Jewish Funeral Anthropological Research Paper Essay

Jewish Funeral Anthropological Research Paper - Essay Example For them, since we are all created in the image of God, life should be all about infinite value, â€Å"regardless of its duration of quality†. Anything that expedites the death of a person or shortens a human life is absolutely a violation to this duty1. The other end in a Jewish life continuum is that of death. As they safeguard life with supreme care, they also take death with valuable commitment in maintaining their duty of sanctity even in this difficult time. Death in a Jewish community is embraced with intricate ceremonies lasting for a period of time. The seemingly simplistic process of Christian death and its acceptance remarkably differs from the extremely complex process by which this community responds to the same social experience. Contrary to Christian communities’ ritual regarding death, Jewish communities give surety that rituals be carried out in accordance to Judaism religious beliefs which is always to set an example of holiness and ethical behavior to the world. Thus, whether in life or in death, the presence of a community epitomizing the Jewish â€Å"covenant relationship† with God is of prime importance. To honor the dead (kvod hamet), it must be buried at a shortest time possible regardless if a family member is not present to attend its burial. Anything that prolongs the physical body to remain above ground is considered â€Å"disrespectful and undignified† and â€Å"humiliation of the dead† (Khara, 2009). Moreover, it is necessary that the dead person must never be left alone from the moment he is considered dead until the time he is completely buried. Doing so is an apparent gesture of rendering utmost respect for the departed (mitzvah). From the moment a Jew dies, a synagogue will make the necessary arrangement for the whole ritual process. When a community is well organized, the services of a sacred burial society or Chevra Kaddisha are acquired in preparation for the burial of the body. It is a rule that in the

Observation of Participational Cinema in Action Essay

Observation of Participational Cinema in Action - Essay Example Dramatic films are generally shot from a third person 'voyeur' perspective, which allows the audience to observe the unfolding events from a distance. In order to accomplish this state of awareness and acceptance from scientific films, researchers spend a great deal of time with their subject population prior to shooting any footage at all. This is meant to encourage the indigenous community to ignore the filmmaker completely and to return to their normal everyday activities. However, this idealized approach - the 'invisibility' of the camera and it's director - raises new ethical, technical, and artistic issues. The foremost argument against this style of filming lies in defining between 'research' film and 'ethnographic' film: the parameter's of the first ideally contain an undisturbed recording of environmental behavior (which can be used to deduce or extrapolate information); the latter classification is designated by it's editing, which is chosen be the filmmaker to create a narrative. Thus, as MacDougall notes, the fallacy of the all observing camera eye is itself misleading, for the camera is ultimately directed by the filmmaker's choice and/or opportunity. The camera essentially decided what small section of reality is recorded. Along similar lines, the goal of a director's self-effacement from the project is a further removal from reality: many of the filmed communities are remote and isolated to pretend that the director's physical presence has absolutely no effect on the subjects (and a feedback effect on the project itself) is ludicrous. Along this principle, subjects reactions t o cameras depends on their level of familiarity with the media itself. Filming Live with the Herds (1972), MacDougall's silent film camera became accepted by the natives on the premise that he was shooting all of the time (and would therefore present an accurate overall account); when he brings out a still camera near the end of his sojourn, his subjects automatically stuck photogenic poses (MacDougall, 1973) A Ghana director named Braun, discovered a similar effect while shooting footage in his childhood village during carnival time: when a girl noticed him shooting from a rooftop, she began to perform. She grew angry when the camera's attention no longer focused on her, leading Braun's narrative to hypothesize about the power relationship between the camera and its subjects (Pink). Cerezo, Martinez and Ranera, three anthropologists recording African workers in Spain, showed some of their footage to their subjects. Because they had access to television, the workers objected to their own images as being ugly and impoverished, which has resulted in the anthropological argument that visual footage cannot be taken without the express consent of the subjects (Pink). Yet MacDougall takes this argument one step further. In requesting permission to film a community while simultaneously denying them any information to the direction of the film of footage that has been shot, the director "withholds the openness" he requires from his subjects. While this may be rooted in the director's fear of influencing the community's behavior, it also denies him the input of the community information which may prove inaccessible any other way (MacDougall, 1973

Critical response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Critical response - Essay Example After staying in the background for decades, both countries are now open to business with America and have added their low-cost labor forces into the world’s labor pool, not only dramatically decreasing wages of Americans but in fact pushing many of them out of employment. American companies are forced to hire cheap foreign labor to remain favorable in terms of dividends and thus competitive for their shareholders. I f they do not, their dividends will remain low and stockholders will compare them to companies with low costs. The interesting fact is that these stock holders are not just huge corporate giants but average Americans as well. â€Å"The American middle class has become an army of investors whose tough demands are translating into more layoffs among their own ranks† (Meredith 2007: 193.2). In the short term this benefits investors but in the long run loss of jobs makes them worse off. Another interesting phenomena paradox is the â€Å"Walmart† culture (Meredith 2007: 191.3). Walmat stocks abundant supply of cheap Chinese and India goods that benefits average consumers by giving them extremely low prices and a high range of products. So where Americans are being laid off as high cost factories in America shut down, they are at the same time benefitting as consumers. The reading points out that while the globalized era is posing to be a huge threat, it is at the same time bringing lots of benefits. Trade with china keeps down interest rates and inflation in America. Chinese Government has the world’s largest dollar reserves which it buys in US treasury bonds in order to keep its own exchange rate stable (Meredith 2007: 194.2). Demand for bonds raises their prices and forces interest rates to remain low due to their negative relationship. This has led to average Americans to enjoy lower amounts of credit and a larger affordability for loan, enabling them to buy houses more often than before. China

Learning Objectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Learning Objectives - Essay Example This is why I want to seek out a better understanding of development from a leadership perspective both in economic and social terms. While we know that development has a social benefit, with a leadership role, the economics of development also become an important consideration for those who choose to take up this field. Secondly, development is a field which has been modified significantly in both national and international terms ever since it was first created as a separate discipline. Just by looking at the list of journals and magazines related to development one can see that the advances made in the field have to take their guidelines from many different sciences including sociology, psychology, science, computer technology and statistics. This points us towards the fact that the field is growing and the latest developments in the field as well as understanding their application is very important for those who wish to take leadership roles in development. Finally by learning and examining the practices which worked in the field as compared to those which did not, I hope to learn the best practices and methods which have been successfully applied. Although there is never a miracle pill solution for all problems of development but by knowing the solutions which worked a person can come to certain conclusions about what may also work in a given situation. This is also a learning objective for me since I wish to know how to spot solutions for development problems by understanding what developers in the past have worked with and how they managed to solve any given problem of development. If I am able to apply these learning tools and meet my objectives that I have set for myself, I think that I will be able to call my taking this class a success. At the same time, as I progress through the classes I think that certain objectives may be

London Residential Property Market Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

London Residential Property Market - Assignment Example It affects almost our entire lives, from the quality of our lives, our health and well-being; it determines not only our choice of transportation means but also our choice of work, and status (Baker 2003). Housing also affects our economic wellbeing, family structure, choice of friends and status in the society. It is with no wonder that, Abraham Maslow classified it under basic need of shelter in his social pyramid. Most often, investors see valuation as the first step toward intelligent investing. It has been argued (e.g. Penman 2003) that an investor can make informed decisions about where to invest once the value of shares are determine based upon the fundamentals. This is so because, without this value investors can either buy high or sell low. Investors who trade on these stocks are often forced to ask themselves whether they are buying or selling at the right price. (Penman, 2003). In the face of this situation and their quest for an alternate answer, investors turn to various media including internet chat rooms, printed press, "talking heads" on television. ). In addition, investors consult investment analysts who provide an almost endless stream of information and recommendations to sort out. There are often claims that some shares are undervalued and vice versa. (Penman, 2003). Against this background, the aim of this paper is to carry out an analysis of the United Kingdom London residential markets so as to enable investors make informed decisions as to a buy, a hold or sell decision. The next section provides an overview of the London residential markets. 1.1.2 Overview of the London Residential Market Property prices in United States, the US began falling in 2005 making sub-prime mortgage loans more risky as the borrowers are normally expected to exercise their options to default. Consequently, the US subprime mortgage market is suffering from foreclosures arising from falling real estate prices and borrowers exercising their options to default. (Schumer and Maloney, 2007). Investment banks such as Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and CitiGroup all fortune 500 companies have witnessed significant declines in profits, share prices and are planning to lay off workers as a result of the sub-prime crises. (Ellis, 2007). With regard to the United Kingdom UK particularly London, large empirical literature examined the determinants of the two booms experienced by home prices in the early 1970s and the 80s. Findings from these studies provide tentative evidence in support of the view that speculation on expected future house prices must have been an important force driving actual house prices (Muellbauer & Murphy 1997). Concerns over an ongoing house price bubble in the UK have been repeatedly raised by both the press and policy makers. Over the last thirty years, UK house prices have risen in real terms by around 2 % a year and according to HM Treasury (2003) report this stands in contrast to other European countries such as Sweden, France, and Germany where real house prices have decline or remain

Child observation Essay Example for Free

Child observation Essay All the children at Gerber Preschool are between the ages of 3 and 4 years old and mainly consist of lower to lower middle class Hispanic and Caucasian families. Mya is a small statured 3 year old Hispanic Caucasian female, with light olive-toned skin, long brown hair, and large brown eyes. Toby is an average statured 4 year old Caucasian male, fair-skinned, blue-eyed, short brown hair. Toby and Mya both seem to be in good physical heath. Jesus is a slightly above average statured 4 year old Hispanic male, with dark brown skin, short spikey black hair and brown eyes. Spanish is Jesus primary language at home but is encouraged to speak English at school. Mya, Toby, and Jesus all appear to be right handed and in good physical heath. Description of Setting: The observation session began on Tuesday May 7, 2013, at approximately 10:00 AM in Gerber, California; the preschool has 2 adults and 8-10 kids. All the children were in line waiting to exit out the back door to the playground. The playground featured a large fenced off area with a large grassy area and the class flower bed covered by a large shade tree, large cement slab with tricycles and tetherball, play house, sand box, and large gym set. There is an assortment of activities available for the children to play including: kickball, bubble buckets, tetherball, hopscotch, jump rope, soccer, etc. Primary Observation: Start time 10:00 AM on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 10:00- Toby impatiently stands in line telling Jesus â€Å"I’m going to be the first one on the playground† Jesus yells â€Å"No I am! † two people behind them Mya and Jessica are holding hands laughing and whispering in each other’s ears. Everyone is squirming about unable to sit still waiting for the go ahead to head outside. 10:05- The children rush outside onto the grass and prepare for story time. Jesus screams â€Å"Rainbow Fish† once he sees the book in the teacher’s hands. Mya excitingly says â€Å"I want a rainbow fish† to Jesus, he in return says â€Å"I want one too. † All the children sit down so the teacher could begin the story. 10:10- During the story Toby was unable to see the book and yells to his teacher â€Å"Aren’t you going to face it to me. He continues to be disruptive getting up and interrupting the teacher. Toby is very energetic and begins to get restless playing with whatever is within his reach. He starts disturbing Jessica until the teacher asks him to sit back down and stop disturbing others Toby than sits back down and begins whining that he is unable to see the book again. 10:15- At the end of the story the teacher asks the children â€Å"Why did Rainbow Fish give away his scales? † Jesus immediately stood up and said â€Å"Because he was alone and wanted friends† Toby says â€Å"Now he has no more rainbow scales. † 10:20- The class is now on free time for the rest of the day. All the children immediately take off running for the playground; Toby and Jesus immediately go for the tricycles. While Mya went straight for the flower bed to dig with the shovel and buckets that were there. 10:25- Jesus, Toby, and another little boy raced back and forth across the pavement a couple times but quickly lost interest in the tricycles and more interested in what the other children were doing. 10:30- Toby ran over to where Mya was and Mya said â€Å"Let’s play house† the children discussed where they would live and what part they would act out. Toby excitedly screamed â€Å"Ok, I’m the daddy†, and Mya says â€Å"I’m the mommy†, and two other little boys Gauge and Angel are the sons. 10:35- Mya runs over to the play house and begins putting sand in a bucket and acts as if she is cooking while Toby makes the fire. Jesus walks over and picks up Mya’s bucket, she instantly got mad at Jesus and hit him. Jesus left crying and she said â€Å"He didn’t say please, so leave me alone. † She than stuck her tongue out at him, another girl by the name of Jessica told the teacher. The teacher told Mya that if she couldn’t talk nice and share she would have to choose another area to play. 10:40- After the incident Toby moves over to a bucket of bubbles with 3 wands, colored green, purple, and pink. Toby and Jesus blow bubbles together. No bubbles were coming out of Toby’s wand, so he blew with more force. Toby takes his wand to the teacher. He brought his wand back, dipped it in the bubble bucket and flung it out. 10:45- Mya gets the purple bubble wand and Toby goes over to Mya and tries to take it away from her. Mya begins to make sounds of being upset but soon gets over it when the other children begin popping the bubbles and she joins in squealing and laughing. 10:50- The teacher blows her whistle to signal to the children it’s time to clean up and go inside. Mya quickly grabs the bubble bucket yelling â€Å"I got the bubbles† while Jesus and Toby raced to the door to line up without picking up anything. 10:55- All the children walked back into the class room and were instructed to sit at a table. Toby got up from the table and a little boy named Gauge took his seat. He tried to get the attention of the teacher but she was busy with another child, so he pulled Gauge by the shirt and begin to cry saying â€Å"get out my chair† Gauge refused to move. Once the teacher finally got to them they had already started to tussle a little. Toby and Gauge were both placed in time out but first they had to apologize to one another. 11:00- End of observation. Analysis: Gender identity is the perception of oneself as male or female (pg. 252). All three children show gender identity when they discuss the roles of one another to play house, with Mya being the mother, Jesus the father, and Gauge and Angel as the sons. Mya also displays gender identity when she pretends to cook while playing house as well. On page 254 cooperative play is described as children playing with one another taking turns, playing games, etc. Mya, Toby, and Jesus demonstrate cooperative play as well as make-believe play throughout their game of house they coordinated ideas together as a group. Cooperative play is also apparent when the children play with the bubbles. The text on page 264 states that aggression is an intentional injury or harm to another person. Mya showed aggression by hitting Jesus when she became angry at him. Toby also displayed aggression when he grabbed Gauge in an attempt to get his chair back. In sum all of the children seem to be displaying appropriate social and emotional behavior and skills typical of their age.

Decline Of Civility In Society Philosophy Essay

Decline Of Civility In Society Philosophy Essay What do we consider civilized nowadays? Civilized by definition is having advanced cultural and social development or refined in tastes. Does society today look or act like that? Research shows that society most definitely does not, at least not anymore. What causes people to be so rude? First off, part of the problem is that in this day and age when people choose to be rude they pretty much go for broke. There is no subtlety to their unruly conduct; instead, it is right there in your face. Secondly, sometimes people ignore certain rudeness and simply shrug their collective shoulders and sigh that is the way of the world, no bothering to utter any word of displeasure or disgust at such a display. Such a situation would be far worse because at that point, people not only have learned to accept uncivilized behavior as being par for the course, but they have also lost the drive and will to take a stand and say Sorry, but I refuse to accept that kind of behavior. Finally, the problem could, in fact, be society itself. Think about it, is not peer pressure not one of todays leading causes of people to act like one another in their behaviors? Not to mention the fact that society is becoming more reliable on technology to do everything for them and when it does not people get mad and assert their aggression on others instead on fixing the problem. One cause of the lack of civility is that people these days just do not care anymore about others feelings, at all. Lets not be nice about this, people do have a choice and control how they conduct themselves around others. What could cause such inconsiderate behavior? Our behavior toward people tends to be the catalyst the motivation for how they relate to us. Consequently, treating others with courtesy usually causes them to be courteous to us. Patience and kindness promotes patience and kindness, etc. Ask yourself how you wish to be treated? Would you like to be shown encouragement? Do you want your shortcomings to be treated with tolerance and forgiveness? Do you desire to be shown love and acceptance? (Robbins 1) Therefore, concluding from Dr. Robbins article, we should treat other we the same attitude and thoughtfulness that we wish to be shown. People have reasons for being inconsiderate, even if they do not realize it. Opening up communication and finding out the cause for the behavior can help the situation. Dont, however, expect the situation to change. In recovery, we learn that we cant change people; the other person must decide whether to change inconsiderate behavior. Another problem of incivility is society accepting such inconsiderate behavior rather than doing something about it. Since when is rudeness justifiable? Apparently as stated in A Decline in Civility or just a selfish request 4 respect? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to live life in a permanent revolution is taxing and we get tired eventually. We transition to old age and start complaining that nobody gives us the respect we deserve, forgetting, most of the time to dispense it ourselves onto others. Our increasing alienation and reliance of cold, impersonal technology for interpersonal communication seems to push us into a downward spiral, where the decreasing human contact makes us feel more stressed, we feel were getting less sympathy and respect from others and in return we start to give out less ourselves. (Edutarian 1) This means that we need to interact with one another more often or otherwise everyone become insensitive towards each other because no one cares to even talk to them. Personally this sounds stupid because if someone wants to talk, they will find someone to talk to, just saying. Unfortunately, aging could be a factor in rude behavior. How so? Well diseases like Alzheimers or being senile can cause older folks to be uncivilized or irritable, but in most cases it is more of the persons mentality and psyche. Lastly, the main problem with rudeness could be society itself or the advance technology that we are compiling to make life easier but yet complex at the same time. Rudeness was originally associated with Northern citizens of America, as stated in Stephen Carters The Etiquette of Democracy, which says the old bromide that people who live in cities are not as polite as people in the country. New Yorkers, we think, epitomize rudeness, whereas folks in the South, say, are just as friendly as they can be. The bromide, however, turns out not to be a bromide: more and more experimental evidence confirms it. Something seems to happen to the psyche, to the personality, maybe even to the soul, when people live together in vast numbers. We find ourselves avoiding each other if only to keep from tripping over each other. We demand what has come to be called our space. (Carter 366) He furthers this by quoting Stanley Milgram, psychologist, who overstates the urban incivility in the city, traditional courtesies are violated; rather, the cities develop new norms of noninvolvement. Thus, when visitors arrive from rural areas with very different rules of conduct and complain that they seem to have landed in a foreign country, they are, in a sense, absolutely right. The city, like any other community, creates its own standards of behavior, along with its own pressures to obey them. The only trouble is, the standards are often morally inferior to the ones they replace. (Carter 366) Instincts tells us that Milgram is right. People do not want to get involved in each others affairs or problems, so instead they steer away from each other or just become out right selfish. Technology like television, the Internet, and cell phones are a possible and refutable cause of disrespect. Television is a big reason why people act so rude. Patricia Crowley, author of Causes of Todays Incivility, states that the children think that whatever they see on TV is true and that how everyone on TV acts is the way they are supposed to act. They also think that if they want to be tough like the boy they just saw on TV that they have to act like he does, which is without manners. The girls think if they want to be popular and beautiful they have to dress and act just as rudely as the girl they just saw on the sitcom they were watching. (Patricia 1) Television is not the only one though. The Internet brings a mighty bunch of uncivilized declamation to the ring. Social networks, blogs, and so on, cause others to acquire a rude behavior due to certain situations. What makes matters worse is when technology fails and the human temper elevates, because we are society of instanta neous service which drives us to be angry and rude towards the infernal contraption because it will not dispense the coffee or something. So, what is the cause of the decline of civility in society? Frankly, society itself is the problem and the solution. Society causes us to be rude due to the fact that people are rude to one another without any remorse or consideration of the significant other. The only we can combat against this epidemic is by acknowledging the persons rude behavior and stand up against, also not to let the little things get to us. Only way an attitude can be fixed is with a new attitude.