Why it is so difficult to evaluate the influence of women on Viking Essay

Why it is so difficult to evaluate the influence of women on Viking society - Essay Example The saga writers of the 13th century belonged to an oral tradition, which embraced written culture like the Holy Bible. It is characteristic of Scandinavian or Norse societies, that they had never had any hierarchical form of governing. But Viking societies now had a king, who served as a ruler, and men were the dominant group in the society and the family. All these social aspects were then highlighted in epics and romance. As a result, saga writing became a political act in gender relations under this situation. The ideological view of the binary opposition formed a kind of "stereoscopic" view on women as depicted in the sagas, paying special attention to gender roles and the contexts of these performances. First, when one looks at women's representation in one of the oldest forms of Icelandic literature, the 'Gylfaginning' saga, most of the gods are represented as warriors, and are thus heroic images. This depicts the social role of males as being the 'external' heroes and proves their dominance both in the society and in their own family. Goddesses such as Frigg and Freyji usually represented marriage, motherhood, fertility, love, household management and domestic art2. Frigg and Freyji are the highest goddesses from the sir and Vanir races. In addition to their divine images, they are always seen as role models for the moral code for Viking women. Oral literature or written sagas were the major entertainment for Vikings, so the sagas worked as 'social education', developing the stereotype and the binary ideology in the Viking society. With this change and suppression of the past, there still were "strong women" in oral sagas in the Viking age. But nevertheless women we re constrained from playing the role of remembering and preserving the connection with the past, and evoking it in a way that minimizes its potential disruption of, or threat to, the present symbolic order3. Additionally, because of changes in political, social and religious culture, Viking women have lost their power in the public sphere. That's why women in sagas have always been the subordinate group under the authority of the male in the family. As in the Laxdoela Saga, the father was the one who decided about Gudrd's first marriage to Thorvald, a man she did not love4. This fact shows that women were under male's authority and seldom appeared in public. They were powerful in their limited private surrounding, taking care of their household and family, but still faced the binary opposition that influenced their society and the role and power of Viking women. Ultimately, it has blurred or flattened the influence of female Vikings on Viking society. To understand the social and historical function of sagas in Old Norse society, it is necessary to see, how women were represented in early legislation, together with their life's depictions in archaeological documents. In the medieval Scandinavian culture and from my study of the sagas, Viking women were always signified and related to the household and to nurturing their family and children. We can see this from one of the oldest sagas in Northman Literature, the Saga

Homeostatic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Homeostatic - Essay Example For a single cell to work, the conditions must be stable. For example, if the water content of the body is too high or low i.e. high or low osmotic pressure would make the cells either shrink or swell leading to cellular death and a vicious cycle leading to tissue destruction and so on. Similarly cellular enzymes require an optimum and stable pH for them to work and degrade food products to simple carbohydrates, fats and amino acids for the body to produce energy. These are just two of many examples of why the human body needs stable internal environment (Brodie, 2005). 2.1 Identify and describe the components required for a homeostatic feedback mechanism. As mentioned earlier, the human body is composed of many systems and these systems work in coordination with each other in order for it to work normally. These systems require stable internal conditions and whenever these internal conditions are disturbed; there is a feedback system which acts immediately to get this disturbed inte rnal environment back to normal. This feedback system includes mainly of receptors in some areas which when sense in disturbance in the normal conditions activate immediately and send signal to the appropriate centres (Guyton, 2011). These signals could be transmitted through 1) Nerve cells e.g. vagus nerve sending signal to the brain and control heart rate 2) hormones e.g. renin which is released by kidneys either when there is a disturbance in the blood pressure due to water content of the body. Renin ten causes the formation of angiotensin 1 and 2 and control water content of urine. Hormones and nerve cells have a major role in this feedback mechanism. Hormones such as adrenaline, insulin, thyroxin and acetylcholine are some of the major hormones in homeostatic feedback mechanism in controlling heart rate, blood sugar levels, metabolism and many other functions. Nerve cells on the other hand provide feedback mechanism by transmitting signals directly to the brain which then trans mits signals back by nerve cells again to appropriate centres or causes the release of hormones to bring the body back to stability. Nerve cells also act by sending signals to the endocrine or exocrine glands present at certain locations in the body and cause direct release of hormones or other secretions (Guyton, 2011). 3.1 Describe the mechanisms involved in body temperature regulation. Regulation of body temperature is one of the most important homeostatic functions of the body as all the bodily enzymes and other systems require an optimum temperature i.e.98.6f to work normally. This most important function is performed by the temperature regulation centre present in the Hypothalamus in the brain. Whenever an increase or decrease in the body temperature is detected by the receptors present in peripheral regions of the body, immediate signals are transmitted to the hypothalamus which then sends signals to all the parts of the body for its regulations. In case of an increased inter nal temperature the hypothalamus sends signals to the peripheral blood vessels located mainly in the skin which dilate causing more blood to flow through them leading to heat loss and decreased metabolism to decrease heat production. Also, there is immediate activation of sweat glands located in the skin and excessive production of sweat causes loss of

Marketing Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Marketing Communication - Research Paper Example Marketing communication is new as compared to the corporate world. While this may sound surprising, it is not so. Some gurus feel that marketing as a process started as early as the advent of the private sector, but that argument is not entirely correct. We must note that while the corporate world first came into the world, there was no need whatsoever to market itself to the public at large – the public followed their bidding as they desired. But today, with the world entirely under the mercy of globalization and corporate expansion, customers have the freedom to choose and spoil themselves with getting the best every single time. So, today, the onus is up to corporate houses, which compete with each other in calling themselves the best. The need to promote and prosper was felt by the business world when it actually started expanding and catering to the needs of the world on a much higher scale. As mentioned earlier, the corporate world was born with marketing communication in its arsenal – it developed as a need of the hour. The ‘need of the hour’ was felt by the business world when globalization struck the world. New players started entering the market. Rival products began to come up. More than anything else, the technology developed on an unimaginably high scale – enough to cater to just about any need of the world. In such circumstances, certain corporate houses, especially those with money, power, and technology, found every reason to cut costs. And when costs were cut, products were more customer-friendly than ever before.

Said's Concept if Orientalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Said's Concept if Orientalism - Essay Example The Orient (comprising of countries like the Middle East, India, China, and those lying further east) has always occupied an area of interest within the realms of American cultural arena. Various topics that include men, women and children from the Orient, tend to appear persistently in different cultural discussions, with the greatest and most presumably, the highest influence seen in US based TV programmes and movies. Right from the time of its initiation, Hollywood has persistently represented characters from Orient (like Chinese, Indians and Arabs) in specific exotic terms that highlight their ethnicity (Irwin, 2007, 106). Thus, against a backdrop of stereotyped Oriental ‘Otherness’ stands the Western ‘good guys,’ a representation of the Eastern world by its Western counterpart, which is often biased and conventionalised (ibid). It is this (mal) representation or portrayal of various  non-western cultures  by western filmmakers, writers, and artists, which primarily arose from European colonial/ imperialistic attitude during the 18th-19th centuries, which has been termed ‘Orientalism,’ a concept derived from Edward Said’s famous book Orientalism published in 1978. ... The Hollywood films-makers have held a continuing dominance over the worldwide box-office right from WWI, without any strong or long-term competition from any other rival film industries. Even though there were major setbacks to Hollywood during the Great Depression and later during 1960s, their dominance over worldwide cinema remained unparalleled, thus spanning unquestioned influence over millions of viewers from all parts of the world for more than ten decades. Thus, it is understood that representation of any character(s) shown by Hollywood is bound to cast a strong influence on viewers all across the globe. Hence, one can contend that the negative and imagined portrayal of Orientalism has created a negative image of these countries on the global viewers, which is purely based on lack of adequate knowledge and presumptions on the part of Hollywood. In this context, we will examine the importance of Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism while analysing the dominant cinemas ( Hollywood’s) representation of people outside West. Discussion â€Å"East is East, West is West, and never the twain shall meet†~ Rudyard Kipling (1932) Said’s concept of Orientalism: In actual perspective, Orientalism refers to Orient or East, akin to the term ‘Occident,’ which means West. Said in his book Orientalism perceives the term as comprising of many false presumptions, misconceptions, and various wrong assumptions as conceived by  Westerners towards those residing in  Eastern parts of the world (however, here it must be noted that Said primarily relates Orientalism to the Middle East, where he had spent some years as a child). As Cheryl McEwan informs, Said in

The Effect of Using Facebook as a Teaching Tool on Students Interest Research Paper

The Effect of Using Facebook as a Teaching Tool on Students Interest and Motivation in Learning English - Research Paper Example The interest of students and their motivation have always been a concern for many scholars like Fenfanng Li and Fushan Sun. Li’s contribution is well evidenced in the work EFL Learners’ Belief and Learning Strategy Use by English Majors while Sun’s work is on Pedagogical Implications to Teaching English Writing. According to Begawan (2009), the perspective with which many students have taken learning English as a new language can be attributed to the lack of interest or key goal towards its overall achievement. On the same note, it is critical to note that the mode of learning the languages devised is not motivating students to read and research extensively on the language concepts. According to Liao, (2009), a portion of language educators have relied heavily on the transmission model, which emphasizes on the teachers’ responsibility of conveying the knowledge and correcting errors. With respect to this practice, more students get tired of this teacher-ce ntered model of English learning and end up terming English as a very boring and monotonous instead of being update and informative. One crucial attempt to solve this would be the utilization of approaches that stimulate students’ interest in language learning.... On the same note, it is critical to note that the mode of learning the languages devised is not motivating students to read and research extensively on the language concepts. According to Liao, (2009), a portion of language educators have relied heavily on the transmission model, which emphasizes on the teachers’ responsibility of conveying the knowledge and correcting errors. With respect to this practice, more students get tired of this teacher-centered model of English learning and end up terming English as a very boring and monotonous instead of being update and informative. One crucial attempt to solve this would be the utilization of approaches that stimulate students’ interest in language learning. National Council of Education Research and Training (2006) argue that the growth and development of technology, with the booming digital revolution; English language has been incorporated in multimedia as the means of instruction. This is highly critical to influence E nglish language among the users of digital technology. With increased immersion of students in Web 2.0 technologies like the blogs, twitter, social networks like Facebook, virtual worlds, video sharing and photo sharing, these can effectively be utilized as means of encouraging students to learn English to fully participate in them (Fang, 2010). My interest has been driven to Facebook owing to its ease and interactive features that are highly crucial in motivating the language teaching (Childs, 2009). This is with respect to the language of instructions used for the social network sites. This research study aimed at looking on the effect Facebook has, as a tool on the students’ interest and motivation in learning of

Analysis of Global Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Analysis of Global Governance - Essay Example On the other hand, it has been proved that the decisions of governments on crucial political, social and economic issues may present similarities in countries internationally – a phenomenon observed especially in countries with common social or cultural characteristics. In this way, local political choices may influence the forms of international policies – a trend well developed in areas such as security and governance. The current paper focuses on the critical examination and comparison of two studies focusing on global governance: the study of Held & McGrew (2002) and that of Wilkinson & Hughes (2002); both of these studies refer to the criteria, the characteristics and the implications of global governance. The interpretation of global governance – as given by the above writers – is critically discussed by referring to the actual political and social conditions in the international community. Moreover, the examination of their work led to the assumptio n that global governance can have a long-term impact on various aspects of international political and social framework. In this study, an emphasis is given on the implications of global governance for security – as these implications can be identified in the work of Held et al. (2002) and Wilkinson et al. (2002). It is concluded that the above studies indicate a relationship between global governance and security; however, the level at which this relationship is developed is depended on the grade of acceptance of the relevant schemes by the authorities of each country – which are asked to adopt a specific global governance or security scheme. In order to evaluate the potential differences in the interpretation of global governance as developed by Held et al. (2002) and Wilkinson et al. (2002), it would be necessary to refer primarily to the criteria on which these two studies have been based.  Ã‚  

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Essay Example for Free

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Essay In the books Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Fences by August Wilson, there are common themes that run throughout the book. Among these are two, hard working men that can be a bit disillusioned by life. The main character of each book, Willy Loman and Troy Maxson are similar in many ways. They both try hard to be good men and fathers, but unfortunately, they are imperfect in both aspects. Troy distances his self from his youngest son, and many could say that he is too hard and cold towards him. Willy in a way believes that his grown sons could not have done any wrong when they were younger and do no wrong now. But these two fathers are not totally bad. There are many good personal traits that they both display in these books. But as stated as before, they werent perfect at all. In many ways, both Willy and Troy were in fact good fathers. They worked hard to provide for their families and tried to set an example for their sons by their own actions. Willy was extremely supportive of Biffs high school football success and went to all the games. Troy tries to instill certain values such as responsibility into his son Cory and explains to him that he shouldnt go through life worrying if people like him or not. He tells him he takes care of him not because he likes him, but because it is his duty. Troy seems to be a bad father more visibly. He does not encourage Corys high school football career in anyway, in fact he tells him to tell the scout he is not interested and thinks having a job is more important. His attitude toward Cory the majority of the time is cold and harsh, as if he regards his son as someone he must deal with and take care of. Willy had a few problems of his own. First he let himself get caught with his mistress by his son, which devastated him. He also acted like his sons were perfect, which they werent. He should have made sure his son passed math so he could have graduated, but he put that into the hands of their next-door neighbor, Bernard. Willy also sets a bad example telling his sons that being well-liked is very important and holds it as a measure of success. He also leads them to believe that he is doing well financially, when in fact he is not. He has to get $50 from his next-door neighbor and Bernards father Charley. Although Willy and Troy werent the best or worse fathers they did raise their sons. The outcome of these men are different, however. Cory, who did not have a good father-son relationship or interaction with Troy moved out and joined the United States Marine Corps. Seven years later he returns for Troys funeral, no doubt successful and providing for himself. Biff and Happy, on the other hand, who both had a pretty decent relationship with their father ended up with menial jobs living with their parents at the age of 34. Happy is a philanderer with horrible ethics that sleeps with his supervisors girlfriend. Biff is unable to hold a steady job and has a new money making idea every week. It is hard to judge both Willy and Troy as good or bad if we arent in their shoes. Whether others may agree or disagree, it can be said that both fathers raised their sons the best that the could under their circumstances and most likely the best they knew how. The outcome of a person does not wholly depend on his or her parent. Their outlook on life and how much they want to accomplish while on this earth are other factors