Abstract This paper explains that Donna Usher's 1983 work "Contemplation", which is a multiplicity of depiction of Usher's thoughts, masterfully reflects her ability to blend human aspects with natural symbols. The author relates that the falling leaves fold to the base of the painting, melting from the background to the foreground like a thought. The paper points out that, with the background appearing to shift vertically from cool and bluish at the top to a white hue at the bottom and becoming increasingly sharper, the viewer sees that color clearly plays a pivotal role in this work. The author stresses that the only variety that Usher employs in the piece occurs both between the levels, which vary in size, background color and content, and between the leaves, which vary in form, crispness and value.
From the Paper "The form of a simple, spatially elongated leaf creeps throughout the piece, as if they are falling towards the ground. The light structure of the leaves, which appear infinitely thin, seem to fall and crumple at the base of each of the four rectangular segments into which the painting is divided. The leaves seem to form sloping edges down the sides of the painting towards each "floor," which is coated, lightly in the first two and more densely in the second two, in the blurred, leafy forms. It is obvious that Usher was trying to create a sense of depth by juxtaposing vivid and blurred leaves."
Abstract This paper explains that philosopher Donna Jeanne Haraway draws from the tradition of Louis Althusser and Martin Heidegger to develop her hypotheses outlining the nature of the interspecies relationship between people and animal or "hailing". As interpreted by Althusser and Heidegger, the author relates that "hail", which is from the archaic word interpellate, is given an additional meaning by Haraway. Based on Haraway's work, the paper concludes that the "hailing" of animals call people to account for the way they affect the lives of animals, and the "hailing" of people call animals to a close, inseparable, interspecies relationship bound within the structure of human society.
From the Paper "Haraway adds to these two meanings of hail a third, the more conventional meaning of interpellation. Animals hail people to "account for the regimes in which they and we must live", and by doing so, they challenge people to justify the practices of society which create the circumstances of life that animals and people must live in. The effect of the hail is threefold: firstly, humans hail animals, creating a subject out of animals by the hail, bringing animals into our social discourse of power."
Abstract This paper examines how society's perceptions of women affect feminist theory: The author discusses the feminist belief that there is a social division between men and women, in terms of representation and that this division is caused by the perception of an inherent difference between the sexes. This paper discusses this point of view from the works of: Audry Lourde's essay, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House", Donna Haraway's essay, "A Cyborg Manifesto", and Henry Hwang's adaptation of the classic "M. Butterfly".
From the Paper "How society perceives women is the root of feminism. There is a social division between men and women, and this division is caused by the perception of an inherent difference between the sexes. As feminists do not believe that a perception of difference should act as a classification for men and women, it is the representation and presentation of this sense of difference that is the target of feminist actions."
This paper is a review of the book, "Teenage Wasteland" by Donna Gaines, which delves into teenage suicides, as well as the theories as to why they occurred in this neighborhood.
Abstract "Teenage Wasteland" is a book that cleverly combines pure participant research and personal experience. The book delves into the unexplained suicides that occur in a small suburban town of Bergenfield, New Jersey. The paper summarizes the main points of the book and then presents the theories used by Donna Gaines to understand why the suicides occurred.
From the Paper "In order to understand what really happened and why, Gaines travels to Bergenfield in order to attempt assimilation into the culture of those who were friends or peers of the four suicide victims. The adaptation into the lives of these kids does not present itself as a simple task. These kids aren?t jocks, brains, preps, or anything in between, by any means. They are the outsiders. They represent the outcasts or the "burnouts" that could only relate to one another. They share the same taste in music, similar views on life, and comparable family structures. But, what else is so intimately shared that makes four teenagers want to die together? That is one of Gaines? curiosities. She asks herself ?What could be so intimately binding that in the early morning hours of March 11 not one of them could stop, step back from the pact they had made to say, "Wait, I can"t do this??? (Gaines, 1991, p. 9) "
Abstract This paper reviews the book, "Language Matters" by Donna Jo Napoli. It discusses the author's argument that a specific language mechanism exists for language learning that is independent of other types of brain functions.
From the Paper "Using a wide variety of sources that deal with different types of populations, Donna Jo Napoli argues that a specific language mechanism exists for language learning which is independent of any other type of brain functions. In the book "Language Matters" ..."
Abstract This paper discusses Donna Haraway and her belief that modern society has been altered through the creation of the cyborg. It explains that the cyborg, often considered as a fantasy element of film or scientific experimentation, has, according to Haraway, become an integral part of human existence. The paper explores Haraway's opinion that the modern cyborg is a combination of imagination and material reality throughout the world.
From the Paper "Donna Haraway has discussed her belief that modern society has been altered through the creation of the cyborg. The cyborg, often considered as a fantasy element of film or scientific experimentation, has, according the Haraway, become an integral part of human existence. Haraway writes that the modern cyborg is a combination of "imagination and material reality" throughout the world. It has gained this prominence through society's quest to maintain humanity, while at the same time advancing technologically beyond what mankind originally thought possible. Haraway states, In the traditions of 'Western' science and politics--the tradition of racist, male-dominant capitalism; the tradition of progress; the tradition of the appropriation of nature as resource for the productions of culture; the tradition of reproduction of the self from the reflections of the other - the relation between organism and machine has been a border war. The stakes in the border war have been ..."
This paper examines Emile Durkheim's "Suicide" and Donna Gaines "Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead-End Kids" that explore the relationship between individuals and their society.
Abstract The paper discusses "Suicide," a groundbreaking book that was a case study on suicide by the sociologist Emile Durkheim in 1897. The paper explains that suicide was generally considered to be an individual's tragedy, until Durkheim first opened discussion to suicide as a social problem, making connections between the individual and society. The paper also examines "Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead-End Kids" by Donna Gaines that is similar to Durkheim's study on the groundbreaking connections between the individual and society as causes of suicide. The paper explores the term "sociological imagination" coined by C. Wright Mills that shows how the individual cannot be understood without understanding society and the relationship between them.
From the Paper "Durkeim found that Protestants and Catholics have very different rates of suicide. According to him, strong social control in Catholic society lowered suicide rates, while the less social control among Protestants resulted in higher suicide rates. Social integration, the level of attachment people have to their social groups, affects suicide rates. Durkeim found that both high and low levels of social integration can cause people to kill themselves, either because they have no social support, or because they do not want to be a burden on society."
Tags: sociological, imagination, Mills, social, control, groups
Abstract This paper summarizes the main anthropological and societal issues addressed in the novel "Laughter Out of Place" by Donna M. Goldstein. It seeks to further analyze the author's choice of title ("Laughter Out Of Place") and it's importance. Overall, the paper focuses on the injustices and inequality of living in a Rio shantytown.
From the Paper "By drawing on her own Jewish background, Goldstein delivers a book chock full of stories she gathered from her informants. Through these stories and additional elaborations she is able to address the issues of race, class, and violence as pertaining to Brazil; Rio in particular. Most of the story-telling is centered around her main consultant Gloria. Gloria works as an empregada for an upper-middle class patroa. To say that this "honest work" provides her with insufficient fiscal earnings is a gross understatement. This servitude is more akin to slave-labor, which is a very relevant juxtaposition. "
Abstract This paper discusses and critically evaluates Donna Haraway's assertion that, we are all, already, 'cyborgs'. To help make this argument, the paper uses references from science fiction films and literature about the co-implication of humans, machines and informatic technologies in 20th/21st century life.
From the Paper "In 1908 fiction writer Jean de la Hire introduced his superhero 'Nyctalope' in the novel 'The man who can live in water', since then hundreds of fictional characters have been created both in literature and more recently in feature films that are human beings with beneficial technological enhancements. The term generally used to describe such characters is 'cyborg', an abbreviation for cybernetic organism that was originally coined in 1960 by Manfred E. Clines and Nathan S. Kline in their article 'Cyborgs and space' '...for the exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as an integrated homeostatic system unconsciously, we propose the term 'Cyborg'.' (p. 26) "
This paper compares two articles about the role of technology in the society: "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century" by Donna Haraway and "Technological or Media Determinism" by Daniel Chandler.
Abstract This paper examines the influence of gender in the writing of these two works and the effectiveness of the given text in relating the information to the reader. The author points out that both Donna Haraway and Daniel Chandler argue that in the world so filled with technological advancements it is very hard to separate the human component from the technological. The paper relates that Haraway expresses extreme feminist ideas in her work; however, Chandler's work is not gender-based at all. The author relates that Haraway is very allegorical and attempts to bring up images of genderless, machine-like women to make her point clear; on the other hand, Chandler avoids the allegories, providing a more informative rather than speculative outlook on the subject.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Comparative Analysis
Contrast Analysis
Conclusion
From the Paper "Chandler applies the technological progress and cultural development to the world in general and outlines how these trends shape the society and what forces contribute to the humans' desire for progress. Haraway, who is very subjective, focuses on one group of people in particular - women. The basis of her work is the gender-defined society where progress does not serve to unite but rather separate the people into gender and class, therefore outlining a very socialist idea of inequality and strives for such. Haraway seeks to make a point about the seeming lack of such equality in today's world and how it ties in with the technological progress."
From the Paper "There are many different interpretations of what a cyborg might be and how it may be useful or not for feminist writers to use to describe the female situation. The cyborg defiantly presents us with some exciting new possibilities for what our bodies might be or encompass, and how we might experience our reality or realities. Though one must understand that these possibilities are only for those who have the technology, only the Internet and the networks that it allows to exist can really be seen to possibly act as a place of liberation from gender, race etc. It is in the end though a fictional environment, and the cyborg still is a fictional and metaphorical creature, which is over theorised and hence too impractical to relate to real women's lives. "
Abstract A comparative paper of two authors who both ask whether we can, as the objects, as well as observers of our own nature, detach ourselves from our surroundings and culture in order to form an objective understanding of who we are and what we do.
From the Paper "Few problems have received more attention, or have generated more controversy, in our human history than the argument about which is the best way to analyze human behavior. Can we, as the objects, as well as observers of our own nature, detach ourselves from our surroundings and, culture in order to form an objective understanding of who we are and what we do? Are the conceptions and explanations that we generate about ourselves bound by our own experiences? These are the questions that Donna Haraway, the author of, "Primate Visions" and Richard D. Alexander, the author of, "The Biology of Moral Systems" attempt to answer. "
Compares portrayals of gangs in Michael Brake's "Comparative Youth Culture", Martin Jankowski's "Islands in the Street" and Donna Gaines' "Teenage Wasteland".
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 3 sources, 1995, $ 47.95
From the Paper "This study will compare and contrast minority working-class youth subcultures described by Michael Brake in Comparative Youth Culture and Martin Sanchez Jankowski in Islands in the Street, and the white youth subculture described by Donna Gaines in Teenage Wasteland. The study will consider the structural conditions these youth groups are facing, their cultural responses to these conditions, the nature of the groups with respect to their hegemony, and the reasons why, in Gaines' view, white youth kill themselves while black youth kill each other.
The different youth subcultures in the three books face prevailing social, economic, cultural, political, and racial structures which, if they are not designed to disempower and alienate youth, nevertheless have that effect. The basic reason that youth form gangs, or "subcultures," is that they do not feel ..."
Abstract Discusses prejudices in media representation of women. Distinctions based on gender & race in television shows & films. Traditional view of women as "domestic." Examples of early television shows (Donna Reed Show, Leave it to Beaver). Changing image in the 1970s.. Lack of black women in TV shows, and the image of African American women in 1970s TV as one-dimensional. Films discussed include Cleopatra Jones, Sugar Hill and The Color Purple. Women as images of male fantasy.
From the Paper "Gender and race intersect in media representations and in real life as well. The feminist movement took the methods of the Civil Rights Movement to heart in agitating for change, just as blacks had done before. The relative positions of women and blacks show both similarities and differences. Women actually constitute a majority in society yet still face discrimination, while racial minorities face discrimination for different reasons. Yet, both groups are seen as less able and less worthy than the white male, suggesting that the plight of black women in particular involves a double dose of discrimination. Distinctions based on both gender and race and on the two in conjunction can be seen in our popular culture, notably in films and television shows that offer particular views of both women and people of color and especially women of color that do not ..."
Abstract Analysis of book on female prostitution. Author's concept of the role of gender in Argentine political and economic history. Prostitution as an expression of gender roles. Issue of prostitution in relation to labor questions, gender problems, tourism, immigration, medicine, law, civil rights. The relationship between the family and prostitution. Women's roles in society.
From the Paper "Donna J. Guy, in Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires, states the purpose of her book immediately and explicitly:
This book is an attempt to integrate gender into Argentine political and economic history by examining the role and image of female prostitution in concepts of work, family, class and citizenship (1).
Guy's premise is that these categories are not distinct from one another, but in fact interrelate with and thereby shape one another. For example, "politics constructs gender and gender constructs politics" (1). What affects one piece of the puzzle of society affects all other pieces to various degrees. The issue of prostitution certainly has its appeal as a subject for social study (the author is a social historian), but on first glance it would appear to be a subject on the outskirts of social science."
