African American Culture Essay Example for Free

African American Culture Essay African American culture in the United States includes the various cultural traditions of African ethnic groups. It is both part of and distinct from American culture. The U. S. Census Bureau defines African Americans as people having origins in any of the Black race groups of Africa. [1] African American culture is indigenous to the descendants in the U. S. of survivors of the Middle Passage. It is rooted in Africa and is an amalgam of chiefly sub-Saharan African and Sahelean cultures. Although slavery greatly restricted the ability of Africans in America to practice their cultural traditions, many practices, values and beliefs survived and over time have incorporated elements of European American culture. There are even certain facets of African American culture that were brought into being or made more prominent as a result of slavery; an example of this is how drumming became used as a means of communication and establishing a community identity during that time. The result is a dynamic, creative culture that has had and continues to have a profound impact on mainstream American culture and on world culture as well. After Emancipation, these uniquely African American traditions continued to grow. They developed into distinctive traditions in music, art, literature, religion, food, holidays, amongst others. While for some time sociologists, such as Gunnar Myrdal and Patrick Moynihan, believed that African Americans had lost most cultural ties with Africa, anthropological field research by Melville Hersovits and others demonstrated that there is a continuum of African traditions among Africans in the New World from the West Indies to the United States. The greatest influence of African cultural practices on European cultures is found below the Mason-Dixon in the southeastern United States, especially in the Carolinas among the Gullah people and in Louisiana. African American culture often developed separately from mainstream American culture because of African Americans desire to practice their own traditions, as well as the persistence of racial segregation in America. Consequently African American culture has become a significant part of American culture and yet, at the same time, remains a distinct culture apart from it. History From the earliest days of slavery, slave owners sought to exercise control over their slaves by attempting to strip them of their African culture. The physical isolation and societal marginalization of African slaves and, later, of their free progeny, however, actually facilitated the retention of significant elements of traditional culture among Africans in the New World generally, and in the U. S. in particular. Slave owners deliberately tried to repress political organization in order to deal with the many slave rebellions that took place in the southern United States, Brazil, Haiti, and the Dutch Guyanas. African cultures,slavery,slave rebellions,and the civil rights movements(circa 1800s-160s)have shaped African American religious, familial, political and economic behaviors. The imprint of Africa is evident in myriad ways, in politics, economics, language, music, hairstyles, fashion, dance, religion and worldview, and food preparation methods. In the United States, the very legislation that was designed to strip slaves of culture and deny them education served in many ways to strengthen it. In turn, African American culture has had a pervasive, transformative impact on myriad elements of mainstream American culture, among them language, music, dance, religion, cuisine, and agriculture. This process of mutual creative exchange is called creolization. Over time, the culture of African slaves and their descendants has been ubiquitous in its impact on not only the dominant American culture, but on world culture as well. Oral tradition Slaveholders limited or prohibited education of enslaved African Americans because they believed it might lead to revolts or escape plans. Hence, African-based oral traditions became the primary means of preserving history, morals, and other cultural information among the people. This was consistent with the griot practices of oral history in many African and other cultures that did not rely on the written word. Many of these cultural elements have been passed from generation to generation through storytelling. The folktales provided African Americans the opportunity to inspire and educate one another. Examples of African American folktales include trickster tales of Brer Rabbit and heroic tales such as that of John Henry. The Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris helped to bring African American folk tales into mainstream adoption. Harris did not appreciate the complexity of the stories nor their potential for a lasting impact on society. Characteristics of the African American oral tradition present themselves in a number of forms. African American preachers tend to perform rather than simply speak. The emotion of the subject is carried through the speakers tone, volume, and movement, which tend to mirror the rising action, climax, and descending action of the sermon. Often song, dance, verse and structured pauses are placed throughout the sermon. Techniques such as call-and-response are used to bring the audience into the presentation. In direct contrast to recent tradition in other American and Western cultures, it is an acceptable and common audience reaction to interrupt and affirm the speaker. Spoken word is another example of how the African American oral tradition influences modern American popular culture. Spoken word artists employ the same techniques as African American preachers including movement, rhythm, and audience participation. Rap music from the 1980s and beyond has been seen as an extension of oral culture. Harlem Renaissance [pic] Zora Neale Hurston was a prominent literary figure during the Harlem Renaissance. Main article: Harlem Renaissance The first major public recognition of African American culture occurred during the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s and 1930s, African American music, literature, and art gained wide notice. Authors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen and poets such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen wrote works describing the African American experience. Jazz, swing, blues and other musical forms entered American popular music. African American artists such as William H. Johnson and Palmer Hayden created unique works of art featuring African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance was also a time of increased political involvement for African Americans. Among the notable African American political movements founded in the early 20th century are the United Negro Improvement Association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Nation of Islam, a notable Islamic religious movement, also began in the early 1930s. African American cultural movement The Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s followed in the wake of the non-violent American Civil Rights Movement. The movement promoted racial pride and ethnic cohesion in contrast to the focus on integration of the Civil Rights Movement, and adopted a more militant posture in the face of racism. It also inspired a new renaissance in African American literary and artistic expression generally referred to as the African American or Black Arts Movement. The works of popular recording artists such as Nina Simone (Young, Gifted and Black) and The Impressions (Keep On Pushin), as well as the poetry, fine arts and literature of the time, shaped and reflected the growing racial and political consciousness. Among the most prominent writers of the African American Arts Movement were poet Nikki Giovanni; poet and publisher Don L. Lee, who later became known as Haki Madhubuti; poet and playwright Leroi Jones, later known as Amiri Baraka; and Sonia Sanchez. Other influential writers were Ed Bullins, Dudley Randall, Mari Evans, June Jordan, Larry Neal and Ahmos Zu-Bolton. Another major aspect of the African American Arts Movement was the infusion of the African aesthetic, a return to a collective cultural sensibility and ethnic pride that was much in evidence during the Harlem Renaissance and in the celebration of Negritude among the artistic and literary circles in the U. S. , Caribbean and the African continent nearly four decades earlier: the idea that black is beautiful. During this time, there was a resurgence of interest in, and an embrace of, elements of African culture within African American culture that had been suppressed or devalued to conform to Eurocentric America. Natural hairstyles, such as the afro, and African clothing, such as the dashiki, gained popularity. More importantly, the African American aesthetic encouraged personal pride and political awareness among African Americans. Music [pic] Men playing the djembe, a traditional West African drum adopted into African American and American culture. The bags and the clothing of the man on the right are printed with traditional kente cloth patterns. African American music is rooted in the typically polyrhythmic music of the ethnic groups of Africa, specifically those in the Western, Sahelean, and Sub-Saharan regions. African oral traditions, nurtured in slavery, encouraged the use of music to pass on history, teach lessons, ease suffering, and relay messages. The African pedigree of African American music is evident in some common elements: call and response, syncopation, percussion, improvisation, swung notes, blue notes, the use of falsetto, melisma, and complex multi-part harmony. During slavery, Africans in America blended traditional European hymns with African elements to create spirituals. Many African Americans sing Lift Evry Voice and Sing in addition to the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, or in lieu of it. Written by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson in 1900 to be performed for the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the song was, and continues to be, a popular way for African Americans to recall past struggles and express ethnic solidarity, faith and hope for the future. The song was adopted as the Negro National Anthem by the NAACP in 1919. African American children are taught the song at school, church or by their families. Lift Evry Voice and Sing traditionally is sung immediately following, or instead of, The Star-Spangled Banner at events hosted by African American churches, schools, and other organizations. In the 1800s, as the result of the blackface minstrel show, African American music entered mainstream American society. By the early twentieth century, several musical forms with origins in the African American community had transformed American popular music. Aided by the technological innovations of radio and phonograph records, ragtime, jazz, blues, and swing also became popular overseas, and the 1920s became known as the Jazz Age. The early 20th century also saw the creation of the first African American Broadway shows, films such as King Vidors Hallelujah!, and operas such as George Gershwins Porgy and Bess. Rock and roll, doo wop, soul, and RB developed in the mid 20th century. These genres became very popular in white audiences and were influences for other genres such as surf. The dozens, an urban African American tradition of using rhyming slang to put down your enemies (or friends) developed through the smart-ass street jive of the early Seventies into a new form of music. In the South Bronx, the half speaking, half singing rhythmic street talk of rapping grew into the hugely successful cultural force known as Hip Hop. Hip Hop would become a multicultural movement. However, it is still important to many African Americans. The African American Cultural Movement of the 1960s and 1970s also fueled the growth of funk and later hip-hop forms such as rap, hip house, new jack swing and go go. African American music has experienced far more widespread acceptance in American popular music in the 21st century than ever before. In addition to continuing to develop newer musical forms, modern artists have also started a rebirth of older genres in the form of genres such as neo soul and modern funk-inspired groups. Dance [pic] The Cakewalk was the first African American dance to gain widespread popularity in the United States. [pic] African American dance, like other aspects of African American culture, finds its earliest roots in the dances of the hundreds of African ethnic groups that made up African slaves in the Americas as well as influences from European sources in the United States. Dance in the African tradition, and thus in the tradition of slaves, was a part of both every day life and special occasions. Many of these traditions such as get down, ring shouts, and other elements of African body language survive as elements of modern dance. In the 1800s, African American dance began to appear in minstrel shows. These shows often presented African Americans as caricatures for ridicule to large audiences. The first African American dance to become popular with White dancers was the cakewalk in 1891. Later dances to follow in this tradition include the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and the Jitterbug. During the Harlem Renaissance, all African American Broadway shows such as Shuffle Along helped to establish and legitimize African American dancers. African American dance forms such as tap, a combination of African and European influences, gained widespread popularity thanks to dancers such as Bill Robinson and were used by leading White choreographers who often hired African American dancers. Contemporary African American dance is descended from these earlier forms and also draws influence from African and Caribbean dance forms. Groups such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater have continued to contribute to the growth of this form. Modern popular dance in America is also greatly influenced by African American dance. American popular dance has also drawn many influences from African American dance most notably in the hip hop genre. Art [pic] Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City by Henry Ossawa Tanner 1859-1937 From its early origins in slave communities, through the end of the twentieth century, African-American art has made a vital contribution to the art of the United States. During the period between the 1600s and the early 1800s, art took the form of small drums, quilts, wrought-iron figures and ceramic vessels in the southern United States. These artifacts have similarities with comparable crafts in West and Central Africa. In contrast, African American artisans like the New England–based engraver Scipio Moorhead and the Baltimore portrait painter Joshua Johnson created art that was conceived in a thoroughly western European fashion. During the 1800s, Harriet Powers made quilts in rural Georgia, United States that are now considered among the finest examples of nineteenth-century Southern quilting. Later in the 20th century, the women of Gee’s Bend developed a distinctive, bold, and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional African American quilts with a geometric simplicity that developed separately but was like that of Amish quilts and modern art. After the American Civil War, museums and galleries began more frequently to display the work of African American artists. Cultural expression in mainstream venues was still limited by the dominant European aesthetic and by racial prejudice. To increase the visibility of their work, many African American artists traveled to Europe where they had greater freedom. It was not until the Harlem Renaissance that more whites began to pay attention to African American art in America. [pic] Kara Walker, Cut, Cut paper and adhesive on wall, Brent Sikkema NYC. During the 1920s, artists such as Raymond Barthe, Aaron Douglas, Augusta Savage, and photographer James Van Der Zee became well known for their work. During the Great Depression, new opportunities arose for these and other African American artists under the WPA. In later years, other programs and institutions, such as the New York City-based Harmon Foundation, helped to foster African American artistic talent. Augusta Savage, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and others exhibited in museums and juried art shows, and built reputations and followings for themselves. In the 1950s and 1960s, there were very few widely accepted African American artists. Despite this, The Highwaymen, a loose association of 27 African American artists from Ft. Pierce, Florida, created idyllic, quickly realized images of the Florida landscape and peddled some 50,000 of them from the trunks of their cars. They sold their art directly to the public rather than through galleries and art agents, thus receiving the name The Highwaymen. Rediscovered in the mid-1990s, today they are recognized as an important part of American folk history. Their artwork is widely collected by enthusiasts and original pieces can easily fetch thousands of dollars in auctions and sales. The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was another period of resurgent interest in African American art. During this period, several African-American artists gained national prominence, among them Lou Stovall, Ed Love, Charles White, and Jeff Donaldson. Donaldson and a group of African-American artists formed the Afrocentric collective AFRICOBRA, which remains in existence today. The sculptor Martin Puryear, whose work has been acclaimed for years, is being honored with a 30-year retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York starting November 2007. Notable contemporary African American artists include David Hammons, Eugene J. Martin, Charles Tolliver, and Kara Walker. Literature [pic] Langston Hughes, a notable African American poet of the Harlem Renaissance. African American literature has its roots in the oral traditions of African slaves in America. The slaves used stories and fables in much the same way as they used music. These stories influenced the earliest African American writers and poets in the 18thcentury such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano. These authors reached early high points by telling slave narratives. During the early 20th century Harlem Renaissance, numerous authors and poets, such as Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Dubois, and Booker T. Washington, grappled with how to respond to discrimination in America. Authors during the Civil Rights era, such as Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about issues of racial segregation, oppression and other aspects of African American life. This tradition continues today with authors who have been accepted as an integral part of American literature, with works such as Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and Beloved by Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison, and series by Octavia Butler and Walter Mosley that have achieved both best-selling and/or award-winning status. Museums The African American Museum Movement emerged during the 1950s and 1960s to preserve the heritage of the African American experience and to ensure its proper interpretation in American history. Museums devoted to African American history are found in many African American neighborhoods. Institutions such as the African American Museum and Library at Oakland and The African American Museum in Cleveland were created by African Americans to teach and investigate cultural history that, until recent decades was primarily preserved trough oral traditions. Language Generations of hardships imposed on the African American community created distinctive language patterns. Slave owners often intentionally mixed people who spoke different African languages to discourage communication in any language other than English. This, combined with prohibitions against education, led to the development of pidgins, simplified mixtures of two or more languages that speakers of different languages could use to communicate. Examples of pidgins that became fully developed languages include Creole, common to Haiti,and Gullah, common to the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. African American Vernacular English is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language closely associated with the speech of but not exclusive to African Americans. While AAVE is academically considered a legitimate dialect because of its logical structure, some of both Caucasians and African Americans consider it slang or the result of a poor command of Standard American English. Inner city African American children who are isolated by speaking only AAVE have more difficulty with standardized testing and, after school, moving to the mainstream world for work. It is common for many speakers of AAVE to code switch between AAVE and Standard American English depending on the setting. Fashion and aesthetics [pic]. A man weaving kente cloth in Ghana. Attire The cultural explosion of the 1960s saw the incorporation of surviving cultural dress with elements from modern fashion and West African traditional clothing to create a uniquely African American traditional style. Kente cloth is the best known African textile. These festive woven patterns, which exist in numerous varieties, were originally made by the Ashanti and Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo. Kente fabric also appears in a number of Western style fashions ranging from casual t-shirts to formal bow ties and cummerbunds. Kente strips are often sewn into liturgical and academic robes or worn as stoles. Since the Black Arts Movement, traditional African clothing has been popular amongst African Americans for both formal and informal occasions. Another common aspect of fashion in African American culture involves the appropriate dress for worship in the Black church. It is expected in most churches that an individual should present their best appearance for worship. African American women in particular are known for wearing vibrant dresses and suits. An interpretation of a passage from the Christian Bible, every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head , has led to the tradition of wearing elaborate Sunday hats, sometimes known as crowns. Hair Hair styling in African American culture is greatly varied. African American hair is typically composed of tightly coiled curls. The predominant styles for women involve the straightening of the hair through the application of heat or chemical processes. These treatments form the base for the most commonly socially acceptable hairstyles in the United States. Alternatively, the predominant and most socially acceptable practice for men is to leave ones hair natural. Often, as men age and begin to lose their hair, the hair is either closely cropped, or the head is shaved completely free of hair. However, since the 1960s, natural hairstyles, such as the afro, braids, and dreadlocks, have been growing in popularity. Although the association with radical political movements and their vast difference from mainstream Western hairstyles, the styles have not yet attained widespread social acceptance. Maintaining facial hair is more prevalent among African American men than in other male populations in the U. S. In fact, the soul patch is so named because African American men, particularly jazz musicians, popularized the style. The preference for facial hair among African American men is due partly to personal taste, but because they are more prone than other ethnic groups to develop a condition known as pseudofolliculitis barbae, commonly referred to as razor bumps, many prefer not to shave. Body image The European aesthetic and attendant mainstream concepts of beauty are often at odds with the African body form. Because of this, African American women often find themselves under pressure to conform to European standards of beauty. Still, there are individuals and groups who are working towards raising the standing of the African aesthetic among African Americans and internationally as well. This includes efforts toward promoting as models those with clearly defined African features; the mainstreaming of natural hairstyles; and, in women, fuller, more voluptuous body types. Religion While African Americans practice a number of religions, Protestant Christianity is by far the most popular. Additionally, 14% of Muslims in the United States and Canada are African American. Christianity [pic] A river baptism in New Bern, North Carolina near the turn of the 20th century. The religious institutions of African American Christians commonly are referred tocollectively as the black church. During slavery, many slaves were stripped of their African belief systems and typically denied free religious practice. Slaves managed, however, to hang on to some practices by integrating them into Christian worship in secret meetings. These practices, including dance, shouts, African rhythms, and enthusiastic singing, remain a large part of worship in the African American church. African American churches taught that all people were equal in Gods eyes and viewed the doctrine of obedience to ones master taught in white churches as hypocritical. Instead the African American church focused on the message of equality and hopes for a better future. Before and after emancipation, racial segregation in America prompted the development of organized African American denominations. The first of these was the AME Church founded by Richard Allen in 1787. An African American church is not necessarily a separate denomination. Several predominantly African American churches exist as members of predominantly white denominations. African American churches have served to provide African American people with leadership positions and opportunities to organize that were denied in mainstream American society. Because of this, African American pastors became the bridge between the African American and European American communities and thus played a crucial role in the American Civil Rights Movement. Like many Christians, African American Christians sometimes participate in or attend a Christmas play. Black Nativity by Langston Hughes is a re-telling of the classic Nativity story with gospel music. Productions can be found a African American theaters and churches all over the country. Islam [pic] A member of the Nation of Islam selling merchandise on a city street corner. Despite the popular assumption that the Nation represents all or most African American Muslims, less than 2% are members. Generations before the advent of the Atlantic slave trade, Islam was a thriving religion in West Africa due to its peaceful introduction via the lucrative trans-Saharan trade between prominent tribes in the southern Sahara and the Berbers to the North. In his attesting to this fact the West African scholar Cheikh Anta Diop explained: The primary reason for the success of Islam in Black Africa consequently stems from the fact that it was propagated peacefully at first by solitary Arabo-Berber travelers to certain Black kings and notables, who then spread it about them to those under their jurisdiction Many first-generation slaves were often able to retain their Muslim identity, their descendants were not. Slaves were either forcibly converted to Christianity as was the case in the Catholic lands or were besieged with gross inconviences to their religious practice such as in the case of the Protestant American mainland. In the decades after slavery and particularly during the depression era, Islam reemerged in the form of highly visible and sometimes controversial heterodox movements in the African American community. The first of these of note was the Moorish Science Temple of America, founded by Noble Drew Ali. Ali had a profound influence on Wallace Fard, who later founded the Black nationalist Nation of Islam in 1930. Elijah Muhammad became head of the organization in 1934. Much like Malcolm X, who left the Nation of Islam in 1964, many African American Muslims now follow traditional Islam. A survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations shows that 30% of Sunni Mosque attendees are African Americans. African American orthodox Muslims are often the victims of stereotypes, most notably the assumption that an African American Muslim is a member of the Nation of Islam. They are often viewed by the uneducated African-American community in general as less authentic than Muslims from the Middle East or South Asia while credibility is less of an issue with immigrant Muslims and Muslim world in general. Other religions. Aside from Christianity and Islam, there are also African Americans who follow Judaism, Buddhism, and a number of other religions. The Black Hebrew Israelites are a collection of African American Jewish religious organizations. Among their varied teachings, they often include that African Americans are descended from the Biblical Hebrews (sometimes with the paradoxical claim that the Jewish people are not). There is a small but growing number of African Americans who participate in African traditional religions, such as Vodou and Santeria or Ifa and diasporic traditions like Rastafarianism. Many of them are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean and South America, where these are practiced. Because of religious practices, such as animal sacrifice, which are no longer common among American religions and are often legally prohibited, these groups may be viewed negatively and are sometimes the victims of harassment. Life events For most African Americans, the observance of life events follows the pattern of mainstream American culture. There are some traditions which are unique to African Americans. Some African Americans have created new rites of passage that are linked to African traditions. Pre-teen and teenage boys and girls take classes to prepare them for adulthood. They are typically taught spirituality, responsibility, and leadership. Most of these programs are modeled after traditional African ceremonies, with the focus largely on embracing African ideologies rather than specific rituals. To this day, some African American couples choose to jump the broom as a part of their wedding ceremony. Although the practice, which can be traced back to Ghana, fell out of favor in the African American community after the end of slavery, it has experienced a slight resurgence in recent years as some couples seek to reaffirm their African heritage. Funeral traditions tend to vary based on a number of factors, including religion and location, but there are a number of commonalities. Probably the most important part of death and dying in the African American culture is the gathering of family and friends. Either in the last days before death or shortly after death, typically any friends and family members that can be reached are notified. This gathering helps to provide spiritual and emotional support, as well as assistance in making decisions and accomplishing everyday tasks. The spirituality of death is very important in African American culture. A member of the clergy or members of the religious community, or both, are typically present with the family through the entire process. Death is often viewed as transitory rather than final. Many services are called homegoings, instead of funerals, based on the belief that the person is going home to the afterlife. The entire end of life process is generally treated as a celebration of life rather than a mourning of loss. This is most notably demonstrated in the New Orleans Jazz Funeral tradition where upbeat music, dancing, and food encourage those gathered to be happy and celebrate the homegoing of a beloved friend. Cuisine [pic] A traditional soul food dinner consisting of fried chicken, candied yams, collard greens, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese. The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the United States, such as yams, peanuts, rice, okra, sorghum, grits, watermelon, indigo dyes, and cotton, can be traced to African influences. African American foods reflect creative responses to racial and economic oppression and poverty. Under slavery, African Americans were not allowed to eat better cuts of meat, and after emancipation many often were too poor to afford them. Soul food, a hearty cuisine commonly associated with African Americans in the South (but also common to African Americans nationwide), makes cre.

Eudora Weltys The Ponder Heart: A Southern Journey :: Eudora Welty The Ponder Heart

Eudora Welty's The Ponder Heart: A Southern Journey Imagine that while you're traveling in the South, you develop car trouble in the small town of Clay, Mississippi. You find a room at the Beulah Hotel, an old establishment that sits downtown right across the street from the courthouse. After you check in, it becomes clear to you that the Beulah doesn't get many guests these days; in fact, you're the first person even to enter the building in three days. Almost immediately you become the target of Edna Earle Ponder, the hotel's proprietor, who is eager to talk. You try to escape with a book, but Edna Earle will have none of that. She goes so far as to tell you, "And listen; if you read, you'll put your eyes out. Let's just talk." Even at this early stage of the game, you know who's going to do all the talking, don't you? What's more, Edna Earle lets you know right off the bat that she's "sizing you up," but she then launches into a story that will captivate you and keep you laughing all the while. To be sure, you'll learn a great deal more than you'd expect about Edna Earle, the rest of the Ponder family, and many other inhabitants of Clay. What a yarn it is that Edna Earle tells in Eudora Welty's The Ponder Heart. Her story revolves around the escapades of her Uncle Daniel, but in hearing about him, you'll hear—through Edna Earle's incessant gossip—almost all there is to know about the way the rest of the town behaves. "[Edna Earle] assumes you want to know everything about everybody in town, and starting on that basis, she pushes you right into the middle of it," Welty says in an interview with Patricia Wheatley (Prenshaw 132). You'll find yourself caught up in a comical story that gives insight into a way of life of the early-20th century South, told through Welty's rich use of Southern dialect and subtle details about social strata and social nuances in Clay. Starting with the title and its play on definitions of "heart," you see and hear the story of Edna Earle Ponder's Uncle Daniel, whose main purpose in life seems to be to give things away (as we would say in modern times, "he's all heart"). Through Edna Earle (the name of many Southern women of that generation, taken from the heroine of the popular 19th century book St. Eudora Welty's The Ponder Heart: A Southern Journey :: Eudora Welty The Ponder Heart Eudora Welty's The Ponder Heart: A Southern Journey Imagine that while you're traveling in the South, you develop car trouble in the small town of Clay, Mississippi. You find a room at the Beulah Hotel, an old establishment that sits downtown right across the street from the courthouse. After you check in, it becomes clear to you that the Beulah doesn't get many guests these days; in fact, you're the first person even to enter the building in three days. Almost immediately you become the target of Edna Earle Ponder, the hotel's proprietor, who is eager to talk. You try to escape with a book, but Edna Earle will have none of that. She goes so far as to tell you, "And listen; if you read, you'll put your eyes out. Let's just talk." Even at this early stage of the game, you know who's going to do all the talking, don't you? What's more, Edna Earle lets you know right off the bat that she's "sizing you up," but she then launches into a story that will captivate you and keep you laughing all the while. To be sure, you'll learn a great deal more than you'd expect about Edna Earle, the rest of the Ponder family, and many other inhabitants of Clay. What a yarn it is that Edna Earle tells in Eudora Welty's The Ponder Heart. Her story revolves around the escapades of her Uncle Daniel, but in hearing about him, you'll hear—through Edna Earle's incessant gossip—almost all there is to know about the way the rest of the town behaves. "[Edna Earle] assumes you want to know everything about everybody in town, and starting on that basis, she pushes you right into the middle of it," Welty says in an interview with Patricia Wheatley (Prenshaw 132). You'll find yourself caught up in a comical story that gives insight into a way of life of the early-20th century South, told through Welty's rich use of Southern dialect and subtle details about social strata and social nuances in Clay. Starting with the title and its play on definitions of "heart," you see and hear the story of Edna Earle Ponder's Uncle Daniel, whose main purpose in life seems to be to give things away (as we would say in modern times, "he's all heart"). Through Edna Earle (the name of many Southern women of that generation, taken from the heroine of the popular 19th century book St.

Social Media and Social Change

Social Media and Social Change: A Closer Look at the Revolutionary Qualities of Social Media In Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, â€Å"the medium is the message† (McLuhan). McLuhan suggests that messages are greatly affected by the medium in which they are delivered. Messages must be received in the proper channel to create social change. On July 21, 1969, the American astronaut Neil Armstrong created history when he sent his message to 3. 31 billion people via radio and television, â€Å"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind†. Forty years later another astronaut created history by sending the first tweet from outer space, â€Å"Launch was awesome!!! I am feeling great, working hard, and enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun! â€Å"(AP). While many people see online activity on social media sites as a past-time, a growing trend and even a fad, it is actually the biggest key player in creating social change. This is why NASA has more Twitter accounts than any federal agency. The biggest reason NASA has been extremely keen about adopting social media is because of the collapse of interest in space programs, said the NASA chief of public affairs Bob Jacobs. NASA also has plans to incorporate YouTube on their next shuttle flight to field questions from space (AP). The message is clear, NASA looks to generate more interest in space programs or to create social change and they look to social media tools to help them. We are in the midst of a communicative revolution fuelled by social media and driven by the masses. Social media possesses the intrinsic power to change the world even in the most marginal of ways. A closer look at the ability social media has to generate dialogue, its ability to change perception and persuade, and its ability to connect and unite the masses democratically, will demonstrate the power that social media possesses to enable a revolution. It will demonstrate a profound shift in the way that we communicate and denounce social media as a current fad or passing trend. Many people credit the television for its ability to deliver a high quality message. In fact it would be extremely hard to misunderstand a message delivered through such a high sensory communicative channel. Social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter have been criticized for its â€Å"dumbing down† qualities. In Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future, Mark Bauerlein suggests that Generation Y, that is – a generation of youth born in the late 1970's to the late 1990's – spend wasteful hours on social networking sites posting useless updates and sending mundane messages (Bauerlein 12). But the Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain reminds us that â€Å"the qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful† (qtd in Cohen). It is the same qualities that give social media a high quality communication channel for inspiring social movements amongst participants. Participants of social media are often required to create accounts or profiles and as a result participants are left with a sense of community. Because all content on social media sites are user-generated, any information or message posted on a given site is automatically received as word of mouth dialogue and this is the powerful nature of social media. It is important to note that dialogue is unrestricted to mediums. It can occur via face to face interaction, by telephone, by email or even a social media site such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or MySpace. Danah Boyd suggests that comments in a world of social media act as conversation in the real world (Boyd 124). Her compelling article, Why Youth Love Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life argues that profiles, friends and comments â€Å"differentiate social network sites differentiate from other types of computermediated communication† (124). Boyd explains that comments are what engage and encourage users to participate and when they do they become participants (127). In Sociability and social interaction on social networking websites, Andrew Keenan and Ali Shiri identify the emphasis social media outlets place on transferring your existing â€Å"real world† experiences, connections, networks and information to the web and making them accessible (Keenan & Shiri 443). Naturally users are inclined to do the opposite. Any dialogue generated online is not limited to or even discouraged from entering the real world. What Boyd, Keenan and Shiri remind us is that social media sites are not only encouraging us to socialize on their sites, they are encouraging us to participate and to socialize in the real world. In The Power of Dialogue, Patrick Jenlink highlights the contributions dialogue makes in creating social change: The primary challenge to global society, as we pass the threshold of a new millennium, is to transform existing social systems, and therefore American society, in such ways as to embody a more inclusive, democratic, and open-ended communicative spirit. Necessary to this transformation is a social discourse that enables the power and potential of global citizens to be realized. Dialogue is such a discourse that enables citizens in unconcealing societal patterns and structures, which guide and direct individual and collective interactions within and across events and activities. Engaging in dialogue, as a social discourse of creative possibility, with others in our daily lives can contribute to change in our selves and society (Jenlink 1). One example of social media's ability to use dialogue to create social change is the recent use of Twitter to coordinate protests. The Iranian government's attempts to restrict and censor media outlets was challenged by citizens that used Twitter to spread the word about the Iranian Election (Cohen & Stone 2). When the Chinese government censored citizens from accessing the internet the Global Internet Freedom Consortium provided Chinese movements with software that helped evade censorship. When asked about the increase of traffic from Iran, the founder of the organization suggested that â€Å"the Iranian people actually found out by themselves and have passed this on by word of mouth† (Cohen & Stone 2). Furthermore, Zittrain suggests that â€Å"Twitter was particularly resilient to censorship because it had so many ways for its posts to originate – from a phone, a web browser or specialized applications – and so many outlets for those posts to appear† (qtd in Cohen & Stone). Similarly, word of mouth messages are difficult to avoid because they can be delivered from so many places – a neighbour, a teacher, a coworker, a classmate or even an astronaut. In short, the intrinsic nature of social media sites to turn user generated content into word of mouth information, that is – unrestrictive dialogue – allows for users to spread messages quickly and effectively. Social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace have not only given us a way in which we can converse, they have given us a space in which conversation and dialogue can start and continue to grow. When John E. Kennedy first tried to define advertising in 1904 he did so with three simple words, â€Å"salesmanship on paper† (O'Reilly). While he might rework this phrase, first to include all forms of advertising media and then to comment on some form of social change; he would certainly be forced to include social media tools such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter as they have changed the way in which we choose to communicate. When considering social change it is imperative to consider advertising. The first step to creating social change on any level is to change public perception and there is no other industry known more for changing perception than the advertising industry. It is best explained by notorious ad man who persuaded millions to watch MTV and wear Tommy Hilfiger, George Lois who said, â€Å"Great advertising can make food taste better, can make your car run smoother. It can change your perception of something. Is it wrong to change your perception about something? Of course not. I’m not lying; I’m just saying, ‘This one’s more fun, this one’s more exciting. ‘† The advertising industry is typically always the first one to recognize the capability of digital technologies to create social change. This is why Katalyst Media, a media agency dedicated to producing content on social media has more campaigns than they can handle. The founder and CEO of Katalyst Media, Ashton Kutcher uses social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to send his message and to persuade others to join his causes. It started with a message to promote World Malaria Day that read â€Å"Every 30 seconds, a kid dies of malaria. Nets save lives. $10 buys a net† and was followed by a link to Malaria No More's web site where people could donate (Macsai & Wilson 80). The celebrity's tweet persuaded millions to join and the donation website had more traffic in one month than it did the previous twelve (80). Kutcher was able to tally nearly 90,000 nets in a very short time. What Kutcher did was raise awareness to a cause and by taking advantage of the most popular space in modern times to have a conversation he created action. Another celebrity to cash in on free advertising, that is – the process of attracting public attention to a product, business or cause through multiple forms of media with the ultimate goal of delivering a message to create action – is Bill Cosby. Cosby recently held a virtual town hall to discuss issues that face the African-American Community and to promote this town hall he advertised his message on social media sites, Facebook and Twitter (Hein). Cosby launched his ad campaign in a few simple words, â€Å"Our children are trying to tell us something, but we are not listening† followed by a link to Ustream – a website that streams footage live alongside a comments box where the streamer can read at the same time. Cosby was capable of generating 1. 3 million views which set a record behind President Obama's inaugural address (Hein). Similarly, companies are taking advantage of social media sites by gathering positive word of mouth dialogue to create a social change, that is – a higher demand and positive brand relationship with consumers (Schmitt). Companies like Nike, Red Bull and Samsun all have their own Twitter and Facebook pages where consumers post reviews and experiences with relative products. In The Last Campaign: How Experiences Are Becoming the New Advertising, Garrick Schmitt highlights the increasing awareness that companies have for social media (Schmitt). He also argues that companies unwilling to adapt are unlikely to survive (Schmitt). The ability that social media has to change perception is largely fuelled by its ability to generate dialogue in a public space. In creating a public space social media sites provide a space where the masses can rule, even if the masses are as marginal as a group of chess players. In Explaining Why Young Adults Use MySpace and Facebook Through Uses and Gratifications Theory, Mark Urista, Qingwen Dong and Ken Day assert that â€Å"the uniqueness of social networking sites is not in their ability to allow individuals to meet strangers but rather their ability to enable users to shape and make their social networks visible to others (Urista et al. 17). Because social networks are visible to the public it is easy to find the best or most popular product. Persuasion and the changing of perceptions becomes easy when 500,000 people think the same way you do. This is why Bill Cosby was capable of generating 1. 3 million hits when he only had 650,000 Twitter followers and 26,000 fans on Face book. In short, social media sites present users and companies with a platform for persuasion through a visibly public space. Effective companies and social change movements relish critical feedback via social media and used correctly can persuade the masses to take part of revolutionary change. Perhaps the most powerful quality that social media possesses is the ability to connect, unite and democratize traditional forms of communication. All of which help to generate social change albeit unintentionally. The most recognizable form of social media's ability to democratize and unite can be found in its language. Twitter for example opened up its ever evolving language to its users. Tweets is a term that refers to a Twitter post. the letters RT is a negotiated term amongst all users that stands for Retweet which means to forward, like an email or repost. As more and more uses are found for social media sites such as Twitter, the language evolves. For example, Tweet-Up is a recently added term that refers to a real-world meeting of people who connected via Twitter (Wired). Another way in which social media acts as a democratic force is its ability to give power to the masses. User-generated content certainly adds to the democratic nature of social media sites because the content on them can become important or redundant but it is up to participants and users to decide. When something becomes popular often times groups will be started and streams of meta data are collected and grouped to provide easy access. In Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business , Erik Qualman suggests that â€Å"human beings have the dichotomous physiological need to be our own individual, yet we also want to feel like we belong to and are accepted by a much larger social set. People are willing to have an ‘open diary' as a means to stay connected – as their ultimate desire is to feel connected† (Qualman 43). This idea suggests that we are rewarded for participating so a simple call to action is in fact rewarding: Part of this lies in a yearning to have a clear understanding of what the majority is ding. It was much easier to know what the majority was doing when all on had to do was tune into Casey Kasem's â€Å"American Top 40† to find out the latest and greatest in music or to flip through â€Å"Vogue† magazine to quickly grasp ever fashion trend. â€Å"Social media help us make sense of information overload by quickly seeing what our friends find important, helpful or interesting. It also helps eliminate people performing he same tasks – if three of your friends have already performed the task (finding a good hotel in Bermuda), why should you be redundant? (Qualman). Danah Boyd also highlights social media outlets call to participate as a reward (Boyd 126). Social Media makes participation in social movements rewarding and democratic. Participation in social medi a allows users to connect and unite as the public platform used by social media sites makes it easy for users to connect and to participate with others. These qualities are the underlying reasons surrounding the profound shift in the way that we choose to communicate. Social media has become the biggest change to our society since the industrial revolution (Qualman). Qualman states the following statistics while arguing his case for social media revolution: 96% of Generation Y have joined a social media network, is the number one activity on the internet today, 1 out of 8 couples married in the US last year met via social media, it took the radio 38 years to reach 50 million users, the television took 13 years, the internet took 4 years, the iPod took 3 years, Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months (Qualman 2). Along with it are the intrinsic qualities social media carries with it, that is ability to generate dialogue, to change perception and persuade, and its ability to connect and unite the masses democratically. The social media revolution is incipient and inchoate. The creation of every new medium brings with it a learning curve and as its strengths are developed and its language invented, social change will be one of its many uses.

Bp (Oil and Chemical Company) and Its E-Commerce Arm

A report on BP (Oil and Chemical company) and its E-commerce Arm ____________________________________________________________ __________________________________ Introduction to BP Several questions arise if we are given the possibility that an oil exploring company wants to use e-commerce for its B2B and B2C operations. These open-ended questions are well replied to by BP’s ‘digital business program’ which has been globally recognized for its present and future initiatives. Before we critically analyze BP’s e-commerce operations I would like to briefly outline BP’s position in the world market. BP Amoco (now known as BP) is one of the largest most integrated oil companies in the world. Operating in more than 100 counties, in six†¦show more content†¦BP also extended its membership to Shell and Brown and Root who joined in the network to assist one another and effectively benefit from cost reduction and knowledge management. Infact during a recent development of the Andrew oil field in the North Sea, BP used the VPN to pass on lessons on the project in real time. This network helped BP and its suppliers and contractors to radically cut costs and time of the project. BP in Alaska and Colombia also used similar techniques. The benefits to their eBusiness operation from the use of VPN are easy to measure: 1. A huge reduction in time consumption to solve problems as a result of interaction between land based drilling engineers and offshore rig crews. 2. A decrease in the number of helicopter trips to offshore oil platforms. 3. A reduction in rework due to better collaboration. 4. The avoidance of a refinery shutdown because experts working elsewhere could assist in eradicating the problem. These are the internal benefits which boost BP’s eBusiness strategy and strengthen the internal structure of the company. BP’s eBusiness strategy BP developed an ‘eBusiness Strategic Intent’. It was based on the use of eBusiness tools in an ad hoc manner to a degree that would benefit both employees and the stockholders. 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