Saturday, August 31, 2019
HRM policies in support of organizational objectives Essay
Employee role for achieving organizational objectives is based on several factors. Each factor is either interrelated to other or may have direct impact on employee performance considering strategic HRM policies. Rewards play a very important role in influencing employee behavior towards meeting organizational goals and increasing their motivational level that positively supports organizational commitment. Different jobs have diversifying demands for the offering of benefits to employees depending on the constituencies of each benefit system. However, employees focus on goals achievement behavior and thus adopt a comprehensive policy for providing benefits to employees. These benefits include on-service perks and bonuses off-service compensation packages in the form of different pension plans. Benefits and rewards system affect a set of individual factors that in combine enable the organization to implement their strategic HRM policies as for supporting organizational objectives. It must be ensured that these benefits and compensation system complies the equity principle thus increasing the harmony and address the recognition, employee rights, motivation, behavioral control, and employee performance management issues. These benefits are directly dependant on the type of the job and employee demands. Younger employees are seem to be more oriented towards higher pay earnings whereas old employees show long term return concern in terms of pension and retirement packages. Implementation of strategic HRM policies in organization becomes great challenge due to resistance by employees as such policies also concern change management in uncertain market conditions. Companies offer numerous benefits such as annual bonuses, perks, overtime allowances, plussage, premia, and other incentives either based on individual performance or group performance. Such bonuses are essential if companies aim at getting benefit from the skills and services of employees for longer term, due to unique skills and potential capability to grow in organization in future. Overtime allowances and premia are essential to motivate the employees for working in odd working timings or more than the usual working hours. In order to support short run operations of firm such allowances enable policy makers to achieve objectives through effective utilization of HRM policies. In order to classify the performance of employee in manufacturing concern firms performance based bay deem appropriate facilitating rewarding the employees based on the results and goals achieved. Concerning the goal based approach, performance based pay is productive to regulate and motivate employees towards achieving higher productive outcomes measured in terms of quantifiable objectives. In contrast to that, skill based pay supports the strategic HRM policy implementation when organizations are unable to classify the objectives in real terms; objectives are set based on the viability of employees to achieve through utilizing their skills qualitative in nature. It must be ensured that skills based rewards require assessing the monetary rewards considering the impact of business growth expansion. Positively valuing the competency of employee increases the motivation level and subsequently results in greater organization commitment. However, this pay system is not suitable to achieve organization objectives in rapidly changing working environment as specific skills become obsolete due to inadequacy to conform latest business requirement. Strategic HRM policies aimed at assessing the potential opportunities for firm in long term by involvement of employees in decision making thus setting the common goal set as corporate objective. Pension plans offer more convenience to firms when they need to retain employees for longer duration; thus in order to profound the policies on regulating employees, pension plans convey the focus towards increasing employee performance aligning to organizational objectives. Occupational pension schemes in addition to state pension scheme offers employee recognition based on their service duration; proper conveying the return outcome to employees especially who are more oriented towards organization goals achievement and shows higher level organizational commitment. Group personal schemes in addition to state pension scheme increases the capability of organization for delivery of HRM policies to sustain in market for longer duration; employees involvement in such programs shows the willingness of employees to understand the organization objectives and potential capability associating to aligning behavior and driving the employees in a particular directional objectives of organization. In addition to pension benefits to permanent employees of organization, adjoining compensation packages and rewards giving the allowances such as sick pay, overtime allowances, and fringe benefits in the form of premia, special compensation for higher research studies, and providing utility facilities such as company maintained cars, employee health insurance, medical allowance, providing company maintained house for specific number of employees. These rewards affect the intrinsic motivational factors of employees due to trust of company being shown in employees by offering various forms of rewards and benefits; classifies the ability to deliver strategic HRM policies based on the situation need and ability of employees of conform. Flexible benefits given to employees are more suitable due to its convenience in practical implication in driving employeesââ¬â¢ behavior pertaining to the objectives setting and long term goals achievement. HRM policies must deliver the clear information to employees for the related expectation and demands that address the organization goal setting and strategies adopted to achieve such goals.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Black Asthetics and Toni Morrison
The black arts, or the black aesthetic, movement was born among the black artist as a response to the ideologies of the black power in the 1960ââ¬â¢s. The movement was a continuation of the 1920ââ¬â¢s and 1930ââ¬â¢s Harlem Renaissance that had begun the tradititon of rediscovering the roots os black culture and heritage,dating back to slavery. Some of the major literary figures of the Harlem era included authors James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen. The Black arts emerged to promote art that illustrated African-American music, languages, heritage, and beauty. In order to be substantial, art had to have a proudly black subject matter and style; be it sculpture, a piece of music, a novel or a poem. Empowered by the concepts of the black power, the movement inspired the emergence of the black theatre groups, magazines, and printing presses. Literature influenced by the black arts concepts struggled to abandon W. E. B. Du Boisââ¬â¢ idea of double consciousness, which meant blacks were constantly struggling towards the white cultureââ¬â¢s ideals, even though the dominant society disabled them for reaching the Eurocentric goals. Mirroring themselves against the value structure of the oppressive white society was depriving the blacks of their empowerment. Black writers wanted to concentrate on solving the problems of the African-American community from the inside, developing awareness of the rich black heritage and gearing the co mmunity to realize it worth. The Black Arts movement brought the time for blacks to stop internalizing the image of being the inferior in the society as a whole. The black population had to find strength, beauty and self esteem within the black community. The black arts, characterized by acute awareness, produced writers like Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed, and Alice Walker. Toni Morrison undeniably is an author who internalizes the main concerns of the black aesthetic. She writes about black oppression, consciousness and tradition. Her major charactersââ¬â¢ are black and they are in constant search for their ethnic identity. The first African American writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993, Toni Morrison is a leading voice in current debates about the construction of race and black marginality in literature and culture. As a prominent writer of the age she refuses to allow race to be marginalized in literary discourse. Throughout her writing Morrison uses narrative forms to express African Americans' dislocated, oral tradition, and culture, and reclaim African American's historical experiences. She profoundly uses the fictive narratives to transfigure the old south; the bedrock of black dehumanization, degradation and sorrow into an archetypal black homeland, a cultural womb that lays claim to history's orphaned, defamed and disclaimed African children. In her novels Morrison humanizes black characters in fictions that strive to overcome and excavate enforced invisibility of African Americans' social reality. Morrison critiques the mainstream thinking and acclaims that black writers and black characters are the relative means by which text demonstrates to be human and superior. Imagination is possible in the presence of black characters and black contents. At the same time talking African discourse is inferior and submissive tends to impoverish cultural interpretation of reality. Morrison questions the validity and vulnerability of a set of assumptions conventionally accepted and taken for granted among literary historians and critics. Africanist presence, in a constitutive part in the entire history has been rejected. Morrison in Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and Literary Imagination proposes, ââ¬Å"[t] he contemplating of this black presence in central to any understanding of our national literature and should not be permitted to hover at the margins of the literary imaginationâ⬠(5). Morrison argues that American culture is built on, and is premised by, and always includes, the presence if blacks', as slaves, as outsiders. She likens the unwillingness of academics in a racist society to see the place of Africanism in literature and to the centuries of unwillingness to see a favorite discourse, concerns and identity. She posits whiteness as the ââ¬ËOther' of blackness, a dialectical pair, each term both creates and excludes the other: no freedom without slavery, no white without black. The major themes of Toni Morrison's writing is to redefine the notion of white American canonical texts and their idea of African American writing as being non-canonical or inferior. She demonstrates the idea of racial superiority and hegemonic culture in her writings. Morrison, in the preface of her critical work Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and Literary Imagination says she is ââ¬Å"struggling with and through a language that can powerfully evoke and enforce hidden signs of racial superiority, cultural hegemony and dismissive ââ¬ËOthering' of people and language which by no means marginal or already and completely known and knowable in my workâ⬠(XI). It is clear that Morrison's writing is different from that of mainstream white discourse, which always bserves that African American literature is subsidiary product. Her intention, thorough her writing , is to reinterpret and redefine the hidden, dislocated and alienated Afro-American presence in American mainstream discourse and claim that Afro-Americans are no more inferior human beings. Toni Morrison's fiction demonstrates a central interest in the issues of boundary, attachment, and separation. Her characters experience themselves as wounded, or imprisoned by racial and economic divisions within American culture. The boundaries that circumscribe black people are not only the prejudices and restrictions that bar their entry into the mainstream but the psychological ones they internalize as they develop in a social structure that historically has excluded them. Toni Morrison draws from a rich store of black oral tradition as well as from her own imaginative angle of vision to illuminate the potentialities for both annihilation and transcendence within black experience. Black lore, black music, black language and all the myths and rituals of black culture are the most prominent elements in Toni Morrison's writing. She feels a strong connection to ancestors because they were the culture bearers. She thinks that it is the responsibility of African American writers to dig out that annihilated history and secure the importance of it in the making of American civilization. Toni Morrison ranks among the most highly regarded and widely read fiction writers and cultural critics in America. As a critic she refuses to allow race to be relegated to the margins of literary discourse. She focuses on the importance of African American's oral and musical culture and to reclaim black historical experiences. Morrison says that African American have rediscovered texts that have long been suppressed or ignored, have sought to make places for African American writing within the canon, and have developed ways of interpreting these works.Works CitedMorrison, Toni.à Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1992. Print ââ¬Å"Toni Morrison.â⬠à Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 21 May 2011. Web. 23 May 2011. .Welcome to Black Aesthetics Institute. Web. 23 May 2011. .
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Belonging represented in Peter
Belonging represented in Peter Essay As illustrated in Peter Jerkinesss Immigrant Chronicle poetry, having a strong sense of self-knowledge understanding and a deep connection to ones own culture, beliefs and values develops a feeling of belonging to and knowing ones self, and in turn, a strong sense of belonging to humanity. Feline Crooknecks, SST Patriots College and 10 Mary Street all support this thesis and position the reader to consider the concepts of belonging from the perspective of someone who feels alienated, excluded and alone. The poem Feline Crooknecks tells us of Pewters father, his life, and his clear sense of belonging. It explores the concepts of familial, cultural and self-belonging, and reveals the regretful feelings of Peter, in relation to his alienation, his familys migration and the filial bond with his father. The clear and possibly most significant message of the poem is that belonging comes from within, and requires an accepting and peaceful attitude. These concepts are expressed through the use of poetic devices and language techniques, which show the differences between the attitudes of father and son. The admiration Peter has for his father is evident in the first line -My gentle father. The use of the word gentle introduces Feline as a kind, peaceful man, and the possessive pronoun my can suggest a sense of ownership or the yearning to be associated with Feline. The fathers independence and emotional self- efficiency is evident in the first stanza Kept pace only with the Joneses of his own minds making. The reference to The Joneses is important to consider, as it not only refers to mainstream society, but Australian mainstream society. It shows that Feline is at peace with himself and has retained his own cultural beliefs, despite being pressured to assimilate and adopt a new way of life, and in result, has a strong sense of belonging. The repeated reference to Feline garden shows his compassion, connection with nature and dedication, and also his willingness to work hard. It signifies something that belongs to him, in a foreign and unfamiliar world. Throughout the poem, ideals of language are discussed. This shows language as a factor of belonging, and that it can be seen as a potential barrier that prevents the development of belonging. The language indifference between father, son and the community illustrates this barrier, and presents cultural identity as a concept of inclusion and belonging. As the distance between Peter and his Polish heritage grows, Feline accepts that his son, growing up in Australia, cannot adopt the same sense of cultural belonging that he has. While Feline is at peace and accepts the unavoidable, Peter has a completely different attitude. He feels a strong sense of regret and affliction towards his past, and feels that if only he had embraced his Polish culture, he would have belonged in his family. However, this is not the case. Peter felt isolated because he failed to form a strong connection with his inner self, not because he adopted the Australian way of life. As Peter has not developed a strong sense of self-belonging, he does not feel at peace, and does not realism that the cultural indifference and eventual complete disconnection between father and son was inevitable. Peter Crooknecks expresses feelings of regret throughout the poem, which can reveal he does not truly understand the concept of belonging. His fathers beliefs and circumstances provide a contrast to Pewters perspective and suggest that the poets reflection of his childhood and adolescence is not relative t the concepts of truly belonging that acceptance and self-sufficiency lead to a strop sense of belonging to ones self, and therefore, to humanity. Peter realizes that to truly belong somewhere or with someone, you must firstly establish a strong sense self. In addition, Pewters regret indicates a yearning to belong to his family and ultra. READ: The poem Brothers explores the relationship between two brothers EssayThis disconnection is evident in the third stanza, as we learn of Pewters detachment from his fathers Polish heritage, illustrated in the line l never got use to and with the use of an ellipsis to suggest uncertainty, doubt and deep thought. Appears that Peter Crooknecks has become more familiarized with feelings of isolation and alienation, than feelings of completion and belonging. This shows that without sense of belonging to ones self, belonging to humanity is impossible. SST Patriots College discusses Jerkinesss feelings of isolation at school. It provide a reflective account enabled by hindsight and his experience. It reveals his feelings that erupted from migration, alienation and not developing a sense of belonging u much later in life. The overall theme of the poem is Pewters failure to assimilate despite the years he spent at school and that, ironically, it was not until after shoo that Peter feels he truly learnt anything. This theme is established through the use techniques such as repetition, symbolism, and imagery, which help to create and maintain a sarcastic, mocking tone. The first line of the first stanza For eight year would indicate routine and familiarity. However, this idea is contradicted in lines seven of stanza three, where Peter describes himself as a foreign tourist, which would indicate feelings of being lost in a strange, unfamiliar place. The word tour could also represent Pewters feelings of isolation in the way that a tourist is an observer and is on the outside, looking in. The poets attitude towards his school uniform a well-known indication of belonging to a group shows his disrespect of the school. This is emphasized by his mockery of the Latin motto embroidered onto his shirt he sticks pine needles into the stitching and remarks that he thought it was a brand of soap. The motto Lucent Lug Vestry actually translates to let your light shine, which is again referred to in the last line, proving its significance. Pete careless attitude towards the motto shows his lack of understanding, because he h contempt for the school. The motto is emblematic of the hypocrisy prevalent at the institution: it claims to be inclusive, protective, embracing, when, for Crooknecks, it brings fear. He has not explored the concepts of self-knowledge and self-belonging sense of cultural belonging that h, unavoidable, Peter has a complete regret and affliction towards his p Polish culture, he would hove bell Peter felt isolated because he tail not because he adopted the Status strong sense of self-belonging. En the cultural indifference and even son was inevitable Peter Screener poem, which can reveal he does n fathers beliefs and circumstances suggest that the poets reflection the concepts tot truly belonging t sense of belonging to ones self, al truly belong somewhere or With SST self In addition, Pewters regret mind culture. This disconnection is avid detachment from his fathers Polio to and with the use of an ellipsis appears that Peter Crooknecks has and alienation. Han telling tot co sense tot belonging to ones self, b SST Patriots College discusses Sir a reflective account enabled by hill that erupted from migration, alien much later in life. The overall there despite the years he spent at such that Peter feels he truly learnt any techniques such as repetition. Sync maintain a sarcastic. Cocking tom would indicate routine and family seven of stanza three, where Pet would indicate feelings of being LLC could also represent Pewters feeling observer and is on the outside, lot monitor a Nell-known Indication the school. This IS emphasized by his shirt he sticks pine needles as a brand of soap. The motto l light shine, which is again referrer careless attitude towards the mot contempt for the school. The motto Institution: t claims to be Inclusive brings fear. READ: Poetic Devices Used To Convey EssayHe has not explored TTL so therefore does not value what the motto is jugs means embracing your own identity, and as Peter s poem, without embracing your own identity, you ca with alienating circumstances that can prevail at e did not belong to himself, SST Patriots College was n the line For eight years emphasizes the words to the effect of suggesting that even after eight years, Peter still felt isolated at school. The eight years Pee like a prison sentence. A statue of the Virgin Mary Meant to act as a welcoming figure at the entrance makes Peter feel afraid and anxious. The line UNC indicates that even after almost a decade, the stats figure of fear for the poet. The last four lines show yearning for approval. The recurrence of his mot seen as Peter blaming his mother for his poor expel dominantly represented in the poem by showing idea that belonging cannot be achieved without e Peter tells the reader how his mothers desire to co expectations has led to his feelings of unhappiness The poem 10 Mary Street focuses on describing t ensue of belonging it provides. It presents different through representations of people, relationships, p stanza, a key represents a sense of comfort, owner sense of continuous routine. The key symbolizes the leads to ownership of the home, which leads to owe belonging. The poems constant references to the support this idea. As the house will soon be pulled feelings of contentment and security will be lost. T to a key towards the end of the poem suggests a did disconnection, discomfort and disruption, as after will be useless, and therefore powerless. A familial nourishment is created using poetic devices. The is hyperbolic Bursting at the seams imply that Pete much love and care. The cultural heritage of the FAA with reference to cultural and social aspects such cigarettes. The lines heated discussions and embed passion and strong sense of belonging to their cult house The house stands in its china-blue coat of a strong, stoic and, perhaps even, noble house. Characteristics can also position the reader to view receptive the family has a strong connection with part of the family. The use of parentheses in the the been gazettes for industry) could be considered indicate extra and unimportant information, but the airily significant, and outlines a major event in the lives of the family. An important message of this poem is that the family will once more feel as though they do not belong, continuing the constant struggle faced by a family forced to dismiss what leads to self-belonging, and living in a country where they feel as though they do not truly belong. These families, like Peter Jerkinesss, are often met with the challenge of fighting exclusion, and remaining true to their culture and to themselves which, in essence, is the key to belonging. Peter Jerkinesss poems Feline Crooknecks, SST Patriots College and 10 Mary Street envoy a strong sense of belonging by exploring the concepts of not only feeling accepted and allied, but also displaced and insecure.
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Manufacturing processes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Manufacturing processes - Research Paper Example The industrial applications of 3-D printing includes rapid prototyping or CAD, design visualization, architecture, geospatial, metal casting, and in entertainment, among others. The application of 3-D printing is objected to reduce the cost and lead time of developing new devices and partsââ¬â¢ prototypes, which was earlier done by subtractive methods in the tool room. The current technology used is typically expensive and slowly to achieve its mission. Moreover, the 3-D printing has brought about production of manufacturing products in some creative and innovative brands that are cheaply produced. ARC is where welding power supply is used to maintain and create an electric arc between the base material and an electrode in order to melt metals at welding platform. It is advantageous since it affords to control greater weld area than other welding processes. It also produces the highest quality weld than other methods, especially when performed by skilled operators. Arc is applied to nearly all materials, except zinc and its alloy. Its disadvantages are the limitation of carbon steels because of availability of more economical steel welding techniques. Such as gas metal. The quality of the welds in this process depends on the skills of the person, hence can be operated by any level-skilled operator. It is advantageous due to its use of efficient energy, easy automation, high production rates, and requires no filler materials. It is limited to only certain applications due to lower weld strength, as compared to other methods. It requires a highly specialized skilled operator. It is disadvantageous since it requires the continuous feed of wire to act as an electrode and inert gas in order to protect the weld from being contaminated. Fortunately, it has advantage of high production rate due to the increased welding speed since it has continuous electrodes. It also requires a highly skilled operator in order to automate the process. This
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
The Impact of Fruit Juices on the Dental Erosion in Human Tooth Enamel Research Paper
The Impact of Fruit Juices on the Dental Erosion in Human Tooth Enamel - Research Paper Example This literature review explores the impact of fruit juices on dental health as well as the factors causing dental erosion. It also explores various investigations which are helpful in the detection and prediction of dental erosion. Considering the issue to be of paramount significance the present study has been carried out. Objectives: Human tooth is composed of minerals, organic matter as well as water with variation in the thickness, blood and nerve supply; therefore an irreversible alteration of mineralization is frequent. Consumption of soft drinks directly influences enamel of the teeth. The present study is conducted to review various factors which play an imperative role in dental erosion and the techniques for investigating the erosion of enamel. Methodology: Direct and indirect methods were adopted to study the dental erosion. Measurement of weight loss was performed with/ without stirring with magnetic rods, up to 300 revolutions per minute. Further micro-indentation, nano- indentation, profilometry, micro-radiography, chemical analysis techniques were adopted followed by microscopy. Result: Dental erosion examined with three fruit juices namely lemon, orange and apple, shows that prolonged consumption of orange juice leads to more severe dental erosion in babies as compared to adults. Conclusion: Phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, citric acid, malic acid and tartaric acid present in the fruit juices alter the pH of the enamel leading to its erosion. Fruit juices are known to cause chelation with calcium further, contributing to dental erosion. Aim of the project This project aims to find the impact of one such consumable substance i.e. fruit juice on teeth enamel and dentine of both children and adults. Also, this project provides background information of human teeth and information about dental erosion including the factors which affect erosion. In addition, this project reviews of techniques for investigating the erosion of enamel. The anatomical composition of the human tooth varies throughout the length. This variation is attributed to the difference in thickness of enamel and presence or absence of dentin, thickest enamel at the cusp and thinnest at the borders, moreover, borders also lack dentin, blood and nerve supply. Consumption of soft drinks directly influences enamel at the borders of teeth. It is imperative to understand the factors contributing to the dental erosion in adults as well as in babies. With this motive, the present study was carried out utilizing various modern techniques for investigation to safeguard individuals form witnessing dental erosions. Discussion Dental anatomy plays a vital role in making the enamel prone to the dental erosion due to consumption of food items rich in acidic components. Under normal pH bacteria proliferate if the microbes get adhered to the leftover food particles leading to the formation of dental carries or cavities (Touger-Decker, 2003). On the other hand, eating large q uantities of fruits on a regular basis also result in irreversible loss of tooth constitution due to their dissolution by organic acids present in the fruit juices. A chemical reaction occurs between the enamel of the teeth and the organic acids present in the fruit juices resulting in the dental erosion or the acid erosion and therefore it is one of the major dental health concern (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). A
Monday, August 26, 2019
Estate Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Estate Management - Essay Example Short-Term (1-5 years) Action Plans 2. CHA must include the target of achieving 100 % tenant profile within the year in order to allow for a more thorough assessment of the organizationââ¬â¢s performance in terms of providing Equality of Opportunities to all tenants, by the next reporting period. 3. Based on the available 81 % of Tenant Profile, there is a need to produce a set of questionnaires that will enable the Staff to gather feedback from each of the categories. The feedback ought to be about how well CHA performed the expected and prescribed services for customers. This will then result in a summary according to each category. 4. Within the first round of releasing, following up, and collecting, summarizing, the management should publish informative materials that every tenant should know so that all tenants will be aware of the opportunities made available to them by the government and CHA. This will at least give the Staff a chance to answer YES to the Self-Assessment Qu estionnaire that inquires if the organization has ââ¬Å"published documents that clearly and specifically set out our commitment and approach to equalities issuesâ⬠as found in the website of the SHR. However, the publication should be very careful not to communicate any hint of discrimination to any category of tenants. 5. In order to meet its moral obligation to every tenant under each category, another set of Survey Materials that are relevant to each category should be developed for the purpose of clarifying the perception or tenants. It will enlighten the management when it is able to find any discrepancy against the perception of the management concerning the way a category of tenants can be satisfied with products and services. 6. To expedite the gathering of survey results, providing restricted, online questionnaires would be a workable recommendation. Tenants should be emailed their Username and Password to access the survey questionnaires. This will prevent just anyb ody from being able access the private questionnaires. 7. But even before the formulation of questionnaires, the Staff should know under what category each tenant will fall under. There should be a more specific set of questions meant for each category. For example, if a tenant is gainfully employed, questions related to Equality of Opportunity may be phrased based on the assumption that the tenant can afford to spend for a higher end design, and will have options to choose loans to access. Those available financing facilities should be communicated to the gainfully employed tenant. If the tenant is unemployed, CHA can offer grants made available by the government. And the options for these people would be the more affordable designs. Equal opportunity should be defined as the relative chance to have a home that complies with the Decent Home Standards with the available means that tenants can afford to utilize. It should not be made to mean that everybody will be offered grants, sin ce grants are limited. If the people who are employed are the tenants notified about grants and they avail of it, what can be utilized for the unemployed to refurbish their homes in order to comply with the Decent H
Southern Distinctiveness.James C. Cobbs Away Down South Essay
Southern Distinctiveness.James C. Cobbs Away Down South - Essay Example In this book, Cobb argues that the southerners did not achieve distinctive identity with respect to politics, culture, and religion. However, he points out that the history of the Southern is the only distinctive feature of the South. He asserts that the quest for southern distinctiveness should be abandoned since it is both intellectually stultifying and politically dangerous. Indeed, I agree with Cobbââ¬â¢s statement that the search for southern distinctiveness should be thwarted since most of the debates, about this topic, usually trigger dangerous political arguments. Cobb identifies that the quest for southern distinctiveness is not an issue that originated in Southern regions of America, but it is the northerners, during the revolutionary era through the Civil War period, who begun stressing on the distinctiveness of the south (Cobb 222). It is until sectional crises of 1950s, originating from the remonstration of the southern region between 1860 and 1865, that the white sou therners realized the need to create their own identity (Cobb 222). After southerners lost in Confederacy, they became obsessed with the results of Civil War and Reconstruction, which dominated their imagination of forming the New South. In the quest for southern identity, New South propagandists, by 1900, had won a contest for defining post-war southern identity. They also created a remarkably comprehensive version of defining post Civil War South identity (Cobb 226). The new identity embraced the causes of the loss including a modern industrial future for the southern in alias with the northern capital. However, the New South identity failed to recognize the plights of African American, and embraced a regime of white supremacy. It is within the context of white supremacy that people begun questioning the significance of New South identity. During the second Reconstruction after World War II, the southern region was initially perceived as a confident and militant Africa-American co mmunity (Cobb 231). However, during the second Reconstruction, many southern scholars turned their feelings about their region to shame and guilt. This led to their defeat in the Civil War; something Cobb believes was as a result of disagreements and conflicts in white identity. Ironically, instead of conceding the defeat, some of the southern governors, still had the confidence to boost that the loss was as a result of their own mistakes, but not as a result of the entire nation. While the northern America was struggling to achieve a global image, the south was struggling to become Americanized. Cobb further indicates that both the white and black Americans were struggling to claim the southern identity (Cobb 229). However, African Americans, born and bred in the southern, have embraced the New South identity in a different perspective from the white southerners. Their definition of the southern identity does not include anything that relates to Lost Cause or Confederacy, but rathe r with community, place, family and culture (Cobb 234). In this case, they are trying to reclaim the identity of a region that was initially owned by white Americans. This implies that the initial definition of New South identity, which was structured by white intellectuals, was not valid enough to prove the southern distinctiveness south because it failed to recognize their presence, as members of the community, yet they participated in the Civil War and Reconstruction process (Cobb 234). This also indicates that people have mixed reactions and definitions when it comes to southern distinctiveness. Therefore, the quest for southern identity should be abolished as it creates unnecessary conflicts and dangerous politics among authors and other
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