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The Life Of A Prominent Woman
The Life Of A Prominent Woman
Name
Affiliated Institution
Wangari Mathai
Brief History
Wangari Muta Maathai, as she was named, was born in 1940 within a rural region of a town called Nyeri in Kenya. She attended schools within the area and was able to avoid ethnic ostracism because of the upheavals against colonialism by her tribe, the Kikuyu. During that period, she became quite exemplary within the educational sphere, and her poor background did not deter her from the progress she finally made.
Once she passed her examinations and emerged as the top of her class, she was in luck. A Kenyan firebrand politician named Tom Mboya had negotiated a deal with the then President of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy. In this deal, 300 Kenyans were to be airlifted to the country to further their education, and Maathai became part of it, for she was exemplary (Maathai, 2003).
While in The States, she majored in biology at the Mount St.Scholastica College and proceeded to get her degree in 1964. Then after that, she studied for her master’s degree in biology at the University of Pittsburgh. After a few years, she studied for her Ph.D. at the University of Nairobi. She became the first woman in East and Central Africa to have a Doctorate.
Later on, in the future, she became instrumental in carving out the environmental movement called the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and suffered under the hands of a tyrannical government. Her efforts were internationally acknowledged, and she rose to prominence for her active role in the promotion of environmental preservation. In the year 2004, she was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize due to the activism and dynamic highlighting of the issues ailing the environment.
She died at the age of 71 due to her battle with ovarian cancer. The world is on its knees due to the looming danger that environmental change and climate change is threatening. Wangari Maathai is particularly a revolutionary in environmental preservation because she was consistently vocal about this at a time when it seemed almost impossible. To make matters better, she was able to do this in an underdeveloped third world country that still actively harbored misogynistic views and eventually moved the masses to the initiative. Kenya got put on the spot for her efforts. The country had to conform to the blueprint that she presented to the country and the world.
Education Experience
The financial situation of the family was pitiful at the time, and it led them to do a lot that may be considered the norm for people in a dire financial state. Their family was economic migrants, for they moved from one to another to sustain a livelihood. At the age of eight, she enrolled in the primary school at her home. Late enrollment did not serve as a hurdle, though, for she still achieved a lot within her life that many people may not be able to make.
She was in luck for the community that surrounded her knew the value of education. It ensured that their children had a quality education according to the standards of the time. Education was the key to success, and everybody had to be involved in the improvement of their family members’ lives.
Ethnic upheaval against the British empire led members of her tribe, the Kikuyu, to suffer under scrutiny and concentration camps. Fortunately, education served as the shield that prevented her from undergoing suffering under the hands of the British. Every time she got to a new level of education, she was bold enough to stand out and show the grit she had to achieve all those academic accolades.
The general mood towards education within her immediate society played a significant role in ensuring that she got nothing but the best and was pushed to the top by her knowledge of the value of education. Finally, she stood tall as a giant, and many stood on her shoulders for support in the betterment of life and universal welfare.
Obstacles
Once Wangari Maathai took a more in-depth look into the issues that the society was facing, she realized that part of it was in line with what was happening to the environment. Following the rationality that she established over the ages, she initiated the Green Belt Movement in 1977.
Rising environmental uncertainty such as drying of streams and food insecurity made her realize that a lot of people were about to suffer for their inability to make any change. A quick reevaluation of the stance of the society on communal values made it evident where the problem was. Traditional communalism had eroded, and a more capitalistic ideal had emerged as the standard. By seeing this, she was able to conclude that abandonment of societal roles had become rife and, in its wake, it left environment degradation, disempowerment, and a disenfranchised section of society.
The Green Belt Movement also concluded that the people who were supposed to guard the citizens against the hardships of life were responsible for the strife (Muthuki, 2006). The politicians of the time were not accountable for their actions and mostly stole the useful land and even went as far as to allow the transformation of forests into arable land.
Wangari Maathai rose as a fierce political speaker for change and put her life at risk because it was a time of unexplainable extrajudicial killings. As the political sphere only got dimmer in the nation, she got bolder and never feared a thing in her way. The government gave in to her demands on many occasions. She stood in the frontline as a soldier against the dim future the government wanted to grant to its people. A bold move of this kind on multiple occasions made her a force to be reckoned with and put her at odds with the oppressors but gave her international recognition.
Discoveries And Work
What many would term as her most significant discovery is the realization that deforestation could potentially get reversed by the collective planting of trees by women across the nation. The initiative was one of the critical pillars of the formation of the Green Belt Movement. It was not her intention to put men down by doing this but to uplift women as builders of society and custodians of the health of the environment. Because of that central belief, by 2004, an idea that was scorned and laughed at had made the country 30 million trees more productive.
Wangari Maathai is known for many things among Kenyans and international circles for her numerous achievements. The one thing that most stood out was her ability to defend the ideals of communalism and a cleaner and healthier environment. She took on an enemy more powerful than her and emerged victoriously. Her ideal genius got revered on an international scale, and it won hearts for the many masses she had helped were insured from another generation of environmental degradation and suffering (Lappé, 2004). She was an adamant believer of the power of women if they chose to do things as they intended and pleased (Presbey, 2013). A belief is not only useful but is instrumental in carving out a way forward.
For her efforts, history has marked her in indelible ink as a woman of power.
References
Muthuki, J. (2006). Challenging patriarchal structures: Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt movement in Kenya. Agenda, 20(69), 83-91.
Maathai, W. (2003). The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the approach and the experience. Lantern Books.
Presbey, G. M. (2013). Women’s empowerment: the insights of Wangari Maathai. Journal of Global Ethics, 9(3), 277-292.
Lappé, A., & Lappé, F. M. (2004). The Genius of Wangari Maathai. Alternatives Journal, 30(5), 30-31.
The life history and the identity formation of Jane, a lady in her late thirties who is diagnosed with brain cancer
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Professor
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Identity
Introduction
This paper posits to present the life history and the identity formation of Jane, a lady in her late thirties who is diagnosed with brain cancer. The results of this interview showed that Jane’s sense of self was seriously influenced by her upbringing experiences. Three central themes surfaced in the interview process: Jane’s esteem for her father, her enthusiasm to share insight, and her occupation as a beautician. Her story reveals that Jane has a brilliant disposition concerning life and, even if she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she does not perceive the condition as life threatening.
How Jane Perceives Herself Today, As a Lady Diagnosed With Brain Cancer. Throughout the interview, I noticed that Jane rarely talked in relation to her diagnosis of brain cancer or the syndrome process itself. Jane perceives herself to be in excellent health, but also as someone who has her personal ups and downs. When I inquired concerning her feelings on the process of gathering her life story, she said:
“I contemplated in relation to that the other day. I thought one way of doing your job is learning how individuals cope with diverse issues in their life. I desire to know how individuals live and do the things that make them cheerful. I get pleasure from talking to people and sharing what a fantastic life I had and still have.”
Jane did not mention any thing more concerning her prognosis, except the occasional remark that “this tiny brain cannot hold everything because from time to time it stops and at times it does not”, meaning that she perceives her memory as vague at times. Nevertheless, the interview process in itself granted me an insight to what Jane’s condition must be like.
Summary of the Interview. Jane never spoke concerning her illness or as an individual diagnosed with the syndrome. Yet, several times in the interview process the condition manifested itself. Often, Jane would reiterate the same stories concerning her childhood. One of Jane’s favorite narratives concerned her goals to become a beautician as well as her father’s indecision to support her line of business. I also noticed that Jane would inquire about me, only to come back to the query a few minutes later. These actions demonstrate the failure of short-range memory, but I suppose her childhood memories are fairly precise. Her stories concerning working in the confectionery shop and entering the beauty school continued as reasonably the same each time she narrated them. From the initial interview session, to the final, her stories remained the same, with the exception of minor deletions or expansions of detail in the narratives. Jane would repeatedly ask me my name and also my future professional plans. It was noticeable that she discerned that I had some relation to the university, but she could not grasp my name. She asked me to jot down my address and name after every interview session. I suppose that Jane wanted some kind of written documentation or explanation that she might use as a reminder, though I may not conclusively confirm this. Jane often asked how I came to know her, and I told her multiple times in each interview about how we worked together during the intergenerational activities.
Jane’s View of the World and Herself. As evident in the majority of literature, persons diagnosed with brain cancer perceive the disease process in different ways. Some individuals talk in relation to their experiences and emotions while others perceive it as their personal problem and are consequently uncomfortable sharing their problems with other people (Heywood 20). This is the case with Jane, because from the time when Jane was a youngster, she was engrained with the attitude: “Do not tell anyone your problems, since they have an adequate amount of their own problems.” Away from the syndrome process, Jane is amazingly optimistic with reference to life. She feels at harmony with herself, since she is contented with the manner in which things turned out in her career and she is happy with her father and the way he cares for her. Jane perceives that she has a fine perspective on life since she has done all that she desired to do.
General Societal Attitudes Surrounding Persons with Brain Cancer. There seems to be a variety of perceived societal attitudes surrounding persons with brain cancer which differ from person to person at diverse stages of life. The question of the psychological condition of the dying has received considerable attention in medical literature. The majority studies have focused on issues surrounding physician aided suicide, and in recent times, the rising awareness of existential and spiritual factors that may contribute to physical, and psychological well-being at the closing stages of life. Although surveys and questionnaires evaluating these factors have been authenticated in diverse palliative populations, they repeatedly fall short of capturing the subjective incidence of dying in the patients. Therefore, patient interviews may provide the superlative opportunity to investigate these sensitive concerns in a way that reveres the diversity of the disease experience (Heywood 26). Such a qualitative diagnostic approach may be employed to capture and understand the dynamic mental state of a dying patient.
Questions surrounding the benefits and costs of a variety of treatment options ought to be conferred in one-on-one consultations in order to acquire insight into the aspects considered significant in the lives of brain cancer patients. The outcomes of a cancer diagnosis are complex and far-reaching, affecting the patient as well as his/her group of caregivers. A number of studies have established the toll that cancer diagnosis bear on families of these patients, and the significance of communication within families as well as between health caregivers and health-care providers. Treatment decisions are often group assessments, made with the fundamental postulation that treatment for one patient may have repercussions for many. The significance of the caregiver’s point of view consequently becomes that much more essential, and to precisely estimate attitudes towards dying and treatment, these require being taken into account. Several studies in the literature consider caregiver perceptions and these have attached significant weight to construal of the decision making process in the terminally sick patients (Gardner 69).
Brain cancer is considered as unique amongst the malignant diseases, in that the organ that is affected is conventionally perceived as the seat of a person’s realistic sense of identity. Philosophical enquiries concerning the manifestation of conduct and the cognizance of a person’s existence all engage the brain. Consequently studying the responses as well as experiences of these patients with a sickness that threatens their survival is practically and conceptually appropriate. Although a small amount of studies have examined brain cancer populations in particular, a number of studies have investigated coping as well as the meaning of infirmity in patients with advanced cancer. For instance, in a number of mixed palliative populations investigated, desperation and yearning for death have been associated to physical distress as well as psychiatric depression. Measures have been devised measuring and assessing meaning and the determination to live, in addition to the yearning to die in these patients, on the other hand, investigators hardly ever, discuss cancer variety as an autonomous variable. Such studies endeavor to estimate attitudes towards fatality, but do not essentially scrutinize what these patients treasure in life (Heywood 32).
Cancer of the brain, although comparatively rare, is most commonly fatal. The overwhelming consequences of the syndrome for patients, caregivers and families, necessitate additional exploration in the sphere of subjective sickness experience as well as therapeutic decision making. It is as a result imperative that investigators as well as clinicians obtain an enhanced understanding of what is valuable and meaningful to persons living with terminal brain cancer.
Reflection on the Importance of Brain Cancer Diagnosis on Society. Caregivers were normally more reflective and forthcoming than patients. There appears to be a relative accord that when judged against other malignant sicknesses, that brain cancer is exceptional. More often than not, the society perceives the brain as a command center, and the center of the factual sense of identity, as well as concentration and memory. Over and above regarding brain cancer as unique, this is usually, but not at all times construed in a negative manner. For instance, the rapidity of the physical and intellectual decline, the absence of any long-lasting and effective treatments, as well as the bleakness of the diagnosis are cited as characteristic negative attributes of the disease. Some peoples, however, mention memory loss, cognitive decline, as well as the relative absence of pain as positive characteristics of the disease that, actually, spare their loved ones of the consciousness of suffering (Gardner 71).
A devastating symptom in one patient, may in reality be a redeeming characteristic for another patient, or offer some psychological or emotional comfort. Most people implicitly understand that maladies of the brain are in essential ways dissimilar than maladies of other organ systems. Often, the sentiment is echoed that every brain cancer is unique, while other cancers are basically alike. If a person has lung cancer, the symptoms are typically similar to the other person who also has lung cancer. One may get rid of a breast and still function, or one can still continue working with one lung. In regard to how brain cancer might be unlike other cancers, some people perceive that it is not merely a diagnosis, but almost like a sentence on every other aspect of life. Although a number of people regard brain cancer as unique (Bee 105).
Caregivers and patients usually regard it as requisite mainly when faced with an incurable illness of the brain, to put emphasis on the significance of mental functioning, cognition and orientation in their definition of value of life. The prospect of loss of memory as well as intellectual decline, in the majority of cases, bear out as the most universal reason that people opt for shortening life through declining further treatment. The emphasis on mental capacity draws attention to the exceptional experiences of patients with brain cancer, even amongst the other uncompromisingly malignant diseases. Families and patients understand that a disease that affects the brain, and essentially the mind, is qualitatively different from diseases that may affect other organs. Caregivers consistently comment that to losing one’s identity, awareness, and memory is tantamount to dying. The loss of vitality and independence in a previously high functioning person would be emotionally and psychologically traumatic (Gardner 75).
It is evident that in society, attitudes in regard to euthanasia vary in consistence with the controversial nature of this problem. However, although caregivers and patients may not be united in regard to the regulation or the means of the practice of euthanasia, there is general concurrence that the decision ought to eventually be the prerogative of the family and the patient.
Quality of life is essential and it would be reasonable that when an individual perceives that they have had enough suffering that opinion ought to be respected (Bee 110).
Works Cited
Bee, T. Lifespan Development, London, Routledge. 2010. Print.
Gardner, S. Extraordinary Minds, Paradigm Publishers, 2009. Print.
Heywood, B. Caring for Helen: An Experience of Effectively Coping with Brain Cancer, London: Thames & Hudson. 2011. Print.
The Life and Works of Andy Warhol
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
The Life and Works of Andy Warhol
Introduction
Andy Warhol is regarded as one of the most prominent artists ever for being an art legend. He was born in 1928 in Pittsburgh and finished his high school studies in 1954 where he managed to obtain a diploma and subsequently, he majored in pictorial design between 1945 and 1949 at Carnegie Institute of Technology. Many individuals reflect him as one of the supreme influential America artists of the second half of the twentieth era. He was part of the pop art movement and what made him renowned was his nature for exploring the standard culture in his work by use of brands, for instance, Coca-Cola as well as Campbell’s Soup which he termed it as one of his precious things to consume (Warhol and Andy, p.32). Also, his autograph style applied silkscreen-printing methods to generate duplicate; mass created imageries on the canvas after that various colors were introduced to make each of his paint unique besides to generate a variability of looks. Two decades after his death, he is still celebrated as an individual with a significant source of inspiration for many individuals in the contemporary society like the painters, fashion designers, musicians, photographers and also the filmmakers. This paper discusses the work and life of Andy Warhol, citing how his work was of beneficial into today’s artworks.
Analysis
Fascinated by the contemporary life, it is evident that Warhol centered his first works on commercials and he later ended up with creating sculptures as well as paintings of items. Consequently, his profession which in some point was enhanced by his fascination for death, industrialized promptly into the extensively perceptible flamboyant silk-screens of icon plus mediatized tragedies. However, from around the mid-1960s, his artistic attention eventually settled for underground film-production. Since from the start, his artistic intent are vibrant according to his statement, “art should and should not be only for the select few, but for the majority of American individuals.” Also, he was captivated by consumerism besides applying his prior knowledge of the improper media power; he grounds his art on advertisements.
In his artwork, Warhol converted some of the supermarket merchandises into art. By doing this, he was representing the consumerist America where he flourished in and everything fantastic concerning it. He used the Coke analogy to equalize the different classes in the society as the richest and the poor bought the same product as all the products consumed by the two groups were all the same. Moreover, Warhol through his standard work was able to discover silk-screening in 1962. Silk-screening was an industrial printing method of the newspaper which was an excellent tool for him to continue with his main agenda (Mattick and Paul, p.976). He claimed to apply the silk-screen method to help him develop everything similarly as the machine would. Therefore Warhol new-established silk screening method plus his fascination for publicity besides the de-humanization of society led to the creation of the “Death” series which received much recognition from the public. His statements on the “Death” series elaborates his disseminating of daily images over which unrelenting repetition, frequently connecting back to the media machines. Thus this a fact that without his explanations in the ‘Death” series, these pieces of art would result to be mere duplicates of newspaper photos, which would be empty of any valuable message.
Warhol did not only major in prints in his whole life as he also made films, sculptures as well as majoring in digital artwork. His studio was known as The Factory, and it was considered as an allusion to the mass-created nature of his creations. He used The Factory as a heart for the artists, movie stars and models who consequently developed to become fodder for his reproductions plus films. Further, the domicile operated as a concert location for The Velvet Underground. Warhol was able to collaborate with several upcoming artists in the 1980s, including Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat (Warhol and Andy, p.36). Warhol regarded art as a product, the similar way as the food the individuals consume and the clothes which they wear. And this concludes that he possessed an exact personal style mainly due to his living and dressing code. As a result of his works and living, he ultimately upswings to a rank of superstar celebrity and he manages to travel around the world marketing art, joining celebrity occasions and more so relishing the notoriety which he had accomplished.
Context
Warhol is a distinguished artist, his perception of the world ended up creating a whole new world in the art industry. He managed to change the art in the following sectors and ways:
The Pop Art Undertaking
It is certainly that Warhol is among or the most substantial figure in Pop Art and is accountable for its growth and eminence. He was able to acquire the post fifty’s fascination with commercialism, the consumer plus Hollywood products and thus with a humorous clue of its triviality, he achieved to turn the daily objects as well as the individuals from the then America’s widespread culture, into the current most familiar Pop Art pieces. Moreover his individual appreciative of notoriety, celebrity culture besides the media growth endorsed him to embrace an artistic approach concerning the different kind of individuals and objects which revealed the post-war social-cultural reality during that time. He managed to actualize them to an extreme fact on his works (Warhol and Andy, p.21). Therefore it is evident that Warhol edgy, straightforward and colorful explanations of ordinary things, as well as the Hollywood personalities, persistently changed the art world.
His Artistic Methods
Warhol managed to popularize the silk-screening as creative development. This technique features the creation of the same image in multiple times thereby allowing for the production of various colored versions of the image easily and swiftly. The use of overhead projectors as well as the Polaroid cameras are also some of his other groundbreaking methods in the artwork industry.
He Altered the Perception of Being an Artist
Warhol managed to communicate his artistic work in all sorts of methods. He is considered one of the first personalities to generate a radical notion in the art-formation world through “The Factory” which led to the making of several artists. The term “The Factory” is the name which everyone during the times of Warhol used and still applies to denote to Warhol’s studio. The most revolutionary thing regarding The Factory was that it led to the coming together of creative minds and thus allowed them to develop art mutually; the art which has still has a positive and felt impact on the today’s world. During that period, the individuals were working together through the proper following of Warhol’s directives. Warhol changed the notion of being an artist through the application of this skill, creating the ultimate piece not inherently connected physically, but abstractly to the artist.
Art as a Public Chronological Diary
The Warhol’s artwork can be regarded as a demonstration of the time’s most crucial events. His history of art pieces was in some instances stimulated by Marilyn Monroe’s demise, Red China and the post-Hiroshima incidences. Therefore Warhol was able to document all these happenings which to most individuals it mattered most, then by his prism, which had a far-reaching impact on several artists in the prospect.
The Perception of Fame Was Changed
In his statement, Warhol stated that “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for about fifteen minutes.” (Koch and Stephen, p.15). Through these articulations, Warhol in one way or another forecasted the media as well as the celebrity ethos of the present era. Those who were regarded as the celebrities or in other words as “stars” rise and faded after sometime plus where individuals can develop to be prominent for who they pretend to be or just who they are, without the necessity for specific exceptional talent. It was during that time that the media was becoming developing to be more and extra pertinent and lively, that Warhol assumed that soon individuals would commence projecting pictures of themselves which would occasionally grow to be all that they are.
Conclusion
As described in this discussion, it is evident that Warhol was a prominent individual who contributed a lot to the past and present artwork. Therefore from his artwork, it can be concluded by stating that the scope to which Warhol facilitates individuals understanding of his artwork is significant and hence his character is a part of his idea, from which his art originates. Moreover, although he died, his work is of great inspiration to several artists and those who wish to venture in the art industry. Further, there are many lessons which can be learned from his work for his idea was not to live forever but to create something which will live forever and this evident by Warhol legacy in the art which is experienced up to today.
Works Cited
Koch, Stephen. Stargazer: The Life, World and Films of Andy Warhol. Open Road Media, 2015.
Mattick, Paul. “The Andy Warhol Of Philosophy And The Philosophy Of Andy Warhol”. Critical Inquiry, vol 24, no. 4, 1998, pp. 965-987. University Of Chicago Press, doi:10.1086/448903.
Warhol, Andy, and Pat Hackett. POPism: The Warhol Sixties. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.
Warhol, Andy. The philosophy of Andy Warhol: from A to B and back again. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.