Vindolanda was one of a series of Roman forts built in northern England (Northumberland) in the last quarter of the 1st Century AD. It became an auxiliary fort which also had a substantial element of civilian accommodation. The forts stretched from east to west, and are considered to have been a consolidation of the frontier of the Roman Empire. The Romans invaded southern Britain in AD43, and slowly moved north. At one point, they had hoped to conquer all of Britain, but never succeeded. Roman armies had advanced far into Scotland in the 70s AD. But either by choice or necessity, they abandoned these gains and formed a frontier stretching roughly from modern Newcastle in the east to modern Carlisle in the west. The forts, together with the east-west road now known as the Stanegate connecting them, formed this frontier for 40 years. Then Hadrian's Wall was built just to the north, and the Stanegate forts either went out of use or changed their purpose. Vindolanda remained in use, though the ultimate purpose of its garrison (whether support for the Wall forts or protection in an unruly hinterland) isn't fully understood. Vindolanda is permanently under investigation by archaeologists and it is estimated that there is sufficient work, for them for the next 150 years to complete the sites excavation.…
There are so many bad things in this world and the environment is one of them bad things. Our environment will never just go away but it’s definitely needs to change. It’s causing damage to our friends and family, it’s taking away all of our animals, and it’s hurting the world we know around us. If we don’t do something about it, will the world’s population go down because of a great amount of people dying? Will the animals become extinct and no one ever talk about them again? Will the oceans be able to hold their ground and keep producing the oxygen it’s giving us? Throughout this essay, Sandra Steingraber does a great job using ethos, pathos, and logos while talking about the environment and the issues it is causing to the people and the…
The outdoors contains many wonders that a child explores throughout the early years of life; therefore, a person’s childhood tends to position his path for the future. As a result, occurrences seen on an average day sitting at school, exploring in the woods, or examining the stars have the potential to be life changing. An American Childhood (Dillard), “Two Views of a River” (Twain), and “Listening” (Welty) all allocate this thought, yet the works juxtapose each other with different morals.…
Do you ever forget about the impact nature has on you? Although people do not like to admit it, nature is something many people forget about and, as a result, neglect. Not only does nature keep everyone alive, but it also typically brightens the days of many just by being outside their windows. In the anthology Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World, essays by authors such as Nalini Nadkarni, Al Young, and Jennifer Oladipo explore the importance of nature and growth in human beings. These authors share a common interest in nature, portraying similar messages about nature. In particular, Nadkarni, Young, and Oladipo stress the importance nature has on individuals in their pieces. From reading the essays “A Tapestry of Browns and Greens,” “Silent Parrot Blues,” and “Porphyrin Rings,” we watch the authors grow as people. Through their insight and experiences with nature, the authors show readers how connected people and nature truly are.…
Over the years, the planet’s luscious greenery, vast bodies of ocean, and clear blue skies have declined at a steady rate with the overtake of industrial buildings and pollution from technology . For the explorers and hard-core transcendentalists who devote themselves to living on the healthy and undeveloped parts of the world, nature and “the life and simple beauty of it is too good to pass up.” (McCandless 12/7/16) If technological advancements continue to occupy most of Earth, this appreciative view of the planet will no longer be attractive to those whose lives depend and thrive upon its bare soil. To some Transcendentalist preachers, like Henry David Thoreau, nature is also perceived as “daily to be shown matter to come in contact with,” giving people a chance to ask “Who are we?…
Into the Wild is a book about a young man named Chris McCandless and his decision to go off and live in the wild. He decided to walk deep into the Alaskan wilderness and abandon all of his possessions and family. This book is the authors, Jon Krakauer, version of Chris McCandless’ story put together through interviewing and speaking with people who knew Chris as well as by using letters Chris wrote to his loved ones.…
The idea of naturalism stating the environment changes people is true. Naturalism is the surrounding of one’s life changing due to certain shifts in their life. Although people might argue and say naturalism is not about the environment but actions and activity one has, naturalism is not based on things as they appear but revolves around the deterministic view on a character’s life. This essay will step into three different points of naturalism and break down the understanding and comprehension of naturalism. Naturalism and the environment changes people because they affect our brain, shape who we are, and determine the life of many others.…
There seems to be no small amount of literature on how Native Americans are represented in our popular culture. Over the past several decades, Native Americans have been mythologized in films, TV, video games and other forms of popular media. And, “For the most part, the white man’s visual expressions of Native peoples have been dominant” (Boehme, et al. 1998:75). It is these depictions that have created a false impression of American Indians. As anyone could guess, the conquest of the American Frontier in the Old West is a period in this country’s history that has been mythicized in the media countless times. Historical issues like cultural genocide, colonization, and geographical displacement were the basis for creating these fresh, new ideas that portrayed…
The pop culture of any area consists of many factors that ought to be considered when assessing the impact of any one specific icon. American pop culture specifically, has many symbols that represent the many different areas of pop culture and the preferences of the fans. Through an array of examples, the strong influence of celebrities on citizens of America can easily be seen through an analysis of the pop culture. The demographic, style, and behavior are three major areas in pop culture that most clearly show influence of major celebrities.…
Throughout history, people's attitudes towards death have changed. From accepting to death as a natural part of life, to defying the inevitable, the one fact that remains is that we will die. After visiting Cruikshank’s Funeral Home I now have accepted this fact and pondered what will happen for those close to me when I die. A funeral is a time for valuing the life of the deceased, and I now see the value in allowing those within my life to host a service where they can receive closure, and remember what I have brought to the world. This paper will examine the experience I had at Cruikshank’s funeral home and provide insight as to how my attitudes towards funerals has changed as a result.…
Popular culture changes frequently and occurs exceptionally in place and time. It forms currents and represents a complex of mutually interdependent perspectives and values that influence society and its institutions in a various amount of ways. Today, we rarely see the representation of television shows that embrace settings that set positive images for our children today, it is more towards exploiting the fact that times have changed and so should we as people. There was a time when families gathered together and listened to programs being broadcast over the radio. During this time, that was considered a special bonding family moment. Further more families at one time would allow their children to watch programs that created positive messages between each other. The physical connections among families have altogether been replaced by modern technology such as televisions, cell phones, and computers. The intimate relationship between Americans and their families has changed so that people do not indulge in an open conversation with each other; it has certainly been replaced by modern amenities. There was a time when programs such as The Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, and The Partridge Family were number one hits with families of that particular generation, now those choices have been replaced by reality TV, what is now considered family shows, such as American Idol, Big Brother, and Survivor. Among other television shows, Bart Simpson of the Simpson’s and Stewie Griffin of Family Guy, which should be targeted as an adult program, surprisingly are viewed by American children. Most of what is known about the world comes from figurative rather than experienced reality, particularly in advanced media-saturated societies like the United States. Youth today tend to be more influenced by pop culture and are more likely to take information from media sources into their worldview than older people. Children and adolescents largely rely on…
In short, everything people require for survival is provided by nature. As a point of fact, what we consume on our daily basis is a product of numerous interactions with nature. Accordingly, beyond the physical goods, the natural world gives us less obvious but equally essential gifts regarding art and beauty.…
When it comes to anthropological theory the combination of several established ways of thought often result in a completely new and independent way of thinking. Cultural Materialism is one of these children theories that resulted from a coming together of social evolutionary theory, cultural ecology and Marxist materialism (Barfield). The goal of cultural materialism is to explain politics, economics, ideology and symbolic aspects of a culture with relation to the needs of that society. From a cultural materialist point of view society is indisputably shaped by the factors of production and reproduction. From this all other facets of society, such as government and religion, must be beneficial to that society's ability to satisfy the minimum requirements to sustain themselves (Harris 1996). An example of this would be the invention and continued use of industry because it increased the ability to produce needed materials and food. One important aspect of the cultural materialistic approach is that it operates completely from the etic perspective. Marvin Harris, one of the founders of cultural materialism, believed that a holistic approach is vital to correctly analyzing culture and believed that the emic approach failed at providing a wide enough scope. Harris tried to employ the scientific method and incorporated it into his theory. The result of this is that cultural materialism focuses only on events that are observable and quantifiable and replicable (Harris 1979). Cultural materialism also aims to show how emic thoughts and behaviors are a result of material considerations and to prove that there are scientific explanations for cultural phenomena such as India's beef taboo's are possible without invoking religious or mystical factors (Harris 1996). However, cultural materialism and its more scientific approach has brought criticism from other schools of thought who feel that cultural materialism is too simple and straight forward and completely…
Ecocriticism maintains that works of art can be examined in a way that sees man as part of nature; s/he is neither master nor slave, but an integral part of an ecosystem. Therefore, one can contribute to a society's understanding of nature if one remembers to pay attention to nature itself.…
Today, we live in a world interwoven with women's oppression, ecological degradation, and the exploitation of workers, race, and class. In the midst of these troubles, a movement known as ecofeminism appears to be gaining recognition. In the following, I hope to illustrate this revitalization movement . I will begin by characterizing a definition of ecofeminism; I will then bring to the forefront the ethical issues that Ecofeminism is involved with, then distinguish primary ideas and criticisms.…