Culture of American Indians Essay

In Against the Grain, environmental journalist Richard Manning (2004) argues that notions of class and property are a direct result of the emergence of agricultural civilizations beginning 10,000 years ago. This is because of the social necessities demanded by distribution and storage of surplus. Conversely, he points out the contrastingly egalitarian nature of the hunter-gatherer lifestyles and the deeper social ties which result from cooperative food acquisition. Consider for example, the Plains Indians of North America prior to the arrival of European settlers, who would utilize their knowledge of buffalo movement patterns to haze and herd them, towards a cliff. By diverting the stampede of a large number of animals to their sudden vertical death, they would obtain a caloric pay-off through minimal effort, but â€Å"required social organization and sharing, both of the labor and of the proceeds.† (Manning, 2004; South Dakota State Historical Society Education Kit, 2008) Yet despite this element of uncertainty in hunting and gathering, Richard Steckel notes that towards the end of the 19th century, the Plains Indians were among the tallest people in the world and argues despite the numerous technological and agricultural advances they did not have, they were surprisingly well-nourished compared to whites, indicating that agriculture should not be taken for granted as the sign of social advancement it is purported be, Manning notes that, in the absence of storage means and preservation technologies, it was impossible for the Plains Indians to hoard bison meat. Therefore wealth accumulation was impossible. As such, â€Å"communal feasting became the payoff for social organization,† argues Manning Agriculture on the hand, created social stratification in the form of governance, hierarchy and other institutions necessary for the management of food surplus. Although there is certain room for question to be made about the true egalitarianism of the hunter gatherer cultures of the Plains Indians, they certainly lacked some of the rigidly defined political structures which characterized those belonging to the cultures of Europeans at the point of first contact. Comanche leadership was rather informal, usually identifiable by consensus rather than by any formal nomination to the position and the longevity of a war chiefs authority lasted only as long as they were at war. (Bial, 2000) The Blackfoot people maintained a flexible social structure, a band, which was in constant flux. As such, social relationships were not determined solely by kinship but by residence. In modern times, the case for the difference between hunter-gatherer Native Americans such as the Plains Indians of pre-modern times and the agricultural Native Americans can be observed in the difference between the Inuit peoples, who live a predominantly hunter-gatherer lifestyle out in the Arctic regions (Snow, 1996) and the peoples of the Cherokee and Lakota. The Inuit are noted for their strong sense of community and flexible division of labor among gender lines. The Cherokee and the Lakota, however, have now long been agricultural societies characterized by their class and gender divisions, as well as their contentious disposition towards identity and blood quantum laws. REFERENCES Bial, R. (2000) Lifeways: The Comanche. New York: Benchmark Books. Manning, R. (2004) Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization. New York: North Point Press. â€Å"Buffalo and the Plains Indians.† (2008, April 4) South Dakota State Historical Society Education Kit. Retrieved July 3, 2008 from: http://www.sdhistory.org/mus/ed/Buffalo%20Kit%20Activiteis/Teacher%20Resource.pdf Snow, D. R.. (1996) â€Å"The first Americans and the differentiation of hunter-gatherer cultures.† North America. Eds. Bruce G. Trigger and Wilcomb E. Washburn. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

The Conceptual and Theoretical Fundamentals of Management Information Thesis

The Conceptual and Theoretical Fundamentals of Management Information in Public Procurement - Thesis Example Organizational Preparedness 82 6.3. Management Information Cockpit and Its Impact on Public Administration Management 85 6.3. Impact of IM Cockpit to Administrative Performance, Efficiency, Effectiveness and Sustainability 88 6.4. Summary 90 Chapter 7 - Conclusion 91 7.1 Contributions of the Thesis 91 7.2 Implications of the Thesis 92 7.2.1 Implications for Theory 92 7.2.2 Implications for Public Administration Organizations and Information Technology 92 7.2.3 Implications for Future Researches 93 7.3 Limitations of the Thesis 94 7.4 Final Conclusion 94 Bibliography 95 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction Private and public partnership (PPP) is a recent phenomenon that seeks to breakdown the traditional barriers existing between the private and the public sector.1 PPP is an arrangement wherein â€Å"public sector bodies enter into long-term contractual agreements in which private parties participate in, or provide support for, the provision of infrastructure, and a PPP project re sults in a contract for a private entity to deliver public infrastructure-based services.†2 Several forms of transactions have been established within the parameters set by PPP and some of which are build-own –operate, buy-build-operate and others. Nonetheless, regardless of the structure of the established partnership what is integral is the rationale behind the partnership and that is to provide quality services to the public with decrease costs and minimal risks on the government. In this regard, the public-private partnership is geared towards creating the social dynamics and mechanisms that will enhance the functioning of the civil society, thus, establish a better rendering of the public goods.3 However, the relationship between the public and the private are not... Several forms of transactions have been established within the parameters set by PPP and some of which are build-own –operate, buy-build-operate and others. Nonetheless, regardless of the structure of the established partnership what is integral is the rationale behind the partnership and that is to provide quality services to the public with decrease costs and minimal risks on the government. In this regard, the public-private partnership is geared towards creating the social dynamics and mechanisms that will enhance the functioning of the civil society, thus, establish a better rendering of the public goods. However, the relationship between the public and the private are not just modified by the phenomenon of PPP, it has also been re-shaped by advancements in technology. Advancements in information and computer technology (ICT) have tremendously affected all sectors of society including the in which the government render its services to the citizenry. People now demand quality service from the government, similar to the services given by the private sector. ICT developments have innovated the concept of service by proving the vehicle wherein 24/7 customer service is available to the public. This development is a welcome change as it provides the venue where the government can reach the citizenry and vice-versa anytime, anywhere.

Quantitative Methods Database Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Quantitative Methods Database - Assignment Example Our data included information on the location, the type of houses, the number of bedrooms, the price and the parking space. From our analysis, we present different charts that summarize the numerous properties of our data. The first chart presents the standard deviation of the prices of the different types of homes in our areas under study. Standard deviation indicates the degree of variation in the prices of homes. From the analysis, it is evident that highest deviation of prices occurs in the prices of houses between the cities which has a standard deviation of 1.182649718 with the variation in the prices of bungalow being 0.559803074 and 0.245835672. Consequently, the deviation between the different types of homes for Colchester is 1.123087983, 0.337027783 for Jaywick and 1.072970694 for Mersea Island. The deviations in the prices of homes are highest is Colchester. The average prices of the homes indicate that owning a bungalow in all the three areas will cost an average of 0.713536982, while that of a flat is 0.560563004 and that of a house is 1.273070162. Consequently, owning a bungalow will cost a total of 10808630 while it will cost 4408989 for a flat and 36343708 for a house. As regards the average of prices for the different aspects of the different homes, in the case of a bungalow and house, it is evident that having a detached home will cost a grand total of 1.171448428 while the grand total for a mobile home will cost 0.116264276, 0.808875794 for a semi-detached home and 0.615969407 for a terrace home. However, as regards the same, the grand total for owning a bungalow is 0.658932363 while the grand total of owning a house is 1.172291899. As regards the average number of bedrooms, the grand total in the case of Colchester area is 3 while that of Jaywick is 2 and 3 in the case of Mersea Island.

See attachment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

See attachment - Essay Example H. L. , Goodall , S., Schiefelbein, J. 2010) . The article essentially seeks to establish a paradigm of behavior that can be attributed to the culturally homogeneous workers and then their response to the heterogeneous work place environment. While global communication processes in business environments have both a typology of characterization and cultural pluralism as pre-determinants, there is also a system of category constructs in an otherwise complex and dynamic situation mediated communication environments. Despite a lack of research in to information dissemination process and language as heuristics directly related to global business communication environments there is still a greater effort by serious researches to establish parameters of reference for meaningful category construct in dynamic culturally plural communication contexts. The article has invariably touched on how the workplace context determines almost virtual communication scenarios theoretical dimension apart the authors have delineated a host of cultural constructs including language and information as pre-determinants of an otherwise non cohesive and heterogeneous work environments. Despite this authors have persisted in constructing a more cohesive alternative approach to understanding work place dynamics in professional business communication processes. Their culture perspective is directly related to inter cultural communication as a dynamic relationship between and among fellow workers. The contextual influence and rational behavioral heuristics have not been ruled out by the authors either. In fact their argumentative posture on â€Å"culture-in-context† is supported by a number of other influential writers as a paradigm of professional communication in the work place context, though many such writers do not necessarily subscribe to t he idea of endogenous cultural influences riding roughshod over facilitative

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 20

Reading response - Essay Example ies and to socialize the industries of the country.’ (Hillquit, 18) The platform of the party is to create awareness among the masses and is to educate them about political class-consciousness. However, as the American workers are dubious of the Socialist movement, they are approached through the Labor Party. The Labor Party can gain their confidence and then and lead them to the path of Socialism. The difference between the Socialist Party in the United States and the Communist Party of Russia is the scope of their manifesto. The Socialist party wants to emancipates all thus extending the benefits of industrialization to the masses in the United States. On the other hand the Communist Party in Russia holds the authority in few hands with the State being the channel that decides what and how much should be passed on to the masses. Thus these tow philosophies differ from one another as the two countries are different from each other, but as far as racialism in the United States is concerned than the Socialist Party takes the

HR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HR - Essay Example The manager has to prove himself as a powerful leader not by means of his autocracy but by building trust in his employees. Rothwell and Kazanas (2003) inform that the managers of HR department have to take the responsibility of establishing goals for the department and its purposes. Manager is also responsible for structuring the department according to its needs. Staffing, issuance of orders, deciding on differences, inter-departmental and outside the department communication, planning for department budgets and politics, all can be regarded as the roles of the manager of HR department and design a path towards development of the department (Rothwell and Kazanas, 2003). The advantages that can be found because of manager’s performance at HR department are many in number. Manager is responsible for communication within the department and outside the department; it means that the information from inside and outside should be gathered in order to take the right decisions. This factor is wholly advantageous as the employees are allowed to communicate with the manager and deliver their thoughts regarding a decision. The final decision stays with the manager; it means that the manager can collect information from various sources but should be decisive in order to come to a conclusion regarding a problem (Woods and Thomas, 1994). A manager has many responsibilities to bear and the tasks should be divided among his employees but leadership should be with him so that the performed tasks of the employees can be evaluated. As a manager is required to do lengthy and painstaking tasks, therefore, there should be consciousness behind any taken decisions and the manager should decide according to the needs of a situation. Sometimes, it is disadvantageous to give so many responsibilities to a manager as all the tasks cannot be justified fully because of over burdening of the manager. There should be a team

Old house Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Old house - Essay Example Today, people are able to communicate with the rest of the world instantly and can operate from anywhere in the world as there are faster modes of transport that move people from one place to another. Most people depend on the modern appliances to survive as it proves to be easy and time consuming to use them. For example the emergence of the microwave has made people become lazy as they use it t cook and warm food. One day after ten thousand years, someone will discover my house that was buried six feet below the ground. The house will be in a bad state but will still be intact. Upon entry, one is welcomed by a bad odour and this is due to the rotten and spoilt items in the house. On the walls hang pictures of my family and the rewards I won when I was a college student. One cannot help but notice a wall clock that is not functional. In addition, there are wall writings as well as different arts from different people. Most of the items in the old house will represent the kind of life the people in that generation had. For instance, the presence of the old television and a home theatre that stands at one corner of the living room. My home theatre is infested with insecticides and is worn out. The home theatre is one of the gadgets that almost every home had. The remote lies next to the television and one can barely see the wordings on top of it and at the look at the batteries, they are worn ou t. Moreover, the presence of an air condition shows that at the time, people used the machine to regulate the amount of heat in the house. This is proof that during summer, when it was hot people made their lives cool by using the air condition. Moreover, there was the refrigerator. On opening it, nothing was inside apart from a bad smell that came out of it. People used the fridge to store and conserve food to be used later. Because of the busy work schedules, people used to prepare food and store in the fridge.