Wholistic Visual Cues When Reading

Wholistic Visual Cues When Reading To what extent do we use wholistic visual cues when reading? Researchers have proposed that individuals use the outline shape of a word, meaning wholistic visual cues, in visual word recognition in reading. Various methods have been used to investigate reading in individuals with differing reading abilities. The reading abilities of young children and individuals with dyslexia have been studied to determine how this deviates from normally reading adults. The majority of research found the use of wholistic visual cues is most beneficial to individuals with dyslexia (Perea Panadero, 2013) and those in the early stages of learning to read (Ehri, 1995). However, disparity between the research conclusions exist, proposing that wholistic visual cues are used in conjunction with other recognition processes. The holistically biased hybrid model (Allen, Wallace Weber, 1995) and the process model (Besner Johnston, 1989) both provide theories for word recognition. The holistically biased hybrid model uses either an addressed or an assembled pathway to process words, with the addressed pathway being dominant in normal reading (Allen et al., 1995). This model accounts for both word frequency and provides an explanation for reading behaviours when presented with a mixed case paradigm, supporting the use of wholistic visual cues in reading (Allen et al., 1995). Alternatively, the process model recognises words using either a familiarity assessment, letter analysis or multi-letter identification (Besner Johnston, 1989) and rejects the use of wholistic visual cues. The interactive activation model uses similar analytical methods as the process model (McClelland and Rumelhart, 1981), whereby numerous variables of the word are processed for recognition. The different uses of visual cues was dete rmined by Paap, Newsome and Noel (1984) who concluded that wholistic visual cues are used in the initial stages of word recognition and this is then followed by abstract letter identification. Evidence for both of these models have been found and provide evidence for and against the use of wholistic visual cues using a variety of research methods. A method used to research the importance of word shape in reading is that of the cloze test, whereby participants must anticipate the upcoming word. Haber, Haber and Furlin (1983) tested adult reading using cues including word length, envelope shape or providing the following word. They found that participants used the shape envelope to recognise the target word. The cue provided word length information which decreased the number of alternative applicable words. However, the wholistic visual cues did not provide semantic cues, suggesting that other methods of word recognition are required in conjunction with wholistic visual cues. Mirman and Magnuson (2008) discovered that words which are semantically similar increase reaction times in visual word recognition. These pieces of research support the interactive activation model because it requires the processing of several aspects of the word in parallel, including semantics (McClelland Rumelhart, 1983). Fisher and Murray (1987) replic ated Haber et al.’s (1983) research using children as their participants. No age difference was discovered in the use of wholistic visual cues between the ages of 10 to 13 years old. However, Johnston, Anderson and Duncan (1991) determined that at 8 years old salient external features improved reading accuracy which was not seen at the age of ten. This research therefore suggests that wholistic visual cues may be used more in reading behaviours when improving reading ability. Naming tasks have been particularly important in researching developing reading abilities. Webb, Beech, Mayall and Andrews (2006) studied the effects of concealing either the inner or outer sections of words for children. The outer sections of a word elicited more accurate reading ability, whereas inner visual information of words had no influence on the individual’s reading behaviours even when accounting for frequency effects. Increased performance when presented with the outer sections of words as opposed to the inner sections was also evidenced by Beech and Mayall (2005). This concluded that individuals process word shape envelopes in visual word recognition, suggesting that wholistic visual cues may play a role in the initial stages of the interactive activation model (Webb et al., 2006). It is also possible to explain the findings using Gestalt theory, proposing that individuals form connections between the outer sections of words in order to make up for the missing word sections (Beech Mayall, 2005). The Gestalt theory provides evidence for the use of wholistic visual cues and it is evident when researching the effects of presenting other sections of words. This was then analysed further by presenting only the upper section of words to normally reading adults. Perea, Comesana and Soares (2012) determined an improved reaction time when upper sections of words were presented. However, this did not apply to pseudo-words, implying that the word must be known in order to have the desired effect. The decreased reaction time indicates that upper sections of words have more salient cues than lower sections of words, meaning they are more representative of the target word. These pieces of research therefore emphasise the importance of wholistic visual cues in visual word recognition, however research by Pelli, Farell and Moore (2003) contrasted these conclusions. The researchers determined that individuals focus on minor cues in words and collate these for an overall representation of the word, contrasting the evidence of using wholistic visual cues when reading. Further information other than word shape envelopes must therefore be known in orde r to accurately process the given word. An alternative way in which the use of wholistic visual cues has been researched is that of using a mixed case paradigm, presenting an array of uppercase and lowercase letters to participants (Coltheart Freeman, 1974). Presenting words in a mixed case format increased reaction times as well as reducing the recognition of the word, providing evidence for the importance of wholistic visual cues and contradicting the interactive activation model (Coltheart Freeman, 1974). However, the mixed case paradigm had no influence on the identification of individual letters in this case, supporting the interactive activation model and opposing the use of wholistic visual cues. Besner and Johnston (1989) also found pseudo-words in a mixed case format to be detrimental to reading ability. This therefore demonstrates the need for the word shape envelope and rejects the interactive activation model due to the reduced reading ability. Allen et al. (1995) used a lexical decision task to compare the r eading of lower and mixed cases when given a time constraint on processing. The experiments concluded an increased reaction time for pseudo-words in a mixed case format, indicating the importance of wholistic visual cues in word recognition. Participants struggled to accept or reject pseudo-words presented for 400ms, representing the processing limitations during short exposure periods. This research is in line with Allen et al.’s (1995) holistically biased hybrid model but contrasts the analytical models, including the process model. The research carried out by Allen et al. (1995) indicates that for the successful completion of lexical decision tasks wholistic visual cues are necessary, meaning that reading methods may adapt to the task’s requirements. This provides an explanation for the great degree of variation seen in the research into the use of wholistic visual cues and shows the high level of validity of this method due to the replicability of the findings. Further research has led to the suggestion that wholistic visual cues may only be used in circumstances where normal reading behaviour is inhibited. This was recently demonstrated by Perea and Panadero (2013) using a lexical decision task to analyse reading behaviours for adults, children and children with developmental dyslexia. There was no effect on the reaction times for word recognition when pseudo-words were presented as having the same shape as real words for adults and children. However, those with developmental dyslexia were found to be affected by the word shape of pseudo-words (Perea Panadero, 2013), reflecting how wholistic visual cues are used to a different extent. This indicates the use of more analytical processing methods in normal reading. Lavidor (2011) also found word shape envelopes to be beneficial to individuals with dyslexia. These pieces of research suggest that children and those with dyslexia fixate on particularly salient cues in order to reliably process words (Ehri Wilce, 1985). This again dismisses the word shape hypothesis and provides further evidence for the importance of the interactive activation model (McClelland Rumelhart, 1981) during normal reading due to the use of feature analysis. These studies highlight the requirement for top-down processing in normal reading behaviours compared to dyslexia, as the interactive activation model (McClelland Rumelhart, 1981) requires the processing of multiple factors in word recognition. Cognitive processing, including top-down processing, is a vital part of visual word recognition. Research carried out by Yates (2013) provides further evidence with clustering effects that word shape alone has limited influence on normal reading behaviour. If a set of words only differ by a phoneme then word recognition requires a higher level of activation and is processed more slowly (Yates, 2013). This infers that the use of a word’s shape envelope is influenced by cognitive processing ability. Cognitive processing can again be seen by analysing parafoveal vision. When monitoring eye movements McConkie and Zola (1979) discovered normally reading adults do not detect any changes to manipulations of word shape in parafoveal vision. Contrasting evidence by Haber, Haber, Furlin, Paap, Newsome and Noel (1984) determined that when proofreading, participants remained unaware of changes to words unless the word shape envelope was manipulated. An alternative explanation for the lack of evidence for the word shape hypothesis may be that the use of wholistic cues becoming automated (Webb et al., 2006). Research has proven the importance of the word shape envelope for young readers and dyslexics, however it has not been consistently reported in adults. If word shape is processed in a more automated manner the individual’s cognitive load would be significantly reduced (Webb et al., 2006). This reduction would allow other, more efficient, reading behaviours to occur. These pieces of research led to the conclusion that wholistic visual cues are important in visual word recognition, however as an individual matures their reading behaviours may be modified. Previous research has found that individual’s reading methods change as their reading ability improves. Children initially use wholistic visual cues and then potentially develop more effective reading methods (Perea Panadero, 2013). Research by Seymour and Eldre (1986) determined that in order to read children have to be specifically taught to read each of these words, meaning they are unable to determine the phonological information of a word and as such rely on wholistic visual cues (Webb et al., 2006). This was also supported was Ehri (1995) who described stages in children’s visual word recognition. When children learn to read they engage in sight word reading or logographic reading, meaning that the word is read through memory retrieval. As children’s reading ability develops they learn the relationship of phonemes and graphemes and are thus able to apply this to more complex words in the consolidated alphabetic stage (Ehri, 1995). Research using children i s therefore of great advantage when focusing on adult reading. The conclusion has been reached that as children develop their reading ability they refine their use of wholistic visual cues. Thus as visual word recognition becomes more refined individuals use other recognition strategies in parallel with wholistic visual cues. Research into the use of wholistic visual cues has shown that adults do not necessarily use wholistic visual cues. However, evidence has shown that children and individuals with developmental dyslexia use these cues to a great extent. This difference may occur due to the processing of wholistic visual cues becoming more automated as reading develops. Alternatively, the varying use of wholistic cues may be explained by the demands of the task, as shown by lexical decision tasks (Allen et al., 1995). For this reason wholistic visual cues provide a more accurate account of visual word recognition when taken in conjunction with analytical models, such as the interactive activation model and the process model. References Allen, P. A., Wallace, B., Weber, T. A. (1995). Influence of case type, word frequency, and exposure duration on visual word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21(4), 914-934. Beech, J. R., Mayall, K. A. (2005). The word shape hypothesis re-examined: Evidence for an external feature advantage in visual word recognition. Journal of Research in Reading, 28(3), 302-319. Besner Johnston (1989) Beech M Coltheart Freeman (1974) Allen Ehri, L. C. (1995). Phases of development in learning to read words by sight. Journal of Research in Reading, 18(2), 116-125. Ehri Wilce (1985) Lavidor Fisher Murray (1987) Webb Haber, L. R., Haber, R. N., Furlin, K. R. (1983). Word length and word shape as sources of information in reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 18(2), 165-189. Haber, Haber, Furlin, Paap, Newsome Noel (1984) Beech Mayall Johnston, Anderson Duncan (1991) Beech M Lavidor, M. (2011). Whole-word shape effect in dyslexia. Journal of Research in Reading, 34(4), 443-454. McClelland and Rumelhart (1981) McConkie, G. W., Zola, D. (1979). Is visual information integrated across successive fixations in reading? Perception and Psychophysics, 25(3), 221-224. Mirman Magnuson (2008) yates Seymoure Eldre (1986) Webb Paap, K. R., Newsome, S. L., Noel, R. W. (1984). Word shape’s in poor shape for the race to the lexicon. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 10(3), 413-428. Pelli, D. G., Farell, B., Moore, D. C. (2003). The remarkable inefficiency of word recognition. Nature, 423, 752-756. Perea, M., Comesana, M., Soares, A. P. (2012). Does the advantage of the upper part of words occur at the lexical level? Memory and Cognition, 40, 1257-1265. Perea, M., Panadero, V. (2013). Does viotin activate violin more than viocin? On the use of visual cues during visual-word recognition. Experimental Psychology, 61(1), 23-29. Webb, T. M., Beech, J. R., Mayall, K. M., Andrews, A. S. (2006). It’s what’s on the outside that matters: An advantage for external features in children’s word recognition. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 94, 163-181. Yates, M. (2013). How the clustering of phonological neighbours affects visual word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 39(5), 1649-1656.

Chinese Eating Manner vs. Korean Eating Manner

Compare and contrast essay: Chinese eating manner vs. Korean eating manner Different places and countries have different cultures and manners. China and Korea both are historical and traditional Asian countries, which have many traditional cultures and manners, including the eating manners. Even though their geographical position is close, there are similarities and differences between Chinese and Korean eating manner. There are some distinct similarities between Chinese and Korean eating manner.The first similarity is that they both use bowl and chopstick to eat, and no sounds are allowed when chopstick touches the bowl, for example like scratching rice from the bowl with chopstick. Different from western countries, most Asian countries use bowls instead of plates to carry food. It is impolite to make noise by tableware when eating. Another similarity is that, when eating with seniors, juniors only can start eating after seniors start.There is a traditional saying in Chinese called â€Å" respect for seniority†, let seniors to start eating first is a kind of showing respect to them. Similarly, in traditional Korean culture there are plenteous manners on respecting seniors, and start eating after they eat is one of the manners. Although there are a number of similarities, there are several differences between Chinese and Korean eating manner. The first difference is that Chinese prefer to hold the bowl when eating, and use chopstick so often.It is impolite to put down the bowl on table and just use one hand to eat. In contrast, it is not allow to hold the bowl when eating in Korea, also, spoon is much more important than chopstick in its manner. For example, though it is difficult to spoon up a bean sprout from a bowl, it is not allow to use chopstick for it. Another important difference is, in China both hands should be upon the table when eating. When holding a bowl to drink soup without using a spoon, the idle hand still needs to be upon the table.How ever, in Korea it is so impolite to show one`s left hand upon the table when eating, the left hand must be hidden under the table. Both the societies of China and Korea are changing and become much more open than they used to be. Many of their traditional cultures and manners have combined with other cultures or even disappeared, however, there are still differences. No matter which manners we prefer, they are all a kind of cultures, we should be respected to cultural differences.

Impact of Culture on the Spread of Hiv/Aids in Kenya

bdalla A. Bafagih Professor Trent Newmeyer Sociology of AIDS Soc 309Y1F June 21, 2004 Impact of Culture on the Spread of HIV/AIDS in Kenya a national culture is not a folklore, nor an abstract populism that believes it can discover the people’s true nature†¦. a national culture is the whole body of the efforts made by a people in the sphere of thought to describe, justify and praise the action through which that people has created itself and keeps itself in existence (Fanon, Frantz). Introduction Culture, even in the twenty first century, has numerous denotations.In various parts of the world, it has been and is still considered to be important for the development of civilization and of people’s minds; a particular society or civilization is considered in relation to its beliefs, ways of life and values. In short, culture plays a crucial role in a groups’ quest for identity and is therefore at the centre of the socio-cultural development of a people, region or even county in terms of identity and politics-it serves as a code of life that must be followed under any circumstances even with an HIV/AIDS epidemic.These observations help illuminate responses to our central thesis: that cultural barriers and the ensuing gender bias have not only perpetuated the spread of HIV/AIDS among women, but are also hindering an effective HIV/AIDS prevention campaign in Kenya. Our position is that HIV/AIDS prevalence is a gendered issue because women in most parts of the developing world, due to the repressive cultural practices women have no power. Furthermore women continue to be betrayed by outdated traditional norms such as widow inheritance, widow cleansing, polygamy and gender inequality, as is the case in parts of Kenya.When these issues may seem to differ, in reality they are intertwined and date back to generations. To make matters worse those infected with HIV, both women and men blame witchcraft as the source of death (McGeary, J. Time Magazi ne, p, 30). Moreover as Madhu Bala Nath states â€Å"myths are also rooted in the nature of denial that is associated with HIV/AIDS. Because HV/AIDS is so frightening, there is a temptation to deny the existence of the disease (2001, p, 32). Such denial plays a large part in sustaining such outdated practices.We should point out from the outset that the current risky practices were at one time seen as strength (pre HIV/AIDS era) since they were really helpful and appropriate for their communities. Among the merits of such traditional practices were, among others, the widow’s security within the household was guaranteed and the orphaned children were guaranteed the extended family support and therefore survival within the community. It was meant to ensure the widow and children never became homeless.According to the Washington Post, In Western Kenya, the custom known as wife inheritance once held an honorable promise: A community would take care of a widow and her children. S he did not remarry. Her husband's family simply took responsibility for her. If a brother-in-law could not care for her, then a cousin or a respected outsider would. The inheritor made sure that the widow and her children were fed, clothed, sheltered, educated, protected, kept (Buckley, Stephen.Washington Post, November 8, 1997). For the purpose of this paper, we take a position that the spread of HIV/AIDS has rendered what were once cultural assets into deadly liabilities particularly towards women and children. That is why there is a need to be creative and embrace alternative rituals that do not involve risky sexual behavior. Our position is that inheritance per se is not bad, but widow inheritance and cleansing that endanger the lives of the widow and the inheritor/cleanser should be discarded.Wife inheritance or wife cleansing involves an inheritor who has his own family. As reported by the Washington Post â€Å"he infects his first wife and the widow he has inherited. Then he dies, and two other men inherit the women he leaves behind. Those men die. And then their widows are inherited† (ibid. ). It is this vicious circle that explains the rising HIV rates in Kenya. Kenya has vibrant and diverse cultural groups but some groups elevate ethnicity above nationalism.This makes it sometimes problematic to deal with intra and inter cultural norms or to undertake reforms of certain entrenched traditions. On one hand you have believers in Christianity who are more willing to abandon certain outdated traditions such as those discussed in this paper. For instance, a Kenyan bishop, called on widows to take a stand against wife inheritance (Gonza, Sam. 2000, p, 1). On the other hand you have the rigid traditionalists who are not open to any reforms or changes within traditions.There is usually no middle ground and unfortunately it cuts across class lines. We agree with the position put forward by Human Rights Watch in their report entitled Double Standards: Wo men’s Property Rights Violations in Kenya that â€Å"as important as cultural diversity and respecting customs may be, if customs are a source of discrimination against women, they like any other norm-must evolve† (2003, p, 2). Kenya has approximately forty tribes, which are co-related to the four greater ethnic groups (Buckley, Stephen.Washington Post, November 8, 1997): Bantu, Nilo-Hamitic, Nilotic and Hamitic (see figure i). Because of it’s neighboring, cultures are related to each other within Kenya and in the border countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Sudan. [pic] Figure: i Source: http://www. lib. utexas. edu/maps/kenya. html It will be imperative for this paper to provide short historical events in Kenya so as to provide a proper understanding of both the internal and external dynamics of this country.Kenya attained its independence from Britain in 1963 and has a population of thirty two million (32 million). [1] Kenya like other Sub-Saharan countries is a creation of European scramble for Africa. [2] As a result same ethnic groups are presently dispersed across different countries. The boundaries are like artificial divisions in a way that the people cannot be checked at all border-crossing zones. [pic] Figure: ii Source: http://www. lib. utexas. edu/maps/kenya. html The point, which we want to discuss, is that it is difficult to try to onvince these communities to abandon some of their practices, because they feel that at the end, abandoning their customs, would completely wipe out their culture and eventually loose their identity. In some African countries, various ethnic groups are the minorities and would want to keep intact their culture for the purpose of their own identity, so as to enable them to negotiate any political power in the government (Kanyiga, Karuti. 1998, p, 7)). On the other hand the ethnic groups, which are the majority, would want to maintain their hegemony and are not ready to change their tradi tions (ibid).Thus why dealing with health issues such as HIV/AIDS creates profound consequences. Current HIV/AIDS Situation in Kenya The synopsis about Kenya is not good at all. United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) reports that over 2 million out of a total population of 29. 5 million (2000) were infected with HIV and a cumulative number of 1. 5 million people had died due to AIDS. The high prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS have negatively impacted life expectancy to the extent that it has dropped by approximately 13 years to 51 years (1998); while GDP reduced by -0. in 2000 and is expected to worsen in coming years. The average literacy rate is estimated at 78% (1995) and total fertility rate in Kenya is about 4. 4 (1998). Approximately 30% of the population lives in urban areas and more than half of the population live under the poverty line, women constituting the majority. UNAIDS estimates that about 500 persons died of AIDS each day in the country in 1999. (www. unaids. org/Unaids/EN/geogra phical+area/by+country/kenya. asp).According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the estimated number of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, in Kenya end of 2001 stands as follows: Adults and children 2,500,000, Adults (15-49) 2,300,000, Women (15-49) 1,400,000 and Children 220,000, current living orphans, 890, 000, estimated number of death due to AIDS (2001), 190, 000 and the current adult rate of 15. 0 percent (www. who. int/hiv/pub/epidemiology/pubfacts/en/). Furthermore, the Human Rights Watch Report (2001) indicates that an estimated 2. million adults and children live with HIV/AIDS, representing about 14 percent of the sexually active population. The scary statistic is that Kenya has the ninth highest HIV prevalence rate in the world to the extent that the U. S. Census Bureau projections indicate that by 2005, there will be about 820 deaths per day from AIDS in Kenya. (http://www. hrw. org/reports/2001/kenya/kenya0701-03. htm#P144_18884). Factors behind the Gendered HIV/AIDS rates in Kenya. Through culture and society, we are able to transmit skills and other systems of social relations to modify our environment.But that has not been possible with women in Kenyan in both rural and urban areas even in the event of a HIV/AIDS epidemic with no cure in sight. Since our beliefs and ways of life are inseparable from our particular cultures, it is common for people to reject a behavior if it is not signified in their culture’s social code. It is however much harder for the marginalized groups like women and girls to reject what is supposedly part of their culture as is the case among the Luo and Luhya[3] of Kenya where they practice their culture to a fault.In such cases, individual behavior patterns alone are not responsible for the observed high-risk activities that cause HIV/AIDS. Needless to say, HIV/AIDS transmission in parts in Kenya is mostly through heterosexual relations. Because of [blind] loyalty to their culture, many within the gr oup (most educated women with the economic means to support themselves are now increasingly defiant against certain regressive policies like widow inheritance) in a society which has its own subculture, often face social risks, such as wife (widow) inheritance, to the extent that failure can result in exclusion from participating in communal events.For example, women who refuse to be inherited among the Luo and Luhya automatically lose their right to remain within their households, because their behavior is considered odd. Consequently women are frequently subject to violence, abuse, scorn and ridicule and other expressions of hate (HRW, 2003, pp, 16-21). Similarly, when it comes to apportioning blame as to who is the responsible party for bringing HIV/AIDS among married couples; it is usually women who are blamed even though in most cases, it is the men who have multiple partners.That goes to show that in the name of culture, women in Kenya find themselves in subordinate positions to men and are socially, culturally, and economically dependent on them. Because of the cultural biases, women are largely excluded from decision making, have limited access to and control over resources, are restricted in their mobility, and are often under threat of violence from male relatives (that is why many women have no choice when it comes to certain oppressive rituals, because they have no where else to return to should they be evicted from their late husband’s property) (ibid).In many cases, women in many parts of Kenya are perpetual minors subject to the guardianship of their male relatives and husbands. As a result, not only are their statuses lower than that of men, but also their condition is also dependent on that of their men folk. This subordination of women is connected to the distribution of power in society. In Kenya, economic, social and political power accrued to men partially as a result of their control of women, even though the thinking was and still is that a prosperous homestead depended on female reproduction and production.This keeps such oppressive rituals like widow inheritance in practice. Additionally, the gendered HIV/AIDS prevalence rates illuminate how gender as a constitutive element of social relationships. The Human Rights Watch of 2003, stated that of the 1. 4 million were women and girls with HIV positive, between the ages of fifteen and forty nine, this clearly shows how differences between sexes-power relationship within and between different women, urban versus rural and single versus married is very much embedded within society.Furthermore, the violation of fundamental human rights, and especially reproductive rights of women, plays an important part in perpetuating gender inequity and the observed HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in Kenya. As discussed in some parts of Kenya certain groups have taken Fanon’s dictum above about culture to new levels (p, 42), which have resulted in the discrimination, violati on of women’s rights and have placed women at great risk of contacting HIV. The impact has been traumatic on women as members of a community that continues to marginalize them in alls aspects of life.Yet women continue to provide care as wives, mothers, daughters, nurses, teachers, and grandmothers towards the sick, the dying and the orphaned children, many of whom are traumatized by the loss of their loved ones from AIDS. Unfortunately, in most parts of Kenya as evident elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, as Fanon further argued, societies have not acknowledged the totality of culture and its vital role within the context of culture and history (p, 43).What we know and will be shown in this essay is that an examination of cultural practices allow us to know the nature and extent of the imbalance and conflicts (economic, social and cultural) which characterize the evolution of a society: culture allows us to know the dynamic synthesis which have been developed and established by social conscie nce to resolve these conflicts at each stage of its evolution in search for survival and progress (ibid).In the case of Kenya, and elsewhere as it was made clearer in this course, the quest for in Kenya such attitudes pervade all aspects of social life to the detriment of girls in particular and women in general. Evidently, the recurring theme in Kenya is the conflict between modernity and tradition that is often treated in terms of its relevance to women and men, rural versus urban or what it means to belong to a particular ethnic group. This goes to the heart of gender equity, property rights, agrarian reform and its problematic impact on women.In parts of Kenya, those who believe that culture is stagnant rather than vibrant to the extent that oppressions against women are presented in terms of cultural harmony and the survival of entire ethnicities have hindered the process of social liberation by women. Some of the cultural traditions discussed include wife (wido w) inheritance, widow cleansing and polygamy all of which contributed to the lack of secure property rights that result into the violation of human rights for women, and the observed disparity in HIV/AIDS rates between men and women in Kenya. 4] Unfortunately westerners including many of our classmates sometimes do not seem to understand that countries like Kenya have very poor laws that govern human freedoms and rights like the Canadian Charter of Freedoms and Rights. Women in Kenya are routinely discriminated against in most cases with the connivance of the state. [5] While personal freedom and choice have certainly played a role in the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS elsewhere, where laws are enforced, in the case of Kenya, the interplay of culture and gender roles is to a great extent responsible for the statistics cited above in this essay.Although awareness of HIV/AIDS is reasonably high in Kenya this is not reflected in sexual behavioral changes, given the high prevalence and incide nce of HIV/AIDS (Rosenvard, C and T. Campbell, 1996, p, 11). This finding reflects our thesis; the entrenched cultural biases against women and girls can explain such behavior to the extent where awareness is high yet infections rates are also rising. It is not that Kenyans in general or women in particular are not rational, they are but they have become victims of outdated cultural traditions and gender biases.What this rather contradictory finding shows is the need to view the HIV/AIDS pandemic through, multiple lenses but most importantly through the lens of power inequality in society that are rooted in gender. Gender norms pervade all aspects of Kenyan culture and society to the extent that culture dominates anything else among the Luo and Luhya of Western Kenya. The marginalized status of women plays a key role in the spread of HIV/AIDS in Kenya as reflected in the UNAIDS and WHO figures.It is thus important to recognize the complex underlying factors influencing the role of w omen and how such roles affect African societies and behavior. In the traditional Kenyan society, women are expected to be submissive and to provide for their household at all times (Caldwell, 1989, p, 185). In Kenya especially in the rural setting, the woman’s marital status does not end when the person who married her dies; she is by all accounts married to the clan in the sense that under certain ‘invented’ customary traditions, the clan has the right to inherit her.Traditionally, Luo or Luhya women have little or no say in such matters of inheritance including the retention or sharing of resources such as land and property. According to Human Rights Watch: Widows are often evicted from their homes as in-laws rob them of their possessions and invade their homes and lands. These unlawful appropriations happen even more readily when the husband died of AIDS†¦ In some places, widows are forced to undergo customary, sexual practices such as â€Å"wife inheri tance† or ritual â€Å"cleansing† in order to keep their property. Wife inheritance† is where a male relative of the dead husband takes over the widow as a wife, often in a polygamous family. â€Å"Cleansing† usually involves sex with a social outcast who is paid by the dead husband's family, supposedly to cleanse the woman of her dead husband's evil spirits. In both of these rituals, safer sex is seldom practiced and sex is often coerced.Women who fight back are routinely beaten, raped, or ostracized (Double Standards: Women's Property Rights Violations in Kenya) (http://www. hrw. rg/reports/2001/kenya/TopOfPage). While the quotation above tells us sufficient story about the problems facing Kenyan women, Human Rights Watch report entitled, Double Standards: Women's Property Rights Violations in Kenya captures the agony of Kenyan women in their own voices. It is thus important to reproduce just three of their experiences below to capture what Human Right Wa tch calls â€Å"the heinous nature of women's property rights violations: through personal interview. Human Rights Watch of 2001, reports, â€Å"AIDS exacerbates those hardships†. †¢ Jiwa, a fifty-five-year-old widow from western Kenya, said that after her husband died, her brother-in-law brought a â€Å"cleanser† to her home to have sex with her. She objected, saying: â€Å"I don't know this man's HIV status, and if I die my children will suffer. † Her brother-in-law and four cousins pushed the cleanser into Jiwa's hut and he raped her. She screamed but the cleanser covered her mouth and the in-laws stood guard outside. The brother-in-law paid the cleanser with a cow, chickens, and clothing. Jiwa was then forced out of her home and into a shoddy, makeshift hut. Her brother-in-law took over her land and furniture.She reported this to the village elder, who did nothing. Jiwa now has a persistent cough and has lost much weight. She fears she contracted HIV f rom the cleanser but has not been tested and cannot afford medical treatment. †¢ Adhiambo, a thirty-year-old widow from Nairobi, said that when her husband died of AIDS in 1998 he left her HIV-positive with five children. She quickly went from being relatively affluent to destitute after her husband's family took her property. Her in-laws grabbed household items from her Nairobi home and took over a rural home, land, and livestock even though Adhiambo helped pay to construct the house.Her father-in-law called a family meeting, told her to choose an in-law as an inheritor, and ordered her to be cleansed by having sex with a fisherman. Adhiambo refused, and fled when her in-laws threatened her. She now struggles to meet her children's basic needs, and her slum landlord has threatened to evict her. †¢ Imelda, a twenty-five-year-old widow with AIDS, lost her home, land, and other property in Kenya when her husband died in 2002. She told her in-laws that she had AIDS and wanted to stay in the house. They snatched her property anyway and wanted her to be â€Å"inherited. She recalled: â€Å"I told my in-laws I'm sick . . . but they took everything. I had to start over . . .. They took sofa sets, household materials, cows, a goat, and land. I said, ‘Why are you taking these things when you know my condition? ‘ They said, ‘You'll go look for another husband. ‘ My in-laws do not believe in AIDS. They said that witchcraft killed my husband. (http://www. hrw. org/reports/2001/kenya/TopOfPage). The above tribulations capture the victims in their own words and show how widow’s inheritance and cleansing devalues the dignity of women.While case law establishes that family property may be evenly divided upon separation or divorce in practice, the captured words of the three widows above, seems to differ. But above all, as has been our point of argument throughout this paper, under the very oppressive and discriminatory customary laws that are extremely influential in Kenya, it is the men who are accorded greater property rights than women. Other discriminatory practices are usually sexist customary tradition that obstruct women's equal rights to property and also prevent women from seeking redress for violations of these rights.Additionally, the problem is made worse by unresponsive authorities that ignore women’s woes regarding property violations, and ineffective courts that are biased against women. However the greatest setback is the fact that many Kenyan women and men too have land problems where squatters are routinely evicted even though they have lived on such land for generations. The other is low level of awareness of their rights, the time and expense of pursuing claims, violence, and the social stigma of being considered greedy or cultural traitors if they assert their rights. www. hrw. org/campaigns/women/property/factsheet. htm). Evidently, what the discussion above illustrates is that in K enya, women’s rights violations must be understood and combated in the context of Africa's AIDS epidemic.In Kenya, 15 percent of the population between the ages of fifteen and forty-nine is infected with HIV, more than half of whom are women, and one out of eight adults in rural Kenya and one out of five adults in urban areas is infected, though most do not know it. AIDS has reduced life expectancy from sixty-five to forty-six years ((http://www. rw. org/reports/2001/kenya/TopOfPage). These figures are quite telling in that in Kenya, HIV/AIDS is worse among urban dwellers than is the case among rural dwellers. According to Dyson, the higher urban incidence rates are due to â€Å"relatively high rates of social interaction and crowded urban living conditions and squalid living conditions† (p, 427). Similar results for Sub-Saharan African in general, has been documented by Caldwell who found that â€Å"urban levels of HIV infection rates are typically four to ten times those of rural areas† (p, 44).In countries with a substantial level of urbanization, and home to some of the largest slum areas in Africa, the numbers are certainly depressing. Moreover as noted by Bollinger et al, Sometimes traditional practices that occur in Kenya, particularly in the rural areas, can contribute to the spread of HIV. For example, a director of the Kenyan governments AIDS efforts attributed the high prevalence rate in some parts of western Kenya to the practice of wife inheritance that exist there (5-6). These findings do illuminate our thesis.Furthermore given the feminization of poverty due to Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) policies (Cooper, 2002, 87), women in urban areas and also in rural areas find themselves on the economic margins where they are forced to engage in risky behaviors like prostitution. Moreover, because of SAP polices and the introduction of user fee in hospitals; women are disadvantaged with regard to health and health care (ibid), a clear indication that gender inequalities have led to a systematic neglect of women’s health and the gendered incidence of HV/AIDS in Kenya. It is not our intention to call such traditions as ‘uncivilized’ or extreme.It would be naive to make this assumption and one has also to try to understand the dynamics of Africa and its communities at earlier times. Caldwell captures the reality that â€Å"it is clear that lifestyle plays a dominant role in determining individuals’ chances of infection, and it seems probable that level of the disease over the coming decades is more likely to be decided by changing lifestyles than by medical breakthroughs. Those changes will be more successful, and least damaging to the society, if behavioral factors in the spread of the disease are well understood† (p, 186).Conclusion This essay has outlined and argued that the disparity in HIV/AIDS prevalence rates between men and women are rooted in the cultural biases aga inst women and girls such as widow inheritance in parts of Kenya. Our position in this essay has been that the cultural barriers and the ensuing gender bias have not only perpetuated the spread of HIV/AIDS among women, but are also hindering an effective HIV/AIDS prevention campaign in Kenya. We have shown the linkages between cultural biases against women and girls and the spread of HIV/AIDS.The challenge has been to decouple the notion that addressing women rights in Kenya is a western value or that concerns of equity must take a back seat in the struggle against HIV/AIDS epidemic. We recognize that eliminating all forms of discrimination against women in Kenya will take time, but the government must start to enforce existing laws to protect women against repressive cultural practices like widow inheritance. The people must be told that culture is not static but rather dynamic, and should be encouraged to discard risky cultural traditions and activities that expose women to HIV/AI DS and thus endanger their lives.From this course (Sociology 309), we know the relationship between safe and improved reproductive rights such as increased condom use and the health status of women are crucial in fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS. As shown in this paper there is a positive correlation between women’s precarious health status and their susceptibility to HIV/AIDS particularly in urban areas, inequitable gender relations and women’s poverty and powerlessness in society especially in rural areas.Finally, the Kenyan stakeholders – politicians, church leaders, civil society, NGOs, women leaders, youth groups, cultural and traditional leaders, must deal urgently with the existing power inequality among the sexes, that accounts for the excessive burden of HIV/AIDS transmission and the consequences on women in general who have so far been hit most by the spread of HIV/AIDS. That trend needs to be reversed if Kenya is to stem the devastating impact of HIV/A IDS epidemic and its distressing impact on the Kenyan society at large.

Oedipus The King Essay Similarities And Differences Essay

Comparative Essay Introduction The two texts unravel some themes and characters which show similarity and also differences when compared. Oedipus the king, fulfills a prophecy which states that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. This prophecy turns out to be true as all the said events are materialized and this shows that fate is inescapable. In beloved, the story begins in Ohio where Sethe who is a former slave, lives with her daughter Denver who is 18-years old. The entire story revolves around Sethe who killed her child to hide her from the slave catchers, and the dead child is called beloved. The ghost of Beloved ends up haunting 124 in which Sethe and Denver live together. Are the main ideas presented in both novels similar? The paper below will address the issue of similarities and differences by analyzing the different characters and themes used in both the texts. Comparison of Characters If we talk about the similarity between Sethe and Oedipus we can easily get to know that both the characters are haunted by their past, and also both of them had killed a person in the past. Sethe killed her oldest daughter to prevent the slave catchers from having her. On the other Sachdeva 2 hand, Oedipus, the king, kills his father even though he did not know it until a plague befell the city and he being the king of the city started looking for the murderer. TheseShow MoreRelatedA Survey of Tragedy984 Words   |  4 PagesA Survey of Tragedy A modern tragedy of today and a tragedy of ancient Greece are two very different concepts, but ironically, both are linked by many similarities. In â€Å"Poetics†, Aristotle defines and outlines tragedy for theatre in a way that displays his genius, but raises questions and creates controversy. 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