Pages:20

 Abstract:

In this paper, we will be exploring the evolution of language as it happens over social media specially Instagram, with a particular focus on how it develops among the youth. Language is a very valuable resource in the evolution of culture itself. Youth identity, while being performed in various ways including fashion, music, dance, etc. is very much performed through the medium of language as well. Social media is a platform through which this language is employed and developed by the people most invested in their online livesthe youth. The activities of social media are not static but mobile since users can document their movements with the help of phones and their cameras, thus bringing in the language of mobility and description of space, which gives insight into the perception of space as well. In a space where image crafting is essential, people are careful about the language they use and do not use to make sure they express their identities just right. This is also aided by the accessibility that mobile phones provide. Content Analysis is being used to draw finding regarding the youth language on Instagram platform in the UAE. hundredsInstagram comments will be analyzed in order to view the use of language by Youth while using simple random sampling technique.

1.0  Literature review:

1.1 Trait model for linguistic behavior:

In a paper,Kulkarni, & Kern(2018), developed a trait model for linguistic behavior on social media. Given the expanse of data present within social media, they decided to forgo questionnaires and directly collect this data to avoid systematic response biases. In line with trait theory, they developed what they called behavior based linguistic traits that they infer by analyzing the plethora of words and phrases used by social media users. They developed five factors that capture real personality traits and this study aimed to see if these factors are stable across time and subpopulations and generalizable with good predictive power (Kim &Phua, 2020 p.12). Their dataset was also skewed towards the youth with the average age being 25.49 years. They concluded that the factors that they established were indeed generalizable and stable. This proved to be a significant step towards research into inferring personality characteristics online (Kulkarni. 2018)Schwartz Park in an article discusses the use of social media language for automatic personality assessment. In the study they assess personality using open vocabulary analysis of language from 66,732 accounts of Facebook. As per the findings, assessment based on language can aid immensely in constituting the personality measures. It can also aid in assessing the mental/ psychological traits of associated with rich portraits.(Park, 2015)

1.2 Language identification technology:

In a study by(Shekhar, Sharma &Sufyan Beg, 2019) the researchers have tried developing a system using Artificial Intelligence to identify language used on social media. The authors focus on English and Hindi, acknowledging that the language used lately on social media is a mix of both languages, that they call Code-mixed text. Online Hindi is written using the English alphabet and often English and Hindi are mixed together in the same sentence. Since there are no established spelling rules for Hindi when it is written in English script, given that people write them as they are pronounced and some pronounce them differently than others, this process is tricky because words become difficult to identify(Shashi, 2019 p.2).

Souvick Ghosh in an article discusses Sentiment analysis is the (NLP) task managing discovery and order of in text sentiments. While a few assignments manage distinguishing the element of in text sentiments, others target to decide the extremity of the text classifying it as neutral positive, and negative. Sentiment analysis tasks intends to decide the subjects, the objectives and the extremity or valence of the conclusion. In their work, they attempt to naturally extricate feelings (positive or negative) from Facebook posts utilizing a machine learning approach (Ghosh, 2017).  In another study, Instagram influence about brands and campaigns was targeted and influence of advertisement was estimated (Kim &Phua, 2020, p. 12).

1.3 Emojis and their role in relaying emotions:

In “Psyco-emotional Impact of Social Media Emoji’s (Zareen, N., Kareem, N., Khan, U., 2016)the researchers carried out a questionnaire regarding the psychological importance of emoji’s. Ninety-seven people from different workplaces and educational institutions in Rawalpindi and Islamabad in Pakistan filled out the questionnaire. An almost equal number of males and an equal number of females took part in the survey. The results showed that ninety percent of the participants considered messages containing emoji’s more meaningful than ones that did not contain emojis. 42% considered emoji’s a strong indicator of emotional expression. They concluded that, given their importance, the use of emojis can cause stress and psychological trauma (p.7).  They also noted that there was a difference in response rate across age groups and gender regarding the emotional impact of emojis and their effectiveness in emotional expression(Zareen, 2016).

Socialmedia needs a marketingrhetoric that grasps rising language use and the growing communicationnorms(Bookman & Hall, 2019 p.4). The Emoji’shave become major components of communication on socialmedia; yet, their job in supporting attempts of persuasion have not been analyzed efficiently. Based on general rhetoric, this study dismembers, depicts and names influencers on socialmediato initiateengagementthrough emoji’s whereposts from 600 Weibomade by 200 influencers were gathered to build up a scientific classification of emoticons.(Ge, 2018).

1.4 Linguistic diversity and determining authenticity:

Sender Dovchin explores the linguistic diversity in the linguistic practices online of Mongolian students in university.  He takes into account the socio-cultural, historical and ideological meanings behind the use of language in interactions online as well. The paper explores two main questions. One looks into the extent of these Mongolian students integrating varied lingua-cultural resources in their social media interactions (p.24). The second question explores the meaning of linguistic authenticity as perceived by these young people. He drew on sets of data taken from Facebook. His findings provide understanding into the co-existence of numerous authenticities within the increasingly globalized social sphere(Dovchin, 2015).Bookman & Hall (2019) in a study explained the impact of Instagram that has highlighted significance of brand under youth and involvement in gaining knowledge.  Ingrid Piller, in an article discusses the element of social inclusion in neoliberal markets. The agenda of social inclusion has been widely adopted and the policies of social inclusion are blinded bythe ways in whichmediation of social inclusion is made via language ideologies in societies that are linguistically diverse. As per the findings, it has a major impact on the policies of the social medium being chosen. (Piller, 2011)

1.5 Identifying regional dialects:

Jacob Eisenstein, in Identifying regional dialects in online social media (2014), looks at how social media language is influenced by region. The study explores how geography might impact social media language and how it is related to the spoken language of the geographical location and the long-term implications of this variation. His dataset consisted of Tweets containing GPS metadata from the United States of America, taking into account demographic variance. His research showed how language trends in social media change over time and how they vary regionally. He looked at various abbreviations that are used online and how their usage varies across different areas. His study also shed light on how certain dialects have begun to spread beyond their original region of use because of how people from different people, used to different modes of communication start coming into contact with them online. These trends are explored over the years (Eisenstein, 2014 p.8).

YuanHuang in an article discusses the US regional linguistic variation in twitter alongside the analysis of data. It understands the US regional linguistic variation by data analysis. The tagged tweets were analyzed to understand, what are the variations in the language used across the US and as per the regionalization results linguistic variations were found in in the U.S. The discovered regions not only confirm past research findings in the literature but also provide new insights and a more detailed understanding of very recent linguistic patterns in the U.S.(Huang, 2016).

1.6 Social Media and Drama:

Kathleen P. Allen conducted a case study about Tweeting, Texting (2014) into the drama that can take place on social media.  Her case study focused on a mother and herteenage upper middle-class daughter who was at the center of the drama. Her study attempts to confirm if the kind of drama that takes place on social media conforms to the already existing definition of drama. This is confirmed in the case study. Furthermore, her work develops emerging themes and fill gaps within the current understanding of drama and its literature(Allen, 2014, p.2).

(O’Meara) 2019,highlighted the inclusion of dramatic conversation in order to make the conversation effective. The population was secondary school students of Australia. The technique used was regarding the development of digital pretext for the project. The approach generate the examination of the student’s in order to discover the understanding of mistaken identities. The twelfth night from Shakespeare was performed in the classes.

1.7 Language practices based on platforms:

Every social platform has a different way of communication, and that leads to having a different style of language(Soukup, 2000, p.410). For example, Tweeter has allowed users to create status and tweets that include a maximum of 140 characters, so the public does not have a massive space to express or to convey what they want to say clearly. Otherwise, Facebook, which permits people to uses approximately 60,000 characters that mean Facebook’s statuses exceed twitter over 430 times the amount of content.  However, Twitter’s audience more likely to use the shortened style of language to fit their social platform requirement. Compared to Facebook, which does not border its characters as it is difficult to reach up to number 60,000. Most often, users on Facebook do not shorten their expression and words as much as Twitter’s users do(Aeid, 2015).

Alexandra Georgakopoulou, in an article discusses YouTube being a major source of using internet and leading as the top video sharing website, where people from around the world share their video content and over the years, it has evolved as a major source and medium of information sharing. The title and description of the videos alongside thee hashtags are relevant in helping spread the website and content. Using the right words leads to be in the top searches. (Georgakopoulou, 2015)

1.8 Generational gap in communication:

A study conducted by the BBC regarding social media contribution in reducing the level of Arabic language between youth. They say that most of young create a circle linguistic consider as a boundary which does not allow other generations to understand what they mean. Probably, this case is spread between university students that creates thousands of words which only being understandable with them. Furthermore, this study illustrated main reason of why youth abandon their mother language. Some writers and thinkers use a contemporary language, but it is full of ambiguity or vocabulary that is difficult to understand its context at times. At the same time, it brings a book to the difficulty of the task for young people through the use of old and challenging vocabulary and structures that may contribute to alienating youth from classical, and choosing to refrain from reading(Khateeb, 2019).

In the United Arab Emirates, many youth groups see that this contemporary youthful language call “Arabizi”, which mean the mixture between Arabic and English, became a necessity imposed by the dimensions of technology. Moreover, its effects multiplied with the identity crisis in our Arabic societies, making us between a crossroads(Mousa, 2012).

2.0 Theoretical Framework

New Media theory refers to the conceptualization and understanding of digital culture and mediums that are computational in nature. From search engines to video & picture sharing websites, the new media theory helps understand the content and what each image, sign, symbol etc. mean. (Kim &Phua, 2020, p. 15).

The Emoji’s. Comments, tone of the comments, hence each and every element in the study is linked with this theory.

Through the lens of new media theory a content analysis of the posts made by a set of people who use Instagram in the UAE will be analyzed in this study.The new media has introduced the participatory culture where users become a part of the story and directly comment.  Each Post creates its own mythology and shapes the mind of the viewer(O’Meara, 2019, p. 21). Like said, social media Emoji’s have psychological impact on the viewer. One major question that this research plans to address is how much of a role do theseusers deliberately let language play in the crafting of their online personas and theaesthetics of their Instagram profiles.

New media theory will aid in analyzing that how they use certain phrases, abbreviations,etc. to come off a certain way and maintain consistency with a certain aesthetic? This theory describes about digital technologies and sophisticated configuration regarding digital culture. New media is about digital platform that contains information and the theory is organized on socio-political principles (Jeknic, 2014, p.180). Further, how do they feel the language is a significant contributor to maintaining and enhancing their chosen aesthetic? New media theory will also aid in that this research aims to look at the relation between the Instagramusers’ online personas and their real lives and, most importantly, the relationship betweenthe language they use online and the language they use offline. It will aim to establishwhether the online images and impressions are crafted to provide users with an alter egoof themselves – to escape their real lives in a way – or whether it serves to enhance andfacilitate their present selves (Soukup, 2000, p 410).

3.0 Research Questions and Research Methodology:

This research aims to look at what young people in the age (18-25) who use Instagram think of the kind of language they use online for their posts. Instagram accounts usually are deliberately crafted around certain themes or aesthetics. Following are the research questions this study aims to address:

  1. What are the common languages used by youth on Instagram in UAE?
  2. How Instagram raises linguistic trend among youth language in UAE?
  3. How emojis contribute to the meaning message by youth language on Instagram?

The methodology of this research will involve content analysis of the posts made by a set of people who use Instagram in the UAE. The content on their Instagram profiles will be analyzed and they will be categorized into Personas. The frequency of certain words and phrases will be recorded. New Media Theory will be applied as well to see how many different mediums are being used by the participants and how their outreach is affected by new mediums and where the things influencing them come from and how.

The participants will be grouped into Personas and then into the broader communities. Their interactions with different communities and people with different personas will be analyzed to answers.

4.0 Content Analysis:

4.1 Case Background

The case is featuring the comments of the students of University of Sharjah and Higher College technology official Instagram account. There are hundreds of comments regarding distance learning because of coronavirus issue was evaluated on the basis of which the results were drawn. Simple random sampling technique was used in order to conduct the study and on the basis of its findings with regard to the research questions a conclusion will be addressed.

The profiles of the youth will be chosen what are the common language is used by youth on Instagram in UAE. How are they using languages like Arabic, English, Arabize.  In order to figure it out hundredInstagram accounts will be evaluated with the text written and we’ll conclude our result based on these accounts and the comments sample. We studied the different comments, almost every student was worried about the distant learning strategy. Students who are not friendly with the technology were confused of online classes and exams because they prefer to attend classes in person. We experienced different emotions in comments by the students, they seemed to be furious against the decision of this distant learning and online exams. In this pandemic, where people are already psychological disturbed, students are more concerned about their studying techniques and they didn’t find themselves ready to accept this distant learning idea.  We will evaluate the comments posted on these specific posts & the responses gathered in terms of their post likes.

 4.2 sampling

We chose the qualitative content analysis in our study to analyze the youth language on social media. Besides, official Instagram accounts of Higher Colleges of Technology and the University of Sharjah in terms of the new decisions and regulations regarding distance learning and the new grading system. The number of student’s comments on these posts in both universities has increased. However, it was easy to collect a diversity of student’s impressions and assess their uses language on social media.

According to the official Instagram account of Higher Colleges of Technology. Occasionally, they are uploading posts concerning new politics and regulations, which consider as controversial news between college students. In light of the Coronavirus crisis, HCT established new decisions that led to attracting a considerable number of student’s participation. Besides the comments, we will observe the diversity of feedbacks and opinions between agreeing and disagree, and each student has an individual style of linguistic replying to that post. Nevertheless, we have chosen the post that uploaded on the 7th of April 2020 via the HCT account as it gains approximately 717 comments.

On the other hand, UOS has announced the continuous of using its distance learning technology on its official Instagram account on the 30th of March 2020 because of spreading Coronavirus. However, more than 100 students put comments and opinions regards this new decision whether to accept or reject. Usually, university students have using many linguistic styles to express their views.

4.3 Coding

Four main linguistic styles show similar in both accounts, which means the linguistic style of HCT students is identical to UOS students. Usually, the students whether in HCT or UOS, are using professional Arabic, UAE local linguistic, English, and Emojis linguistic. Besides the new decisions issued in both universities regarding continuous distance learning technology and the new grading system. There are a lot of complaints that came from students of these universities, so it was easy to observe their linguistic culture.

4.3.1 Emojis and symbols:

In this case of the university, students have shown their interaction and involvement by using emojis. We observed the repetitive of using similar emojis when they want to express their emotions. Using a happy face, clapping hands, Dancing, and hearts Emojis, all of them consider as an indication of approval. On the other hand, the crying, and angry emojis reflects that students disagree and did not accept the new regulations and decisions. Comparing between HCT and UOS Instagram accounts, we noted that there is a similarity of using Emojis types.

For example, every post, especially that regards to new decisions and regulations; we observe that students depend on similar Emojis. Sometimes they do a combination between comments and symbols, as they consider the Emojis as support to their opinions and expressions. However, the study selected two subjects, one from UOS and the other from HCT, both of them are talking about social learning distance and new grading system policies. We found that students used repetitive Emojis in both universities, such as hearts, happy faces, and clumping for accepting the new regulations and policies. Otherwise, some students in the same posts show the rejection and unaccepted that decisions, so they left the most common Emojis like breaking hearts, angry face, and crying emoji.

Figure 1 and 2 will clarify how the students using the Emojis to express their acceptance between two universities. Also, it shows the similarity of Emojis that have used by students:

Comments:

 

Figure2: represents UOS
Figure1: HCT

 

 4.3.2Comments

The current research study shows the involvement of students with the decisions of university authority. According to the objective of this study, comments and emojis are important to understand the nature of decision and response. Comments discuss the common language used by students on Instagram and prevailing trends.Some students show liking and some disliking, based on the fact that coronavirus needs to adopt distance learning approach, it was not appreciated by many. Each social platform specially Instagram uses its own kind of language and emojis as sufficient communication. The study has identified regional dialects that are popular on Instagram because every region is common to use prevalent language with minimal variations.In comments, students’ best explain the expression they can.For example, students commented, ‘how classes can be stopped’, or ‘online learning is no easier’ etc. besides, this part will introduce the comments that have used via students in the posts that shared by UOS and HCT regards the news politics and decisions

  • Complaints and Criticisms

Many students see Instagram as a way of sending complaints, suggestions, and public discussions.  For instance, both universities have students do not communicate with management directly; they are sharing their problems on Instagram and publicly. Although the management of both universities replies to their complaints, still they insisting on creating controversially. For example, some comments were about the new policies of the final exam it shows the students are afraid. The common comment was, ” how will we deal with the online final exam?”. However, both of these universities students show the same expressions about the new policies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Mockery and Irony

The purpose of irony in literature is to stop the audience and let them think about what they are doing. In this way, a criticism mockery is developed to achieve the objective. The objective of study is to find out the impact of youth language through Instagram while social media is a common way to estimate the way by which students behave. It is common among youth and students have shown their decisions in this way. For example, the comments included spoof words regards social distance learning and about their student’s life, and they are missing the parking traffic and university’s crowded.It is a common part of new media that aims at opinion meaning or shows sentiments.On the other hand, there are some students lifting comedian and irony comments on both universities’ decisions. Also, some students thanks to Corona Virus, because it let the universities to cancel the classes and attendance.

Figure5: represents comedian comments

 

  • Students discussions:

Also, Instagram allows the interaction of individuals through sharing, sending, posting, and uploading statuses. Students of these universities like and enjoy social media because of its trend in UAE. The common posts used for this paper are two posts from official Instagram accounts of Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and the University of Sharjah (UOS). Students commented on these posts and reflected their expressions.

For example, students in both universities, reply to each other under the posts regarding the new decisions. Although the universities were clarifying in-depth the details about the new regulations, some students still depend on their colleagues for discussions and questions. Another example, some students put predictable news and analysis the new decisions as they like, such as “they say that everybody will pass this course” or “the final exam will be difficult.” Sometimes the replies on one student’s comments reach to approximately 30.

 

Figure6: represents discussion comments on student’s reply

4.3.3 languages:

Also, there are a group of students left comments that clarify the reasons for acceptance or rejection of the new decisions. Besides the feedback, we noticed that UOS and HCT students using English, original Arabic, and UAE local linguistic to reply to the posts.for example, it is found out that language practice differs in Arab, Emirati, and international students, specifically at the University of Sharjah. The inference is drawn from the experiment to discuss an element of diversity due to multiple nationalities in this sample. The findings suggest that specialization has a significant role in determining language, such as Arab specializations that have shown students who were inclined to the Arabic writers.

The English language is found as a primary mode of communication because international students with majors preferred the English language. In Higher College of Technology, Emirati language is preferred by Emirati nationality holders, while the English language is also preferred because it is a primary language by college teachers.  There are three main linguistics elements that used by both university students which consists of:

 

  • UAE local Dialect:

We observed that local students preferred using the local language to express their opinions and feelings according to the new decisions and regulations that changed based on the Covid-19 crisis. There are a lot of comments that lifted by Emirates students, whether complaints or suggestions. Comparing UOS and HCT, we saw that HCT has students using the local language as all of them are citizens. on the other hand, UOS has a mixture of nationalities which shows some different local languages Egyptian.

Figure8: represents HCT language
Figure7: represents HCT language

 

 

  • Original Arabic Dialect:

Both universities have students who are depending on original Arabic for many reasons. When they communicate or sending questions to the university, they are using the Arabic language because it will become official participation. Another example, UOS consider as an umbrella of civilizations, so they using Arabic as an understandable way of communicating. Besides new decisions, many students lift a significant Arabic sentence to express if they accept or reject it. most probably they are writing and show more when they disagree as it considers the best method to suggest or sending opinions.

Figure9: represents original Arabic language

 

 

 

  • English Language

The English Language considers as the second primary language in UAE and, it is an essential language in most of the universities. According to UOS and HCT, when they posted about new rules and policies. Some students participated in English, especially foreigners. Both universities are teaching English, so usually, their students will depend on the English language, whether in classes or on social media. Moreover, there are many UAE citizens, and from the Arab region who is witting an English. Also, they are using this language to communicate with their universities or friends.

Figure10 & 11: represents English language by HCT students

 

 

 

5.0 Discussion and Conclusion

The issue of distance learning due to Covid-19 is discussed in this paper, under hundreds of comments by students of official Instagram accounts of the University of Sharjah and Higher College Technology. A random sampling technique is used to know results. After studying different comments, the use of emojis, and texts were written by students, and perception is examined. The content analysis provided a grading system, diversity of feedback, and their opinion about agree and disagree. This structure is analyzed under the linguistic style because it was most familiar with students to show their expression.

Research findings are drawn on theoretical framework under significant terms. Trait model for linguistic behavior analyzes the plethora of words and phrases used by social media. The Language identification technology like Artificial Intelligence Code-mixed text are important to understand the comments. In addition, emojis put psyco-emotional impact on behavior and expression. Emoji is also used frequently because it takes less time and effort to show the likeness. Linguistic diversity represents ideological meanings. It is clear from the study that diversity of language is common among students. The regionalization results linguistic variations such as different dialects.

The current research study discussed the impact of youth language on Instagram with specific reference to the UAE. Common words, phrases, emojis and symbols are popular with youth on social media. Through emojis, a higher proportion of the student’s reflected that they agree and disagree. Research has used different languages common with youth that they frequently used on Instagram.New media theory has added in this research by looking at the relation between the Instagram users’ online personas and their real lives and, most importantly, the relationship between the language they use online and the language they use offline.In UAE, different youth groups are engaged in youthful language, English, Arabic, and Arabize, a mixture of both English and Arabic. Research study has answered the research questions that English, Arabic and using emojis are the common languages used by youth in UAE for Instagram.Arabize is a combination of two languages, and none of such language was acquired that represent dual characters, so it is preferable to say it is an ancient language.

Also, the paper answered how emojis contribute to the delivery of the messageand youth using it. The situation presents that young people need a quick solution, so they preferred quick response through a short emoji expression. Current study has added value to existing literature by focusing on the linguistic behaviors and structural significance through prevailing social media methods.Instagram also raises the linguistic trend on them by using special comments, discussing the case and posts between each other, and taking answers by comments and replying.Content analysis has illustrated the scope of language and students’ perception due to social media and how effectively they describe.

6.0 Bibliography

 

  • Giraud, E. (2018). New Media Theory. Retrieved 3 27, 2020
  • Bookman, S., & Hall, T. (2019). Global Brands, Youth, and Cosmopolitan Consumption: Instagram Performances of Branded Moral Cosmopolitanism. Youth And Globalization1(1), 107-137. doi: 10.1163/25895745-00101006
  • Aeid, N. (2015). The Evolution of The Language Used In Social Media. Retrieved from Grin : https://www.grin.com/document/356371
  • Khateeb, A. (2019). Do social media contribute to the weak level of the Arabic language among young? . Retrieved from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-50839907
  • Mousa, N. A. (2012). Arabizi technology kills Arabic technology . Retrieved from Albayan : https://www.albayan.ae/paths/life/2012-04-15-1.1630986
  • Kulkarni, V., Kern, M., Stillwell, D., Kosinski, M., Matz, S., Ungar, L., Skiena, S., Schwatz, H., (2018).Latent human traits in the language of social media: An open-vocabulary approach, PLoS ONE 13(11):e0201703. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201703
  • Shekhar, S., Sharma, D., Beg, M., (2019).An effective cybernated word embedding system for analysis and language identification in code-mixed social media text, International Journal of Knowledge-based and Intelligent Engineering Systems
  • Zareen, N., Kareem, N., Khan, U., (2016).Psyco-emotional Impact Of Social Media Emojis, Isra Medical Journal
  • Dovchin, S., (2015).Language, multiple authenticities and social media: The online language practices of university students in Mongolia. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
  • Eisenstein, J., (2014).Identifying regional dialects in online social media
  • Allen, ,(2014). Tweeting, Texting, and Facebook Postings: Stirring the Pot with Social Media to Make Drama – Case Study and Participant Observation, The Qualitative Report.
  • Ge, J. (2018). Emoji rhetoric: a social media influencer perspective. Journal of Marketing Management, 1272-1295.
  • Ghosh, S. (2017). Sentiment Identification in Code-Mixed Social Media Text. Cornell University, 1-10.
  • Georgakopoulou, A. (2015). The Routledge Handbook of Language and Digital Communication.
  • Huang, Y. (2016). Understanding US regional linguistic variation with Twitter data analysis. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 244-255.
  • Jeknic, O. (2014). New media or new interfaces: The concept of interface in Lev Manovich’s’ theory of new media. Kultura, (145), 188-197. doi: 10.5937/kultura1445188j
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  • O’Meara, V. (2019). Weapons of the Chic: Instagram Influencer Engagement Pods as Practices of Resistance to Instagram Platform Labor. Social Media + Society5(4), 205630511987967. doi: 10.1177/2056305119879671
  • Park, G. (2015). Automatic personality assessment through social media language. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 934-952.
  • Piller, I. (2011). Linguistic diversity and social inclusion. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 371-381.
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Pages:6

Album Review

The Believe album by Justin Bieber was released in 2012 and sold 374000[1] copies in the first week and made its way to the Billboards no.1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. The studio album contains 13 songs, while the deluxe version of the album has three extra songs.

 

The album is a recognized quality music album that showcases novelty in the artistic platform of the singer as it is somewhat different from the previous albums of the singer. Many Beliebers, Justin Bieber fans, celebrated the album while the album also endeavoured to attract more fans in the Belieber basket. Although the lyrics of some songs might not resonate with the vast majority, the tunes, rhyme, and rhythms emphasize on the maturing stages of Justin Bieber’s music career. The album’s essence is similar to that of Justin Timberlake’s early 2000s style with appealing, catchy and compelling songs that have been hit as club beats such as the songs “Boyfriend” and “As Long As You Love Me.”

 

“It is a very enjoyable, dance-leaning pop record, but it is not the new Justin Timberlake album,” suggests Billboard’s critic Jason Lipshutz. “And why should it be? Bieber is still just 18 years old and trying to find his musical lane while grappling with an unprecedented amount of attention. Because his growth in front of the camera has occurred so quickly and steadfastly, his music has been (unfairly) expected to do the same.”

 

The song Maria has its basis in the electronic tones and its context lies in the name of the song in itself. Mariah Yeater[2] was an obsessive Justin Bieber fan, and things got out of control when she went on to claim that Justin Bieber fathered his child and filed a suit against him. The paternity suit was soon dropped off when Justin took the DNA test and filed a lawsuit against Mariah for misusing the law. This incident resonates with Michael Jackson’s famous hit, Billie Jean, and is intended to allude back to draw a comparison between the similar events that occurred. It has been recognized as the modern version of Billie Jean.

The song starts with a collection of audio recordings that set the context of the song, and they provide a fade-in effect that marks the beginning of catchy period beats. The song has a very dramatic sound that mirrors the intensity of the incident that is conveyed through the lyrics. The tonal highs and lows also add to the dramatic effect, and the electronic beats give the song a modern sound while at the same time incorporating pop sounds to retain the song’s link with the Michael Jackson hit.

The drum beats are also periodically synchronized throughout the song that gives the song a funk side. These, along with the tonal waves from the singer’s voice, provide a diversified rhythm to the song that is indicative of the scale of the impact this incident had on the singer as he is reported to have said that he might have left his music career behind because of the toxicity that accompanied this event. Hence this autobiographical song with its lyrics and music reflects the impact it had on the singer and is an attempt to convey the mentioned distress to his fans, also known as “Beliebers.”

Moreover, this song does not have just one instrument in the background, as mentioned before, but contains a mixture of many. This quality is again perhaps indicative of the singer’s plethora of feelings.

Lastly, the song ends on a very definitive and charged note as the singer cries “She’s not my girl” to finish the song that draws parallelism with Michael Jackson’s lyrics from Billie Jean and the singer has tried to mimic the shrillness and tonal rhythm of the iconic hit song.

The song Beauty and the Beat is another rich song from the album that features the renowned Nicki Minaj, and the German-Russian DJ Zedd has made the music composition. The song is party music and fully endorses the pop music sounds, and the catchy phrases like “party like 3012” add to the overall casual tone of the song. This particular lyric also pays homage to Prince[3]. The rhythmic beats of the music go well with the pop music of the song.

The song starts by giving the listeners a good time with the jovial beats of the song with an energetic interjection by Nicki Minaj, who raps in the latter part of the song. Nicki says her catchphrase “Young Money” and continues to say her and Justin’s name in the same tonal energy that is found in the rest of the song, and hence, this serves as a sort of preliminary introduction to the song.

This song encompasses the electro-pop genre. The combination of electronic tones and pop music makes the overall sound incredibly catchy. The unique quality of this song is the expansive time dedicated solely to beats that also strengthens the song in general as it complements the title Beauty and the “Beat.” The beats are a mixture of the 1980s synth-pop and the modern Electronic Dance Music (EDM). This fusion mixes the old with the new, the fast with medium-paced, and the lyric with the music and allows all of these to sync in with each other to create this popular song.

One of the significant, highlighting factors of this song is its rap part that features the famous Nicki Minaj. The song already has a very upbeat sound to it, and adding Nicki’s rap takes the song to another level of excitement. Although the main musical sounds of the song remain intact while the featuring part of Nicki, the rap adds a novel element of funk in the song. Nicki’s role is given a short amount of time, but this is strategically beneficial for the sounds of the song as a little spice adds to the baked flare. Her rap lyrics also add a bit more fire to the already fierce song as she sings, “…I gotta keep an eye out for Selenur…” This reference is made to the then Justin Bieber girlfriend Selena Gomez, and their relationship was recognized as relationship goals by many. So combining something wanted in the rap makes the beats even more interesting to listen to.

The next song is Fall and has a very slow and calming beat that serves as a fitting romanticization of young love between two best friends. Once again, this song is autobiographical to an extent. The lyrics describe the relationship between “Jelena,” Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez, and the romantic essence is further developed by the slow-paced highs and low found in the music.

Additionally, the singer’s manager, Scooter Braun, reported that the song was also inspired by the epic romance “A Walk to Remember.” The layered vocals of the singer evoke a melodramatic tone in the song that pays tribute to the romantic side of the song. His voice immerses in sorrow as the singer hits low notes, but soon the singer uplifts the mood by hitting high notes that summarize the meaning of the song, which is also said in the lyrics “you can’t fly unless you let yourself fall.”

The instruments used in this song include drums and guitar chords majorly. The combination of these two is enough to invoke a serene tone that goes well when combined with the singer’s voice. The song is made poppy and catchy because of its instrumental sound. It, along with carrying a sad undertone as depicted by the slow and calming chords, also carries a positive feeling that seems to override the melancholy found in the music. This concoction is similar to another song found in the album, called Catching Feelings.

Moreover, the sound of the song comes as extremely simple and soft that is in contrast with the rest of the loud sounds, including rap, electronic, pop, and EDM. This song evokes a sweet sound, and that is because of its slow-paced beats and rhythm. Overall, this song does recognize and present itself as a love song that is well sung and well-composed. The critic Lipshutz mentions about the song that it allows the fans to see the singer’s artistic potential and says it “scratches the surface of truly affecting songwriting.”

All in all, this album makes its mark in the listener’s ears because of its musical genius. The lyrics, as some critics have argued, could have been a little better, but considering that this is an album coming from an 18-year-old, this aspect can be conceded. This album does not offer any thought-provoking philosophical moments but is instead a fun album.

The mentioned records, Maria, Beauty and the Beat and Fall, are brilliant songs in their rights. Their tones, instrumentals, beats, and genres, in conjunction with the pretext to the songs, make them unique. The combination of different genres is visible in these songs, and the singer’s voice complements the highs and the lows found in the music that makes these songs timeless.

References

Nationalpost.com, (2012) “Justin Bieber wrote a song about Mariah Yeater’s Paternity Suit”

The Hollywood Reporter, (2012) “Justin Bieber’s “Believe” Album: What the Critics Are Saying”

 

[1] Billboard official statistics from billboard.com

[2] Information extracted from nationalpost.com

[3] American singer and songwriter

Pages:3

how or why is jealousy a destructive force in act4

Othello is one of Shakespeare’s greatest pieces of art that describes the human emotions and how they can completely disrupt everything. Othello’s is the lead character who is depicted as someone who’s jealous. This essay addresses the element of Jealousy is one of the most destructive force as it brings hate, anger, and all negative energy in the human body. Jealousy is what effects everything,the personality gets destroyed during the time a person is Jealous.This revengeful angry attitude of his ended up making the whole predicament extremely difficult for him.

It was like a wind of Rampage as he became brutal in his actions. He spilled out all his negative sentiments in the acts of depicting his rage openly. He became shameless in this regard and created destruction all through the process.He became emotional, and there is a predicament in the play where he became a phase of trance filled with anger and rage. Even at a point in His wife also tells him, “I understand a fury in your words.” An example that directly points out of him being this much jealous in his understanding of the situation is all the schemes that were very destructive in nature. . (Rai)

In Act 4, soon as Iago told him that Cassio having an affair with Desdemona, his wife, Othello, became exceedingly angry, and he was so angry just be hearing about this rumor that he had made up his mind to cut her in pieces. He seems to have completely lost all his senses only after hearing a story that could have been wrong. He was so jealous in himself that his ager would take over everything he thinks, and he would go out in rage to take revenge on the predicament he was in. Lago, who is a very conniving and cynical friend of his & knows about his anger and resentment, tries to manipulate him further. . (Rai)

This is all due to the destructive nature of anger that he had no control over, and that would instead take control over him. He would become furious and make rash decisions.  His jealously would take control of all his anger and make him a monster. He had lost his mind so much that soon as his corrupt friend would suggest him anything negative, he would become utterly senseless in his doings. The jealously and anger could even be felt in his voice as he would rage out, and he would be very angry with his wife. . (Rai)

Every word he spoke. Othello had transformed into a jealous and psychologically unstable person. He’s angry and extremely unstable mindset was making him an animal.  He would lose his mind, and he would lose any control over himself.  This jealousy of his has made him Lose his thinking process. He is not logical in his thinking by any means and the situation. This jealously has made him so vulnerable, and he loses his mind completely at every step of the way. The temper that he loses in a second takes over his thought process so much. . (Rai)

The fact that he doesn’t have that much tolerance in him makes him transforms him entirely, and he becomes very vulnerable. He does not wait at any level, and his rage takes over him. His anger and all sorts of outbursts come to notice instantly. Othello’s lack of temper, he fits the description of a negative individual. He perfectly fits the description of a negative and tragic hero in the play. His jealousy that is so destructive that takes over him time and again makes him, unlike any other individual who is meaninglessly angry.

 

Works Cited

Rai, Ram Prasad. “SHAKESPEARE’S, JEALOUSY AND DESTRUCTION IN WILLIAM.” International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (2016): 53-59.

 

 

Pages:15

A significant increase in female employment in the corporate sector has been noticed around the world. As a consequence, women have made substantial progress in achieving the middle-level managerial position in formal businesses, but encounter challenges while their way towards leadership posts (Sabharwal, 2013; Ricucci, 2009; Bowling et al., 2006).Various metaphors such as “sticky floors”, “a glass ceiling”, “a glass wall”, “a glass escalator” have been cited to describe prevalent difficulties.“The Glass ceiling” phenomenon describes those hurdles and blockades that females face within their journey towards leadership positions (Kabir, 2020; Baxter and Wright, 2000); whereas, the “Glass walls” points to those hurdles which let the females work in specific agencies conventionally recognized to be more feminine (Ng and Sears, 2017; Kabir, 2020; Baxter and Wright, 2000). “Glass escalators” points at the professional separation based on gender (Kabir, 2020). Similar to this, ‘Sticky floors’ try to hold the women at jobs of lower-level and prevents females to advance into higher hierarchy posts (Kabir, 2020).  The glass ceiling phenomenon has often been linked with employed, and studies have traced that in contrast to males, women have 18% less chance of promotion into the top-level managerial posts (Parker, 2018).

This essay highlights the experiences of employed African-American females while advancing towards top management ranks. Many studies have been done on female leaders andmanagers to recognize the main reasons for success and failures (Morrison, White & Van Velsor, 1982).  Many studies on women have been completed in small organizations (Davis and Maldonado 2015). According to Bell (1992), research on women and particularly on women of colour are ignored by the researchers. On the other hand, Waring (2003) points out that if there is any research or scholarship on women and management, it represents the standpoint of one group only while ignoring the impact of gender and race on African-American females.

This essay has been divided into four parts. The first part discusses ‘the glass ceiling effect’ in detail followed by the factors encouraging women to advance at the higher-level management positions. The next part highlights leading factors contributing to ‘the glass ceiling’ at the workplace in American Context in general with the help of theories notably Feminism and the Critical Race theory and relevant literature on the focal topic. The penultimate part discusses the evidence of ‘concrete ceiling’, particularly in the context of African Americans[1]followed by the factors causing them to face these effects. The final section provides the conclusion of the essay.

Accurate history of the ‘glass ceiling’ concept has not been found; however, its evidence can be traced back to the United States in the late 1970s (Wirth, 2001; Eagly and Carli, 2007). ‘Glass ceiling’ has a negative connotation and it refers to those hurdles and barriers which a woman confronts in her attempt to advance at top leadership positions (Kabir, 2020; Baxter and Wright, 2000; Saleem et al., 2017). It happens by restricting the eligible women by creating invisible hurdles to prevent them from being promoted  (Sabharwal, 2013; Kiaye and Singh, 2013),and to be chosen for analytical roles because of the typical workplace belief of encouraging men at top posts (Acker, 2009; Kiaye and Singh, 2013; Schein, 2007).

Although the participation of women in the corporate workforce reached to 57% in 2016 as compared to 34% in 1950 in the United States (Weinstein, 2018), they are still facing invisible hurdles that are restricting the women to process at the top-level positions. This can be echoed in the scholarship publishing on the focal topic. The scholarships have pointed out the existence of ‘occupational discrimination’ in the United States, and it is generally believed that women are more suitable to work in industries particularly teaching, nursing, and other social work (Weinstein, 2018) while men are suitable for law enforcement bodies and others professions. This occupational separation between men and women resulted in a difference in their wages. It has been noticed that women-dominant profession was less paid as compared to the male-dominant professions. The wage gap reduced following the1980s, but the concept is evident still (Graf et al., 2018). Research reveals that in the United States men’s annual earnings ($50,442), on average, are almost twice as compared to women’s earning ($28,683) (Pierre, 2019). These gender pay differences and occupational segregation reflect the perception of the society about the role of females and their value to the companies.

The women underrepresentation has been noticed in large corporations also. Catalyst (2019) shows that men lead most of the Standard & Poor’s 500 companies, while women lead only 24% of companies. Thus, extremely less females end up in high-level positions informal businesses. Women, who reach this level often, appear to complain of being isolated at the organization. This structured alienation proves to be harmful to female wellbeing and limits them to utilize their full potential to progress in the top managerial posts, and it has been noticed that in the United States a small percentage of women (5%) appear to occupy top management (Catalyst, 2020). This reflects the clear division in leadership positions based on gender in top-level roles in companies. This, further, reflects thatin the United States women will be less likely to be hired at higher hierarchy management posts due to employers’ perception that men are good in performing certain tasks that women generally do. In addition to the above, it has been noticed in the literature that in the beginning of the career,as compared to women, men are getting rapid (30% higher) promotion; the likelihood of women to spend about five years in the stagnancy of Job to be promoted to next cadre is more than men (Fierre, 2019).

In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers tried to find out the lost links between the oppressed groups with the construction of, race, gender, nationalism, and social class (Collins, 2003). “Social class” is defined “as a descriptive, static system of individual classification” (Collins, 2003; Eagly, 2005), and these boundaries give the men more opportunities to have easy availability of top posts with increased power.  In this essay, the glass ceiling effect on African-American females is demonstrated by the help of two theories, i.e. the Critical Race Theory and Feminism. The critical race theory and feminism both have a common point of view regarding the marginalized commodities of society.

Racism is a dynamic and organized concept whereby certain influential racial groups  have privilege and benefits, on the other hand, it also dis-empowers and removes resources from the inferior group (Gee, G.C., Hing, A., Mohammed, S., Tabor, D.C. and Williams, D.R., 2019).For example, in the United States, the whites are an influential racial people. This concept works in multifaceted ways such as bad treatment by social institutions, prejudices, stereotypes, and discriminatory behaviors towards inferior group. The Critical Race Theory (CRT) was emerged in 1970s with the study of race, racism and power by many activists and scholars (Crenshaw 1988). The main focus of the CRT is the liberation of social groups, economic empowerment, and justice (McCoy and Rodricks 2015). The CRT tries to encounter theWhite dominancy, White power, and makes statements of just appointment of pupils in the light of “color blindness”  (Matsuda et al. 1993). On the other hand, Feminism is a movement for the rights of women and the person that talks about the women’s rights is referred as a Feminist.Gloria Bowles, Mary Belenky, Sandra Harding, and Liz Stanley (Wadsworth, 2001) are some key researcherson feminist discourse that emphasizes on women rights. Theories of feminism have highlighted the women oppression and gender inequality (hooks, 1984; Eisenstein, 2004). Feminists have different point of view regarding social groups/class. According to Hook (1984), this belief helps females in the US to unite against social discriminations and sexist oppression that paves a path to calibrate a united sense of women’s social status (Davis, D.R. and Maldonado, C., 2015). “Feminist theory addresses among other things, theconditions for the actuality of men and women – historical,political, economic, and ontological along with the virtualforces this actuality contains and through which it can betransformed” (hooks, 1984, p. 101). The main researchfocus were the White females and some women of colour (Collins, 1990; hooks, 1994;Parker, 2005). According to Collins (2003), Feminists scholarship challenged the concept of centrality of gender. Its main focus was on gender equality but it neglected the effect of race on oppression of women. Conversely, theories of Black Feminism gave novel angles and frameworks for analyses on leaders amongst African-American women (Davis, D.R. and Maldonado, C., 2015). As per Hooks 1994, Black females’ interest in Feminism is double i.e. women and Black “which continually perpetuate the belief that the self is formed in opposition to another” (p. 34).

 

The theory of Black feminism opens the door of experiences of Black females to other men and women. Black feminist theory covered the area of marginalization, where Black women are different not only from men but also from the other marginalized and white women (Collins, 2000). These women have distinct growth, developmentand power experiences. The underrepresentation of females at top management position in the United States is clearly visible. It can be argued that societal behavior and cultural factors at the United States are causing ‘glass ceiling’ effect for women at the workplace. This is not the case that such kinds of barriers have similar effect for the women of different races in the United States. The scholarships have echoed substantial disparity in the USin workplace experiences of African-America women and white women. Thus African American females are heavily affected by the hurdles of  the“glass ceiling” because of the preexisting feelings against the race African American. For instance, there is strong evidence of the phenomenon in the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) office as the statistics reveal that only 3.8% of 4662 employees consist of African-American females.

 

The next term is called the ‘Concrete ceiling’ (Clay, 1998). Concrete ceiling is also called ‘Black Ceiling’ (Sepand, 2015). Discrimination on the basis of racism and sexism remain consistent in formal businessesand the like thereof (Gaetane, Williams &Shermaine, 2009). Vaughn & Miller (1997) emphasized, “the twin guise of racism and sexism still imposes great restraints on the utilization of the competence and talents of African American women” (p. 179).The Socio-cultural perspective includessocial class, race, and gender in the analysis of the nauances of power where it can be used as an oppressive tool (Merriam &Caffarella, 1999 as cited in Byrd, 2009). The oppressed African-American women are knitted in the system of race and gender which disempowered them in organizations exhibiting White supremacy (Stanley, 2009). According to Stanley (2009), “the lived experiences of African American women are not located within separate spheres of race, gender and social class. Rather, these spheres intersect and shape social realities that are not captured within traditional feminist discourse” (p. 552).

 

The presence of African-American females is scarce in the top-level posts of the businesses dominant with Black people. About merely six out of the “Black Enterprise Magazine’s top 100 businesses” have African American Women as CEOs (Williams, 1995, p. 65). This underrepresentation can be attributed to various individual and organizational factors that create hurdles for a woman to advance at higher management level positions. At individual level, factors such as: gender socialization role (Schweitzer et al., 2011), reducedself-esteem, and self-efficacy of women  (Matthews et al., 2010), life and work issues (Coronel et al., 2010), and the deficient social familial encouragement (Aycan, 2004), deficient mentors (Sealy and Singh, 2010) and deficient environment factors (such as, career sponsors and mentors) imperative for growth and advancement (Hersby et al., 2009; Metz, 2009) hamper female progress towards achieving professional goals. In the organizational level, aspects including, organizational surroundings (such as, unfavorable attitude and lack of objectivity towards females; Aycan, 2004; Broadbridge and Weyer, 2007), a deficiency of systematicand structured encouragement (Aycan, 2004), gender stereotyping attitude towards management posts (Schein, 2007), and non-supportive Human Resourcelaws and policies with regards to females (Hamel, 2009) are contributing towards women’s progress into management.

The black women have experienced substantially different kind of experience than white women in terms of the wage gap, high-level involvement in formal businesses, and access to opportunities (Fierre, 2019). Further, the studies have reported that black women, as compared to the white females, repeatedly endure barriers and stagnancy in the mobility of their careers and are also differentiated due to their race as well as their gender (Fierre, 2019). The studies have reported that black females occupy less senior, upper level management jobs in companiesas compared to their white female colleagues (Fierre, 2019). Further, there exist substantial incomedifferences between black and white women (Lockhart, 2018; National Women’s Law Centre, 2018). It has been reported that black women appear to earn $23,653 less than a white woman on annual basis (Lockhart, 2018; National Women’s Law Centre, 2018). The literature has reported that none of the black women occupy leading position in the Standard & Poor’s 500 companies (McGregor, 2018). In addition to the above, it has been noticed that black women have underrepresentation on the corporate board and, further, they are experiencing lack of mentorship for acquiring top leadership position in the corporation (Beeson and Valerio, 2015).

There are numerous factors which are contributing to concrete ceiling in the United States. A major reason that black females are experiencingthis isthat the black females who reach higher-level position in the organization are alone and have litter or no mentoring support (Clay, 1998).  Research on the twenty African-American females on top posts showed that guidance is the most important part in their lives. Further, they do not have familiar faces around them who encourage or motivate them to acquire top level positions in the organizations (Clay, 1998).

Along with substantial contribution of women to the corporate sector, working women appear to experience negative consequences. Firstly, working women appear to have little time for child birth and care (Wirth, 2001), thus, resulting in falling fertility rates in the country. Secondly, women working in the corporate sector appear to face the issue of burn out due to the increasing demand from the workplace and family (Jacobs & Schain, 2009). Finally, active participation of women also cause imbalance among family and work.

Based on the aforementioned facts, it can be concluded that, based on culture biases and societal behaviors, African American women still continue to experience barriers to acquire leading positions (glass ceiling) in the companies not only stemming from their gender but race as well (concrete ceiling). These systematic intuitions have impacted the values for all genders in the society and will continue to impact their role in the society. Therefore, black women are required to put extra efforts to prove others regarding their ability to prove and hold top hierarchal positions (Eagly and Carli, 2007). Further, the government needs to ensure black women representation, through legislation, in top level managerial posts in the organization to go beyond the issues of “glass ceiling” in general and “concrete ceiling” in particular.

 

 

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[1]This termrefers to the US-born African origin women (Goddard, Haggins, Nobles, Rhett-Mariscal, & Williams-Flournoy, 2014).

 

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Romeo and Juliet Essay

Although many of Shakespeare’s plays have remarkably strong female characters and many a time gender roles are seen to be inverted in his plays, William Shakespeare, by today’s standards, does not reflect feministic values, but there are a few exceptions created. The 1976 film Private Romeo has some similarities and differences with the iconic play Romeo and Juliet when analyzed with the lens of gender roles.

 

In the play Romeo and Juliet, men in Verona, Italy, the setting of the play, are shown to be agents of power, sexual authority, subjugation, and general political authority. Sampson, a Capulet’s servant remarks in Act 1, Scene 1, lines 15-18, “Tis true, and therefore women, being the / weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall; therefore I / will push Montague’s men from the wall, and thrust / his maids to the wall.” These phallocentric lines are indicative of the hegemony of males in the society of the play and go on to display that women are primarily considered sexual beings. Likewise, Sampson once again declares, “Draw, if you be man,” in Act 1, Scene 1, line 62. This small line serves as a micro for the macro collective conscious of this play that appears to be that the ideas of masculinity are completely fixed so much so that the mere act of being reluctant to be angry drags the gender of man in question in the play. Additionally, Romeo’s friend, Mercutio, in Act 1, Scene 4, lines 27-28, says, “If love be rough with you, be rough with love; / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.” This line is indicative of the societal norm that a man ought to be strong enough to deal with sentiments in a violent way suggesting that man is above the weaknesses of sentiments, unlike woman. Likewise, there are many recurring themes in the movie Private Romeo that represent that the larger parts of the society believe in the hegemonic ideas of masculinity. For instance, the very setting of the movie in a male cadet college, their daily routines and exercises represent the essence of this idea.

 

In the play, Romeo goes against the conventions of Verona, as depicted by Shakespeare. He does not wholly abide by the hegemonic masculine strength defined by the patriarchs of the society and family. Romeo defies the gender roles to an extent by succumbing to feelings and the associated toll generated. Romeo is a classical romantic as his thoughts are persistently filled with love and desires and lack the sort of “manliness” prevalent in most of the city. He is charmed by love twice and does not turn away or feel humiliated when his friends ridicule him for harnessing such feelings. Many critics go on to suggest that his character is weakened in his scenes with Juliet as she appears to be the stronger one, mainly judged as per emotional maturity. He places himself below his lover in an attempt to woo her and goes into submission. During the famous balcony scene in Act 2, Scene 2, lines 26-28, Romeo says, “O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art / As glorious to this night, being o’ver my head, / As a winged messenger of heaven.” No man of Verona in the play would have willingly let down his stature, but Romeo does so by raising his lover on a higher plane and value. He also makes a vow that is a digression from the conventional masculinity found in the play as he says to Juliet in the same scene, lines 50-51, “Call me but love, and I’ll be baptiz’d; / Henceforth I never will be Romeo.” The act of suggesting to give up his name for his lover is unconventional even by today’s standards and hence Romeo serves as a digression to the gender roles in the play. Likewise, the leading role of Romeo in the movie is also attributed with the vulnerable quality of embracing his feeling towards another man and be unashamed of being gay. Hence, there are similarities to be found in the attachment both the Romeo from the play and the Romeo from the movie have with their inner feelings and how dedicated both of them are to pursue them. However, the movie Romeo, does not depict the themes of lowering his own stature for Juliet, yet typical gender role seems to be inverted, or at least altered to an extent.

 

The females in the play in the city of Verona are almost considered second class citizens, suppressed by patriarchal regimes and households that quench their inner desires and control their lives absolutely. They are primarily considered a weaker sex, and hence, their opinions are not paid heed to. They are burdened by the traditions of pleasing their male family members, such as satisfying their parents, husbands, and bearing offspring. In this play, Lady Capulet, Juliet’s mother, exemplifies this image in Act 1, Scene 4, lines 70-72, as she says, “Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, / Are already made mothers. By my count, / I was your mother much upon these years”. This depicts the social burden women bear of being there for everyone and the cost of having no identity and life for their own selves.A difference in the play version and the movie version is that there are no female characters in the movie. But it is important to point out that all female characters were played by men in Shakespeare’s time and in this version too, a man is playing Juliet. Gender roles of female characters are layered with complexities in both instances.

 

Like Romeo, Juliet too deviates from the traditional female roles found in the play. Juliet disobeys the societal roles imposed on women. For instance, when Juliet sees Romeo at her Father’s party for the first time, she does not shy away from indulging in flirtations with Romeo, unlike the role assigned to an unmarried girl in the play’s social setting. She is instead brave and bold and even allows Romeo to kiss her. Similarly, there are many other instances where Juliet exemplifies opposite gender roles. She is shown to be the dominant one in her relationship with Romeo as during the balcony scene in Act 2, Scene 2, lines 143-144, she mentions, “If that thy bent of love be honorable, / Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow.” These lines indicate that Juliet is the one wearing pants and is outward enough to initiate the marriage plans with Romeo, despite knowing the intensity of the family feuds between their houses, Capulets, and Montagues. Moreover, Juliet is very open about her desires as she states in Act 3, Scene 2, lines 26-28, “O, I have bought the mansion of love, / But not possess’d it, and though I am sold, / Not yet enjoy’d. So tedious is this day”. Additionally, Juliet is an absolute rebel who goes against her parents’ orders and rebels against marrying Paris. On the other hand, Romeo too is comfortable with Juliet handling the business on her own and having her air of authority. Hence their characters defy conventional standards of prescribed gender roles.It is essential to note that although there are no females in the movie, the gender pronouns remain the same in the movie. So, despite the fact that Juliet in the movie is actually a male, the character is still given feminine pronoun. This act in itself is a diversion from the norm. Further, like Juliet in the play questions the family divide, the Juliet in the movie questions the gender divide in the sense that a “she”, despite being a male, can survive in a cadet college. Additionally, the movie also attempts to dethrone the stigma attached with gay relationships by calibrating two men in a relationship like Shakespeare attempted to demonstrate the power of star-crosses lovers in the face of political divisions.

 

All in all, it can be said that majority of the play’s characters conform to the assigned gender roles of being a man and being a woman in Verona. They succumb to societal values and make sexist remarks and supplement the patriarchy. While the movie Private Romeo is quite different in that regard, it has some similarities. The two main heroes of the play, Romeo and Juliet, defy the societal norm in the world of the play and movie. They go on a different stream and find their own personalities by sidelining the gender roles. Hence, it can be concluded that the play and the movie might be seemingly very different but do share some sort of common grounds with respect to their depiction of gender roles.

The novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy

 

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The fiction story ‘Sunshine State’ by Adam Flynn highlights some climate changes in the realm of different ongoing projects. The short fiction story about climate discusses an imagination of the features related to the atmosphere. It is about environment future initiatives and discussion for the response of climate change. The novel presents a solar punk adventure, which is inspirational and provides the basis of Aqua Alta, a melancholic story. The concept of climate change-related to the humanitarian efforts that have transformed the future of bio-organisms. The way the climate is changing provides a fact about the rapid expansion of floods and a rise in sea levels. This story analyzes different states of the United States, such as Miami and Tennessee, which were undergone changed climate states. For instance, Tennessee was experiencing nice these days, as rains were good, lakes were full of water, thus making it favorable for boating, swimming, and fishing.

This story has discussed a positive response regarding climate change through the recreation of the wetlands in Florida. The central notion highlighted in the story is the impact of climate change, due to humanity, and it can be for many reasons (Szeman, Imre& Boyer, p.6). To understand the difference in climate, there are many factors to analyze, and scientific knowledge can better address these changes. The change in environment is attributable to the social change that came after rapid expansion in industries. Climate future initiatives highlight this impact under anthropology as this story was considered under the climate fiction contest in 2018. The text provides a basis for ominous cloudbank regarding climate storms and upcoming changes in the atmosphere. These changes can be in the form of rising sea levels, increased intensity of rains, and hot sun. The changed conditions in the environment are getting intense due to greenhouse air.

The impact of climate fiction illustrates the scientific involvement that is going to change the future and already has changed the current atmosphere. Climate change is a genre distinction that undertakes hard and soft Apaches in the form of physics and realism. The solar punk movements clearly highlight some space opera as the subgenre of environmental change. The literary analysis of climate change defines the warm conditions of climate and the resultant impact on the atmosphere. Science fiction presentation of the environment also presents the idea of social change. Climate change has brought a transformation in social life and humanity. With the advancement in science, the impact on climate is understood better (Putra & Adam p.9).

The changed notion of technology has put forward some essential concepts about discoveries, inventions and transformations in technological devices. Technology also made it better to understand the change in the environment with the term ‘climate change.’ The technological transformation also clearly highlight any ramifications in societal spheres. Climate fiction works in a better way that brings a change in a society if it is understood better to tackle the critical challenges to the environment (Meredith, Milkoreit p.27). The anthropology of climate change in this form envisages different stories of global warming, which relates to human efforts. In addition, these stories discuss that due to global warming, human lives will be changed.

The anthropology of this climate fiction story necessarily elaborates about the idea of global warming. The world issue of climate change is due to global warming. It is about the increasing level of carbon dioxide in the environment that is raising the temperature of the earth. The high temperature means high precipitation that, in turn, causes heavy rain. The global warming has changed and still changing human life patterns, yet some changes are depressing. ‘Sunshine State’ gives commentary from Dana Hudson and Adam Flynn as in terms of negotiation. For instance, Ramses is the negotiator for the insurance company that help people convince them to move from areas to avoid flooding.

 

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Lorraine Code argues regarding the subjectivity of the knower in the formulation of epistemology known as “S knows that P.” It unarguably means way more as compared to the prevailing empiricist & positivist perspective. I agree with the idea that The “S,” Code says that maximum production of knowledge is invested politically, and the historical as well as social locations of “S” impact the variety of issues that are selected to investigate. Adding to that, taking the subjectivity into account also means examining political and other structures for the ways in which they direct research to focus on specific lines of inquiry rather than others. (Code, 1995)

On the other hand, Collins, with reference to Black feminist epistemology, rejects the perspectives and ideals regarding Black women being passive victims as they haven’t mentioned it. It is found in the western elite, and there is where their sexual politics, motherhood, as well as every other aspect has been exploited. Collins associates the positivist epistemology with the male-dominated and controlled knowledge described in their stories. It is accurate as my understanding that Black women achieve face pressures from multiple sides as compared to other feminist ideal keeping individuals.

While taking subjectivity into account, means examining the political as well as all other structures that can be debated about in order to a feminist approach to epistemology refers to epistemology being at value neutral. While examining these ideals, a more transparent and effective perspective can be driven from these notions. It brings clarity in aspect, and yes, it is accurate and evident that most of the western writings have been dominated by controlled knowledge of the elite that created perspectives. These stereotypical images now are being broken in the modern times.

Collins rightfully identifies the significant groups of women scholars who aim to form a Black feminist narrative in order to assure their credibility, and these notions are depicted in their ideals. They should be advocates for Black women and prepared to involve their findings, be accepted by Black women scholars, and should be ready to confront Eurocentric masculinist political and epistemological requirements. Considering these notions, all keeping subjectivity into account becomes necessary for maintain authenticity while describing any of the opinions. Without being neutral about these notions like Collins, no clear perspective can be presented. Collins maintains beings neutral herself in her attitude while being perspective, and so is the need of every philosopher.

References

Code, L. (1995). Taking Subjectivity into Account . Retrieved from http://philosophy.fudan.edu.cn: http://philosophy.fudan.edu.cn/_upload/article/files/aa/21/972b300745f99333674ae5179662/6023db6e-1428-4ed0-a019-e8a7d100e045.pdf

 

 

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Memorial museums are meant to be about both memory and thinking in the form of historical understanding. They are also aimed at inspiring emotional responses and empathy.

There are three primary functions that memorial museums are created to fulfill. The first is their role as a mechanism of truth-telling about the history and preserving the past; they aim to be houses of history where the past is uncovered, documented, and maintained, and the “truth” about what happened is disclosed to their tourists. The second is their “memorial” function, which is to serve as a place of healing and repair; they are a form of symbolic reparation that seeks to give acknowledgment to the victims and serve as a solemn space of mourning and remembrance in the effort to help heal a community. The final function embodies what is most unique about these museums: they are intended to morally educate visitors to internalize an ethic of “never again.”

Memorial museums consider themselves to be the first warning to the present and the future about the dangers of division and ideology. Their most important goal is to prevent future genocide, human rights abuses, and violence.

There is reason to hope that these museums will actually contribute to a more peaceful and democratic present and future. Memorial museums will doubtless play a role as the politics of the past are renegotiated. However, it’s not clear if this role will be to reinforce the hegemony of the nation and its power structures or to uphold the values of inclusion, tolerance, and democracy that memorial museums are meant to embody and that seem to be currently under attack.

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In 2004, the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre was dedicated to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide that killed more than 250,000 around the city of Kigali.

Political legitimacy today depends on coming to terms with the past, and memorial museums are one of the essential mechanisms for legitimating nations or groups in the eyes of the international community. In Rwanda, the political use of memory of the genocide has the capacity to be very troubling, as many people would argue that the current Rwandan governmentdoes not deserve the international political legitimacy that a memorial museum can help to bestow on a regime.

The political and social context of genocide remembrance in Rwanda compromises the Kigali Centre’s ambitious goals of fostering tolerance and reconciliation and working to prevent genocide.

At first glance, the Kigali Centre is troubling because it was designed and conceived by a British organization, implying something of a “colonial” memory project foisted on Rwandans.

The Kigali Centre, rather than self-reflexively facing the past and trying to learn from it, in many ways reinforces the government’s hegemonic narrative of the genocide. Despite the politicization of the past in the Kigali Centre and by the Rwandan government, the “regretful” posture toward the past that the Kagame regime has assumed does indeed appear to legitimize his rule that would otherwise not conform to liberal democratic standards. The past that is presented in the Kigali Centre is not yet past, and so the goals and efforts of preventing future violence, dictatorship, or genocide that all memorial museums embrace remain to be truly tested in the case of Rwanda.

References

Sodaro, Amy, MEMORIAL MUSEUMS: Promises and Limits

Sodaro, Amy, THE KIGALI GENOCIDE MEMORIAL CENTRE: Building a “Lasting Peace”

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The Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Museum of Memory and Human Rights [MMHR]) opened in Chile in 2010 and was influenced by the Holocaust memory. The Museum is intended to remember and educate about the human rights abuses of the brutal military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990. It is hence both a form of reparation to the victims and a site of education.

As the global “Pinochet effect” following his arrest in London demonstrates, Chile’s struggle to confront its violent past is linked with the broader rise of international human rights in the second half of the twentieth century, which itself is tied to the emergence of memory and coming to terms with the past as a preoccupation for nations.

Since division remains in Chilean society over Pinochet’s rule, the story that the Museum tells is strictly limited in relation to the military dictatorship.To make sense of the past and prevent such violence in the future, the causes and consequences must be explained and understood.

The MMHR is very much a part of what can be seen as a global memory culture though a little limited in its nature. However, through its public, the MMHR seeks to address human rights issues beyond Chile. But the important question remains of whether memory and memorial museums can heal whatever healing potential of memory may exist that often eclipsed by political agendas and expediencies.

In 2014, the National September 11 Memorial Museum opened to the public and made historical framing in itself an essential. Instead of memory complementing the historical narrative, the history in the 9/11 Museum is meant to be made out of individual memories.

Entering the exhibit, the museum experience drastically changes. Photography is allowed in Foundation Hall. As the crush of visitors squeeze their way through a revolving door, they are reminded that no photography is allowed inside the historical exhibit. Instead, apparently, all senses are to be focused on learning the history of 9/11. And while the pavilion, the descent, and Foundation Hall are all characterized by their full scale and massive proportions, suddenly, the Museum feels cramped, claustrophobic, chaotic, and uncomfortable. Thus begins the 9/11 experience. Ultimately, the final room, “Beyond Recovery,” opens with questions about the ongoing effects of 9/11and the continued threat of terrorism. In Memoriam, the walls of the room are lined with photos of the almost three thousand victims of 9/11 and the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

The Museum also has a set of educational and public programs and a sophisticated website intended to reach far beyond the already massive audience of the Museum itself. After the experience of the historical exhibition, it seems that any and all tactics for protecting Americans are critically needed and fully justified. In its minute detail of the destruction and traumatic rendering of the 102 minutes, the Museum’s historical exhibition gives visitors such a forceful emotional experience of 9/11 that they cannot help but come away from the historical exhibition deeply horrified and angry.

While the Museum will find a way to stand up for the values it is meant to promote, the ahistorical narrative created in and by the Museum may help fuel the kinds of dangerous rhetoric that threatens them.

References

Sodaro, Amy, THE MUSEUM OF MEMORY AND HUMAN RIGHTS: “A Living Museum for Chile’s Memory”

Sodaro, Amy, THE NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL MUSEUM: “To Bear Solemn Witness”

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