Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison - 1481 Words

Invisible Man is a novel by Ralph Ellison, published in 1952. It addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans in the early twentieth century. This includes black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity. The grandson of slaves, Ralph Ellison was born in 1914 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His father was a construction worker, and his mother was a domestic servant who also volunteered for the local Socialist Party. In 1933, he left Oklahoma to begin a study of music at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. The Institute, which is now called Tuskegee University, was founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington, one of the foremost black educators in American history, and became one of the nation’s most important black colleges. It later served as the model for the bla ck college attended by the narrator in Invisible Man. Ellison left the Tuskegee Institute in 1936 and moved to New York City, where he settled in Harlem. As an employee of the Federal Writers’ Project, Ellison met many of the most important African-American writers of the era, including Langston Hughes and Richard Wright. After a year editing the Negro Quarterly, Ellison left for the Merchant Marines, in which he served during World War II. After the war, Ellison won a Rosenwald Fellowship, which heShow MoreRelatedInvisible Man By Ralph Ellison1366 Words   |  6 Pagesfighter left standing, amidst unbridled carnage. The titular narrator of Ralph Ellison s novel Invisible Man, is no stranger to those experiences. In the beginning, he is forced to fight several other black boxers for the amusement of many heckling, white spectators. Through the imaginative use of objects, symbols, allusions, and the actions, thoughts, and purposes of the spectators, pugilists and risquà © entertainment, Ellison seeks to express a powerful image of American race relations and womenRead MoreInvisible, Invisible Man, By Ralph Ellison1994 Words   |  8 PagesInvisible Race and Gender in Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the unnamed narrator shows us through the use motifs and symbols how racism and sexism negatively affect the social class and individual identity of the oppressed people. Throughout the novel, the African American narrator tells us the story of his journey to find success in life which is sabotaged by the white-dominated society in which he lives in. Along his journey, we are also shown how the patriarchyRead MoreInvisible Man By Ralph Ellison1246 Words   |  5 Pagesauthor of Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, was born March 1st, 1914, and died April 16, 1994. He was born in Oklahoma City and named after Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous journalist and poet. When Ellison was 3, his father died of a work-related accident, leaving his mother to care for him and his younger brother. As a young boy, he always wanted to major in music, and he went to Tuskegee University to become a composer and performer of music. The summer before his senior year in college, Ellison went toRead MoreThe Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison Essay2164 Words   |  9 Pagestrying to rebel against the status quo. Protest literature emerged from the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s to 1930’s. Protest literature is used to address real socio-political issues and express objections against them. In his novel, The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison exposes the racism in society by focusing on the culture, in regards to the expected assimilation of African Americans and how the time period largely influenced the mistreatment of the African American population. He also uses symbolsRead MoreInvisible Man By Ralph Ellison1277 Words   |  6 PagesInvisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, is a story about a young African American man whose color renders him invisible. The theme of racism as a hurdle to individual identity is present throughout the story in a variety of examples. From the beginning of the novel the theme of identity is evident as the narrator states, †Å"All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what I was† (Ellison, p. 1254). In the midst of living in a racist American society the speakersRead MoreInvisible Man By Ralph Ellison909 Words   |  4 PagesInvisible Man by Ralph Ellison is a novel which embodies the universal theme of self-discovery, of the search to figure out who one truly is in life which we all are embarked upon. Throughout the text, the narrator is constantly wondering about who he really is, and evaluating the different identities which he assumes for himself. He progresses from being a hopeful student with a bright future to being just another poor black laborer in New Your City to being a fairly well off spokesperson for aRead MoreThe Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison977 Words   |  4 PagesBook Review: Invisible Man Invisible Man is an American Literature novel published by Ralph Ellison in 1952. The novel traces the experiences of a young college black man growing up in Harlem, New York. Attempting to succeed in a predominantly white society, the narrator encounters shocks and disillusionments from being expelled from college to hiding in an underground hole to protect himself from the people above. He lives a repressed life as an â€Å"Invisible Man† for he believes that society ignoresRead MoreInvisible Man By Ralph Ellison1032 Words   |  5 Pageslike modern society some people leads, and others will follow. Subjects will conditionally generate their own ideas and realize these ideas rather than just be assigned tasks that question their beliefs. The author Ralph Ellison illustrates it best. Ellison’s realistic fiction Invisible Man perpetuates the manifestation of manipulation over the minorities in this society. As the narrator embraces every identity he has been given, h e starts to become more independent, and a leader in his community. Read MoreThe Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison3051 Words   |  13 Pagesportrayed through the narrator’s, the invisible man, journey through life. The problems with society are foreshadowed by the racism and the symbols of the color white presented in the paint plant. â€Å"The Invisible Man† by Ralph Ellison depicts the African Americans struggle to be viewed as an equal member of society through the narrators struggles through life to discover his individuality or place in society while the white man or the community conspires to â€Å"keep the black man down†. The story follows theRead MoreThe Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison917 Words   |  4 PagesRalph Ellison’s Invisible Man is a story about a young African American man who struggles to break free from the black stereotype that white society has forced upon him. As Ellison’s views on the detrimental effects of stereotyping mi norities become apparent throughout his novel, some readers would argue that his depictions of female characters seem to be slightly hypocritical—but in actuality, the narrator’s encounters with the female characters ultimately help him accept his invisibility, develop

Sport Participation and Health - 535 Words

Sports participation has long been proven to enhance one’s life. There are numerous benefits including a better physicality, mentality and emotional state. On the whole, participation in sports is considered a boon to society and an activity that harkens back to society’s primitive days. In this essay an attempt will be made to discuss how participation in a sport may have a positive impact on one’s academic performance. Firstly, one cannot speak of the strengths of participation in sport without pointing out the benefits to one’s health. Secondly, the cognitive advantages to participation in a sport will be explained. Thirdly, the social behaviour and outlook on life of the academic will be clarified. Following this discussion the conclusion will be presented in addition to my opinion. Sport is considered the most recreational and accessible way to better health and this is especially beneficial to the academic since without good health the academic cannot study well and thus academic performance will suffer. According to Singh et al (2012:1-2) a participation in a sport is associated with a decreased cardiovascular risk and â€Å"beneficial effects on several mental health outcomes, including health-related quality of life and better mood states†. This definitely helps with classes and studies for an academic especially when it comes to stamina which is to continue activity over some period of time or to repeat the same activity over and over again. Only an academic withShow MoreRelatedCase Study : Health Risk And Sport Participation1661 Words   |  7 PagesCase Analysis 8.10: Health Risk and Sport Participation The following is a case study analysis on Case 8:10 Health Risk and Sport Participation. This particular case involves five individuals, all of which are employed and or playing for the athletic department at BTU University. One of the individuals in this case is star BTU football linebacker A.B. Another individual is BTU Head Football Coach J.M. In addition to A.B and J.M, the other individuals associated with this particular case are theRead MoreThe Relationship Between Aboriginal Youth Sport Participation By Utilizing Hirschi s Understanding Of Social Control826 Words   |  4 Pagesresearch seeks to investigate the relationship between Aboriginal youth sport participation by utilizing Hirschi’s understanding of social control theory. In addition, the fundamental links between gender and health will also be examined within the context of Aboriginal youth participation in sport. Drawing from the Aboriginal Peoples Survey, the results of this study illustrate a strong as sociation between sport participation and the internalization of other societal bonds postulated by Hirschi,Read MoreSports As An Element Of Culture1494 Words   |  6 Pages1.1 Introduction Sports have different meanings for different people and across societies (Laker 2001:4). The way one engages in sports is influenced by the cultural or ethnic group to which one belongs (Sever 2005:4). Even though the rules of sport may stay constant, meanings diverge and are varied (Besnier and Brownell 2012). Sports serves as one of the most contested and celebrated institutions in our society (Appleby and Foster 2013:1). As a result, it will be impossible to fully understand contemporaryRead MoreLiterature Review on Sport Participation and After School Drop Out1475 Words   |  6 Pages1 The affects on sport participation with regards to the absence of education Coalter et al. (1994) illustrated that those who stayed in education after the minimal school leaving age had higher rates of sports participation than the school leavers. This statement inspired the author of this review to research, and essentially ascertain what implications and constraints occur in an adolescent and adult environment when considering participating in sport. 1.1 Benefits attained by society viaRead MoreSports Has Different Meanings For Different People And Across Societies1500 Words   |  6 PagesSports have different meanings for different people and across societies (Laker 2001:4). The way one engages in sports is influenced by the cultural or ethnic group to which one belongs (Sever 2005:4). Even though the rules of sport may stay constant, meanings diverge and are varied (Besnier and Brownell 2012). Sports serves as one of the most contested and celebrated institutions in our society (Appleby and Foster 2013:1). As a result, it will be impossible to fully understand contemporary societyRead MoreThe Importance Of High School Sports1394 Words   |  6 Pagesgetting involved in school activities and participating in sports is what makes your high school journey worthwhile. Now, it’s expected that you’re going to forget how to graph a trigonometric function or what the foundations of American Literature were, but the val uable lessons you learn from high school sports are ones that will stick with you for the rest of your life. This is one of the many reasons why every student should participate in a sport or some school sponsored activity throughout their highRead MoreEffective Skilled And Qualified Professionals1263 Words   |  6 Pagesspecialized services, medical person, and manager. Other services that participants say impede their participation are membership dues/fees, club registration fees, and high transportation cost (high cost of fuel and bus pass/tickets). All these services require upfront payments before participants are allowed to play. Facilities participants identified to influence their participation in sports are: equipment, apparels, and gear. Inability to afford these facilities means the person will not beRead MoreBenefits of Youth Sports1382 Words   |  6 PagesBenefits of Youth Sportsâ€Å"Sports do not build character. They reveal it,† said John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach. Playing sports not only provides physical activity, but also other positive benefits. This is especially true for children. A well-structured and organized youth program will provide benefits and positive experiences for young athletes. While children are having fun participating in sports they are also building character, learning to work as a team, and playing fairly. MostRead MoreSociological Aspects of Sports Research Essay1205 Words   |  5 PagesFormat: Fox CK, Barr-Anderson D, Neumark-Sztainer D, Wall M. Physical activity and sports team participation: associations with academic outcomes in middle school and high school students. J Sch Health. 2010; 80: 31-37. 2. What is the research question and/or purpose statement of study? What are the hypotheses? â€Å"The purpose of this study is to examine the associations between sports team participation, physical activity, and academic outcomes in middle and high school students.† (Fox, Barr-AndersonRead MoreEssay on Social Influences on Sport Participation1459 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Influences on Sport Participation It is clear that sport is strongly influenced by social factors and by human cultural responses. There is a recurring tension between tradition and the cry for modern intervention, this is apparent in football, where some want the technology that is used in rugby, in which a television screen is used in doubtful situations such as trys that werent fully seen by the referee, this would eradicate time wasting in controversial

Insurance in 2020 Free Essays

INSURANCE 2020 – THE PATH AHEAD Introduction Insurance is a social device which help the public to transfer the risk which is integrated part of the human life. It’s been years this term called insurance generated. Now one of the most emerging and greening sector in India is insurance. We will write a custom essay sample on Insurance in 2020 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The needs and preference of a customer is changing day by day. The people are more aware about the need for diverting the risk to a third party by taking insurance. They also consider insurance as an investment. Now day’s insurance companies are following certain marketing strategies. It includes understanding needs and preference of the customers by conducting marketing research and customizing the products and services to the benefit of the society. The companies follow different retail and wholesale distribution channels to reach the customers. Agents, Bancassurance, Brokers and others are some of the distribution channels which prevail in the current market. This paper talks about considering the current facts and features of insurance sector in India, what will be the insurance scenario in 2020. It also talks about upcoming marketing strategies and distribution channels in 2020. Objectives of the study †¢ Primary Objectives o Identify the major changes in the Indian insurance sector on a road to 2020 †¢ Secondary Objectives o Analyze the consumer perception of insurance how it can be tackled by the insurance companies in the upcoming future o Identify the future marketing strategies of insurance as a business in 2020 o Identify the distribution channels of insurance in 2020 and how the features are differentiated themselves from the current distribution channels Research Methodology Descriptive research method is followed in this study Change in Indian insurance industry by 2020 Indian insurance is expected to be going through a significant change of 70% as per the survey conducted by IBM insurance 2020 survey 2006. Among the 30 samples taken 30 % states that insurance industry will be having an incremental change of 30 % by the end of 2020. [pic] There are some reasons for saying that the Indian insurance industry will be facing significant change. The customers are living in era of latest technology and advanced services in which customers are treated not as king, he is the god which decides the existence of a company whether it deal with products or services. If the business fails to please their lord i. e. customers then there won’t be any existence for that particular business. Because of the latest technologies strengthening the demand and bargaining power of customers the customers are active and well informed about the services that they can get from the insurance companies. Another reason would be the increasing competition among the players in Indian insurance sector. Each company is trying to get a competitive edge over other companies by giving most importance to the word ‘Innovation’. The companies can’t run their business without innovation because all the businesses believe in ‘survival of the fittest’. And more over the customer wants the companies should predict their needs and preference well in advance and to serve them. Last but not the least people consider insurance as a strategic investment in life or we can put forward like people consider insurance as life time planning which starts from cradle to graveyard. Now it’s time for us to think about the upcoming trend of Indian insurance industry in the coming years. The ultimate users of the insurance services are people. When companies target people for selling or marketing of insurance they will think only think about their demographic characters like age, income, family etc. But classifying the customers as per their demographic characters and social characters may not help the insurance companies to survive for future. Insurance companies need to further classify the people into innovators and non innovators. Innovators are the people who buy the product or service as and when it reaches the market. Innovators are early buyers of the product. Non innovators are late buyers. Now the point to be discussed is what is the relevance of innovators in a service sector like insurance and why people should buy insurance policies or plans as and when it reaches the market. As I mentioned earlier insurance policies are good stage for strategic investments. When a share or a fund of a blue chip companies are announced in the market, people would be demanding those funds even if it is not there in market. In future most of the companies would be designing their insurance plans as a strategic investment plus risk covering plan, so such companies would targeting high growth funds or shares. So when an insurance company launch their new insurance products in market they will be targeting innovators. Another reason for targeting innovators is that the people who are in the category of non innovators would seek the advices from innovators during purchase of services since innovators are opinion leaders in the market. Another important trend that, the insurance sector would be mostly adopted the concept of virtual office in terms of physical presence. The technology is so updated, now it self a consumer can avail the facilities of insurance companies through the use of internet. Another reason for this trend would be increasing the number of insurance companies in the market. This also will pressure the companies to fully adopt the concept of virtual insurance. The insurance companies in 2020 will be targeting a modern value chain which is the collection of process and services that are linked together to create, develop, sell, deliver, process and service an insurance policy over the life of the contract. It would be hard to find the paper documents or trend of e-documents are no longer away from the insurance market in 2020. The insurance products that is going to capture the markets would be rather known as insurance packages which would cover all the risk of a human being in his life time i. e. once if he is taken an insurance plan it will cover all the risk till his death and investment requirements. The insurance products in 2020 would be concentrating on the concept of ‘Just in Time insurance’ as a person moves through set of spaces. Each stage of his life would be consisting different set of spaces. The new insurance package policies would be concentrating this set of spaces in human life. Insurance sector is one of the mostly regulated sectors in India. The economic crisis which struck globally will be forcing the IRDA and other regulatory bodies to come out with more rules and regulations especially in the foreign institutional investments and foreign direct investment. In 2020 the barriers in availing facilities of insurance with in the boundaries of the respected country, would be started to change since the insurance sector itself demands the emergence of a globally accepted standard of global insurance bodies. Another important thing that we can see sometimes before 2020 would the concept of ‘risk – to – opportunity’. Climate change is big question mark for the insurers. We can see a trend of insurer responds to climate change also. Considering the carbon trade and green business development project the insurance sector can’t close its eyes towards the natural environment. The insurance packages that are going to be prevailing in the insurance market will have certain features. It would a socially enabled product which would be designed to market through online word of mouth. It would also concentrate the concept of a mass produced, multi – component pre-packaged one click solutions which will find a gap in the market place. These packages would be allowing plan conversion exchange which would allow people to convert defined contribution assets into income for life through making into annuities. Another important point to be discussed is that considering the latest technologies that is going to be adopted by the insurance scenario in 2020, most of the insurance companies will have direct tie up with software companies for the use of Information Technology [pic] Marketing strategies of Indian insurance sector in 2020 Indian insurance marketing strategies mainly concentrating on the concept of CRM i. e. customer relationship management. Since insurance sector concentrating on the societal and demographic features of customers, future CRM would be all about creating online communities of customers via emerging social media, such as face book, twitter and similar websites. The companies will take initiative to create such communities which will increase the customer handling efficiency of the company. Another strategy that the insurance companies started to adopt is 80:20 principles. It means retaining the customer who contributes to the majority of the business and serving him as the primary customer. Concentrating in the existing customers will help to get business through cross selling and reduction of the acquisition cost of a new customer. Another trend in the marketing strategies adopted by insurance would be based on the concept of ‘being with the customer’. For example if there is an insurance policy for a corporate is being taken, while providing statements and newsletters the insurer include success stories and pictures that people in that particular corporate works. The future climate of insurance will be forced to emerge new distribution marketing strategies. We can see different strategies for each distribution channels. Banks have long established programs and accounts for ‘young savers’, and have made available courses on handling credit for teenagers. In the future insurance arena, a similar program might involve school presentations on the mechanics of risk, or, rather than the typical sponsorships of sports, taking a logical next step with youth organizations. These kinds of steps include activities such as insurance sponsored clubs which will tune the kids mainly in the concepts of risk management and practising safety in their environment where they interact most. One another strategy would be different approaches to people who have different demographic characteristics. For example, old aged customers can be approached with statistical details and promotional campaigns while the younger group prefers the carries like orkut, face book and other online communication devices. The trend show like more and more consumers are increasingly disenchanted with mass marketing and seek individual attention as well as customization of their customer interactions. The next generation of risk management is one where the focus is not on simply mechanizing the processing of data, but on modelling and automating the smart processing of risk information. The upcoming insurance industry is going to take advantage of social technologies in two ways, like first would be empowering the agents to take advantage of social media as their CRM systems. It is the best way to reach the customers with common interests, while the other is connecting with people engaged in similar occupation. Second would be the extreme widening of products and services. Innovative thinking needs to be built in existing products around their social ability and connectivity. The life insurance business has innovated in less obvious ways by combining coverage’s and adding flexibility to standard coverage’s. Life companies need to attack the oft-quoted maxim that ‘life insurance is sold, not bought’ and overcome the negative perceptions that plague this industry. Change in the distribution channel and their features Insurance companies have got different distribution to reach the customers. It would include agents, brokers and Bancassurance. The upcoming trend in case of distribution channel has to be compared with each of these levels. An insurance agent is a person who identifies himself and the insurance company of whom he is an insurance agent. Earlier insurance companies were used this particular distribution channel, they only require people to sell their products. Now days the trend of insurance companies is selecting the agents changed because these are the persons who represent the company in front of the public. By 2020 the concept of virtual office would come into play. And any person named as agent, he would be having information not only about the product, he will be an expert to advise the customer about how to do the strategic investment and investment options etc. The insurance marketplace is undergoing a transformation that may eventually lead to significant changes in how consumers purchase insurance products. A variety of distribution channels are currently used in this market place and some insurers utilize a combination of distribution channels. In terms of Bancassurance when the insurance products are sold as a third party products along with banking products. In the new era it would be in a relation with the banking product which functions jointly. Another important trend that you can expect from the market would the concept of ‘hyper –efficient direct distribution model’. This concept would be working the idea of super low cost of solution. Now days when the insurance companies are using the multiple distribution channels to reach the customers, the cost associated with this purpose is increasing. Because of the non-traditional competitors have much lower distribution costs than insurers, insurers face intense pressure to operate more efficiently. Distribution costs are one of the largest expense items associated with life and annuity policies. In the upcoming years we can see the trend of an emerging hyper – efficient distribution model which works on low cost. Change in consumer perception of insurance Indian consumers have big influence of emotions and rationality in their buying behaviour. There are certain factors which are going to be very crucial in 2020 in terms of buying behaviour of insurance. They are: †¢ Company loyalty †¢ Services quality †¢ Ease of procedures †¢ Satisfaction level †¢ Company Image †¢ Company Client Relationship Initially the Indian insurance sector was in the major hands of LIC. The people didn’t have a second name or second thought to think from where they should take the insurance plan or policy. Now the trend is changing. The main proof of the change is that the monopoly entertained by LIC was started to capture shares by other private companies. The private players are also able to provide the services and they are also able to generate the trust as LIC could create among the mindset of people. The private companies pitch the products in such a way that it was more acceptable to the customers. For example, One of the promotional objectives designed was to create a feel good factor around retirement and change customers’ perception of retirement as a mark of old age and loss of financial independence. Today’s behavioural patterns are different rather than the traditional ones, but still predictable. The concept of predictive analytics as applied to consumer behaviour follows reaction to control triggers (like marketing campaigns) and thus allows companies to manage their customer portfolio into an optimal spread on a value/ loyalty matrix. The consumers are expecting an insurance product/service like a direct sale of mid market lifetime income solution with a lower premium which also helps to invest for future purpose. Challenges of Indian Insurance Sector on a road towards 2020 One of the big challenges that are going to be faced by 2020 would be estimating local market potential for insurance products is continual challenge for the insurance industry. One solution for this big challenge would the concept of ‘insurance CLOUT’. Based on the actual purchase patterns, the idea like insurance CLOUT provides the most reliable local estimates for all type of insurance products and includes key detailed information like household counts, policy deductibles and premiums. Insurance CLOUT includes both current year estimates and five year projections for all of the data provided. Insurance CLOUT helps you to focus the marketing strategies of a business. It’s an indispensable tool for numerous marketing applications like †¢ Allocating market dollars against market potential †¢ Estimating potential for specific products within local markets †¢ Identifying high opportunity areas †¢ Measuring agency performance relative to market potential This idea also helps to assess the key market potential data for insurance companies. Conclusion The study was trying to give some information about the picture of insurance preferences and features in 2020. It identifies the factors that are going to be very crucial in terms of consumer buying behaviour with respect to insurance. The marketing strategies and distribution channels are also tried to portray considering the big limitation of the uncertainty of future. The study states that as time passes insurance sector in India will be undergoing through changes which can be giving a new face for the Indian insurance sector in 2020. As the insurance industry will be facing difficulties along with the rest of its financial services brethren to operate in the current global recession, it must consider the actual value of true innovation. No insurance business can’t exist in business in the upcoming future with out innovation. Innovation can come in the form of modified process, new business models, distribution channels and simple organizational changes. Innovation with out knowing the consumer buying behaviour would be fruitful. Creating innovative products like energy savings insurance, innovative renewable energy project insurance products, green building insurance and insurance for developing world (Micro insurance) would help the insurance companies to smoothen their road towards 2020. In the upcoming trend of insurance will be focusing on ‘pay as you live and active risk management in which active risk management means where proactive actions are taken to reduce total impact of risk. REFERENCES: †¢ Insurance 2020 – Insurance beyond old models by IBM †¢ Ceres report ‘From risk to opportunity’ 2008 by Evan mills [pic] How to cite Insurance in 2020, Papers

Hnc social care graded unit planning stage free essay sample

I am currently working for inc corp as a Supported Living Assistant providing support to a young gentleman with both physical and developmental disabilities in his own home. For the purpose of this report and in line with inc confidentiality procedures and the Data Protection Act 1998, I have changed names in order to protect the individual and maintain confidentiality. I currently work with a young man called David who is 21 years old and lives in the family home with his mother, who is his main carer. David is autistic and also has a profound learning disability and can often present some challenging behaviour and aggression towards his mother. David requires a lot of help throughout his day, from bathing and dressing to attending college and taking part in extracurricular activities. If we look at David in relation to Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development â€Å"individuals develops through eight genetically programmes sequency of stages† bingam et al P. 78, at age 21 David should have moved through the first 5 stages of development and be at the Intimacy versus Isolation stage. This is when the individual builds intimate and sexual relationships and bonds with others, but as David has very little social interaction with anyone other than his parents and small team of carers he has clearly not reached this stage of development. David is in fact still at the Initiative versus Guilt stage where he requires a lot of support from his parent and carers in new environments and when meeting new people. If we look at Symbolic Interaction (â€Å"George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) belief that â€Å"our senses of self-derived from the feedback we receive from out interaction from others†) moore et al in relation to David and how his sense of self concept is derived from interaction we could â€Å"say that he has developed a sense of helplessness in response to the actions of others. At home David’s parents have nurtured and cared for him to the point where they do everything for him from bathing, dressing and even sometimes feeding him, all things David, with the right encouragement, would be able to do for himself. This has led to David doing very little for himself as he knows it will be done for him. â€Å"Interpretive theories argue that the most important influence on individuals’ behaviour is the behaviour of others towards them† Marsh et al (2009) P. 72. By being in an environment where David isn’t required to do anything he has learned not to bother and everything will still be done for him. I am planning to accompany David the Dove Club which is a social group held in Cumbernauld for individuals with learning disabilities. The group is held twice a week on Mondays and Thursday from 10am to 1pm, I plan to accompany David for the first time on Thursday the 13th of February. The care plan will be completed by the 4th of February and will be evaluated by the 25th of February. During previous meetings with David, his family and my line manager it was agreed that socially David’s need are un met and since leaving school he has become increasingly socially isolated, spending the majority of his time with his mother and this may be contributing to the aggression David shows towards his mother. The aim of the activity is to expand David’s social circle, encourage him to interact and build friendships with his peers and have time for himself outside the home. To facilitate David to complete this activity a number of factors have to be considered. I have already visited the club on my own and spoke to the staff to ensure the environment is safe and accessible for David. It has been agreed that I will drive David to the group in my car which is insured for business purposed, David’s mother will prepare David a packed lunch to take with him and two pounds will be used from support money in the petty cash tin in David’s house to pay David’s admission to the dove group. The process of planning this activity started with my line manager and me visiting David and his mother at home along with David’s social worker. The group was small to ensure confidentiality and that only those directly involved with Davids care or his â€Å"circle of Support† Bingam et al P. 17 needed to attend. We carried out this visit in line with SSSC code of practice and the National Care Standards Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, a guide how to treat individuals â€Å"the principles are dignity, privacy, choice, safety, realising potential and equality and diversity† www. nationalcarestandards. org/care-at-home (02/02/14). We used a person centred planning approach to the meeting where David had helped to choose who would be involved and where the meeting would be held. We had a discussion with David and his mother about how things were going and the areas that had improved since the last team meeting. We then moved onto discuss David’s lack of social interaction with his peers and looked at steps to improve this. I agreed to look in to things in the community and come back to David with options that he could choose from. I did this later that day finding information online about the Dove Club and various other activities David could participate in. I printed off the information along with pictures that I showed to David and his mother at the beginning of my next shift, both agreed that the Dove Club looked to be the most suitable with David. I then contacted my line manager go keep him informed and arrange to meet him to discuss the health and safety requirements and resoures required to complete the activity. We arranged to meet two days later in the office to ensure confidentiality. During this meeting it was discussed that I would pay a visit to the club before taking David to ensure it was safe and accessable for him in accordance with regulation of care (Scotland) act 2001, that david would require a packed lunch as he normally had his lunch at 12 and we would be there until 1, the cost of admission ids ? 2 which would be taken from support allowance. It was also discussed that it would be the best option if I took David in my car which is insured for business purposes and the office have a copy of my insurance documents as part of their working policy and proceedure, as David can become very anxious on public transport. All of this was put in writing with 1 copy being kept in the inclusion office in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and another copy given to David and his mother to ensure they were in agreement with the goal set and the details of the activity and then all parties agreed if the activity could not be carried out on the date set we would try again on the 18th of February.

Csaca Essays - TimedTextLa-mort-du-disque.ogg.en.srt,

Csaca I can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowvvI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowvvI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowvI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take yo u woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI can take you up i can take you home, i can take you woah where you wanna go i can pick it up we can take it slowI

Fidel Castro Biographical Profile

Fidel Castro Biographical Profile Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (1926–2016) was a Cuban lawyer, revolutionary, and politician. He was the central figure in the Cuban Revolution (1956-1959), which removed dictator Fulgencio Batista from power and replaced him with a communist regime friendly to the Soviet Union. For decades, he defied the United States, which tried to assassinate or replace him countless times. A controversial figure, many Cubans consider him a monster who destroyed Cuba, while others consider him a visionary who saved their nation from the horrors of capitalism. Early Years Fidel Castro was one of the  several illegitimate children born to middle-class sugar farmer Angel Castro y Argà ­z and his household maid, Lina Ruz Gonzlez. Castro’s father eventually divorced his wife and married Lina, but young Fidel still grew up with the stigma of being illegitimate. He was given his fathers last name at age 17 and had the benefits of being raised in a wealthy household. He was a talented student, educated at Jesuit boarding schools, and decided to pursue a career in law, entering the University of Havana Law School in 1945. While in school, he became increasingly involved in politics, joining the Orthodox Party, which was in favor of drastic government reform to reduce corruption. Personal Life Castro married Mirta  Dà ­az Balart in 1948. She came from a wealthy and politically-connected family. They had one child and divorced in 1955. Later in life, he married Dalia Soto del Valle in 1980 and had five more children. He had several other children outside of his marriages, including Alina Fernndez, who escaped Cuba to Spain using false papers and then lived in Miami where she criticized the Cuban government. Revolution Brewing in Cuba When Batista, who had been president in the early 1940s, abruptly seized power in 1952, Castro became even more politicized. Castro, as a lawyer, tried to mount a legal challenge to Batista’s reign, demonstrating that the Cuban Constitution had been violated by his power grab. When Cuban courts refused to hear the petition, Castro decided that legal assaults on Batista would never work: if he wanted change, he would have to use other means. Attack on the Moncada Barracks The charismatic Castro began drawing converts to his cause, including his brother Raà ºl. Together, they acquired weapons and began organizing an assault on the military barracks at Moncada. They attacked on July 26, 1953, the day after a festival, hoping to catch the soldiers still drunk or hung over. Once the barracks were captured, there would be enough weapons to mount a full-scale insurgency. Unfortunately for Castro, the attack failed: most of the 160 or so rebels were killed, either in the initial assault or in government prisons later. Fidel and his brother Raul were captured. History Will Absolve Me Castro led his own defense, using his public trial as a platform to bring his argument to the people of Cuba. He wrote an impassioned defense for his actions and smuggled it out of prison. While on trial, he uttered his famous slogan: â€Å"History will absolve me.† He was sentenced to death, but when the death penalty was abolished, his sentence was changed to 15 years imprisonment. In 1955, Batista came under increasing political pressure to reform his dictatorship, and he freed a number of political prisoners, including Castro. Mexico The newly-freed Castro went to Mexico, where he made contact with other Cuban exiles eager to overthrow Batista. He founded the 26th of July Movement and began making plans for a return to Cuba. While in Mexico, he met Ernesto â€Å"Chà ©Ã¢â‚¬  Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, who were destined to play important roles in the Cuban Revolution. The rebels acquired weapons and trained and coordinated their return with fellow insurgents in Cuban cities. On November 25, 1956, 82 members of the movement boarded the yacht Granma and set sail for Cuba, arriving on December 2. Back in Cuba The Granma force was detected and ambushed, and many of the rebels were killed. Castro and the other leaders survived, however, and made it to the mountains in southern Cuba. They remained there for a while, attacking government forces and installations and organizing resistance cells in cities across Cuba. The movement slowly but surely gained in strength, especially as the dictatorship cracked down further on the populace. Castros Revolution Succeeds In May of 1958, Batista launched a massive campaign aimed at ending the rebellion once and for all. It backfired, however, as Castro and his forces scored a number of unlikely victories over Batista’s forces, which led to mass desertions in the army. By the end of 1958, the rebels were able to go on the offensive, and columns led by Castro, Cienfuegos and Guevara captured major towns. On January 1, 1959, Batista spooked and fled the country. On January 8, 1959, Castro and his men marched into Havana in triumph. Cubas Communist Regime Castro soon implemented a Soviet-style communist regime in Cuba, much to the dismay of the United States. This led to decades of conflict between Cuba and the USA, including such incidents as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Mariel boatlift. Castro survived countless assassination attempts, some of them crude, some quite clever. Cuba was placed under an economic embargo, which had serious effects on the Cuban economy. In February of 2008 Castro resigned from duties as President, although he remained active in the communist party. He died on November 25, 2016, at the age of 90. Legacy Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution have had a profound effect on worldwide politics since 1959. His revolution inspired many attempts at imitation and revolutions broke out in nations such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bolivia and more. In southern South America, a whole crop of insurgencies sprang up in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Tupamaros in Uruguay, the MIR in Chile and the Montoneros in Argentina, just to name a few. Operation Condor, a collaboration of military governments in South America, was organized to destroy these groups, all of which hoped to incite the next Cuban-style Revolution in their home nations. Cuba aided many of these insurgent groups with weapons and training. While some were inspired by Castro and his revolution, others were aghast. Many politicians in the United States saw the Cuban Revolution as a dangerous â€Å"toehold† for communism in the Americas, and billions of dollars were spent propping up right-wing governments in places like Chile and Guatemala. Dictators such as Chile’s Augusto Pinochet were gross violators of human rights in their countries, but they were effective in keeping Cuban-style revolutions from taking over. Many Cubans, particularly those in the middle and upper classes, fled Cuba shortly after the revolution. These Cuban emigrants generally despise Castro and his revolution. Many fled because they feared the crackdown that followed Castro’s conversion of the Cuban state and economy to communism. As part of the transition to communism, many private companies and lands were confiscated by the government. Over the years, Castro maintained his grip on Cuban politics. He never gave up on communism even after the fall of the Soviet Union, which supported Cuba with money and food for decades. Cuba is a genuine communist state where the people share labor and rewards, but it has come at the cost of privation, corruption, and repression. Many Cubans fled the nation, many taking to the sea in leaky rafts hoping to make it to Florida. Castro once uttered the famous phrase: â€Å"History will absolve me.† The jury is still out on Fidel Castro, and history may absolve him and may curse him. Either way, what is certain is that history will not forget him anytime soon. Sources: Castaà ±eda, Jorge C. Compaà ±ero: the Life and Death of Che Guevara.  New York: Vintage Books, 1997. Coltman, Leycester. The Real Fidel Castro. New Haven and London: the Yale University Press, 2003.

A favorite item of clothing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A favorite item of clothing - Essay Example The large interior feels roomy and comfortable. The heaviness of the jacket on my shoulders reminds me I am wearing leather. Coolness meets my hands as I deposit treasures in my inner pockets. My outer pockets can feel light or heavy, depending on the items placed there. The whole jacket feels familiar, comfortable, and unique to me. As black as night without a moon, the leather is so dark it seems to reflect the light. The darkness is so black. The ebony color of my jacket reflects light, showing a white light bouncing off my jacket under direct artificial light. The only true way to appreciate the jacket’s true color is in natural light. Raven black covers the whole jacket, except for the zippers, buttons, and other sliver accessories. The silver twinkles in the sunlight. However, in artificial light the metallic twinkle is muted, depending on how close to the light I get. My leather jacket might look like any other leather jacket to the casual observer, but I would be able to pick my jacket out of a multitude of jackets. The arms are symmetrical like every other jacket, but the body is slightly longer than your average coat. Deep creases form in the arms of the jacket that match my arm bends and shape. The round buttons look like they came from button fly jeans. The round silver hoops hang off my jacket like earrings on a pretty girl. The pockets are creased from my cell phone, keys, and money placed there daily. My jacket is unique to myself, if not to others. The smell of my jacket is faintly leathery. Since it is an old jacket, the leather smell has faded over the years. If I use oil on the ancient leather, the smell becomes stronger. The strong leather smell is heady, but I prefer the faint leather smell. The faint leather smell reminds me of the warmth, security, and familiarity my jacket has provided me with over the years. Even after put up for the winter, the familiar smell beckons me

US criminal justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

US criminal justice - Essay Example Before going into the discussion regarding affect of one’s opinion about the purpose of sentencing on selecting the most appropriate type of punishment, let us get a better understanding of what sentencing actually is.Sentencing is a stage in criminal justice system in which a judge decides a punishment for a criminal. The purpose of sentencing plays a very critical role in deciding the most suitable type of punishment because it makes a judge decide whether to satisfy the victim or to punish the offender according to the law. The judges, however, can make the decision on their own in a very few situations because they have to look at the punishment which is set in the law for any specific crime. The way the juries make a decision against criminals has been continuously changing with time (Renter). For some crimes, there are laws, which apply fines and banishment for the criminals whereas for some crimes, there are very harsh punishments set for the criminals. â€Å"Today the re are many things the criminal justice system aims to do by imposing punishments and sentences† (Renter). One’s belief in the purpose of sentencing plays a crucial role in reducing the crime rate from a country. In the US criminal justice system, the aim of the judges is to reduce the crime by sentencing the criminals on merit. The goal should be to make the criminals refrain from crimes by giving law-based punishments to the criminals. Some judges believe that sentencing should be a way to stop the criminals from committing crimes by giving harsh punishments to the criminals whereas others believe that sentencing should also involve will of the victims in order to satisfy the victims properly. Therefore, one’s belief about the purpose of sentencing plays a critical role in deciding appropriate punishments for the criminals. Answer: No: 2 Some of the most famous sentencing models in the United States include indeterminate sentencing, determinate sentencing, and mandatory sentencing. Indeterminate Sentencing In indeterminate sentencing, the judges state a minimum and maximum length of imprisonment for the criminals depending on the nature of the crime committed by them. It is the most widely used sentencing model in the United States of America (Siegal 498). The minimum time of imprisonment is must for all criminals whereas the maximum time depends on some specific circumstances. The model gives power to the judges to decide the number of years for the imprisonment of the criminal by providing the judges with both limits for the years of imprisonment. Indeterminate sentencing provides range and flexibility to the judges by giving them the power to decide the appropriate duration for imprisonment of the criminals. Determinate Sentencing Determinate sentences are fixed terms of incarceration in which the offender has to spend a specific number of years in the prison. In determinate sentencing, there is a set of guidelines for the judges that define the parameters to be followed while deciding the sentences. For rehabilitation purposes, determinate sentencing model is too restrictive as compared to indeterminate sentencing. A good thing about the determinate sentencing model is that the offender keeps in mind the punishment for any specific crime and hesitates to commit the crime and go back to jail for anther term of imprisonment. Mandatory Sentencing Another type of sentencing model is mandatory sentencing in which a judge has to give a mandatory punishment to the criminal because in this model of sentencing, a judge has little or no control over the punishment set for any specific crime. Mandatory sentencing restricts sentencing disparity and limits individualized sentencing by limiting the discretionary power of the judges to impose any kind of disposition. Mandatory sentencing has helped the government of the United States reduce the overall number of crimes by incarcerating the offenders who might have

Web Sites. The Web development methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Web Sites. The Web development methods - Essay Example As Taylor writes, "Over the years, web sites have become quite a phenomenal and developers are developing web sites using an ad hoc approach, which is causing problems. Developing efficient web sites requires meeting user needs by producing high quality web sites. One way of solving the problems developers are having is by developing a web development process for developers to use." (Taylor, n.d.)The web development methods include a process that describes the steps to follow during development of web sites. The web site development process is driven by use cases that are created based on user requirements, that's why it's so important to build up comprehensive user requirements. As Tran writes, "Requirements and specifications are very important components in the development of any embedded system. Requirements analysis is the first step in the system design process, where a user's requirements should be clarified and documented to generate the corresponding specifications." (Tran, 1999)According to Kaner et al. cited in Sisson (2002), "A requirement is an objective that must be met. Planners cast most requirements in functional terms, leaving design and implementation details to the developers. They may specify price, performance, and reliability objectives in fine detail, along with some aspects of the user interface. Sometimes, they describe their objectives more precisely than realistically." Website projects are usually done on tight schedules, with limited resources, and without a well-defined approach for achieving usability. For many developers it's easy to dismiss usability methods as an unnecessary overhead cost. But usability methods can be integrated efficiently and effectively into each stage of the website design process. Employing this process, and by using forms, checklists, and other tools to improve communication and workflow, website projects can be managed successfully achieving a highly-usable product. (Gergle, Brinck, Wood 1999) One very useful technique for implementing usable website requirements described by Rhodes (2006) is Pareto Principle. He writes, "Usability provides another benefit to product teams. It is very likely that you have one or more people on the team who live and die by the Pareto Principle. Everything is defined in terms of the 80/20 rule, where the majority of issues seem to stem from a small fraction of items. Similarly, most of the value seems to come from just a few features or functions." Various literature (Bolchini and Randazzo 2005; Tran, 1999; Cockburn, 2000; Courage, Baxter, 2004; Lauesen, 2002) mention 3 phases of user requirements life-cycle in web site development: Requirements Identification, Requirements Analysis and Requirements Definition/Specification. Requirements Identification Requirements Identification is the requirements engineering task during which raw new potential requirements are identified. The typical responsibilities of Requirements Identification are to: Identify the desires, potential needs, and expectations of the application's stakeholders. Transform these desires, potential needs and expectations into potential new raw (unanalyzed) requirements. (Cockburn, 2000; Lauesen, 2002) Requirements identification typically involves the requirements team performing the following steps: Identify possible sources of requirements, such as stakeholders, experts, reusable requirements and requirements specifications, documentation, etc. Interview customer representatives, user representatives, domain experts, marketing personnel, and user support agents. Observe representative users at work. Informally identify and capture the resulting potential requirements. (Cockburn, 2000; Lauesen, 2002) Requirements identification for website development can typically be performed using the following techniques: Website Studies. Reverse engineer requirements from legacy websites, competing websites, similar websites, and website databases. Textual analysis of websites (e.g., noun/verb for object/operation, shall/must/will for

Role Of Media In Peace Building

Role Of Media In Peace Building History has shown that the media can incite people toward violence. Hitler used the media to create an entire worldview of hatred for Jews, homosexuals, and other minority groups. Rwandas radio RTLM urged listeners to pick up machetes and take to the streets to kill what they called the cockroaches. Broadcasters in the Balkans polarized local communities to the point where violence became an acceptable tool for addressing grievances. The medias impact on the escalation of conflict is more widely recognized than the medias impact on peace-building. Yet it is not uncommon to hear experts pronounce that the medias impact on peace-building must be significant given its powerful impact on conflict. However, this simple relationship must not be taken for granted and should be critically examined in order to most effectively use the media for conflict prevention and peace-building (Wolfsfeld, 2004, p.15) In the last six decades, the influence of the media in the global arena has increasingly been recognized, especially its power to either exacerbate or contain potential conflicts. Indeed it is worth noting that among the defendants during the Nuremburg trials which were constituted by the allied forces following the defeat of the Germany and her allies immediately after the second world war was one Julius Streicher who although never held any official position within the Nazi party hierarchy, was considered to be among the top individuals who bore the greatest responsibility for the holocaust that killed more than six million Jews (Source). For close to twenty five years, Streicher had educated the Germany people in hatred and incited them to the persecution and the extermination of the Jewish race. The propaganda which Streicher carried for close to twenty five years was chiefly done through the medium of his newspaper as the editor of the Der Stuemer and later several other provinc ial journals (Source). As early as the 17th century, Edmund Burke had coined the term the fourth estate, to demonstrate the growing power of the media in periods when power and influence was concentrated in hands of only three classes of society (Source). Although it is still debatable as who was the first to use the word, Burke is said to have remarked that there were estates in Parliament, but in the reporters gallery yonder, there sat the fourth estate more important than four than they all. He was making reference to the traditional three estates of Parliament: The Lords spiritual, the Lords temporal and the Commons (Source). In the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with the advance of technology, first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet. Many people are today fully dependent on the information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and their daily activities like work, entertainment, healthcare, education, personal relationships, traveling are greatly controlled by what they read, hear and see. New communications technologies such as mobile/video phones and laptop computers are allowing journalists to gather and disseminate information with ease from many parts of the world. The digitization of the news industry, which has led to a compression of time and space, means we see news images of demonstrations, riots or coups within minutes of these occurring in the streets. These images not only inform global audiences, but may instigate further campaigns of violence at home. Commercial realities of news gathering have also affected the reporting of conflicts. The higher cost of news gathering in remote regions, coupled with the geopolitical and economic priorities of the West, mean that conflicts occurring at close proximity to the metropolitan centers receive coverage at the expense of those occurring further away in less developed regions of the world. A study of conflict reporting in the worlds major news outlets in 2000 shows that the Israel Palestine conflict was by far the most covered five times greater than the next most covered conflict (Hawkins, 2002) . Virgil Hawkins, the researcher who conducted the study, notes: By contrast, conflict in Africa, which has been, in the post-Cold-War world, is responsible for up to 90 percent of the worlds total war dead suffered an almost complete media blackout. Coverage of the massive war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which caused in excess of one million deaths in the year 2000, was almost insignificant (p. 231). With the international news agenda controlled by the worlds major media giants, it has become crucial to develop and strengthen media at the local level to maintain diversity of opinion. As media in many developing nations, such as Kenya, move away from state control towards private enterprise, it is essential for local media to find their own voice and professional codes. A well developed media system with professionally trained journalists usually benefits both global and local audiences and provides a vital link to the outside world during conflict situations. The media is a double-edged sword. It can be a frightful weapon of violence when it propagates messages of intolerance or disinformation that manipulate public sentiment; but there is another aspect to the media, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it can be an instrument of conflict resolution, when the information it presents is reliable, respects human rights, and represents diverse views. It is the kind of media that enables a society to mak e well-informed choices, which is the precursor of democratic governance. It is a media that reduces conflict and fosters human security (Source). Today, in every part of the world reliable, accurate and objective media, whether be it mainstream, alternative or traditional/non-conventional, can both help to prevent and resolve conflict through the automatic functions of responsibly disseminating information, furthering awareness and knowledge, promoting participatory and transparent governance, and addressing perceived grievances. In the same vein, inadvertently or overtly propagandistic media may equally fuel tensions and exacerbate conflicts, which in extreme cases like in Rwanda may directly result in genocide (source). 1.1 Background of the Study To argue that media does make a difference means rejecting the view that media are no more than mirrors of something else -consumer choices; elite interests, or reality itself (as in the positivist assertions by some journalists that they simply report the way it is). It is a commonplace to suggest that media provide their audiences with a map of the social and political world beyond their own immediate experience. From this observation about contemporary complex society, flow other notions of media power: agenda setting (media capacity to focus public attention on some events and issues, and away from others); the spiral of silence (the withering of issues and perspectives ignored by media); priming (media ability to influence citizens criteria of political evaluation); cultivation (the gradual adoption of beliefs about the social world that correspond to televisions selective picture of the world), framing, and the ideological effect (the production of meaning in the service of dom ination) (Hackett Carroll, 2006, p.30-31). A less frequently considered but equally pertinent dimension of media influence is their relationship with anti-war movements. Within reasonably democratic states, and in the absence of elite discord, such movements may be the most important buffer within civil society against war. The movement/media relationship is asymmetrical: movements need media (to mobilize support, validate their political existence, and attract new supporters) far more than vice versa (Gamson Wolfsfeld 1993). Media play contradictory but important roles at every stage of their trajectory; their emergence, organizational self-maintenance, and success; when political and foreign policy elites are united around a war policy, dominant media are likely to trivialize or demonize anti-war dissent (Gitlin 1980; Hackett 1991). In the context specifically of war, some scholars see an intensification of media agenda-setting with the advent of real-time, 24-hour, globally distributed television news -most iconically Ber nard Shaws and Peter Arnetts reporting for Cable News Network (CNN) from Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf War. The so-called CNN effect allegedly highlights political uncertainty and incompetence, accelerates the pace at which politicians must respond to crises, and creates expectations and emotions that may force governments, against their initial inclinations, to intervene (or disengage) in conflict situations. The American humanitarian intervention in Somalia is often cited as an example (Spencer, 2005, p.24-38). According to Arnold (2005), the mass media contributed immensely to the propagation of US foreign policy agenda, couching imperial military actions in terms of humanitarian interventions undertaken to promote global freedom and democracy. This gave the US foreign policy the media attention cycle as there was competition among worldwide television and radio networks such as BBC, CNN, FOX TV and Channel 4 as who gets the right information first. This therefore, created huge demand for Western media even in non-western countries. In Africa, several efforts have been made to use the mass media to promote peace. For example, Radio for Peace-Building Africa (RFPA) is a program founded in 2003 by the international non-profit organization Search for Common Ground. The following are the countries in which RFPA is operated: Burundi, Central African Republic, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. Working on the assumption that radio is the most accessible form of mass communication in Africa, RFPA trains journalists in peace-building, conflict resolution, and acting on commonalities. As stated in their achievements, 2010, RFPA has more than 3,000 members representing 100 countries, across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. They have carried out over 90 workshops and trained local radio station personnel (Radio for Peace-Building Africa, 2011). If the media have played an important role in breeding violence, it seems reasonable to examine the prospects of the reverse perspective-positive media contributions to ending violence and peace building in Kenya as a whole. Furthermore, if the media are usually found to support forces that lead to violent conflict, it can also be said that the media have the power to influence the activities that promote peace in the society. While media have been prominent contributors to every post-Cold War conflict (Prince and Thompson, 2002, Allen and Seaton, 1999), their role in post conflict peace-building and social development has not been apparent. Elsewhere however, recently there have been enough proves to accept the idea regarding the use of role that the media have played in peace-building. For instance, in Bosnia, Burundi, Cambodia, Croatia, Israel/Palestine, Macedonia, and Rwanda there are documented positive accomplishment of initiated projects of post-conflict recovery through the r ole of the media (McGoldrick, 2006). Also, over the past seven years, RFPA promoted peace in its areas of operation through levels of collaboration that it established between the government, media (TV stations and news papers) and civil society, increased the ability of radio stations to identify the underlying causes of war and conflict, increased the publics access to policy information, and used media to foster communication between policy makers and the civil society within that state, among other achievement (Radio for PeaceBuilding Africa: Achievements, 2012). 1.2 Problem Statement Literature on conflict and peace-building reveals a dismal focus on the role of the media in peace processes. Existing theory only tends to portray the media as essential in reporting and generating discourses on conflicts (Wolfsfeld, 2004; Watson, 2006; Bratic, 2006). Scholars of the post-election phenomenon in Kenya quickly conclude that, the crisis was a deeply rooted political and ethnic problem. Yet, the role of the media in the conflict, as well as its ability to mediate peace is not adequately tackled. In the East African region, Kenyan media like that in Rwanda has been scrutinized at the level of international law as a perpetrator of political violence. The post-2007 crisis serves as a good case to exemplify the process from conflict to peace-building. First, it illustrates the double role of the media as a constructive and destructive agent, and provides a link between media freedom and human rights. Secondly, this research explores challenges of media freedom within fragile democracies, where politics, poverty and ethnic differences can influence the media agenda. While the use of hate speech in the media is not discounted, this project will not focus on the subject as a whole, but draw examples to examine arguments. This thesis does not discuss ethnicity as a theory, but rather uses the term ethnic violence, a theme applied to describe political and ethnic tensions in Kenya (Hagg Kagwanja, 2007). The concept of ethnic violence has also been characterised as an element of civil or degenerate wars by several authors in recent years (Hanssen, 2000; Shaw, 2003; Kaldor, 2006). In recent times the effect of the mass media in shaping and forming the view of people especially the radio due to its accessibility, affordability and availability as compared to TV and computers (social networks e.g. Face book, Twitter, and YouTube) has contributed immensely to the development of a country. In the area of sport the mass media is promoting all kinds of sports especially football through constant publicity. As an emerging buoyant economic industry, the various media houses have established front desk for sports. Besides, they also have sports journalist who monitor, research and analyze sports related issues in the world, Africa and Kenya in particular. This has brought sports to the limelight of the media and given it a place in the media cycle. Inferring to the above and many achievements and contributions of the mass media in Kenya, it can be concluded that the mass media actually do assist in social improvements and building the ideals of the society. By systematically monitoring the performance of state institutions and reporting progress activities of the government, by guiding and dispensing of socialization, and by entertaining its audiences through interesting programmes. Against this background, many media houses have capacity building programmes to enhance public participation through phoning-in sessions. These programmes are also inspired by the need to improve and deepen governance and democracy. Notwithstanding, none or little concern has been given to programmes that are geared towards peace-building. It is for this reason that the researcher seeks to find out the role of the mass media in peace-building in Kenya. 1.3 Objectives of the Study The general objective of this research will be to explore the role the media has played in peace building among selected media houses in Kenya. The specific objectives of the research will be: To examine the activities of the media in peace-building. To find out whether the media has been successfully used to promote peace in Kenya. To assess the effects of the media on peace-building. To establish the measures that government, stakeholders and media houses have put in place towards peace-building. To make recommendations towards the use of the media in promoting and enhancing peace-building in Kenya. 1.4 Research Questions The following questions will serve as research questions to guide this research. What are the activities of the media in peace-building? How has the media been successfully used to promote peace in Kenya?. What are the effects of the media on peace-building? What measures has the government, stakeholders and media houses put in place towards peace-building? 1.5 Rationale for the Study The media is a double-edged sword. It can be a frightful weapon of violence when it propagates messages of intolerance or disinformation that manipulate public sentiment. But there is another aspect to the media. It can be an instrument of conflict resolution, when the information it presents is reliable, respects human rights, and represents diverse views. It is the kind of media that enables a society to make well-informed choices, which is the precursor of democratic governance. It is a media that reduces conflict and fosters human security. Today, in every part of the world, reliable, accurate and objective media, whether mainstream, alternative or non-conventional, can both help to prevent and resolve conflict through the automatic functions of responsibly disseminating information, furthering awareness and knowledge, promoting participatory and transparent governance, and addressing perceived grievances. In the same vein, inadvertently or overtly propagandistic media may equall y fuel tensions and exacerbate conflicts. This study aims at establishing the role of media in peace-building in Kenya. 1.6 Assumptions of the Study This study will be guided by the following assumptions: The media houses in Kenya have adopted acceptable practices in relation to peace-building reporting in their operations. The target audience from the population that will be selected will give a fair representation of the whole population under study. 1.7 Limitation of the Study Unexpected negative response from respondents due to the fact that they will be unwilling to give out sensitive organizational information. This will be delimited through counter-checking on secondary literature as well as desk-reviews. 1.8 Definition of Key Terms Capacity Building Capacity development is the process whereby individuals, groups, and organisations enhance their abilities to mobilize and use resources in order to achieve their objectives on a sustainable basis. Efforts to strengthen abilities of individuals, groups, and organisations can comprise a combination of (i) human skills development; (ii) changes in organisations and networks; and (iii) changes in governance/institutional context (ADB, 2004). Capacity building is a complex notion it involves individual and organisational learning which builds social capital and trust, develops knowledge, skills and attitudes and when successful creates an organisational culture which enables organisations to set objectives, achieve results, solve problems and create adaptive procedures which enable it to survive in the long term Ethnic violence In this study the term ethnic violence will be defined as a theme applied to describe political and ethnic tensions in Kenya (Hagg Kagwanja, 2007). Media The media refers to several mediums or channels used in an organized fashion to communicate information to groups of people, as a service to the public (Howard, 2002). In regard to this thesis, media is mainstream or independent (press, radio, television) in general. Peace Journalism According to Lynch and McGoldrick (2005) peace journalism is when editors and reporters make choices of what stories to report, and how to report them which create opportunities for society at large to consider and to value non-violent responses to conflict. Peace Journalism entails: Uses the insights of conflict analysis and transformation to update the concepts of balance, fairness and accuracy in reporting Provides a new route map tracing the connections between journalists, their sources, the stories they cover and the consequences of their journalism the ethics of journalistic intervention Builds an awareness of non-violence and creativity into the practical job of everyday editing and reporting (Lynch and McGoldrick 2005 p. 5). Peace Building The Carnegie Endowments Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflict (1997) defined peace-building as structural prevention which consists of the strategies to address the root causes of deadly conflict. Likewise, the Joint Utstein study of peace-building concludes that peace-building attempts to encourage the development of the structural conditions, attitudes, and modes of political behavior that may permit peaceful, stable and ultimately prosperous social and economic development. It states that there are four main headings related to peace-building: to provide security, to establish the socioeconomic foundations of long-term peace, to establish the political framework of long-term peace, and to generate reconciliation, a healing of the wounds of war and justice (Smith, 2003). These terms will be adopted in this study based but not limited to the above definitions. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The Kenyan Media: An Overview Kenya has a plural, sophisticated and robust mass media and communication sector that serve the various competing political, social, economic, cultural and technological needs of diverse interest groups. The sector has grown rapidly in the past 15 years because of a combination of factors including political and economic liberalization; and Kenyas strategic location as a regional and international economic and communication hub. Before 1992, the media scene was small, urban based and less independent owing to repressive media laws and regulation. Today, the media especially radio and television, reaches all urban centers and almost all rural communities. The broadcasting sub-sector is diverse, dynamic and competitive with substantial reach. There are about 14 TV and 113 radio stations in Kenya (Steadman Group, 2008). Radio is the number one source of information reaching almost 90 percent of the entire population followed by television reaching about 40 percent and newspapers (30 per cent). There are about 7.5 million radio sets (1.9 million in urban and 5.6 in rural areas) and 3.2 million TV sets in Kenya (1.4 million in urban and 1.8 in rural areas) in the country. There are about 16.7 radio listeners across the country with 12.4 million in rural and 4.4 million in towns (Steadman Group, 2008). Interesting developments in the broadcasting sector include the proliferation of FM stations broadcasting in over 21 ethnic languages out of 42 (CCK, 2008). The FM stations broadcasting in ethnic languages command about 30 percent of the market share today. Unfortunately, low professionalism characterizes most of these FM stations because they employ untrained and less experienced journalists. Satellite broadcasting is also thriving particularly among the upper and middle class in urban areas (Howard, 2008). Although the print media has a history of relative independence, it remains an urban phenomenon in Kenya. Kenya has 5 daily newspapers and over 10 weekly newspapers. The dominant newspapers are the Standard with a daily circulation of 80,000 -110,000; and Nation newspapers with a circulation of 100,000 120,000 (Mbeke Mshindi, 2008). The new media is also catching up in Kenya which boasts of 17.6 million mobile phone owners and 3.2 million internet users. There are over 1000 act ive blogs in Kenya. Safaricom, Kenyas number one mobile operator commands 70 percent of the market share and has over 16 million subscribers. Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), the oldest and only public broadcaster, has the largest network of TV and radio stations across the country. KBC radio service, broadcasting in over 21 ethnic languages, is the only network in Kenya with the capacity to reach all audiences across the country. It also operates KBC TV. Royal Media Services, owned by media magnate S.K. Macharia, is the second largest media house in Kenya. It operates Citizen TV which has a national reach and several radio stations broadcasting in ethnic languages including Kikuyu (Inooro), Luo (Ramogi), Kamba (Musyi), Luhya (Mulembe) among others The Nation Media Group (NMG) is the largest media network in Kenya with interests in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio. It operates the Daily Nation, Sunday Nation, the Business Daily, the East African newspapers as well as the Tourist Guide, the Business Directory among other magazines (BBC Media Monitoring, 2007). NMG runs the NTV and QTV as well as Easy FM and QFM radi o stations both with a national reach. NMG is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) with the Aga Khan as the key shareholder. The Standard Group (SG) owns the KTN Network, Kenyas first private TV station (1989) and the East African Standard Newspapers, the oldest newspapers having started in 1902. The SG is listed on the NSE with Baraza Limited, a company closely associated with the former President Daniel arap Moi and his close aide Joshua Kulei as the key shareholders. The people media group owns the People Daily several ethnic radio stations. It is associated with the Kenyatta family having bought it from Kenneth Matiba and the radio component from Rose Kimotho. Patrick Quarcco owns Kiss FM and several other FM station together Kiss TV and the Nairobi Star, a daily newspaper. Industrialist Chris Kirubi owns Capital Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that runs CBC TV and Capital FM. Other media include STV formerly owned by professional journalist Hilary Ngweno. Kenya also has a strong faith-based broadcasting media including Hope FM, Radio Waumini owned by the Catholic Church; and Family TV and radio FM owne d by Leo Slingerland. A number of international news agencies and organizations operate from Nairobi, Kenya. These include the BBC, VOA, Duetsche Welle, Radio France, Radio China, Al Jazeera and CNN. While the press covers mainly politics and economic issues, the broadcasting stations in Kenya are characterized by heavy music and light entertainment programming lazed with interactive talk shows on politics and current affairs. Kenyans have continuously voted the media as the most trusted and influential institution even as they continue to express their reservations over other government institutions like the legislature and the executive. According to BBC, the Kenyan media is one of the most respected, thriving, sophisticated and innovative in Africa. Compared to other African countries, Kenya has in the recent past enjoyed a robust economic growth which in turn has supported one of the most dynamic advertising markets on the continent and a population which consumes news and information voraciously. In turn, this market has supported an explosion in media over recent years. This is a relatively recent phenomenon. While an independent media tradition in Kenya is a long one, it was only in 1992 that the media bloomed to become the thriving industry it is today. Until then, the suppression of media freedom by the then KANU government, a stagnant economy and the continued monopolization of the airwaves by the governments Voice of Kenya (now Kenya Broadcasting Corporation), meant that independent media outlets were few and confined mostly to elites. Over a period of 15 years, this increasingly assertive and self-confident media has played a substantial role in mediating relationships between citizens and state, in shaping the democratic dispensation in the country, and has transformed utterly how some of the most marginalized in society access information on issues that shape their lives. Kenyan citizens have become increasingly reliant on the media for such information, investing in it with greater credibility than almost any other source of information. For most of this period, the media has been seen nationally and internationally as a principal indicator of the democratic vitality of Kenya. Media has been at the forefront of moves to transform Kenya from one party state to multiparty democracy; it has gained a reputation for exposing corruption and acting as a vigorous forum for public debate; it is seen as a guardian of the public interest against an overbearing state power. 2.2 The Activities of the Media in Peace-Building While large scale or world war has been avoided, continual civil conflicts have not been avoided i.e., the conflicts in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Somalia. At the same time, peaceful resolution of conflicts that have major potential for civil conflicts: the transitions in South Africa, in Central and Eastern Africa have been witnessed. Therefore, peaceful resolution of national-civil conflicts is in a great part a communication process. That is; a concept of communication that channels civil conflict away from open war in to what is called cultural negotiation (White, 1990, p.22-23). The media can provide information directly to citizens regarding major events of importance for decision -making so that citizens can take action and influence the structure of decision-making. What is expected is a narrative reconstruction of events which reveals the source of the problem, the persons who are responsible and why, and what emerge finally as the solution. The media are the forum for the expression of public opinion and enable the public and public officials to chart the general public opinion regarding the state of public affairs. The mirroring of public opinion enables the public to know what people are expecting and whether representative governments are serving the public or not. A totalitarian state is one in which civil society is totally absorbed by the state, a state without a public opinion. Boutros Boutros-Gali (1992) gave clarity and coherence to the concept of peace building when he defined it as Action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid relapse into conflict and, rebuilding institutions and infrastructures of nations torn by civil war and strife (and tackling the deepest causes of) economic despair, social injustice and oppression. Inscribed in Willshers comment about his role as a journalist is an assumption about media influence which has also come to be known as the CNN effect -so called after the first Gulf War when the UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said: We say we have 16 members in the Security Council: the 15 members plus CNN (Boutros Ghali, 1995). The proposition is that todays global media have grown so mighty as to be able to raise issues to the political agenda by their own efforts; issues which would otherwise hold little or no interest for the powers-that-be. In summary, the influence of the media on society has attracted international agencies closely involved in peace-building since the early 1990s (Ross, 2002). The media can contribute to peace, by engaging in credible reporting, representing balanced opinions in its editorial content, and opening up communication channels among parties in a conflict. It can also identify and articulate without bias the underlying interests of warring factions. By doing so, the media is capable of disseminating information that builds on the confidence of stakeholders in a conflict. 2.2.1 The CNN Effect The Harvard University Joan Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy has been instrumental in examining media effects. Steven Livingston, a leading CNN Effect researcher and associate professor of communication and international affairs at The George Washington University, along with his colleagues at Harvard, identified three conceptual variations surrounding the CNN Effect: the notion that media serves as an agenda-setting agency, that the media serves as an impediment in some cases and that the media facilitates a more accelerated public policy process (1997). The CNN Effect by definition is the

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