Improvement in Operational Efficiency Due Essay Example for Free

Improvement in Operational Efficiency Due Essay IT Investments ply chain integration; and euro conversion. Many IT landmarks have been achieved during this period: more than 4 billion Web pages on the Internet; creation of software to combat cyber worms, viruses, and warfare; millions of distributed databases; and widespread utilization of data warehouses and data mining for decision support systems. To support these IT initiatives and to achieve these landmarks, IT budgets of most companies during this decade Copyright  © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. Information Resources Management Journal, 19(2), 18-36, April-June 2006 19 increased substantially (Seewald, 2002). There is, however, a growing criticism of escalating IT investments (Mears Dubie, 2002) and their lack of justification (Krochmel, 1999). ERP systems are software systems to support and to automate the business processes, providing timely and accurate enterprise-wide information for decision making. ERP systems have a long history of evolution. The production scheduling, material ordering, and product shipment systems evolved from manual reorder point systems for material procurement to computerized Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) to Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP-II) systems that integrated MRP and capacity requirements planning to Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) that further integrated MRP-II and shop floor and device control systems, and finally to ERP systems. Much of the streamlining of materials procurement process was achieved by MRP and MRP-II. By the late 1980s, tens of thousands of firms were using MRP-II systems (Rondeau Litteral, 2001). The SAP R/3 modules and submodules consisting of sales and distribution, materials management, warehouse management, quality management, production planning for process industries, financial accounting, controlling, project system, and office communication were expected to reduce inventories, improve cash management, and cut down operating expenses. Kalling (2003) recently provided a theoretical framework in which resource-based views (RBV) are advanced to understand how ERP can provide sustainable competitive advantage. The RBV is not universally accepted as a final explanation of competitive advantage. Some believe that dynamic capabilities, not resources, are the source of competitive advantage. It is possible that ERP provides both unique resources as well as dynamic capabilities in the form of improved information and decision making to improve competitive advantage. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems To avoid struggling with integrating myriad IT applications, many companies implemented ERP systems that required substantial investment of time, internal resources, and capital, resulting in significant organizational change (Dorien Wolf, 2002). Often, ERP system implementation is accompanied by other improvements and enhancements in existing legacy systems. Due to many simultaneous changes that accompany ERP system implementation, it is hard to attribute any performance changes after ERP system installation solely to ERP systems. However, ERP system implementation is, by far, the most criticized aspect of IT investments. ERP systems require outlays ranging from a few million dollars to several hundred million dollars (Mabert et al. , 2001). Despite high expenditures, ERP implementations have resulted in problems. Rushed software installations and inadequate training are blamed for well-publicized troubles with ERP. In 1999, soon after the rollout of its ERP system, Hershey Food Corp. , in the third quarter of that year, lost $60. 4 million due to problems in customer service, warehousing, order processing, and timely shipments to retailers. ERP implementation problems of Whirlpool Corporation and W. L. Gore Associates Inc. also have received considerable attention (Collett, 1999). The bankruptcy of FoxMeyer (a drug distribution company) in 1996 is directly attributed by many to flawed implementation of ERP systems. www. igi-global. com/article/improvement-operational-efficiency-due-erp/1289 www. igi-global. com/chapter/tutor/13373 www. igi-global. com/chapter/object-database-benchmarks/14575

The Power Asymmetry In Qualitative Research Interviews English Language Essay

The Power Asymmetry In Qualitative Research Interviews English Language Essay The books in The Sage Qualitative Research Kit have been written with the needs of many different types of readers in mind. As such, the Kit and the individual books will be of use to a wide variety of users: Practitioners of various research, University teachers and Undergraduate and graduate students. Each book of the Kit has been written by a distinguished author with extensive experience in their field and in the practice with methods they write about. Doing interviews addresses the theoretical, epistemological, ethical and practical issues of interviewing people about specific issues or their life story. There are two other books about interviewing, they approach the subject in a much more detailed and focuses way for the specific method. Interviews are one of the major approaches in collecting data in qualitative research. There are variety ways of how to do interviews and what to do after the interview has been done. Doing interviews comes with specific needs of increasing the interview quality in general and its validity in particular and finally of reporting what was said and how it was analyzed. 1. Introduction to interview research Three interview sequences Conversation is a basic mode of human interaction. Through conversations we get to know other people, get to learn about their experiences, feelings and hopes and the world they live in. In an interview it is the same, except the researcher asks and listens to the people. The research interview is an interview where knowledge is constructed in the interaction between in the interviewer and the interviewee. Trough various sequences the writer is explaining that there are three forms of interviewing. A rather simple form of straightforward questioning contrast with the reciprocity of everyday conversations. The interviewer is in a power position and sets the stage by determining the topic of the interchange; it is the interviewer who asks and the interviewee who answers. The qualitative interview is a key venue for exploring the ways in which subjects experience and understand their world. Interview research in history and in the social sciences The term interview is of recent origin; it came into use in the seventeenth century. An interview is literally an inter-view. An interchange of views between two persons conversing about a theme of common interest. Systematic literature on research interviewing is a new phenomenon of the last few decades. Qualitative interviews have, previously been extensively employed in the social sciences. With education and health sciences, the interview has become a common research method in the last few decades. Quality methods, ranging form participant observation over interview to discourse analysis, have since the 1980s become key methods of social research. Technical, epistemological and cultural reasons may be suggested for the growing use of qualitative research interviews. The availability of small portable tape records in the 1950s made the exact recording of interviews easy. In the 1980s, computer programs facilitated the qualitative analyses of transcribed interviews. Interviews have also become part of the common culture. Methodological and ethical issues The interview is a conversation that has a structure and a purpose determined by the one part, the interviewer. The qualitative research interview is a construction site for knowledge. A semi-structures life-world interview will be in focus of the book. It is defined as an interview with the purpose of obtaining descriptions of the life world of the interviewee with respect to interpreting the meaning of the describes phenomena. To have an interview a good preparation will be needed. The interview is a powerful method of producing knowledge of the human situation. 2. Epistemological issues of interviewing Mode of understanding in a qualitative research interview A semi -structured life-world interview attempts to understand themes of the lived daily world for the subjects own perspectives. It comes close to an everyday conversation but as a professional interview it has a purpose and it involves a specific approach and technique. The interview is a uniquely sensitive and powerful method for capturing the experiences and lived meanings of the subjects everyday world and it allow the subject tot convoy their situation from their own perspective and in their own words. An interview seeks to understand the meaning of central themes of the subjects lived world. It is necessary to listen to the explicit description and to the meaning expressed, as well as to what is said between the lines. In qualitative interviews, precision in description and stringency in meaning interpretation correspond to exactness in quantitative. The qualitative interviewer encourage the subject tot describe as precisely as possible what they experience and feel. The qualitative interview attempts to obtain descriptions that are as comprehensive and presupposition less as possible of important themes of the interviewees life world. The interviewer should be curious, sensitive to what is said, as well as to what is not said, and critical. The focus of the interview is on particular themes: it is neither strictly structures with standard questions, nor entirely non-directive. The task of the interviewer is to clarify, as far as possible, whether the ambiguities and contradictory statements are due to a failure of communication in the interview situation. Power asymmetry in qualitative research interviews The research interview is a specific professional conversation with a clear power asymmetry between the researcher and the subject: The interview entails an asymmetrical power relation; The interview is a one-way dialogue; The interview is an instrumental dialogue; The interview may be a manipulative dialogue; The interviewer had a monopoly of interpretation; Counter-control, subjects may hold information; Exceptions. Research interviews between a philosophical dialogue and a therapeutic interview The qualitative research interview has affinities to philosophical dialogues as well as to therapeutic interviews, but follows neither the relentless intellectual reasoning of the former nor the close personal interaction of the latter. Professional interviews, such as a therapeutic interview, a job interview or a legal interrogation, are characterized by a focus on the dynamics of interaction between interviewer and interviewee, a methodological awareness of question forms and a critical attention to what is said. The therapeutic sequence indicates the possibilities for research interviewers to learn from the techniques developed within the therapeutic profession, while also demonstrating differences between therapeutic and research interviews. The interviewer as a miner or as a traveler Two contrasting metaphors of the interviewer, as a miner or as a traveler, may illustrate the different epistemological conceptions of interviewing as a process of knowledge collection or as a process of knowledge construction, respectively. In a miner metaphor, knowledge is understood as buried metal and the interviewer is a miner who unearths the valuable metal. The knowledge is waiting in the subjects interior to be uncovered, uncontaminated by the miner. An alternative traveler metaphor understands the interviewer as a traveler on a journey to a distant country that leads to a table to be told upon returning home. The interview traveler walks along with the local inhabitants, asks questions and encourages them tot tell their own stories of their lived world. Epistemological conceptions of interview knowledge The elimination of the hum factor in research, key aspects of the mode of understanding in qualitative research interviews appear as methodological sources of error, to a philosophy of sciences. In a postmodern approach the qualitative research interview appears as a construction site of knowledge. The knowledge generated by interviews is in line with key features of a postmodern conception of knowledge, such as the conversational, the narrative, the linguistic, the contextual and interrelational nature of knowledge. With a decline of modern universal system of knowledge, the local, manifold and changing language contexts come into prominence. In a postmodern epistemology the certainty of our knowledge is less a matter of interaction with a non-human reality than a matter of conversation between persons. 3. Ethical issues of interviewing Interviewing as a moral inquiry An interview inquiry is a moral enterprise. Moral issues concern the means as well as the ends of interviews. The human interaction in the interview affects the interviewees and the knowledge produces by an interview inquiry affects our understanding of the human condition. Consequently, interview research is saturated with moral and ethical issues. Ethical issues throughout an interview inquiry Ethical issues go through the entire process of an interview investigation, and potential ethical concerns should be taken into consideration form the very start of an investigation and up to the final report. Ethical guidelines Professional ethical codes serve as contexts for reflection on the specific ethical decisions throughout an interview inquiry. Figure 1 outlines issues raised by these ethical guidelines in the form of questions, which interviewers may ask them before embarking on an interview journey. Figure 1. Informed consent entails informing the research about the overall purpose of the investigation and the main feature of the design, as well as of possible risks and benefits from participation in the research project. This raises the issue of how informed consent can be handled in exploratory interview studies, where the investigators themselves will have little advance knowledge of how the interview will proceed. The interviewees should always be informed about the purpose and the procedure of the interview. Confidentiality in research implies that private data identifying the subject will not be reported, otherwise the subject need to agree on the release of identifiable information. In extreme cases, protecting confidentiality can raise serious legal problems. The consequences of an interview study need to be addressed with respect to possible harm to the subjects as well as to the expected benefits of participating in the study. The ethical principle of beneficence means that the risk of harm to a subject should be the least possible. The researcher as a person is critical for the quality of the scientific knowledge and for the soundness of ethical decisions in an interview inquiry. Moral research behavior involves more than ethical knowledge and cognitive choices. The integrity of the researcher, his or her knowledge, experience, honesty and fairness, is the decisive factor. 4. Planning an interview study Seven stages of an interview inquiry No standard procedures or rules exits for conducting a research interview or an entire interview investigation. There are standard choices of methods at the different stages of an interview investigation. The quality of an interview study to a large extent rests on the craftsmanship of the researcher. The term unstandardized pertains to the interview situation, but an entire interview investigation had often tended to be a rather standardized affair, going through five emotional phases of hardships. Anti-positivist enthusiasm phase; The interview-quoting phase; The working phase of silence; The aggressive phase of silence; The final phase of exhaustion. These descriptions are based upon observation of colleagues and students undertaking interview projects. The seven stage of an interview inquiry are: Thematizing Designing Interviewing Transcribing Analyzing Verifying Reporting Through these stages an interview study will be developed and ends with the reporting. The emotional dynamics of an interview study are related tot these seven stages. Thematizing an interview study Thematizing refers to the formulation of research questions and a theoretical clarification of the theme investigated. The key questions when planning an interview investigation concern the why, what and how of the interview. Thematizing an interview study involves clarifying the purpose of the study, the why question. Interviews can have explorative or hypothesis-testing purposes. An exploratory interview is usually open with little pre-planned structure. Interviews that test hypotheses tend to be more structured. Interviews can also being used to inductively develop an empirically grounded theory, or as background material for further practical and theoretical studies. The thematic understanding of the topic if the study, the what, will further provides a ground for the how of the study: the many decisions on method that must be made on the way. The thematic focus of a project influences what aspects of subject matter the questions centre upon, and which aspects remain in the background. Familiarly with the local situation may also sensitize tot local ethic-political issues of the community, which need to be taken into account when interviewing and reporting the interviews. Designing an interview study Designing an interview study involves planning the procedures and techniques, the how of the study. The temporal dimension of an interview investigation should be kept in mind from the first thematizing to the final reporting stage, taking into account the interdependence of the seven stages. Overview, interdependence, push forward, spiraling backwards, keep the end point in sight, getting wiser and work-journal are all key factors of an interview inquiry. The number of subjects to interview necessary depends on the purpose of a study. In common interviews, the amount of interviews trends to be around 15. This number may be due to a combination of the time and resources available for the investigation and a law of diminishing returns. The method may be understood in a broad sense, like the way to the goal. A method is a set of rules, which can be used in a mechanical way to realize a given aim. Within such a formal rule conception of method, the qualitative research interview, where knowledge is produced trough the personal interaction between interviewer and interviewee, is clearly not a scientific method. Interviewing may be regarded less as a method following explicit rules than pragmatically as a craft, where the quality of knowledge produced by the interview rests upon the subject matter knowledge and the craftsmanship of the interviewer. Learning to interview is to arrive at a transparency of the techniques and tools. 5. Conducting an interview Setting the interview stage The setting of the interview stage should encourage the interviewees to describe their points of view on the topic. The first minutes of an interview are decisive. The interview should be introduced by a briefing in which the interviewer is defines the situation for the subject, briefly tells about the purpose of the interview, the use of a tape recorder and ask if the subjects has any questions before starting the interview. The initial briefing should be followed up by a debriefing after the interview. Scripting the interview An interview guide is a script that structures the course of the interview more or less tightly. The guide may merely contain some topics to be covered or it can be a detailed sequence of carefully worded questions. Interviews differ in their openness of purpose; the interviewer can explain the purpose and pose direct questions from the start, or can adopt a roundabout approach, with indirect questions, and reveal the purpose only when the interview is over. Thematically the questions relate to the what of an interview, to the theoretical conceptions of the research topic, and to the subsequent analysis of the interview. Dynamically the questions pertain tot the how of an interview; they should promote a positive interaction, keep the flow of the conversation going, and stimulate the subjects to talk about their experiences and feelings. The interviewer should also try to keep in mind the later analysis, verification and reporting to the interviews. Interviewers who know what they are asking about and why they are asking, will attempt to clarify the meanings relevant to the project during the interview. Active listing, the interviews ability to listen actively to what the interviewee says, is as important as the specific mastery of questioning techniques. That is why researcher questions need to translated to interviewer questions, figure 2 Figure 2 6. Interview variations Interview subjects Different issues will raise by different populations when the focus is on cross-cultural interviews, interviews with men, women and with children. In a cross-cultural interview it is difficult to become aware of the multitude of cultural factors that affect the relationship between interviewer and interviewee. In a foreign culture an interviewers needs time to establish a familiarity with the new culture and learn some of the many verbal and non-verbal factors where interviewer in a foreign culture may go amiss. Also with children the approach for an interview needs to be different. Interview forms A variety of research forms, useful for different purpose, exist. With the broad variety of interview forms and subjects it becomes understandable that there are no general standard procedures and rules for research interview. There is no correct or ideal interview form. Qualitative interviews do not only focus on the interviewees own perspectives and meanings. Obtaining valid factual information may be crucial in many interviews. In other situates, when interviewing for the oral history of a community, the focus will be less on the storytellers own perspective upon the events recounted, than on his or her stories as venues to reliable information about a collective past. Some experiments may serve interviewers as a reminder to be extremely careful in wording their questions when interviewing for factual information. Confrontational interviews though we did not seek to impose our ideas on those with whom we talked, †¦we did attempt to uncover assumptions, to make explicit what the person we were talking to might have left implicit (Bellah et al., 1985, p 304) In addition to a prevalent empathetic and consensual interview form, the more active confrontational and agonistic styles of interviewing may also produce valuable knowledge. 7. Interview quality Interview qualifications The interviewer is the key research instrument of an interview inquiry. A good interviewer knows the topic of the interview, masters conversational skills and is proficient in language, with an ear for his or her subjects linguistic style. The interviewer must continually make on-the-spot decisions about what to ask and how; which aspects of subjects answer to follow up, and which not, which answers to comment and interpret, and which not. The interviewer should have a sense for good stories and be able to assist the subjects in the unfolding of their narratives. Leading questions It is a well-documented finding that a slight rewording of a question in a questionnaire or in the interrogation of eyewitness may influence the answer. Politicians are well experienced in warding off leading questions form reporters; but if leading questions are inadvertently posed to subjects who are easily suggestible, such as small children, the validity of their answers may be jeopardized. In contrast to common opinion, the qualitative research interview is particularly well suited for employing leading questions to repeatedly check the reliability of the interviewees answers, as well as to verify the interviewers interpretations. The task in an interview is not to avoid leading research questions, but to recognize the primacy of the question and attempt to make the orienting questions explicit, thereby providing the reader with the possibility of evaluating their influence on the research findings and of assessing the validity of the findings. There are no unequivocal quality criteria for research interviews. A good interview rests upon the craftsmanship of the researcher, which goes beyond a mastery of questioning techniques to encompass knowledge of the research topic, sensitivity to the social relation of interviewer ad subject, and an awareness of epistemological and ethical aspects of research interviewing. 8. Transcribing interviews Oral and written language Transcription is an interpretative process, where the differences between oral speech and written texts give rise to a series of practical and principal issues. A transcript is a translation from one narrative mode, oral discourse, into another narrative mode, written discourse. The quality of interview transcriptions had always been a neglected issue. Transcribing interviews Transcribing the interviews from an oral to a written mode structures the interview conversations in a form amenable to closer analysis, and is in itself an initial analysis. The reliability and validity of transcriptions are generally neglected. If these two issues are addressed, the interpretative and constructive nature of transcription will appear. Computer tools for interview analysis Once the interviews have been transcribed, they become available for structuring and analysis by a variety of computer programs. The computer programs allow for such operations as writing memo, writing reflections on the interviews for late analysis, coding, searching for key words, doing words counts, and making graphic displays. No valid transcription of an oral account exists, but a variety of forms of transcribing, which will be valid for different uses of the transcripts. 9. Analyzing interviews Integrating interview analysis in an interview inquiry The question How shall I find a method to analyze the 1000 pages of interview transcripts I have collected? is a question which is too late en the work will be too much. The method of analysis should not only be given thought in advance of the interviewing, but may also, to varying degrees, be built into the interview situation itself. Modes of analysis No standard method exists, to arrive at essential meanings and deeper implications of what is said in an interview. The techniques of analysis are tools, useful for some purpose, relevant for some types of interviews, and suited for some researchers. But it depends on each interview itself. Interview analyses focusing on meaning Meaning and language are interwoven; in the practice of interview analysis the focus on meaning versus linguistic form does imply rather different techniques. Coding and categorizing were early approaches to the analysis of texts in the social sciences, which make it easy to transcribe the interview. Coding involves attaching one or more keywords to a text segment in order to permit later identification of a statement, whereas categorization entails a more systematic conceptualization of a statement, opening for quantification. Interpretation of texts is established by a hermeneutical circle, where the meaning of a text is established through a process in which the meanings of the separate passages are determined by the global meaning of the text as it is anticipated. Re-reading of the single passages may again change the first anticipated global meaning of the text, which again alters the meaning of the single passages. Interview analyses focusing on language The medium, or the material, with which interviewers work is language. The interview process occurs through speech, and the interview products are presented in words. During the last few decades social science researchers have started to use linguistic tools. Linguistic analysis, narrative analysis, conversation analysis, discourse analysis and deconstruction. Interview analysis as bricolage Many analyses of interviews are conducted without following any specific analytic method. The researchers may then freely change between different techniques and approaches. Bricolage refers to mixed technical discourses where the interpreter moves freely between different analytic techniques. In contrast to systematic analytic modes such as categorization and conversation analysis, bricolage implies a free interplay of techniques during the analysis. 10. Validation and generalization of interview knowledge Objectivity of interview knowledge. Issues of reliably and validity go beyond technical or conceptual concerns and raise epistemological questions of objectivity of knowledge and the nature of interview research. Interview analyses can be objective in the sense of intersubjective agreement, such as when a high degree of intersubjective reliability is documented by coding interview in quantifiable categories. Objective may also mean reflecting the nature of the object researched, letting the object speak, being adequate to the object investigated expressing, the real nature of the studied. Contrary to common opinion, knowledge produced in interviews need not be subjective, but may, be an objective method with respect to key meanings of objectivity. Reliability and validity of interview knowledge Reliability pertains to the consistency and trustworthiness of research findings; it is often treated in relation to the issue of whether a finding is reproducible at other times and by other researcher. Validity refers in ordinary language to the truth, the correctness and the strength of a statement. A valid argument is sound, well grounded, justifiable, strong and convincing. Validity as quality of craftsmanship Validation rests on the quality of the researchers craftsmanship throughout an investigation, continually checking, questioning and theoretically interpreting the findings. Validations do not belong to a separate stage of an investigation, but permeates the entire research process. Validity is ascertained by examining the sources of invalidity. The stronger the falsification attempts a knowledge proposition has survived, the stronger and more valid is the knowledge. Communicative and pragmatic validity When a modern belief in knowledge as a mirror of reality recedes to a social construction of social reality, communicative and pragmatic forms of validation come to the foreground. Communicative validity involves testing the validity of knowledge claims in a conversation. A Communicative validation of interview findings raises specific questions about the how, why and who of communication. Pragmatic validation relates to the users responses to an interpretation, and in a strong for it concerns the issue of whether interventions based on the researchers knowledge may instigate actual changes in behavior. Pragmatic validation is verification in the literal sense, to make true; justification is replaced by application. Analytical generalization rests upon rich contextual descriptions. It includes the researchers argumentation for the transferability of the interview findings to other subjects and situations, as well as the readers generalizations form a report. 11. Reporting interview knowledge Contrasting audiences for interview reports. When writing a report for an interview study it may be useful to be aware of different requirements within local social science communities. In common interview reports the link between the original conversations and the conclusions reported may be thin or missing. The interested reader will not find any, or only come across some vague scattered descriptions of how the interview knowledge was produced. Working towards the final report from the start of an interview study may contribute to a readable report of methodologically well-substantiated, interesting findings. Presenting interview findings with a quote, three guidelines for editing are suggested: The quotes should be contextualized; Interview quotes should be rendered in a readable style; Interview quotes should preferably be loyal to the habitual language of an interviewee. For communicative validation and analytical generalization, readers need rich contextual information about the interview findings in order to validate and generalize the results. 12. Enhancing interview quality Learning the craft of interviewing A book about interviewing involves a paradox of presenting explicit and general guidelines for a craft, which consist of practical skills and personal know-how that often remains tacit and depends on given situation. It can not be predicted which an interview journey goes. If people research interviewing by themselves, they will discovered the theory about interviewing and transcription themselves and not through a book. Starting to learn interviewing by listening to tapes will sensitize novice interviewers to the oral medium of the interview craft. Learning interviewing by transcribing interviews promotes a discovery learning where , through their own practice, newcomers tot the trade discovery techniques and dilemmas is transferring live conversations to written texts. There are three options to learn about interviewing: Learn interviewing by witness others interviewing; Learn interviewing by practicing interviewing; Learn interviewing in a community of interview researchers. The road to mastery of interviewing through a transcribing task, an interview practicum, or ideally a research apprenticeship, may appear as too cumbersome and time-consuming to some students. But it is most important to be well prepared. The adequate knowledge of the nature of interview conversations is suggested by: A pragmatic approach involves a move from philosophical legitimation to the practical effects of knowledge. Rather than seeking universal knowledge, the emphasis is on situated knowledge. What matters is not arriving at context-independent general knowledge, but producing well-described situated knowledge from the interviews. Interview knowledge is not collected, but produced between interviewer and interviewee, and the meanings constructed in their interaction are again restructured throughout the later stages of an interview inquiry. In order to reach a professional level comparable to quantitative analysis today, qualitative social research needs to move beyond a linguistic illiteracy towards a professional mastery of the linguistic medium of the interview craft. We live in a conversational world. The relevance of conversations in social science goes beyond the use of interview conversations as an additional empirical method. It concludes conversations among researchers, and the public, about the truth and value of the knowledge produced in interview conversations about a conversational world. Conclusion Doing interviews by Stein Kvale is a book which has two kinds of different input. There is the theoretical background and the practica

Impact of Climate Change on African Countries

Impact of Climate Change on African Countries The Effects of Climate Change on Volatile African Countries In the fall of 2015, United States Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders received an onslaught of criticism when he attributed the rise of terrorism, and the series of Paris terrorist attacks that had just left 130 dead, to climate change. Immediately following the presidential debate, numerous reputable political pundits, from Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan, to Republican Senator and former Chairman of Homeland Security Ron Johnson, voiced their disagreements with Sanders’ claim. In fact, soon after the debate ended, Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee was interviewed saying, â€Å"I get disappointed when people see momentum around [climate change] and try to attach an unrelated issue to it.†[1]  (Henry, 2015) In fact, in December of that same year, Foreign Policy magazine, a political journal revered for its impartiality, published an article titled, â€Å"Stop Saying Climate Change Causes War† refuting both Sanders’ claim, and others that sou ght to connect climate change to the still ongoing devastating Syrian Civil War. While Sanders’ cause-and-effect relationship may have been exaggerated, the relationship between extreme weather events, temperature anomalies, and violence is neither baseless nor uncorroborated. In fact, over the last half-decade, numerous studies have been released substantiating the linkage between climate change and armed conflict. In a 2017 study produced by the Brookings Institution, author Vesselin Popovski found that â€Å"a 1 percent increase in temperature leads to a 4.5 percent increase in civil war in the same year, and a 0.9 percent increase in the following year†Ã‚  (Popovski, 2017)   Just a year later, author Robinson Meyer of The Atlantic discovered that out of the ten countries most frequently mentioned in climate change literature, six of them also hold positions in the list of the world’s most violent countries.  (Meyer, 2018) While there is still little evid ence to support Sanders’ grandiose claim that climate change triggered the proliferation of terrorism in the 21st century, it is becoming increasingly evident that climate change will not just slightly alter current standards of living. The rise in temperature has inadvertently begun to promote civil unrest and violence in some of the most underdeveloped regions of the world. In order to theorize possible mitigation and adaptation strategies, it is important to recognize both the ramifications of climate change, and the role that industrialized countries have played in contributing to this global temperature increase. According to author Lynn Hewlett, whose chapter â€Å"Learning from Student Protests in Sub-Saharan Africa,† featured in Fees Must Fall, explains simply, â€Å"the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas creates carbon dioxide gas†¦ which traps the sun’s heart in the atmosphere and makes the earth warmer†Ã‚  (Lynn Hewlett, 2015)   Although the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report of a per-decade temperature increase of 0.2 °C may seem negligible, the consequences of climate change are difficult to overlook.  (IPCC Working Groups I-III, 2015) Escalating temperatures resulting from greenhouse gas emissions not only deplete natural resources such as arable land, potable water, and breathable air. The abnormal temperature rise over the past half-century has also contributed to rising sea levels, a global biodiversity loss, and more frequent extreme weather events, from prolonged droughts to incessant rainfall. Although there is still some debate surrounding human contribution to climate change, most climate change experts agree that humans are at least partially responsible for the stark temperature rise. According to a study conducted by Yale University in 2013, over 97% of 12,000 peer-reviewed papers on climate change argue that the temperature increase is indeed at least partially attributable to anthropogenic greenhouse emissions. (Marlon, 2013)   More disturbingly, however, is the role that industrialized nations, such as the United States and Germany, rapidly developing countries including India and China, and transnational corporations have all played in producing this environmental catastrophe. As reported in the 2017 Carbon Majors Database, a peer-reviewed study which compiled and recorded companies with the most greenhouse gas emissions, â€Å"over half of global industrial emissions since 1988 can be traced to just 25 corporate and state producers.†Ã‚  (Griffin, 2017) Despite the influence that industrialized nations and the currently modernizing BRICS countries have had on the current climate system, the brunt of climate variability has thus far fallen largely on African shoulders. Natural resources which were at one point plentiful throughout the continent have diminished greatly over the past half-century, which has led to desertification, widespread crop failure, and even violence. In his article, â€Å"’Who Wins from â€Å"Climate Apartheid?’ African Climate Justice Narratives about the Paris COP 21† author Patrick Bond points out that inland Africa is uniquely susceptible to climate change, which is projected to warm 6-7 °C by the end of the century, more than two degrees greater than the anticipated greater world average.  (Bond, 2016) Author Christian Parenti offers similar statistics to illustrate African susceptibility to climate change. As a member of the Maasai people living in Kenya explains, â€Å"In the 1970s, we started having droughts every seven years†¦ Now they are coming almost every year, right across the country.†Ã‚  (Parenti C. , Chapter 4, 2011)   Yet, as Patrick Bond and others argue, nascent African countries are vulnerable to the effects climate change not because of their location, but rather because of the lack of the infrastructure and resources that allow countries to face constantly changing environmental conditions. These issues are only intensified in Africa by pervasive government corruption and political instability. For example, although farming is the main source of employment for greater than 60% of the continent’s inhabitants, African malnourishment has worsened with each passing year.  (The World Bank, 2018) African farmers simply lack the funds to acquire high-yielding techniques, and are not provided with adequate infrastructure systems to produce sustainable quantities of food in unfavorable climates. Furthermore, African countries eager to cement their places in the global economy often impose pro-investment policies that prioritize multinational commercial agriculture over small-scale subsist ence farming. As the example above illustrates, many African countries exemplify what author Christian Parenti calls â€Å"Catastrophic Convergence:† a phenomenon where political, economic, and environmental disasters collide, compound, and amplify one another’s effects.  (Parenti C. , 2011) In these â€Å"conflict systems,† climate change generates violence in many forms, such as intrastate conflict between competing tribes, looting and piracy of Transnational Corporations, and mass demonstrations protesting environmentally destructive African governments. The long-term rise in global temperature, coupled with the recent preponderance of extreme weather events, has induced a natural resource deprivation across the globe. In fact, Parenti estimates that by the end of the century, the proportion of land in severe drought will expand from 3% to 30%. (Parenti C. , 2011) Therefore, ownership, allocation, and management of these increasingly scarce resources has become an issue of the utmost importance for countries and tribes across the globe. In vulnerable African states that lack basic infrastructural needs, however, this competition over access to remaining natural resources has erupted into armed conflict. In his 2011 book titled, Topics of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence, author Christian Parenti explains how climate change can induce violence by illuminating the current strife between the Turkana and the Pokot, two competing groups living in Kenya’s Pastoralist Corridor. For tribes living in the Pastoral ist Corridor, a mountainous and arid region in Western Kenya, cattle are the economic and cultural center of life. Yet, without water and adequate grazing land, Parenti writes, â€Å"the Turkana would disappear. â€Å"they would die or migrate to cities and their culture would exist only in the memories of deracinated urban slum dwellers.†Ã‚  (Parenti C. , 2011) Due to the area’s regular droughts and flash floods, coupled with deficient adaptation policies imposed by the Kenyan government, pastoralist groups are left no choice but to raid their neighbors and engage in violent behavior just to ensure their own future livelihoods. While it is difficult to estimate how many men have fallen in the Pastoralist corridor fighting over limiting resources, Parenti’s interviews of Kenyan pastoralists highlight the pervasiveness of climate-induced violence in these already tumultuous African states. Former Kenyan pastoralist Lucas Airong lost both his father and friends w hen he was a young boy by way of the Kenyan cattle wars. Although Ariong is now a local NGO leader, and is far removed from the Pastoralist Corridor, he still owns â€Å"about 50 cows†¦ all kept under the watchful eyes of armed men, his sons, and hired hands.†Ã‚  (Parenti C. , 2011) Since the Kenyan government has proven incapable of providing sufficient watering holes and adequate irrigation systems, local tribes such as the Turkana and Pokot are left no other choice but to engage in violent behavior. The diminishing supply of natural resources has the ability to spark both small-scale tribal clashes, such as in the Pastoralist Corridor, and large-scale civil wars, as illustrated by the most recent humanitarian crisis currently unfolding between the Christian anti-balaka rebels and the Muslim former Sà ©là ©ka rebels in the Central African Republic. Although no current CAR casualty report exists, the Associated Press reported in December of 2014, just seven months after the armed conflict began, that at least 5,186 fatalities were caused by the strife between the anti-balaka and the ex-Sà ©là ©ka factions.  (The Associated Press, 2014) While religious differences and the desire for political control were undoubtedly factors in instigating this conflict, former CAR Minister of Environment and Ecology and current CAR liaison for the World Resource Institute Paul Doko is one of many who attribute the ongoing Central African Republic civil war to resource scarcity. â€Å"What w e have been facing in the provinces,† Doko claims, â€Å"is a struggle between different militia for control over natural resources such as diamond, timber, ivory and others, rather than willingness to actually change politics.†Ã‚  (Bollen, 2013) In these remote provinces outside of the capital of Bengui, the feud over the country’s remaining resources has had devastating effects on local communities. Sà ©là ©ka commanders have forcefully removed, and even slaughtered, CAR citizens for control over the country’s â€Å"artisan timber exploitation, ivory poaching, and diamond mines.†Ã‚  (Bollen, 2013) Similar to the Pastoralist Corridor, armed conflict over natural resources is facilitated by the country’s weak governance and rampant poverty. In this politically fragile state, access to the country’s remaining natural resources is a critical step in attaining political influence and achieving economic prosperity. Climate change has also fostered violence between African locals and foreign corporations that exploit African workers and extract African resources. In their article titled, â€Å"Globalization, Land Grabbing, and the Present-Day Colonial State in Uganda: Ecolonization and Its Impact,† authors Pà ¡draig Carmody and David Taylor argue that the depletion of natural resources has increased their overall economic, social and political value in the global economy, which in turn has caused â€Å"ecolonization,† a phrase coined by the two authors which refers to the â€Å"ongoing colonization of different types of natural resources by those states, companies, and consumers that are able to exercise power in the global political economy†Ã‚  (Carmody & Taylor, 2016)   Due to continent’s largely untapped resource market and each country’s eagerness to finally enter the global economy, Africa has become one of the most popular destinations for foreign inve stment. Yet, this mass influx of foreign governments and transnational corporations (TNCs) has created resentment among many already impoverished and malnourished African communities. In resource-rich countries such as Somalia and Nigeria, locals have responded to the arrival of outside corporations with acts of looting, robbing, and piracy. In a 2014 journal study titled, â€Å"Fisheries, ecosystem justice and piracy: A case study of Somalia,† authors Rashid Sumalia and Mahamudu Bawumia argue that the recent rise in piracy off the coast of Somalia is the result of the destruction of the local fishing industry caused by increased foreign fishing presence, ineffective state governance, and unregulated toxic waste dumping. Foreign trawlers often overfish and, because of weak government enforcement of environmental policies, are allowed to dispose toxic and hazardous waste into Somalian waters. This in turn not only reduces the supply of available fish for Somalian natives, but also threatens the ecosystem’s future availability. (Sumaila & Bawumia, 2014) Confronted with increasingly barren fisheries, Somalian fishers, unable to overcome corporate technology and capital, are provided no other alternative but to engage in theft and piracy. This ongoing conflict between foreign entities and Somalian locals has made the Somalian coast the most dangerous body of water worldwide, closely trailed by the Niger Delta.  (Gaffey, 2016) With a crude oil production capacity of close to 2.5 million barrels a day, Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, and the sixth largest worldwide. Although the Niger Delta accounts for 90% of all Nigerian commercial crude exports, and makes up close to 70% of the government’s total revenue, the region remains one of the most dangerous in the world.  (NNPC, 2016) While government officials, Nigerian elites, and major Transnational Corporations such as Shell, Mobil, and Chevron all reap the economic benefits of crude oil extraction, the vast majority of Niger Delta inhabitants still live in abject poverty. To make matters worse, crude oil extraction has subsequently led to greater pollution in the river basin, the widespread destruction of subsistence crops, and the expropriation of residential territory. The unequal distribution of oil revenue, the blatant disregard for environmental preservation, and the policies preferential to multinational corporations have all led to the emergence of multiple militant organizations in the Niger Delta. While these militancy groups differ in composition and extremity, they all employ violent tactics to achieve the same goal: a greater control over the country’s limited resources. (Francis & Sardesai, 2008) Lastly, in recent years, grassroots protests have arisen in several African countries in an attempt to combat environmentally destructive governmental policies. Having been hampered by colonialism for decades, many African governments are now employing â€Å"top-down development models† that concentrate on expanding industrial modes of production as a way to cement their place in the global economy.  (Leonard & Pelling, 2010) While such policies will certainly help propel national economies in the long term, they tend to relegate certain, already marginalized, African communities. Such marginalization and ensuing protest is most apparent in Kenya, and in the Darfur region of western Sudan. In her publication titled, ‘‘’It’s More Than Planting Trees, It’s Planting Ideas’: Ecofeminist Praxis in the Green Belt Movement,† author Kathleen Hunt points to the Green Belt Movement, a nationwide environmental campaign in Kenya, to illustra te the role that African citizens frequently play in protesting environmental and political oppression. The Green Belt Movement (GBM) was established by Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai as a means to protest the country’s latest model of economic development, which relies heavily on trading the country’s already limited unsustainable resources, like timber, charcoal, and coffee. Hunt explains that such policies, which are not unique to Kenya alone but characterize much of the African continent, favor â€Å"national trade of raw materials over local community economies.† (Hunt, 2014) According to Hunt, Kenya’s keenness to enter the world market has both exacerbated local food insecurity and caused â€Å"deforestation, soil erosion, sedimentation†¦ [and] migratory shifts, as men moved in search for work in the white settlers’ plantation.†Ã‚  (Hunt, 2014) While these policies have indisputably afflicted the nation’s pop ulation as a whole, the Green Belt Movement has primarily focused on ensuring the rights of Kenyan women, who have traditionally been in charge of â€Å"managing the family’s land, food production, gathering water and fuelwood.†Ã‚  (Hunt, 2014) Established in 1977, the Green Belt Movement hasn’t only combatted environmental degradation through public demonstrations, however. Rather, the movement places an equally large focus on empowering Kenyan villages, from teaching locals how to properly plant trees to hosting community-wide engagement seminars. Despite the organization’s holistic and empowering approach, the movement has indeed encountered a considerable amount of violence throughout its history. Once the Green Belt Movement adopted a pro-democracy message to its platform, the Kenyan government began to use state force in order to stop the dissemination of their message. This was most apparent in 1992 when GBM forces joined fellow pro-democratic grou p, Release Political Prisoners (RPP), to protest the unjust torturing and indefinite holding of political detainees. While the demonstration was originally planned as a three-day sit-in on Uhuru Park, the two allied groups immediately encountered police violence. Fighting off the police’s tear gas and batons, many GBM and RPP members remained in the park for over eleven months.  (Hunt, 2014) Although the violence encountered at Uhuru Park was an anomaly for the Green Belt Movement, more frequent displays of violence stemming from environmentally destructive national policies can be found in the Darfur region of Sudan. With an almost entirely Arab population and government, Sudan Arab semi-nomadic pastoralists and non-Arab sedentary farmers have long shared the region’s natural resources. Yet, over the past half-century tensions have heightened as climate unpredictability has forced the two groups to compete over shrinking grazing land and evaporating watering holes. The current day humanitarian crisis, however, began in April of 2003, when a rebel group comprised of non-Arab members attacked El Fashir airport in North Darkur.  (Sikainga, 2009) This attack was the culmination of numerous non-Arab demonstrations advocating for better resource distribution and greater political representation in the Sudanese government. In response to this attack, president Omar al-Bashir acted swiftly, employing numerous autonomous militias to suppress non-Arab rebel groups. One ethnically Arab group, known as the Janjaweed, employed particularly heinous tactics to combat their non-Arab counterparts, including torture, arson, looting, and mass killings, deemed by many as â€Å"ethnic genocide.†Ã‚  (Human Rights Watch, Africa Division, 2004-2005) While the Darfur region has historically been volatile, this particular resource-related conflict, which pit marginalized sedentary farmers against the predominantly Muslim Sundanese government and its hired militias, has been deemed one of the worst humanitarian crises in the last century, killing more than 300,000 citizens and displacing more than 2 million (Taylor, 2005) If the immediate ramifications of climate change, such as desertification, droughts and food insecurity weren’t enough already to compel state actors to institute environmentally friendly policies, the examples listed above, from Kenya’s Pastoralist Corridor to Sudan’s Darfur, hopefully serve to illustrate the true gravity of unabated greenhouse gas emissions. Currently one-sixth of the world’s population is starving, and with global temperatures expected to rise anywhere from 4-6 °C by the end of the century, one can only assume the consequences of climate change will intensify in the near future.  (Holt-Gimà ©nez) In order to reduce malnutrition, maintain our current levels of biodiversity, and stop resource related conflicts altogether, major polluters and African countries must agree to sweeping and stringent reforms. Although mitigation strategies, which seek to drastically cut the production of greenhouse gasses through the implementation of gre en energy and the disengagement from the industrialized economy, are preferred by environmental activists worldwide, they have proven to be ineffective thus far, as Annex I countries, rapidly developing BRIC countries, and African central governments all refuse to make economic concessions in the name of environmental preservation.  (Jacobs, 2018) This was best illustrated at the 2011 Copenhagen Conference of the Parties (COP), an annual meeting between all member nations of the UNFCCC. The only agreement crafted at the conference, in which the United States, Brazil, South Africa, India, and China all decided to take â€Å"inadequate and voluntary emission cuts,† was conducted behind closed doors.  (Bond, 2016) The industrialized world’s stubborn refusal to include African countries in the decision-making process has been a recurring theme in nearly all environmental negotiations. The Paris Agreement of 2015, for example, did not even mention â€Å"climate debtâ⠂¬  payment for vulnerable countries, even though many African countries are already owed reparations for the damage levied by local climates.  (Bond, 2016) While occidental countries should be reprimanded for their unwillingness to take environmental action, it is important to note that African governments are also partially to blame for perpetuating climate change. Primarily concerned with enhancing the national economy, African governments have repeatedly favored large-scale corporations over local industries. This partiality manifests itself most clearly in the coastal city of Durban, South Africa.   Although the Durban population has expressed its vehement disapproval through frequent demonstrations and protests, the South African government has continued to invest in foreign industries nevertheless. As authors Llewellyn Leonard and Mark Pelling write, â€Å"state and industry interests [in Durban, South Africa] have continued to invest in projects that harm the local env ironment and human health† (Leonard & Pelling, 2010) This widespread government reluctance to reduce carbon emissions has rendered most proposed mitigation solutions, like La Via Campesina’s global food sovereignty movement, unfeasible. In his report titled â€Å"Seven Reasons Why the World Banks Plan for Agriculture Will Not Help Small Farmers,† author Eric Holt-Gimà ©nez explains how promoting global food sovereignty could help ameliorate food insecurity and resource deprivation facing African nations today. Providing citizens with the right to â€Å"determine [their own] food and agriculture policies† will not only keep local malnutrition from worsening, Holt-Gimà ©nez argues, but will also hinder transnational corporations from inflating commodity prices to unreasonable levels. (Holt-Gimà ©nez, Williams, & Hachmyer, 2015) Although an effective policy in theory, global food sovereignty hinges on rural and urban communities agreeing to directly exchange products and policymakers deciding to cut out transnation al corporations from the food supply chain. This course of action seems unlikely in Africa’s current economic climate, however. Challenging the TNC dominated neoliberal market will not only take decades to achieve, but will also severely impede on long-term national growth. Even though mitigation strategies such as reducing CO2 emissions and excluding transnational corporations from the global food supply chain are unlikely to be effective, climate-change induced conflict will decrease nonetheless if African communities are well adapted to fluctuating environmental conditions. Ensuring African resilience begins with the implementation of Climate-Smart Agriculture and increased infrastructural support from NGOs and already developed nations. Rather than just simply advocating for emissions reductions, Climate-Smart Agriculture promotes resilience among African communities by providing farmers with new technology and agricultural techniques, such as â€Å"mulching, intercropping, conservation agriculture, crop rotation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The World Bank, 2013). While Climate-Smart Agriculture will certainly help attenuate the problems plaguing Africa today, infrastructural improvement is also required to curtail resource related conflict. In fact, when asked how to solve tribal violence in the Pastoralist Corridor, Lucas Airong responded with, â€Å"more wells. We need boreholes†¦ the issue is drought†Ã‚  (Parenti C. , 2011). Although both of these solutions require a collective and concerted effort on behalf of developed countries, they are more moderate than the mitigation plans rejected in the past. Even though these policies are mere strawman solutions and do not address the root cause of climate change, adaptation strategies are undeniably the best way to guarantee that the world’s most vulnerable nations are at least prepared to combat the consequences of climate change. Bibliography Bollen, A. (2013, December 18). Natural resources at the heart of CAR crisis. Retrieved from New Internationalist: https://newint.org/blog/2013/12/18/central-african-republic-natural-resources Bond, P. (2016, Winter). Who Wins from Climate Apartheid? African Climate Justice Narratives about the Paris COP 21. New Politics, pp. 83-90. Carmody, P., & Taylor, D. (2016). Globalization, Land grabbing and the Present Day Colonial State in Uganda: Ecolonization and its impact. Journal of Environment and Development, 100-126. Francis, P., & Sardesai, S. (2008). Republic of Nigeria: Niger Delta Social and Conflict Analysis. The World Bank. Gaffey, C. (2016, May 4). WHY WEST AFRICA AND NIGERIA HAVE THE WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS SEAS. Retrieved from News Week: http://www.newsweek.com/why-west-africa-and-nigeria-have-worlds-deadliest-seas-455714 Griffin, D. P. (2017, July 10). CDP Carbon Majors Report 2017. Snowmass: Climate Accountability Institute. Retrieved from Carbon Majors Database: https://www.cdp.net/en/articles/media/new-report-shows-just-100-companies-are-source-of-over-70-of-emissions Henry, D. (2015, November 11). GOP senators rip Sanders for linking global terror, climate change. Retrieved from The Hill: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/260465-gop-senators-rip-sanders-for-linking-terror-climate Holt-Gimà ©nez, E., Williams, J., & Hachmyer, C. (2015, Winter). Why The World Banks Plan for Agriculture will not help small farmers. Food First Backgrounder, 21(3). Human Rights Watch, Africa Division. (2004-2005). Entrenching Impunity Government Responsibility for International Crimes in Darfur. Human Rights Watch. Hunt, K. (2014, July-August). Its More Than Planting Trees, Its Planting Ideas: Ecofeminist praxis in the Green Belt Movement. Southern Communication Journal, 79(3), 235-249. IPCC Working Groups I-III. (2015). IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Cambridge: Cambridge Unviersity Press. Jacobs, R. (2018). Slide 11. Climate Change and Resource Conflict. Leonard, L., & Pelling, M. (2010, February). Mobilisation and protest: environmental justice in Durban, South Africa. Local Environment, 15(2), pp. 137-151. Lynn Hewlett, G. M. (2015, December). Learning from student protest in Sub Saharan Africa. Fees Must Fall: Student Revolt, Decolonization and Governance in South Africa(43/44), 148-168. Marlon, J. L. (2013). Scientific and Public Perspectives on Climate Change. New Haven: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. Meyer, R. (2018, February 12). Does Climate Change Cause More War? Retrieved from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/does-climate-change-cause-more-war/553040/ NNPC. (2016). Oil Production. Retrieved from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation: http://www.nnpcgroup.com/nnpcbusiness/upstreamventures/oilproduction.aspx Parenti, C. (2011). Chapter 4. In C. Parenti, Tropics of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence (pp. 39-53). New York: Nation Books. Popovski, V. (2017, January 20). Foresight Africa viewpoint: Does climate change cause conflict? Retrieved from Brookings Institute: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2017/01/20/does-climate-change-cause-conflict/ Sikainga, A. (2009, February). The Worlds Worst Humanitarian Crisis: Understanding the Darfur Conflict. Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, 2(5). Sumaila, R., & Bawumia, M. (2014). Fisheries, ecosystem justice and piracy: A case study of Somalia. Fisheries Research, 154-163. Taylor, S. (2005, February). Genocide in Darfur: Crime Without Punishment? The Atlantic. The Associated Press. (2014, September 12). Central African Republic: Death Toll in Massacres Far Exceeds U.N. Count. Retrieved from Mercury News: https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/09/12/central-african-republic-death-toll-in-massacres-far-exceeds-u-n-count/ The World Bank. (2013). Policy brief : opportunities and challenges for climate-smart agriculture in Africa. Washington D.C.: The World Bank. The World Bank. (2018). Women, Agriculture and Work in Africa. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.

Dishwalla :: essays research papers

Dishwalla Listen closely to Dishwalla, and you discover there is blood on these tracks. Twelve years and five albums after the band from Santa Barbara, California made their debut, Dishwalla endures. Together the group – lead singer JR Richards, guitarist Rodney Browning, bassist Scot Alexander, keyboardist Jim Wood and drummer Pete Maloney - have survived record company musical chairs, countless musical trends, and even the curious challenge of having their very own smash hit right out of the box. Through it all – the good, the bad and the ugly – Dishwalla have emerged stronger than ever, and in the process have established themselves as that rock & roll rarity: a real, working band that stays together to play together. Fittingly, then, Dishwalla (a self titled CD) is very much an album about survival and transcendence – an inspired song cycle about rising â€Å"Above The Wreckage† to borrow a phrase from one of the album’s numerous standout tracks. Recorded with three diverse yet distinguished producers – Bill Szymczyk (The Eagles, B.B. King), Sylvia Massy (Tool, System of a Down) and Ryan Greene (NOFX, Lag Wagon) – the new CD is, in the words of the group’s JR Richards, â€Å"very representative of our whole journey.† It’s a journey that, for many, began with Dishwalla’s 1996 platinum debut Pet Your Friends that included â€Å"Counting Blue Cars,† the compelling hit track that would define the band for its more casual fans. â€Å"A hit can be a blessing and a curse in the making,† Richards says with a smile. â€Å"We had a song so big that it overshadowed everything else we came up with for the next few years. You end up competing with yourself. It’s been a mixed blessing but one that’s helped us to keep working and keep going.† It’s also a song that’s led some to wrongly typecast Dishwalla as everything from a hardcore Christian band to hardcore feminists. For Richards, â€Å"It’s been interesting because some people thought we were a Christian band – and yet there’d be Christian groups protesting outside a club because we used `God’ as a feminine pronoun. Ultimately, what we learned is how that song really connected with so many people on such a lyrical level.† Dishwalla enjoyed less commercial success with their second album, 1998’s And You Think You Know What’s Life About, at least partially the result of record company downsizing and its resultant turmoil. Leaving their label, A&M Records, the band proceeded to release the lovely, introspective Opaline on the small Immergent label in 2002. â€Å"We were pretty beat up after our first two records and our third record was very

The Role of Ancient Gods Essay -- essays research papers fc

When we study ancient Greek and Roman literature, we realize that the world perception in those times, among people, was much different from what it is now. It is especially obvious when we begin to analyze the role of mythical and religious elements in ancient literature. According to the classical Christian theological theory, people’s need for believing in supernatural beings is caused by their fear of nature. This concept strikingly resembles the Marxist explanation - it also names fear as the main factor. If one reads Homer’s â€Å"Iliad† and â€Å"Odyssey,† and Virgil’s â€Å"Aeneid†, he gets to realize that the ancient concept of people’s interaction with Gods is totally deprived of fear in any form. In all three masterpieces, Gods are basically described as humans, with all their strengths and weaknesses, although being immortal. Humans often revere Gods, but not out of fear – they simply respect their superiority. Many historians suggest that one of the main reasons, which enabled Greek and Roman civilizations to reach extraordinary heights in the fields of culture and science, is the fact of their religious liberalism. Let us to take a closer look at all three poems, so it’ll be easier for us to find common religious motives in all of them. Homer’s â€Å"Odyssey† is one of the finest examples of ancient Greek literature. Along with â€Å"Iliad† it represents an ultimate expression of ancient spirit, which we still use as a standard while assessing the cultural legacy of our own Western civilization. Modern historians doubt whether the same author wrote these two epic masterpieces. The main reason for this is that â€Å"Odyssey†, stylistically and conceptually, is much different from â€Å"Iliad†. First one is a high tragedy, its storyline based on the events of Trojan War. The style of this poem is very noble and there is no place for petty human weaknesses. The action takes place at the time when city of Troy was being besieged by Achaeans. Achaean leader Agamemnon takes Chrysies as his prize. She prays Apollo, who sends a plague on Achaeans. Achaean hero Achilles asks his mother sea-nymph Thetis to ask Zeus to punish Achaeans for being ignorant towards Achilles: â€Å"God of the silver bow, thy ear incline, Whose power encircles Cilla the divine; Whose sacred eye thy Tenedos surveys, And gilds fair Chrysa with distinguished rays! If, fired to vengeance at thy priest's request, Thy d... ...iter favors Aeneas. The God of Sea Neptune is also on the side of Aeneas, who’s able to safely reach the shores of Carthage, after storm dies down as a result of Neptune’s involvement. Among other Roman Gods that interact with Aeneas, we can name Mercury, Aeolus, Cupid, Allecto, Vulcan, Saturn and Minerva. The role of divine beings in all three poems can hardly be overestimated. What separates these poems from later Christian literature is the fact the Gods actively participate in people’s affairs and there is no judgment found on them†¦ Bibliography: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Homer. â€Å"The Odyssey†. Translated by Fitzgerald, R. Garden City, NY, Anchor/Doubleday, 1961 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Homer. â€Å"The Iliad†. Translated by Lattimore, R. University of Chicago. 1951. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vergil. â€Å"Aeneid†. Translated by Williams. T. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. The Outline 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  P. 1, Short introduction of the topic. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pp. 1 – 2, Homer’s â€Å"Iliad† analysis. 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pp. 2 – 3, Homer’s â€Å"Odyssey† analysis. 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pp. 3 – 4, Virgil’s â€Å"Aeneid† analysis. The Role of Ancient Gods Essay -- essays research papers fc When we study ancient Greek and Roman literature, we realize that the world perception in those times, among people, was much different from what it is now. It is especially obvious when we begin to analyze the role of mythical and religious elements in ancient literature. According to the classical Christian theological theory, people’s need for believing in supernatural beings is caused by their fear of nature. This concept strikingly resembles the Marxist explanation - it also names fear as the main factor. If one reads Homer’s â€Å"Iliad† and â€Å"Odyssey,† and Virgil’s â€Å"Aeneid†, he gets to realize that the ancient concept of people’s interaction with Gods is totally deprived of fear in any form. In all three masterpieces, Gods are basically described as humans, with all their strengths and weaknesses, although being immortal. Humans often revere Gods, but not out of fear – they simply respect their superiority. Many historians suggest that one of the main reasons, which enabled Greek and Roman civilizations to reach extraordinary heights in the fields of culture and science, is the fact of their religious liberalism. Let us to take a closer look at all three poems, so it’ll be easier for us to find common religious motives in all of them. Homer’s â€Å"Odyssey† is one of the finest examples of ancient Greek literature. Along with â€Å"Iliad† it represents an ultimate expression of ancient spirit, which we still use as a standard while assessing the cultural legacy of our own Western civilization. Modern historians doubt whether the same author wrote these two epic masterpieces. The main reason for this is that â€Å"Odyssey†, stylistically and conceptually, is much different from â€Å"Iliad†. First one is a high tragedy, its storyline based on the events of Trojan War. The style of this poem is very noble and there is no place for petty human weaknesses. The action takes place at the time when city of Troy was being besieged by Achaeans. Achaean leader Agamemnon takes Chrysies as his prize. She prays Apollo, who sends a plague on Achaeans. Achaean hero Achilles asks his mother sea-nymph Thetis to ask Zeus to punish Achaeans for being ignorant towards Achilles: â€Å"God of the silver bow, thy ear incline, Whose power encircles Cilla the divine; Whose sacred eye thy Tenedos surveys, And gilds fair Chrysa with distinguished rays! If, fired to vengeance at thy priest's request, Thy d... ...iter favors Aeneas. The God of Sea Neptune is also on the side of Aeneas, who’s able to safely reach the shores of Carthage, after storm dies down as a result of Neptune’s involvement. Among other Roman Gods that interact with Aeneas, we can name Mercury, Aeolus, Cupid, Allecto, Vulcan, Saturn and Minerva. The role of divine beings in all three poems can hardly be overestimated. What separates these poems from later Christian literature is the fact the Gods actively participate in people’s affairs and there is no judgment found on them†¦ Bibliography: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Homer. â€Å"The Odyssey†. Translated by Fitzgerald, R. Garden City, NY, Anchor/Doubleday, 1961 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Homer. â€Å"The Iliad†. Translated by Lattimore, R. University of Chicago. 1951. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vergil. â€Å"Aeneid†. Translated by Williams. T. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. The Outline 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  P. 1, Short introduction of the topic. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pp. 1 – 2, Homer’s â€Å"Iliad† analysis. 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pp. 2 – 3, Homer’s â€Å"Odyssey† analysis. 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pp. 3 – 4, Virgil’s â€Å"Aeneid† analysis.

Locating the company Essay

Mary Anne used to work in the public library but has resigned four years ago. Currently she writes articles on Wicca and witchcraft for an online website under an assumed name for privacy. She claimed that her ancestors were into the practice long before they came to the US to migrate. According to her, the practice was never foreign to her having grown with a doting father who was a physician studying herbology along with his siblings. Animatedly she began to talk about her funny experiences as a child and showed me her private carpeted room which I was not allowed to step inside. Standing in the halls, I was shown a set of altar tools used in rituals which includes a broom or a besom, a cauldron, the goblet, a hardbound Book of Shadows, a boline or a knife for cutting things and many more. The room was well-lighted with several lamps that looked like candles, and there were several unlighted candles of white, black and gold colors. I was then told that the tools are just plain tools that have no actual powers of their own. According to Mary Anne, the â€Å"tools† are used for a particular purpose and while they may seem unimportant, it is considered rude to touch them without permission. A pentagram was framed at the corner of the room with 3D effects. Altogether, the Wiccan room she showed me was a stark contrast from the rest of the house. We went back to her sitting room and started talking about the popular Wiccan groups in her community. For her, there was no difficulty in locating the company of others but her path is unique and so are the paths of her family members before her. According to her, the Divine is everywhere present in every being. She respects other members and practitioners but prefer to practice alone to maintain focus. Although she attends meetings from time to time, these are often associated with certain religious ceremonies. Knowing that I was quite interested in the craft, she started preaching on the value of ethics and the threefold law that what you do to others comes back to you threefold times. Respect for others and their liberty is critical in the wiccan culture and religion that allows us to be freed from our own selfish ambitions according to Rountree (2002). For Anne, the air, water, and the earth are essential for life such that she is a vegetarian unable to hurt and kill animals even for food. Fire according to her is in her heart as her zest for life is written down for others to read and aid in the wiccan practice and religion. For her, the principles of Alexandrian Wicca or the Gardnarian wicca is important but does not have to be the ultimate guiding force into the practice if the religion allows freedom and liberty as its cardinal rule. Her parting joke to me was, â€Å"do not be afraid, the true wiccans are not into evil practice† made me see that a true religion does not impart teachings of subjugation and control to its members.

Jails and Prisons Essay

Jails and prisons are corrective institutions which are meant to curb criminal activities in the society. They are also meant to punish the offenders. Prisons execute imprisonment which involves legal penalties. Jails and prisons should basically be aimed at punishing and rehabilitating the offender so as he/she will not repeat the crime which he/she was convicted of. The federal spending on correctional activities has also been gradually increasing. In the recent past federal government has been enhancing its efforts to improve jails and prisons conditions as a sign of recognizing some human rights entitled to criminals. Nowadays, those serving imprisonment sentences can access various facilities. These include religious services, education facilities, and recreational facilities in the exercise yard. The prisoners’ health is also well taken care of. Prisoners are also trained and imparted with some skills which may be helpful in their future life. In our contemporary prisons, prisoners are provided with entertainment facilities such as pool tables and TV. (Cavadino & Dignan 2006) USA jails and prisons are both meant to rehabilitate and punish the offenders. Rehabilitation is an effective method of ensuring no re-offence so as to reduce the number of prisoners’ population. This program seeks to address the casual links to offending, and employ cognitive behavioral approach towards modifying the prisoners’ behaviors. Counselors are used to ensure success of such programs. Those involved in use of prohibited substances and a number of civil crimes are usually rehabilitated. On the other hand, some criminal activities necessitate punishments such as fines, strokes and capital punishment. Capital punishment is applied to serious criminal activities such as terrorism, espionage, treason or mass destruction. (McGuire 2002; Cavadino & Dignan 2006)