The Tourist Gaze by John Urry | Summary and Analysis

The touring car Gaze by John Urry Summary and AnalysisCritically consider the argument that Urrys design of the phaeton paying attention places in like manner a great deal dialect on the visual.Urrys tourist gaze remains one of the most influential constructs in touristry research. The ideas developed by Urry argon still widely quoted and relevant today but a major criticism of his work is that too a great deal emphasis is placed on the visual aspects of being a tourist rather than the whole experience. This essay will investigate this claim before concluding whether or not this is the case.In order to do this, this essay will be broken into several surgical incisions. The first section will look at what the tourist gaze actually is. It is important to have a definition of this term before proceeding with the rest of the assignment. The second part of this essay will adjourn on wider academic research to test whether or not Urrys ideas do place too much emphasis on the visua l. The final part of this essay will bring together all the arguments to form some sort of conclusion.In order to fully understand the tourist gaze it would be useful to have a clear understanding of what a tourist is and what tourism as an activity is. Turner et al. (2005) define a tourist as, someone who has travelled to another place for a brief sojourn, an experience that necessarily entails a distinct period of transition and discontinuity from the everyday initiation (p. 11). Urry (2002) describes the act of tourism as, a leisure activity which presupposes its opposite, namely modulate and organised work. It is one manifestation of how work and leisure are organised as separate and regulated spheres of social practice in modern societies (p. 2). The environments that these tourists subvert are subject to what Urry (1990) has described as the tourist gaze. Urry states that tourists are, directed to features of the landscape that, which separate them dispatch from everyday experience. Such aspects are viewed because they are taken to be in some sense out of the ordinary. The tourist and the viewpoints are manipulated, so that the gaze falls upon what the gazer expects to think (Turner et al, 2005 11). Most of the time this gaze is from a static location but if it is mobile then it is directed from an insulated environment such as from a train window or a sign-posted route. The tourist only sees what they are supposed to see. Urry (1990) states, the typical tourist experience isto see named scenes through a frame, such as the hotel window, the car windscreen or the window of the coach (p. 100). In a sense, real life is suspended or hidden outside(a) in these places so that the tourist can gaze upon what upon they expect to see. For example, in the Lake District in England, houses can only be built to very inexor sufficient specifications with traditional methods and materials. This helps to preserve the traditional look of the area. This expectation has been built up by promotional material such as brochures and adverts on the television. Goss (1993) solicits that tourism selling provide tourists with representational im senesces of the places they are intimately to visit and this helps form an imaginary construction for the tourist. Culler (1981) argues that tourists read the landscape for anything that represents these pre-established notions.In The Tourist Gaze, Urry (1990) states that when we go away and proceed tourists, we look at the environmentwe gaze at what we encounterand the gaze is socially constructed (p. 1). Perkins and Thorns (2001) state that there is no single uniform gaze, rather it is, alter temporally and across social groups and that the archetype of the gaze encapsulates tourists experiences and is an interpretation of the things they seek and do when on holiday (p. 187). Perkins and Thorns (2001) go on to argue that, the gaze is a concept which comprises a way of looking at the world which simulta neously forms what is seen and the way of comprehend (p 187).There have been numerous criticisms leveled at Urrys concept of the tourist gaze. Perhaps the most common one and of most interest to this essay is that the gaze doesnt fully capture the tourist experience. Perkins and Thorns (2001) argue that there needs to be to a greater extent of a focus on the concept of the tourist performance because in places like New Zealand, tourists are more about doing rather than simply seeing or gazing and, thus about putting their bodies into tourism in a way that is not reflected in much of the analysis arising from a focus upon the tourist gaze (p. 199). This criticism highlights an important change in the tourism industry. This is the search for authentic experiences and the search for experiences that invigorates all the senses. saving (1999) suggests that tourists want contact with their surroundings. This contact goes beyond the visual realms as suggested by Urry. As Franklin and Cra ng (2001) point out that tourists, are seeking to be doing something in the places they visit rather than being end littlely spectatorially passive (p. 13). Franklin and Chang go on to suggest that tourists have become bored by the gaze.MacCannell (1989) states that, touristic consciousness is motivated by its appetency for authentic experiences, and the tourist may believe that he is moving in this direction, but often it is very difficult to know for sure if the experience is in fact authentic. It is always possible that what is taken to be entry into a back region is really entry into a front region that has been all told set up in advance for touristic visitation (p. 101). Urry fails to notice the distinction between authentic experiences and inauthentic ones. MacCannell (2001) believes there is a second gaze, one that is in a way suspicious of the totally visual elements of the tourist gaze. The second gaze is where the tourist is aware that, something is being concealed from itthe second gaze knows that seeing is not believing. Some things will remain hidden from itThe second gaze turns back onto the gazing subject an ethical responsibility for the construction of its own existence (p. 36). MacCannell (2001) finds the concept of the tourist gaze as defined by Urry too narrow a concept and argues that it is, a blueprint for the transformation of the global system of attractions into an broad set of mirrors to serve the narcissistic needs of dull egos (p. 26). Nicholson-Lord (2002) is in partial agreement although he also takes issue with the concept of the second gaze as well. He argues that, tourism is a powerful cultural solvent it takes customs and beliefs that are locally rooted and distinctive, puts them into the global blending machine and turns them into liquefied easy lay to which a mass market has been primed to respond (p. 24).Although MacCannell is arguing for the need for a wider experience than Urry suggests, they have both been criticize d by those who suggest that they focus too exclusively on the tourist experience and the subjectivity of the tourist. Little mention is given to the subjectivity of the swarm. In a world where affluent tourists are able to seek out experiences and gaze upon sights in worlds that are on the nose becoming open to them, little mention is given to how this affects the force cultures. Bianchi (2001) states that, in a world of hyper-mobile capital, instant communications and the mass movement of large numbers, international tourism encapsulates the contradictory forces at play in todays world. These are mobility and freedom for the moneyed few, and immobility and imp everywhereishment for the disenfranchised many (p. 16). This imbalance is completely ignored in the work of Urry. It would be fair to argue that this is because he places too much emphasis on the visual for the tourist and not enough on looking at the wider impact of tourism on the hosts. As we move into an age of more e thically aware tourism, this becomes more of an important concept. Of course, Urry would argue that there is no single gaze and that this movement to more ethical tourism is just simply a different gaze for a different type of tourist but the fact that he ignores the impact of tourism on the host cultures is evidence that his absorptions are elsewhere.The tourist gaze as a concept is a helpful one when studying tourism. It helps us to understand how tourism has evolved and changed over the past few decades. It also helps us to understand how we as tourists act as players within a larger system that has been created to match our expectations of what we want to see on when we go on holiday with the supposed reality of what is actually there. It helps us to understand all the visual sign-posts that are created to help match up these two worlds, the reality and what we expect to see. However, this concept does have some limitations. Although it tries to be all encapsulating, trying to explain all our visual experiences by saying that people from different classes seek different things and gaze on different things when they go on holiday, it is still too narrow. It fails to really encapsulate the entire essence of tourism which is the experiences that you have that cant be explained away as simply visual. This essay has touched on the notion of performance and contact. This is what tourism is all about. It is about the experiences that you have that come from the smells and sounds and the activities you partake in in the place you are visiting. Of course the sights play a huge part in this but they are not the whole experience.Another place that Urrys concept falls flat is his failure to look at tourism from the point of view of the host culture. In this day and age where we are becoming more ethically aware in everything that we consume, including our tourism, this is quite a big failure of the concept. Its preoccupation on the consumers and how they are being ma nipulated with no mention of how these consumers impact on the cultures that they visit. Urrys concept is still useful but it is getting less and less relevant in todays market.Bibliography and ReferencesChin, C.B.N. 2008, Cruising in the Global Economy Profits, Pleasure and Work at Sea, London Ashgate.Franklin, A. and Chang, M. 2001, The trouble with tourism and travel speculation?, Tourist Studies, 1(1), 5-22.Goss, J. 1993, Placing the Market and Marketing the Place Tourist Advertising of the Hawaiian Islands, 1972-1992, Environment and Planning D Society and Space, 11, 663-688.MacCannell, D. 1992, Empty Meeting Grounds The Tourist Papers, London Routledge.McGuigan, J. 2004, Rethinking Cultural Policy, London McGraw-Hill InternationalPerkins, H.C. and Thorns, D.C. 2001, Gazing or Performing? Reflections on Urrys Tourist Gaze in the Context of Contemporary Experience in the Antipodes, International Sociology, 16(2), 185-204.Thrift, N. (1999) Still Life in Present TimeThe Object of Nature, conference paperpresented to kindlyity/Materialism The Status of the Object in Social Science,Brunel University, UK 911 September 1999.Turner et al. 2005, The Tourist Gaze Towards Contextualised Virtual Environments, Kluwer.Urry, J. 1990, The Tourist Gaze, London Sage.Urry, J. 1992, The Tourist Gaze Revisited, American Behavioral Scientist, 36, 172-186.

Black Diaspora in Literature | Essay

saturnine Diaspora in Literature EssaySurvivors. In their diasporan souls a dream like steel (Caryl Phillips, Crossing the River). This paper discusses in what senses post- bondage literary productions is organize by the liking of a diaspora. The book looks at two primary(prenominal) texts, Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips and Praisesong for the Widow by Paule marshall, using the books The discolor Atlantic Modernity and Double Consciousness by Paul Gilroy and Black whim and the Middle Passage, edited by Maria Diedrich as secondary sources. The paper concludes that the diaspora, a key event in blackness history, is fundamental to many authors in toll of providing a framework on which to discuss issues of importance to the black community, for example, history, memory, pagan identity, ethnical hereditary pattern, heritage.As Gilroy argues in his book The Black Atlantic Modernity and Double Consciousness, The specificity of the modern political and cultural formation I want to peal the Black Atlantic peck be defined, on one level, through a desire to transcend both the structures of a nation state and the constraints of ethnicity and subject area particularity. These desires are relevant to understanding political organising and cultural criticism. They have al personal manners sat uneasily alongside the strategic choices forced on black movements and individuals enter in the national and political cultures and nation-states in America, the Caribbean and Europe (p.19). Thus, as Gilroy argues, because of the black diaspora, black academics and black writers and artists have travelled and worked at bottom what he terms a trans-national framework that, itself, precludes anything exclusively only when a very superficial association of their country of origin. Thus, as Gilroy argues, black post-slavery literature can only be mum in the context of a diaspora, as it is created within the framework that was created by this diaspora. It is, as ar gues Gilroy, a preoccupation with the striking doubleness that results from this unique position in an grow West but non completely of it is a definitive characteristic of the intellectual history of the Black Atlantic (p.58).Diedrichs edited volume Black Imagination and the Middle Passage examines the very specific period covering the forced dispossession of the Middle Passage, and analyses the liberal arts (music, literature, dance etc.) that were created, on the transatlantic locomote and on the continents in which the slaves were kept, and in the home continent upon their return. The book aims to represent the cultural conscience of the diaspora, as represented not only in the arts but also in myth and history, as a way of analysing what the diaspora meant for this group of tidy sum who were forcefully removed from their culture, and then had to live adrift from their culture. umteen of the contributions in Diedrich argues, similarly to Gilroy, that the diapsora was a key event in the development of black literature, defining, as it does, a framework for creativity, through analyses of violence, of culture, of trans-national thinking and working. This idea is, again, highlighted in many other literary criticisms1.Caryl Phillips book Crossing the River takes marginalisation and racism as central themes, using his central characters, Martha and Joyce, to explore these issues Martha is a black charwoman doing with racism in North America before and after slaverys abolition, and Joyce, the white woman who is marginalised following her falling in know with a black man (Marthas brother, Travis). We see, in the novel, how Martha was sold by her father, Nash, along with her two brothers, Nash and Travis, in to slavery, how Martha is separated from her children, separating her family, as occurred with many other hundreds of thousands of black families, and the novel deals a great deal, from this point on, with memory her memory of her family, her memory of her loss, her memory of her culture that she has left behind. She grieves not only for these losses, but also for her testify loss of dignity, through her placement in to slavery, and for her need to live alone, following abolition, no longer physically enslaved, bur emotionally enslaved by her losses and by the fragmented community in which she, and all freed slaves were forced to live. Her story does not end there, and we see the hurt and terrible conditions in which she was forced to live, post-slavery, through Phillips descriptions of her surroundings, and the capital punishment of her new partner, Chester.Phillips uses several postmodern techniques to highlight all of the disjointed emotions that Martha feels, such as switching backwards and forwards across time in dress to highlight how Martha reacts and feels about events, or the use of many voices in the novel (Martha, Joyce, Nash and others) in order to reiterate the fact that the novel is concerned with many peoples history indeed, a whole generations history, of those people of a certain race who were forced in to slavery, and who, then, were forced in to entering for many years in a racist North American society. The James Hamilton character, the slave trader, is utilize by Phillips to introduce the dirty side of slavery with his orders for disposal of slaves (i.e., murder of slaves) and his colonial presence. Phillips deconstruction of Hamiltons character, through movements across time, is a way for Phillips to explore history, as he sees it, as a re-definable present, not an uninterpretable, unchangeable, past.Thus, Phillips novel Crossing the River looks at issues of slavery, racism, marginalisation using several main characters, all of whom are intertwined and all of whom are bound together by the main focus of the novel slavery. Slavery is the theme which binds the book together, allowing Phillips to discuss issues such as cultural transpositions and the diaspora. Phillips does not, however, simply recount historical accounts of the lives of his main characters, the characters come springy through his particular sort of storytelling, which is argued by many to have an African slant i.e., it has a circular quality that is present in many African cultures in which storytelling is strong. Phillips also leaves as much untold as he tells, whilst giving historical facts surrounding the characters lives, allowing the reader to fill in the gaps and build their throw version of the diasporan framework. For example, Nashs freedom and journey to Liberia as a missionary poses many questions for Nash, leaving him, as it does in Africa, but in a unknown land, sometimes feeling more American than African, although as Nash points out, that is ridiculous, he is not American, any more than he is Liberian. This leaves the reader pondering ideas of culture and roots and what personal effects the diaspora had on the many hundreds of thousands of slaves who were displaced from t heir homes and forced to work, and then live freely, in a strange country, something which is reinforced, as we have seen by the character of Martha who, as we have seen, feels more for the loss of her daughter to slavery than she does for the loss of her freedom and her displacement. Thus, Phillips succeeds in showing the very human cause of slavery, in terms of personal losses, not yet the wider academic picture of slavery as an exercise in intellectualising the diaspora in terms of its cultural conscience.Paule Marshalls fiction has been described by Denniston (1995) as an imaginative reconstruction of African history and culture, which connects all people of African descent. Her book Praisesong for the Widow, captures African cultural patterns in contrast with North American materialism, and, as Denniston (1995) argues, through this, Marshall reclaims African culture for black diasporan peoples. As such, this type of fiction is not just African or black it captures the kinet ics of human struggle and so is universal. Many black commentators have denigrated this interpretation of this type of fiction, arguing that these arguments are little more than veiled racism, think to peck the worth of the intellectual exercise, i.e., the understanding of African history in terms of the diaspora, by reducing the arguments in these novels to universal arguments about reactions to oppression, not, as they are intended to be, arguments about black responses to the diaspora.Marshalls novel Praisesong for the Widow also, similarly to Caryl Phillips in his Crossing the River, discusses the role of memory in the lives of the characters in the book, describing how Avey sees her body as nothing more than a repository of memory, in which physical sensations are nothing more than a way of recording emotional feelings through this realisation, Avey comes to terms with her displacement from her natural society, and comes to accept her heritage. Through Aveys slow realisation of her body as a respository for memory, Marshall echoes the disconnection of herself from her native culture, and thus from herself as a woman born in the Caribbean but sold to slavery in North America. Marshall uses Aveys physical discomforts, which are described in graphic detail in the novel, to echo her disconnection from her culture, her heritage, and her subsequent journey to well-being is representative, for Marshall, of her restoration of her sense of cultural inheritance.In addition to Marshalls use of Aveys body as a metaphor for displacement and representations of heritage and disposition, in terms of the slaves body being enslaved, but their mind being free to wander, to develop, to grow, Aveys physical journeys also somewhat recreate the journeys her people excessivelyk as slaves as a way for Marshall to explore the cultural disinheritance of the African peoples through the African diaspora2 and the slaves reconnection with their heritages following their freedom. Ave ys memories are representative of African slaves memories, therefore they were the only free part of them under the regime of slavery, and, for some slaves, whose histories were suppressed and sanitised, their only history was the one that their memory provided. As with Martha in Phillips novel, memory was, however, often too painful, for example, the memory of her lost daughter, with these personal memories being far more painful than memories of lost culture or memories of home. Aveys constant opposition to recognising her heritage allows Marshall to explore the difficulties faced by ex-slaves when thinking about returning home, or settling in a foreign land under adverse, racist, circumstances. Avey cannot face the idea of acknowledging her heritage, as she is, as she sees it, happy as she is, without knowledge of what happened to her ancestors. Avey has constructed a life for herself based on an omission of her heritage, as a way of act with the enormity of what happened to he r family, her ancestors her excessive consumption has blinded her to her heritage. Marshall thus seems to be suggesting, then, that the American way of life, of materialism and of consumerism, has a dulling effect, of smoothing cultural differences, and, indeed, the American way is all-pervasive, a base laziness which calls to peoples sloth-like sides, and, through this, infiltrates every society in which it comes in to contact.As we have seen, therefore, the work of Phillips and Marshall both deal with the idea of slavery, of the diaspora, of the marginalisation felt by freed slaves in a foreign country, of ideas of cultural heritage. Both books, both examples of post-slavery literature, therefore, deal specifically with the issue of the diaspora, and what effects this had, and has, on the lives of slaves, and freed slaves, and the descendents of slaves. Phillips is, however, somewhat more concerned with the effect of loss on the lives of freed slaves than Marshall, who embodies hi s ideas within a character who is somewhat immune, for most of the book, to emotions. In terms, therefore, of the senses in which post-slavery literature is structured by the idea of a diaspora, as we have seen, for many authors who are concerned with this issue, through their heritage or for whatever other reason, their literature is close in by the idea of the diaspora this is the central framework from which all other ideas connected to this hang. The diaspora acts as a backdrop, if you like, against which all other ideas connected to this (for example, heritage, cultural identity etc.) are understood. It is the understanding of all of these other concepts (for example, heritage, cultural identity etc.) which gives thrust to the work of such authors, and through a search for an understanding of these ideas, it is hoped that the diaspora will be understood, can be come to terms with much as Aveys illness is characteristic of an emotional need to know of her heritage, the diaspora is, for many authors and black academics, the tool that is used to gain understanding in to black history, both in countries of origin, and in the countries in which slaves were taken, post-slavery.In terms of the senses in which post-slavery literature is structured by the idea of a diaspora, as we have seen, as Gilroy argues, black post-slavery literature can only be understood in the context of a diaspora, as it is created within the framework that was created by this diaspora. It is, as argues Gilroy, a preoccupation with the striking doubleness that results from this unique position in an expanded West but not completely of it is a definitive characteristic of the intellectual history of the Black Atlantic (p.58). Thus, for Gilroy, the diaspora is essential, fundamental, to an understanding of black history. As we have seen, Diedrichs edited volume Black Imagination and the Middle Passage concludes, similarly to Gilroy, that the diaspora was a key event in the development of black literature, defining, as it does, a framework for creativity, through analyses of violence, of culture, of trans-national thinking and working.Thus, the diaspora, a key event in black history, is fundamental to many authors in terms of providing a framework on which to discuss issues of importance to the black community, for example, history, memory, cultural identity, cultural heritage, heritage. As we have seen in this paper, these issues provide literary fuel for many authors, and critics, and two of the most representative novels in terms of these issues, Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips and Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall, have been analysed and used to illustrate how black authors use the diaspora in this way, i.e., to discuss issues of importance to the black community, for example, history, memory, cultural identity, cultural heritage, heritage. For many authors, write about these issues is a way of dealing with these issues for themselves personally a nd, as such, such books provide solace for many blacks who live with the diaspora, and its effects, as part of their history.ReferencesDenniston, D.H., 1995. The fiction of Paule Marshall reconstructions of history, culture and gender. University of Tennessee Press.Diedrich, M. (ed.)., 1999. Black Imagination and the Middle Passage. Oxford University Press.Gilroy, P., 1993. The Black Atlantic modernity and double consciousness. Verso Books.Marshall, P., 1983. Praisesong for the Widow. Putnam Press.Phillips, C., 2006. Crossing the River. Penguin Paperbacks.Rogers, S., 2000. Embodying cultural memory in Paule Marshalls Praisesong for the Widow. African American Review Spring 2000.Footnotes1 See, for example, Writings on Black Women of the Diaspora History, Language and Identity, by Bracks The African Imagination Literature in African and the Black Diaspora by F.Abiola Irele, and Brent Hayes Edwards The Practice of Diaspora Literature, Translation and the Rise of Black Internationalism .2 See Rogers (2000) for further exploration of this concept.

What Is Professional Competency In Nursing Practice Nursing Essay

What Is Professional Competency In Nursing Practice Nursing EssayIntroductionWhy is professional competence a perfect requirement in care for practice? In satisfying this query, superstar must reflect on ones functions as a nurse. From this, one target prepare the undeniable fact that nurses play a crucial role in the delivery of wellness dole out services. The very lives of people are at take chances and so one must practice satisfactoryly. Professional competence is a must in nursing practice. In line with this thought, this essay leave behind look for ones practice of nursing in relation to the Australian Nursing Midwifery Council (ANMC) and the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) competency standards. This essay will excessively research what competence is wholly ab pop and what it means to be a professionally adapted nurse.Main BodyThe ANMC (2006, p.14) defines competence as the combination of skills, knowledge, attitudes, observes and abilities that back up effective and/or superior performance in a profession or occupational area. Competency in nursing is very well adjudge and sought by all health care institutions. There is always an inherent liking on the part of health care institutions to determine and ameliorate the competence level of their nurses. In fact, Zuzelo (2009) relate that numerous healthcare institutions are investing m and money into systems that can assess competency of nursing professionals. In highly industrialised nations, competency of nursing professionals is sought after and achieved through competency based approach training (Cowan, Norman Coopamah, 2005). The idea of competence seems to mystify skills at its core, in point clinical skills, that is ones essential to best practice (Roberts, 2009). However, skills without knowledge is dangerous, according to Roberts (2009). A professionally competent nurse does non drop off the master(prenominal) aspect of nursing as a caring profession. Being compet ent does not only imply that one is very knowledgeable and skilled. It similarly connotes ones genuine care to tolerants. It is worthy to declare that caring and competency are not exclusive opinions but are naturally intertwined (Masters, 2005). To be professionally competent is to be properly qualified, capable, adequate for the purpose, and sufficient. As professional nurses, we are competent to practice nursing by virtue of our education and licensure as registered nurses. To be competent however, we must meet additional criteria.The ANMC (2006) competency standards for the registered nurse comprises of 4 domains, namely professional practice, critical thinking and analysis, provision and coordination of care and collaborative and healing(p) practice. From among the sub-classifications of the starting time domain, what can be considered as most striking in relation to ones practice include the train to practice in accordance with legislation modify nursing practice and h ealth care as well as the indigence to practice within a professional and ethical nursing manakin (ANMC, 2006). These two sub-classifications are worthy to note because of the fact that moral and legal conflicts often complicate decision making in nursing practice. Nurses are typically confronted with conflicting scenarios which are often both important things to consider. The only dilemma is which of the two must be the top priority. For instance, taking care of a affected role who refuses any form of treatment poses a legal dilemma on the part of the nurse. This is especially true because the ANMC (2006) competency standards direct nurses to recognise and accept the effectives of others. On one side, there is the professional desire of the nurse to help the patient by initiating treatment. On the other hand, legal ethics dictate that patients have the right to refuse treatment. In ones personal experience, taking care of a patient whose religion does not allow blood transfusion is a real dilemma. In this particular scenario, the nurse was torn between educating the patient to eventually accept treatment or simply respect the refusal of treatment and just relate to the patient the possible consequences of such refusal. It was clear in the nurses mind that the ANMC (2006) dictates one to accept individuals or themes regardless of race, culture, religion, age, gender, sexual preference, physical or mental state. Furthermore, there is the need to practise in a manner that acknowledges the dignity, culture, values, beliefs and rights of individuals or groups (ANMC, 2006). Unfortunately, this is easier said than done especially when one of the above mentioned factors goes against or impedes a crucial treatment that whitethorn actually save a patients life. It is true that religious faith is often invoked by patients when their health and wellbeing is threatened. According to Andrews and Boyle (2008) religion is especially crucial to patients during periods of health crisis. Although, adhering to a particular religion is mostly viewed as a peremptory concept for patients unfortunately, such adherence does not always result into a positive out fuck off. It can hinder the patients acceptance to treatment and care. This points out to other important aspect of competence and that is, a deeper understanding of cultural diversity. In line with this, cherry tree Jacob (2005) state that health professionals which naturally include nurses, need to respond to the consequences of an increasing cultural diversity of nursing clientele in order to safeguard the benefit of all health care consumers. Different values and beliefs are adhered to by patients. Community, social and kinship ties, language, religion, food and cultural perceptions of health and wellness are all matters of importance that need to be understood by the nurse when working with culturally diverse patients (Daniels, 2004). Cultural diversity challenges nurses to triumph over cul tural gaps with patients by providing culturally appropriate care (Daniels, 2004). Cultural competence is the physical process whereby a nurse provides care that is suitable to the clients cultural context (Daniels, 2004). In essence, cultural competence is important in the practice of nursing. A nurse is only truly competent if he or she can knowingly handle patients whose entire value system is different from his or her stimulate but still manages to establish and maintain a therapeutic descent that paves way for effective implementation of nursing actions.Another important issue within the sphere of the first domain of professional practice implies the need to question and/or clarify orders and decisions that are unclear, not understood or questionable (ANMC, 2006). Moreover, there is the necessity to question and/or clarify interventions that appear inappropriate with relevant members of the health care team (ANMC, 2006). In following this directive, a nurse may often hesitat e to question the validity of a particular intervention whether it was given by a peer nurse or by some other health care professional such as a sterilize. In ones own practice, hesitation comes from the desire not to create a conflict and bad blood with colleagues and fellow members of the health care team. Unfortunately, in stay on the directive of questioning particular actions of another when deemed inappropriate will more often than not cause some form of disagreement or clash between the professionals. Inter-professional conflicts have been documented since the time of Florence Nightingale (Kalisch Kalisch, 1977 cited in Coombs, 2004). In ones personal experience, the common escape route for this possible conflict is to question an order by way of politely suggesting an preference which in reality is not an alternative but a recommendation to abolish the questioned order. For example, in questioning a doctors order, the nurse would typically suggest to the doctor the need for the latter to in like manner consider some other assessed patient data with the hope that the doctor will realise that he or she do a mistake instead of directly asking the doctor wherefore he or she prescribed such seemingly inappropriate order. It is an extremely disused scenario where a nurse openly recommends to the doctor to change what the latter has ordered. The subservience of nurses over doctors is a scenario that is very common especially in areas where doctors and nurses are in constant interaction with each other which if pondered upon occurs in almost all areas of a health institution. This particular doctor-nurse type of interaction is referred to as a doctor-nurse peppy (Stein, 1967 cited in Stein-Parbury, 2008). The doctor-nurse game described over 30 years ago persists in the communication patterns of some doctors and nurses ( Knox Simpson, 2004). In line with this issue, a truly competent nurse knows how to play the game well. He or she is able to questi on other professionals actions if necessary without causing unhealthy disagreements among them. Effective team behavior operates when health care providers communicate openly and courteously with each other ( Wolf, 2006).The second domain focuses on the implications of researching for evidence based practice (ANMC, 2006). This domain also points out the obligation to participate in ongoing professional development of self and others (ANMC, 2006). In ones own practice of nursing, continuing professional education has always been ones primal goals. It is a way of empowering oneself to be able to keep up with the trends in the practice of nursing. Attending formal and informal lectures and orientations makes one feel more competent. In essence, competence entails seeking out continuing professional education in order to build up a well founded source of knowledge and skills that will be necessary in coping with the dynamic changes in healthcare. Continuing education is intended to ens ure health care practitioners knowledge is accepted (Griscti, 2006). In the advent of modern technology and skyrocketing increase for the demand of high quality care, nurses must be keen in upgrading or at least maintaining the current accepted level of competency required upon them. The high competency required upon nurses is only natural considering the fact that nurses are at the forefront of health care delivery. Nurses who stay abreast of new information and apply evidence-based theory to their practice will be able to provide competent, quality care to their patients (Valloze, 2009). This is the reason why competence is such a crucial issue in the practice of nursing.The salient component of the third domain relates the significance of the nursing process which naturally includes conducting a comprehensive and systematic assessment, planning and implementing safe and effective evidence based nursing care, and then evaluating the expected outcomes (ANMC, 2006). To simply descr ibe it, the nursing process is a problem-solving technique (Carpenito-Moyet, 2007). It is a step by step strategy utilised by a nurse in solving patient problems that come within the scope of nursing practice. In ones own practice of nursing, the tricky part of nursing process is the nursing assessment. Nursing assessment may be defined as the systematic and continuous collection and analysis of information about patients (Rosdahl Kowalski, 2007). It is difficult to confidently say that one has thoroughly assessed a patient. It is because one needs to consider a wide array of factors. There is also the burden to ensure that ones assessment is comprehensive in as much as it dies the basis of nursing and medical interventions. In connection to this, competency in nursing comes when one is able to collect and distinguish which patient information is important and which can be discarded. The care of patients is dependent upon the competency of the nurse is assessing those signs and sy mptoms that are related to the patients medical condition.For the fourth domain, what is most relevant to ones practice are the need to establish and maintain therapeutic relationship with patients and the necessity to collaborate with other health care professionals in providing comprehensive nursing care (ANMC, 2006). As a nurse, building and sustaining a therapeutic relationship with patients is important. It is the initial step in obtaining patients trust and confidence. Dossey Keegan (2009) declare that it is an important part of nursing care. In an effective therapeutic relationship, patients feel the genuine support of nurses while the nurses feel a certain degree of satisfaction in his or her role (Dossey Keegan, 2009). Initiating a therapeutic relationship with patients is in compliance the ANMC (2006) requirement of undertaking assessments which are sensitive to the needs of individuals or groups. Competency standards in this domain includes that a nurse has the ability to traverse the physiological, psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual needs of patients and significant others as well as to optimize the physical and non-physical environment ( Dunn, Lawson Robertson, 2000). A competent nurse always begins his or her interventions by establishing a therapeutic relationship with patients that will increase efficacy of succeeding interventions.The ANF competency standards consist of 3 domains namely conceptualises practice, adapts practice and leads practice (ANF, 2005). As an experienced practitioner, one can meet these competency standards by reflecting on ones own experiences and placing these experiences in correct perspective for future reference. One can grow how to better provide nursing care for a particular scenario by reflecting on previous experiences that are similar to the one currently confronted with. What is required in order to meet the competency standards contained within the first domain is self-reflection. Self-refle ction activities are an essential component of expert nursing practice (Dossey Keegan, 2009). This self-reflection however, must be pair with formal continuing development or education plus implementation of researches of relevant issues in nursing practice. This is because of the fact that this domain requires use the best getable evidence and health and/or nursing models (ANF, 2005). Research in nursing will help in identifying evidence-based nursing practice (Polit Beck, 2004).For the second domain, one can satisfy the competency standards contained within by being dynamic in finding out possible reliable sources that will support a particular method of rendering nursing care. This is because the second domain directs nurses to draw on a wide repertoire of knowledge and processes to tailor nursing practice in complex and challenging clinical situations (ANF, 2005). Furthermore, as an experienced practitioner, one needs to further upgrade ones technical skills in handling subo rdinates if any and in abiding by institution policies more strictly. One must also develop how to predict possible scenarios which may result from interventions implemented.The third domain of the ANF competency standards relates the concept of promoting and improving nursing practice through leaders. Definitely, as an experienced practitioner there have been many instances when one has asserted oneself as the leader of the group in order to smoothly direct patient care. For an experienced practitioner to successfully meet the third domain, one must hone ones leadership skills. Honing ones leadership skills does not necessarily mean that one should always act as the team leader. In becoming a leader one must also experience being a member and under the authority of another professionals leadership. The leadership often invoked in this domain is one that solicits active participation of the members. This implies a collaborative leader. Milstead Furlong (2006) state that a collabora tive leader is what is most sought in todays health care system.ConclusionTo sum up, true professional nursing competence requires accumulation of evidence based knowledge and skills. It also entails understanding cultural diversity and how it affects the kind of care that must be provided. Competence is also equated with genuine care. The ANMC competency standards are crucial in directing the way nurses must think and act. In the same light, the ANF competency standards help experienced nurses to become even better. These competency standards may be idealistic but it is certainly realistic and attainable if only nurses give more of their time reflecting on their own practice and in trying to assimilate through actions these competency standards.

Violence and Oppression in Wrights Black Boy :: Wright Black Boy Essays

Violence and Oppression in Wrights Black Boy           You are dead to me dead to saviour In the following paragraphs, violence and oppression in Ch. 5 will discussed and analyzed through examination of Richard Wrights --author of Black Boy(1945)--use of diction, tone, and metaphors. Were people of his time to read this record its probable that they would understand, wheather they agree with the authors point of view or not, the amount of violence and oppression witnessed by a boy his age. Richard Wright, through the the use of the words his senses produced, brought his knightly into light for the children of the future. He allows his readers to feel as he did under the light of strong persecution with the use of an intimidating, heartfelt tone.           The cosmic images of dread were gone and the external arena became a         reality, quivering daily before me. Instead of brooding and trying         foolishly to pray, I could run and toam, mingle with the boys and         girls, feel at home with people, grant a little of life in common         with others, satisfy my hunger to be and live.         Wright fills the chapter with a calm and mesmorizing tone like that of a preecher drawing his auditory modality into a hymm. Omisdt violence, under anger and fear, Wright converses with the reader as though he were a youth leader telling a story to a meeting of boyscouts outside by a campfire. His spellbounding words chant the reader into his world and produce a map through which the reader follows his life in the shadows of others. I mingled with the boys, hoping to pass unnoticed , but knowing that sooner or later I would be spotted for a newcomer. And trouble came quickly- a bloabk boy came bounding retiring(a) me, thumping my hat to the ground and  yelling. To keep his audience from dazily drifting into a state of semi-consiousness, Wright interjects into his prayer with action in an excited and staggering tone.           A bluster landed on the back of my head. I turned and saw a brick         rolling away and I felt blood oozing down my back. I looked around         and saw several brickbats scattered about.

Changes in Family and Marriage Structure :: Sociology

Marriages and FamiliesChanges Imagine that, if in the 1920s someone would have predicted that by the year 2000 one out of two marriages pass on end in divorce. The number of single parents will triple and lots of them will never marry. Stay at home moms will become nearly obsolete and, gay people will want to get married and adopt children. Oh my, could you imagine the look on their faces? Families are defiantly different immediately than they were then, but the world is also different. Does this mingy than families are deteriorating or are they stronger than ever? Maybe they are just changing and are still as strong as they once were. So many changes have taken place within the family. Some of them are higher divorce rates, to a greater extent working(a)s mothers, more homosexual families, and a huge increase in children born out of wedlock. Many argue that most of the familys problems come from the mother working outside of the house. The fact is that working mothers is no thing new. Mothers have always done something to help out, even if it was sewing, baking, or working on the land. In todays world its very hard to make ends meet with only one income. Children benefit in some ways from their mom working. In this mercantile culture children want to have all the nice things and whats hot.Working mothers spend on average just as much quality succession with their children as non working mothers. Divorce, single parents, and unmarried parents have always existed. It is no doubt that the rates of them have increased dramatically. Is this a bad sign? This doesnt mean that families are weak. It only means that peoples morals have changed. Families are not perfect, but they are strong. We also have more freedoms than we did in the 1920s. Women can now leave their husbands when things are unbearable. Women didnt have as many choices then. Just because families seemed good then dont mean that they were. Its not something we should try to live up to. After all we are talking about a time when slaves were legal and treated badly. On the opposite side men dont get to really be full time fathers after divorce. Divorce defiantly affects children. It is also bring out for children if they dont have to live in a household of anger and unhappiness. Of

Terrorism - Using Social Security to Fight Bush’s War :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Using Social Security to Fight Bushs War   I have a rational care a fear that the September 11th attack has given the Bush administration a free hand in pursuing a button-down domestic agenda. This has so far been unspeakable in the media. But it must be said, lest it happen for sure.   Where is the $40 billion for the war on terror climax from? Not from a rise in taxes and not from sacrifices to be made by the rich. Where then? The only available source I can hold of is the Social Security lockbox, which is now wide open. The conservatives have been trying to raid the Social Security fund for some time, and the Democrats had fought them off until now. Before September 11, the trace to take $40 billion from the Social Security surplus would have been indefensible. Has it now been done-with every Democratic senator voting for it and all but one of the Democrats in Congress?   Think of it Are your retirement contributions-and mine-are going to fight Bushs war. No one d ares to talk about it that way. Its just $40 billion, as if it came out of nowhere. No one says that $40 billion dollars comes from your retirement contributions. No one talks about increasing taxes. We should at least ask just where the money is flood tide from.   If the money is coming from tender security, then Bush has achieved a major goal of his partisan conservative agenda-without fanfare, without notice, and with the support of virtually all Democrats.   Calling for war, kinda of mere justice, has given the conservatives free rein. I fear it will only be a matter of time before they claim that we need to exercising for oil in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge for national security reasons. If that most pristine place falls, they will use the national security excuse to employment and mine coal all over the country. The energy program will be pushed through as a matter of national security. All social programs will be dismissed for lack of funds, which will be diverted to national security.   Cheney has said that this war may never be completed. Newt Gingrich estimates at least four or five years, certainly past the 2004 election. With no definition of victory and no exit strategy, we may be entering a state of perpetual war.

Blasphemies and Discrimination in The Chrysalids :: The Chrysalids

John Wyrndham the author of The Chrysalids is an extraordinary writer who has created this book in the state of two totally antithetical worlds. Wyrndham has based this book on the different views toward blasphemies and how the characters all have a different approach on the subject. The three greatest ranges in different reactions to Blasphemes would come from the characters Joseph Strorm, Aunt Harriet, and Sophie Wender. Joseph Strorm is the character in the unfermented that has the greatest disliking toward Blasphemies. Joseph is the father of David Strorm. He is a strong believer in God and his life is based around his religion The Norm is the Image of God. (p.27) In the book the reader gets the idea that Joseph is not a very good father and is very strict Ill deal with this. The boys is lying. Go to your room. (p.51) He is a venomous and inhumane person to anyone who has or is involved with a deviation. The reader would see this attitude when Aunt Harriet visits the Strorms a nd brings her deviant child with her Send her away. Tell her to leave the erect - and take that with her. (p.71) Joseph did not show any sympathy at all toward his own sister in law. Aunt Harriet is the sister of Davids mother Mrs. Strorm. She enters the story one-half way through the book, where she goes to Mrs. Strorm seeking help. Yet the help she is looking for is not something Mrs. Strorm agrees with Nothing much You have the effrontery to bring your monster into my house, and tell me its naught much (p.70) Aunt Harriet is very loving, strong, and she fights for what she thinks is the right thing I shall pray God to send into this hideous world, and sympathy for the weak, and love for the unhappy and unfortunate. (p.73) Aunt Harriet is withal the proof of what happens to people who have a deviation or are trying to protect someone with a deviation Aunt Harriets body has been entrap in a river, no one mentioned a baby. (p.74) She is a very will hearted woman who is one of th e very few people in this time that has the will to speak her mind. Sophie Wender is also another female fighter in this book. David and Sophie are close childhood friends when she is separated from the community because she has a ordinal toe.