an application of the principles of structural anthropology to the selling of products. 10 Fourthly, although those working in marketing and consumer research take it as given that there is one-way flow of activity stemming from the manufacturer and targeted at the end consumer, in fact, as this case study shows, advertising – as well as the marketing that an advertising agency conducts on behalf of a client – always addresses at least two audiences. One of these is, of course, the group of targeted consumers (even though they are somewhat removed from the direct experience of marketers in their work). In this particular case, to complicate the issue further, there were two groups of consumers, since the campaign had to address both young women and middle-aged male opticians. Another audience is the client. As we have seen, the assumed or proven dis/likes of both consumers and advertising client affect the final meaning of the products advertised, and the client in particular had to be satisfied with the Agency’s campaign approach before consumer ‘needs’ could be addressed. At the same time, we should recognise that a third audience exists among different members of the account team within the Agency itself, since each of the three separate parties involved in account servicing, marketing and creative work needed to be satisfied by the arguments of the other two. In this respect, perhaps, we should note that marketing people have spent a lot of time over the decades making use of insights developed in learning behaviour, personality theory and psychoanalysis which they then apply to individual consumers. In the process, however, they have tended to overlook the forms of social organisation of which these individuals are a part (cf. de Groot 1980:44). Yet it is precisely the ways in which individual consumers interact that is crucial to an understanding of consumption and thus of how marketing should address its targeted audience: how networks function, for example, reveals a lot about the vital role of word-of-mouth in marketing successes and failures; how status groups operate and on what grounds can tell marketers a lot about the motivations and practices of their targeted audience. Anthropologists should be able to help by providing sociological analyses of these and other mechanisms pertinent to the marketing endeavour. In particular, their extensive work on ritual and symbolism should be of use in foreign, ‘third world’ markets. Fifthly, most products are made to be sold. As a result, different manufacturers have in mind different kinds of sales strategies, target audiences, and marketing methods that have somehow to be translated into persuasive linguistic and visual images – not only in advertising, but also in packaging and product design. For the most part, producers of the commodities in question find themselves obliged to call on the specialized services of copywriters and art designers who are seen to be more in tune with the consumers than are they themselves. This is how advertising agencies market themselves. But within any agency, the creation of advertising involves an ever-present tension between sales and marketing people, on the one hand, and creative staff, on the other; between the not necessarily compatible demands for the dissemination of product and other market information, on the one hand, and for linguistic and visual images that will attract consumers’ attention and push them into retail outlets to make purchases, on the other. This is not always taken into account by those currently writing about advertising. More interestingly, perhaps, the opposition that is perceived to exist between data and statistical analysis, on the one hand, and the creation of images, on the other, parallels that seen to pertain between a social science like economics or marketing and a more humanities-like discipline such as anthropology. Perhaps the role for an anthropology of marketing is to bridge this great divide.