Intro to Afro-American Studies 005-02 Essays - Free Essays

Intro to Afro-American Studies 005-02 Essays - Free Essays Intro to Afro-American Studies 005-02 How do we undertake the study of the African experience/experiences? "In war, all strategies and tactics resolve around the shield and the spear. The defensive shield protects and consolidates one's own base. The spear attacks, the goal being the capture or destruction of the opponent's base, forcing him to retreat and surrender. Applying the metaphor of war to systems of domination, we see that colonialism attacks and completely distorts a people's relationship to their natural, bodily, economic, political, and cultural base. And with this base destroyed, the wholeness of the African subject, the subject in active engagement with his environment, is fragmented." Abstract: As a people, whether you identify yourself as black, African-American, Negro, Caribbean, or African, we have physically, mentally, spiritually, and intellectually been removed from our home: Africa. Once we realize that we all come from the same place with similar cultural aspects, including all cultural meanings and makings, we can begin to undertake the study of the African experience. We must expand our views further back from slavery and start at the inception of human civilization; since, the oldest human bones are found in Africa; it only makes sense. Once we realize this, we can actively engage with one another, read together, and propose a multitude of questions together with different answers. We undertake the study of the African experiences through the original human experience and through the African diaspora by reading African works, studying African culture and understanding how we are all connected. Critical Review of Scholarship: Throughout the first chapters of Something Torn and New An African Renaissance, Thiong'o critically describes the first stages our ancestors went through when they were removed from Africa. The dismemberment of Africa happened in two stages: the continent and its diaspora. (Gregory Carr) "Of course, colonialists did not literally cut off the heads of the colonized or physically bury them alive. Rather, they dismembered the colonized from memory, turning their heads upside down and burying all the memories they carried." Africans were forced to forget who they were, which includes their names, languages, and where they came from, and Europeans throughout history shoved their "culture" into our ancestors, first through naming and then ownership. There was a division of Africa: land, body and mind, including "linguicide in the case of the diaspora and linguistic famine, or linguifam, on the continent." Ebonics (Gregory Carr) allowed our ancestors to reconnect with each other from the bo at to the Americas and the Caribbean. Chapter 2: Remembering Visions continues on to describe how our ancestors remembered our history and focuses on a conceptual category, movement and memory. "The psychological connections (link between the economic and political quest of African-Americans and those of Africans) are not as easy to explain in empirical terms, but they can be felt in the souls of black folk." Many African-Americans went through natal alienation, which is why so many of us are in the condition we are in today. The default which Ngg states is that blacks have nothing to revert back to. (Gregory Carr) Discussion Ngg's text effectively and efficiently explains how we must undertake the study of Africana experiences. Of course, it is not written blatantly how we are supposed to directly touch on the subject; however, it gives a synthesis as to where we should start. The syllabus, along with the aliteracy form is the inception of what we should start with; a book. Read. Not only do we read, we read together, we ask questions, we "search for truth, and train new generations, in order to produce new knowledge." (Gregory Carr) Our ancestors did not risk their lives along with others for generations after them to be aliterate. Intellectual Journey I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan to my mother, Janice Jones-Sow, and my father, Moustapha Sow. My dad is from Dakar, Senegal and my parents coincidentally met at the African World Festival in Detroit in the mid-1980s. I have 3 older sisters, one who graduated from Howard University and took your class, my second oldest sister graduated from College for Creative Studies and my third oldest sister is a senior at Parson's School for Design. My mother knew the importance of teaching my sisters and I

Free sample - Cannabis. translation missing

Cannabis. CannabisAccording to Brown (1998), Cannabis can be defined as a genus among the flowering plants comprising of three recognized species namely, Cannabis indica, Cannabis ruderalis, and Cannabis sativa. The three classifications are autochthonous to South Asia, and Central Asia. Cannabis is a very unique plant that is used for a number of reasons, both positive and negative and its uses can affect the entire global society. Cannabis is known by a number of names, for instance, Marijuana, Grass, Attention Getter-weed, Dope, and Pot. For a number of years, there has been a stigma accompanying the Cannabis plant and it has been seen as an inherently evil plant by most of the people in any given society. Apparently, it is the use or misuse of the plant that is bad or good, and not the plant itself. Cannabis can be eaten, smoked, or drunk just like tea. If Cannabis is taken in low doses it can bring about a relaxed state of mood while higher doses of Cannabis may bring about euphoria. It has been clear that, not every individual sees positive consequences from cannabis, for instance, most of the novice users and the high dose steady users have experienced increased paranoia or anxiety. It has been found that the main active ingredient of cannabis called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, affects processing of information as well as speed of response such that the activities that involve skilled responses like driving can be affected negatively (Nahas Latour, 1993).  Ã‚   Cannabis is a long-lasting hemp plant. Over many years, the cannabis plant has been used to manufacture a variety of products namely, pulp, seeds, and medicine. The Cannabis plant pulp has been used as fuel and as a raw material for making paper. The seed has been used in foods but the oil that is extracted from the seed can be utilized as a base for varnishes and paints. The leaves and blossoms of the hemp plant excrete a sticky resin which is usually used in a number of medicinal functions and in most cases for entertaining people as they abuse its use (Potter Joy 1998). Most consciousness-altering drugs comprise of both constructive and destructive effects. Apparently, people use drugs following their constructive effects but most of them are not aware of the possible destructive effects. Therefore, it is the ratio of the constructive to destructive effects that propels much of the debates regarding drugs. Some individuals perceive the use of Cannabis as a better option, while for other people the use of Cannabis is more casual. Just like all the other substances, there is a possible price that can be paid regarding the risks to one’s health (Brown, 1998). References Brown, D., (1998). Cannabis: the Genus Cannabis. Boca Raton: CRC Press. Potter, B., Joy, D. (1998). The Healing Magic of Cannabis. USA: Ronin Publishing. Nahas, G., Latour, C. (1993). Cannabis. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Contemporary Issues in Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Contemporary Issues in Marketing - Essay Example This paper is about contemporary issues in marketing from the perspective of three companies in the public, private and not for profit sectors. The three companies selected for this paper are Pfizer (Private), Social Security (Public) and WWF – World Wild Life Fund for the nonprofit sector. Every business should understand that, the customer comes first under all circumstances; it does not matter whether the customer if right or not but every business should follow the rules of customer care. The first rule states that, a customer is always right. Retaining an already existing customer is more than ten times cheaper than getting a new one. One of the effective ways of winning competition is gaining customer loyalty. The best way of building a brand name is ensuring that the customer is satisfied and his or her are expectations met. At first glance, customer relationship management seems just another name for customer relationship management. But customer knowledge management requires a different mindset along a number of key variables. Customer knowledge managers first and foremost focus on knowledge from the customer, rather than focusing on knowledge about the customer, as characteristic of customer relationship management. In others words, smart companies realize that corporate customers are more knowledgeable than one might think, and consequently seek knowledge through direct interaction with customers, in addition to seeking knowledge about customers from their sales representatives (Christopher & Ballantyne, 1991). Similarly, conventional knowledge managers typically focus on trying to convert employees from knowledge hoarders into knowledge sharers. This is typically done by intra-net based knowledge sharing platforms. The use of ICT for participatory purposes in general is seen to be more likely to occur in contexts that are less affected by the issues of digital divide. Studies on the digital divide