Unlocking the postcolonial experience with the keys of history Essay

Unlocking the postcolonial experience with the keys of history - Essay Example In my reading of history I have found that the meaning of history is different for different people.In other words any history,which includes also the postcolonial one,has a subjective meaning for the individual.However,an objective approach to history can unlock the impasse of interpretation of history to the reasonable satisfaction of all people.I have observed that the tone of eulogy that characterized the early writers in the heyday of colonization has given way to less buoyant enthusiasm in the postcolonial literature after the liquidation of the empire. I should think that the Postcolonial writer now expresses his authentic subjective experience, not only of the colonial past, but also his perception of the aftermath of colonization.History is important in Postcolonial studies because it fixes the parameters for inclusion or exclusion the sources that we should study. Experience of a historical colonial past and the literature that reflects this is included as the canonical wor ks for study. However, many argue that the colonial past though politically over is actually present because of the overwhelming influence still exerted by former rulers on their former colonies. Some others argue that colonization is still a reality as some powerful nations still exercise political power from a distance through their conglomerates.1 There is a school of thought that argues that colonial experience is universal in human history because some time in the remote or recent past most countries or peoples had the experience of being subjugated by another powerful people.2 What is Postcolonial I feel that it is necessary to have a clear idea of the term Postcolonial. It became prominent terminology in academic parlance with the publication of Edward Said' vehement critique of western ideas of the Orient in his work Orientalism. His work highlights the inaccuracies of a wide variety of assumptions accepted on individual, academic and political levels. It is a mirror image of what is inferior and alien to the west (Said 1978). According to Said a historian and a scholar should see the diversity of culture and allow room for a dynamic variety of human experience. However, I find that Said was insistent about the essential difference between the orient and the occident. So I feel that in spite of the stereotype that European perception has of the orient there is different subjective perception of one another. In this context it is desirable to read Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. From this we get a proper insight into the colonial mind.3 With the appearance in 1989 of the work The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures, Postcolonial studies became a branch of study by itself and earlier terms like Colonial Literature, Commonwealth Literature and Third World Literature were replaced by Postcolonial. However many do not consider the term suitable. In fact some use term to signify a stand against Imperialism and Euro- centrism often surprisingly ante-Americanism. In this context I wish to compare and contrast the perspective of earlier writers who were conscious or unconscious appendages of the Raj by examining the work, In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh.4 Is American Experience Part of Postcolonialism Americas were one of the earliest scenes of European colonial adventure. The American expansion at the cost of the native American population is one of the saddest chapters of world history. Similarly the flourishing slave trade and the vestiges of which remained in our recent memory makes the America all the more a part of essential colonial experience. The white chroniclers of European explorations cinemetically focussed on what they saw through a single lense. However the Postcolonial historians capture the quite mystique of the discovery of the unfolding virgin America with the eyes of the natives Americans also.This

The period of time when most egyptians came to u.s Essay

The period of time when most egyptians came to u.s - Essay Example Ten years after the war, a high population of Egyptian professionals of educated elites left their country. A great number of the immigrants who left Egypt between 1967 and 1977 settled in countries with positive legislations that could support supported them. Skilled employees also went to America during this period. Currently the number of Egyptians staying in America is an approximate number ranging from one to two million. One of the factors that favored the migration of the Egyptians to the U.S was the Immigration and Nationality act, passed in 1965. The legislation privileged the migration of professionals and skilled employees to the country, with emphasis on scientists. Most of the immigrants from Egypt settled in various places including New Jersey, Florida and Texas among other southern states mainly occupied by blacks. The southern states were favorable for the Egyptians to occupy because of the temperatures. It is noteworthy that most Egyptians would like to gain permanent residence in America. The role of resolution 242 in creating stability in Egypt, presided by the UN (Cortas, 2009) and Lord Caradon, Britain was

The Interests and the Freedom of the Members of Society Essay

The Interests and the Freedom of the Members of Society - Essay Example Sneakers, on the other hand, is a 1992 film starring Robert Redford as Martin Bishop. For 20 years, Bishop has done what he could to evade the arm of the law and has established a new identity for him. Knowing that he had not done anything wrong and that he was just wrongly accused, Bishop works to secure his freedom. The movie is about Bishop and his team of sneakers and a code breaker box they have been blackmailed into stealing. Failure to do so will mean that Bishop’s real identity will be revealed to authorities and may eventually lead to his capture. Several turns in the plot occur, the biggest one being that the Bishop finds himself in a situation where he can finally erase his bad record which will inevitably lead to his complete freedom. In the end, Bishop and his group develop a plan to make sure that no group makes use of the code breaker and at the same time ensure that Bishop remains free and all other members get what they’ve always dreamt of. As previousl y mentioned, freedom is a central theme in both works of art discussed. As with Valjean, Bishop makes use of all means possible to preserve his freedom. Both main characters are evading authorities determined to catch them. In fact, both Valjean and Bishop established new identities for themselves in order to avoid being arrested. Such a similarity exists because both stories focus on the lives of men on the run. Both show how protecting one’s freedom sometimes entails running away and turning one’s back on his past.

Short essay philosophy Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Short philosophy - Essay Example He believed in the ability of man to do good. His philosophy entailed the inability of man to be evil. Socrates held that all the evil that occurred in the world did so because of the ignorance of man. The exact dates of the birth of the Buddha have been a subject of debate among historians; however, he lived in India during the fifth century B.C. his philosophy is similar to that of Hinduism. He emphasized on the importance of gaining freedom from desire. This he believed, would grant man freedom from the cycle of life and death to which one was confined otherwise. Man’s salvation lay in a detachment from worldly affairs. seventeenth century. He believed in the rational nature of being and attempted to arrive at something that he would be able to label as the truth. He believed that thought was the one feature that was unique to man and defined him. The thoughts of a man were what made him what he was. Elizabeth of Bohemia was a contemporary and regular correspondent of Descartes. Her work in philosophy concerns the relationship between the mind and the body. This is related to the work that was produced by Descartes, who worked on the relationship between man and the thoughts that originate in his mind. She however, is critical of the divorce that Descartes effects between the body and the mind and places great emphasis on the effect that both have on each other. The philosophers that have been discussed here belong to different ages and nationalities. Their contributions to the field of philosophy, however, are great. Contemporary researchers and philosophers have been able to see the connections between these different ideologies and in them, man’s eternal quest to understand his own nature and position within the

The Role of Mentors in Evaluating the Quality of Students Nursing Essay

The Role of Mentors in Evaluating the Quality of Students Nursing Practice - Essay Example In talking about the role played by mentors in pre-registration of nurses, Pellat maintains that the practice experience is a most important aspect of preparing nursing students for registration. The current programmes are aimed at enhancing this practice with careful support and supervision. Mentors play a very crucial role in supporting nursing students in practice. The quality of mentorship is highly valuable during this time, and raises an attention because it is the mentors who assess students’ competence for practice at the time of registration. Prince also says that Mentoring offers students an opportunity to instruct, a characteristic of their own professional development and a stepping stone towards career paths. Mentors act as role models. As a mentor, one is required to provide the student with support and guidance in the area of practice. He/she should enable the student to make the practice realistic through applying the theories learnt, assessing and giving effec tive feedback and enhancing revision of the practice, performances and lessons learnt (Pellatt, 2006,336 – 340) and (Prince ,2004) The Royal college of Nursing toolkit provides basics of mentorship in that Mentors must ensure students are fit for purpose which means the ability to perform effectively in practice, for practice-fulfill registration requirements and award; have the qualification of being awarded a diploma or a degree. As role models, mentors should assist students develop skills and confidence, enhance professionalism and lay an appropriate level of inspection. It is the mentors’ responsibility to be prepared to undertake the role, to share their knowledge with the mentee, to be conversant with the students’ curriculum and practice assessment documentation and identify areas of specialization and learning opportunities. Morton and Palmer add that Mentoring goes beyond the individual relationship between the mentor and the student. It is within this framework of accountability and responsibility for professional standards that is implicit within the individual’s practice and that of the employer. This makes the mentors feel secure in their role of supporting that is implemented at local level (Royal College of Nursing Toolkit 2007, 5-10 and Morton and Palmer, 2000). Outcomes of Mentoring Spouse asserts that the stages of mentoring portray acyclic process or a continuum based on the individual’s development stages as he/she matures into the career or professionalism. Mentoring is part of being a leader, the same way as developing ones leadership abilities. In mentoring, first the mentor and mentee needs to establish an open relationship with each other. Each stage of mentorship is an experience in life that brings new crises and challenges. Having experienced this, one knows what to expect and it is this knowledge that helps others go through the career challenges. The benefits of mentee, mentor and the organizati on are: quicker learning curves, increased communication of corporate values, increased loyalty, improved employee productivity and improved one on one communication (Spouse, 1996 32-35). People who have

Analysis between Life and Death in Shanghai and woman at point zero Essay

Analysis between Life and Death in Shanghai and woman at point zero - Essay Example It’s an autobiography of the author herself. It is a tale of woman who had been struggling for survival, dignity between the authoritarian of the Cultural Revolution. Her crime was just her class backdrop and a enthusiasm to life. She got arrested in the late 1966 after the â€Å"The Red Guards† looted her house. The book tells the story of Nien Cheng, when she got arrested all through the Cultural Revolution and was caught up in jail for more than six years. She was pressurized to accept the fake accuse that she was a spy for â€Å"the imperialists†. She refused to do so and lived a life in prison, full of misery and torture. Finally, she was released in 1973 and found out that her daughter, Meiping, who was going to school to become an actress was also murdered by â€Å"The Red Guards†, although, police told her that she has committed suicide. Cheng found this by investigating herself, and thought that the whole situation which was told by the police was impossible. Later she got relocated towards a two bedrooms apartment with one of her relative. Till 1980, Cheng lived in China than she moved towards United States. (Cheng, Nein., 1987). On the other hand, the book Women at Point Zero is written by Nawal El Saadawi. It is story which is based on the life of a woman namely, Firdaus. She is an ex-prostitute and was accused for the murder of a pimp. She refuses to talk to anyone in or out of the prison. However, Firdaus, agreed to talk with the author, who is a psychologist as well, on the tenth day of living in the prison. Gradually, she tells the author about the history of her life. In past, Firdaus life was full of abuse, abandonment, oppression, people taking advantage of her and people whom she met nearly rejected her from child to the adulthood. She was born in a farming society to an offensive father. Foremost important thing in the book is that Firdaus describes pleasure similar to pain and pain which is same like pleasure. After her parents

Principles of Distillation Essay Example for Free

Principles of Distillation Essay What is distillation? Simply, distillation is the process in which a liquid is vaporized (turned to steam), recondensed (turned back into a liquid) and collected in a container. Nature uses a form of distillation to turn salt water (seawater) into fresh water (rain). Why do you use distillation to recycle waste solvents? Solvent-based waste contains volatile material (solvents) and non-volatile material (contaminants like paint, ink, grease, fiberglass, etc.). Many of the non-volatile contaminates are dissolved in the solvent (like salt dissolved in salt water) and cannot be filtered-out. Distillation is an ideal way to separate the two. Why is distillation an ideal way to separate the two? During the distillation process, the solvent-based waste is heated until it reaches the boiling point. It then evaporates (vaporizes) and passes through the condenser where heat is removed from the vapor and it turns back into a cool, clean reusable liquid (same process that causes dew to form). Fortunately, contaminates are typically not volatile (easily vaporized) and stay behind in the distillation tank. You say contaminates are typically not volatile, does this mean some are? Occasionally there are cases where a potential customer wishes to separate a volatile solvent from another volatile material. This is not the typical customer. Some cases include customers using an alcohol to remove water from parts to dry them or where they have solvent mixtures due to poor house keeping practices (they lump all waste solvents into one drum from different operations like painting and parts cleaning). To separate one volatile from another effectively requires fractional distillation; our process uses simple distillation. What are the differences between simple distillation and fractional distillation? Simply stated, in simple distillation, what you put in is what you get back, but it is free of non-volatile materials (it is clean!). Fractional distillation is much more complicated (and expensive). It is the base process where crude oil is turned into the many items that come from oil. Fractional distillation is not required for virtually all solvent recycling applica tions. What is vacuum distillation? Vacuum distillation is the distillation of a liquid under reduced pressure. The atmospheric pressure in the distillation tank is reduced making it possible to boil the liquid at a lower temperature. Liquids boil at lower temperatures under reduced pressure (the inverse is that a liquid boils at a higher temperature under pressure, which is why they use a pressure cap on an automobile radiator to increase the boiling point of the engine coolant to prevent boil-over). Why do you use vacuum distillation? Vacuum distillation is used to safely recover higher boiling point solvents. We limit the maximum temperature of the distillation unit’s heater. There is a temperature at which a flammable or combustible material can ignite by temperature only, this is called the autoignition temperature (this is discussed later). Some solvents boil at temperatures that exceed the temperature that the distillation heater can reach (392 º Fahrenheit). Vacuum distill ation lowers the boiling point to allow recovery within the heaters maximum setting. When do you use vacuum distillation? It is used to safely recover solvents with boiling points over 300 º Fahrenheit. Vacuum distillation should not be used on solvents with boiling points below 200 º Fahrenheit. If the maximum heater setting is 392 º Fahrenheit, why do I need to use vacuum distillation for solvents with boiling points over 300 º Fahrenheit, don’t you mean solvents with boiling points over 392 º Fahrenheit? No! When boiling a liquid, two factors come in to play. One is the requirement to have a â€Å"driving force† to force the liquid to boil and vaporize. This â€Å"driving force† is in the form of extra temperature to allow the solvent to develop a good rolling boil. The other factor is the role of the non-volatile residue. As you boil off solvent and the remaining mixture in the distillation tank becomes more concentrated in the nonvolatile material, the vapor pressure drops (Raoult’s Law) and most important, the boiling point goes up! So bottom line is that you need 50 to 100 degrees of extra temperature to do a good job of boiling the waste solvent. Also, the concentrated non-volatile material acts as an insulator towards the end of the process as it becomes more and more concentrated. So, as the percentage of non-volatiles in the contaminated solvent increases, the required heat to completely distill the mixture also increases. Sometimes solvents that have boiling points of 318 ºF (Xylene) may not require a vacuum if they are not highly contaminated but almost definitely would if the solid content was greater than, lets say 10%. Pulling a vacuum on such a mixture will reduce its boiling point and the overall time to process it. How is the vacuum created? The vacuum is generated using our JetVac technology. A stainless steel reservoir is primed once with clean solvent. A small stainless steel pump is immersed in the liquid and is attached to an explosionproof electric motor. When the motor is started, clean solvent is drawn into the pump and forced through a metal tube known as an aspirator. The aspirator looks like an open piece of pipe with a small orifice (hole) on one side. As the high velocity fluid is pumped across the face of the orifice, it creates suction (like a venturi on a carburetor). Air is pulled through the venturi from the distillation system and passes through a vent.