Should nationalism be discouraged Substantiate your answer with facts Essay

Should nationalism be discouraged Substantiate your answer with facts and examples - Essay Example In this view an individual’s claim to being a citizen of a nation may be considered as either voluntary or as involuntary (D’Anieri 48). In terms of our self-determination, the concepts of nationalism do raise questions as to whether these concepts must be comprehended as requiring an individual to acquire full citizenship with absolute authority over any domestic or international affairs. These nationalism concepts also raise questions concerning whether an individual may require satisfying lesser requirements in order to exercise absolute forms of nationalism. With reference to the above facts, the concept of nationalism should therefore be encouraged. The concepts of nationalism have previously been used by different people who have mainly been unsatisfied by the inconsistencies that exist between the social orders of their people and their identification with a country’s traditional identity (D’Anieri 119). Such a situation normally results in anomie, a situation that requires the intervention of nationalists for efficient resolutions to the people’s problems (D’Anieri 125). In such situations, the societies have had to reinterpreting their identities while eliminating those elements that are perceived as being unacceptable for the major reason of reunifying their communities. For example, in the 18th century, the concepts of nationalism brought about the French revolution when the French citizens decided to begin pushing for ethnic equality and popular sovereignties. Another good example of an instance where nationalism has led to the self determination aimed at ensuring popular sovereignty occurred during the American Revolution (D’Anieri 122). The Cuban Revolution that was led by former leader, Fidel Castro is another example of an instance where the forces of nationalism encouraged the people’s self-determination that was aimed at ousting the government of Fulgencio Batista. His government, which was backed by the unpopular

Design Symbolism in Museum Architecture

Design Symbolism in Museum Architecture Altes Museum in Berlin was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1830s. They way is has been done inflected many architects work. From this building, we could feel Schinkel desires to provide the people who lived in or visited his buildings with subtle spatial experiences and consider the relationship of building with their landscape settings. He diverted the focus of architectural concern away from the design of facades as two-dimensional graphic compositions and towards ideas exploiting the three dimensions of space together with a fourth that of movement in time. This implied a richer and more complex conception of architecture, one that was not merely preoccupied with issues of style and proportion. When you walk into this museum, the first thing you will notice is broad stair upwards and 18 ionic columns in elevation. Columns are sandwiched between a podium and an entablature. As you climb the broad steps, you will go through these ionic columns which form an 87 meters long portico with statues along the side. This is the moment you feel you are not only the observer but a part of this architecture or a participant in this spatial experience. There are options for further movement. You could walk through the rotunda which is the heart of the building, and then go into the galleries. Or you could turn left or right then climb up the stairs to the upper level straightly; you could look back through the double layer of columns to the outside or into the rotunda. It is a great in-between space which connected outdoor landscape and inside world. You could literally see through the space, smell the fresh air, and feel the hierarchy and transparency of the layout Schinkel carefully ar ranged. Also, you could feel you are part of this experience by being in the spatial transition and connection. This building is not merely a matter of visual appearance and sculptural form but is also an instrument for orchestrating experience, it designed to take people move up and down, inside and outside by stairs, change their view by through columns and levels. POMPIDOU CENTRE The George Pompidou Centre in Paris built between 1970 and 1977 by the architect Renzo Piano Richard Rogers. The building housed arts, books and contemporary recreation. The site of this project was a massive car park. Rogers and Piano won the competition; theirs first plan is to use the half of the space available leaving the rest as a forecourt. The decision actually became the most successful one in the design. The structure of Pompidou Centre is simple and repetitive. The architects put the functional parts which would normally be inside on the outside of building. All the building faà §ade covered with glass, which both reflex and absolve the city. Six walkways have been installed on every floors facing to the forecourt and the city centre. Outside of the structure frame, the huge escalator was placed which transport visitors up to the fifth level. These two super layers on the frame of the building give the visitor a kind of industrial image. People moving through the transpierced tube to get the floor they want to go to. It is not only a building with skeletonal volume and providing sufficient wall structure but also the huge lattice truss provides the flexibility. The architects decide to build a flexible shelter and provide public space to wait and see, rather than make a monument or cultural space at the first place. The forecourt is as important as the building to people. It is a real livable urban space in the dense environment. It also makes the building more belong to the city. The forecourt has a gentle slope; force visitors pass the entrance area slowly. There is no significant separation between the forecourt and the lobby. The ground level is also a huge open space with no columns, where people could feel the continuity of space. The forecourt introduces the centre and the entrance is the continuity of the city. The forecourt also exhibits the life of the city, so too do the faà §ades. The walkways is not only free circulation space, they also reflex the meeting point between the building and the city. So the whole faà §ade is accentually a public space. Different movement is unrestricted and free in this space, from street to the forecourt, the tube to the walkway. Visitors do not need to pay for going into the escalator, for the full experience of the whole sequences. It is so livable. Although, it is a huge scale almost twice high as the surrounding building, but it is not separated from the city. It is the most popular building for visitors and locals, and also became a monument of the city. People not only come for the facility but the place and the views. TATE MODERN Tate Modern is one of the most famous national galleries of modern art in London. It seated at the bank side, linked to St Pauls Cathedral by the Millennium Footbridge. It was used to be a Power Station, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and has been regenerated by Herzog de Meuron from 1994-2000. The main entrance located at the west side of the building. When you walk close to the building from west, firstly, at your left hand side, you will see a green forecourt with black benches linear distributed. At right side, you would find a ramp downwards, about 18-20 meters wide. Walking down gently, you could see the glazed door and curtain wall and the sign on top, and people would finally realize it is the way in. The height of the door is really low with quite long extension on the top, so while you passing it you could not appreciate fully vision of the inside right away. The ramp doesnt stop here but extends down to the inside. The only different is two meters wide steps along the right hand side of the ramp after passing through the glazed door. While you carry on walking down for couple of steps, you will suddenly get full image of the inside the Turbine Hall, a huge scale space. The architects leave the whole space purely appear to the visitors. Five-storages tall, 3,400 square meters space which was housed all the electricity generators of old power station. It is a space for specially-commissioned works by contemporary artists. A liner roof light dropped from the top, continued down to the back wall. This hall has been compared with the Bibliothà ¨que royale de Paris by Étienne-Louis Boullà ©e, about the similar full-length skylight and enormous height above, also the opportunities for people to look the central area from the side. They want to make the space as breezy and easygoing, and display itself at the beginning rather than art. This is also a kind of celebration the architects intend to make before the exhibition. The ramp keeps taking you to the reception area and the front of central stair, a lifted black plate which looks like a bridge cross above. The first options for the visitor is that you could choose to go underneath the lifted area, forwards to the back part of the turbine hall, to the left where is the major transport area - the escalators, or to the upper level which connected directly to the north entrance and the river bank. However, the river side entrance seems to be more popular than the main one, mostly because it located right to one end of the Millennium Bridge which connected with St Pauls Cathedral. So people from north bank could actually walk cross the bridge and get into the museum. The other reason probably is because of various activates, there are many people moving along the river bank, also a nice green area with seats provide space to the street performers and vendors. The atmosphere here is much more livable compare to the forecourt of main entrance. Herzog de Meuron describe the transition of the entering as the moment of breathless wonder. The thought if they want to bring the observer the feeling of being overawed, of having to catch ones breath before real grandeur, they must led them through the eye of a needle a tunnel. The ramp is little more than a slightly tightened copy of the access ramp to the Pompidou Centre, but they extend the ramp to twice the length, for at an unexpected point they increase the already vast height of the hall by tearing out the old floor above the cellar, to make the over high hall even higher. JEWISH MUSEUM The Jewish Museum in Berlin was built between 1993 and 1998 by the architect Daniel Libeskind. He called his design for the Jewish Museum Berlin Between the Lines. The floor plan is shaped like a zigzag line and is intersected by a straight line. Empty spaces called voids extend the height of the building at the interfaces. The zinc-clad faà §ade is covered by diagonal slashes the window openings. Three paths cross on the lower level: the Axis of Exile, the Axis of the Holocaust, and the Axis of Continuity, Which leads to the museums upper stories. Daniel Libeskind said: What is important is the experience you get from it. The interpretation is open. As Libeskind said, the experience is the crucial. It is like a story he want to tell. The zinc-clad building attracted people from distance on the street, but there is no entrance. There is also no sign telling people where the way in is. The main entrance of the museum actually located at the old 18th century building. People have to walk into the existing building, pass the reception and finally get to the way into the main part. It is a large entrance at right hand side in untreated concrete with sharp angles. It open onto a staircase that instead of steps to the upper floor as it is to be expected in museum, the staircase goes underground. So the visitor of the museum starts from the foundation of the old building. But architect reveals the suggestion immediately, if you look up, you see the staircase is actually at the very bottom of concrete well that without any functional justification pierced the old building in every level. So people could see the concrete well from all flo ors up to the eaves. The concrete tower guards the entrance to underground area that seems first sight to be much simpler then the broken-line surface building people seeing from the street. And Daniel thought this is the real heart of this project. They are three corridors. The central island means only two could be seen at a time. It is impossible to have overall vision. It is the axis. An axis is a straight line about which the part of the body or system axiomatically arranged. The three axes here represent the three major experiences the Jewish life in old days: continuity, exile and death. The lights on the ceiling also accent the idea of axis. Only the straight and longest path leads to the main part of the museum. It leads to a staircase seems to be quite modest, as walking up, suddenly spectacular perspective reveals. Straight-line staircase keeps going up to reach the top floor. Architect frees the space with only one direction- upwards. Great concrete beams stabilized the structure seems have difficulty to hold the building. There are also six different shape concrete avoids in the building, pierced the building in every floor. The only lighting comes from skylight. The threshold in Jewish Museum is not the space we usually could see. In this case, transition space (the axis, the stair, the avoid, the light) became the most important part to reveal the spirit of this building, a story which the architect wants to share with all the visitors. He also intend to make this building not obvious and leave all those meaning and hidden violence to be explored by the visitors, or more accurately, the participants. CAIXA FORUM Caixa Forum built between 2001 and 2007 in Madrid by the architect Herzog de Meuron. It is a post-modern art gallery located at the centre of city. It is housed in a converted 1899 power station. The architects decided to demolish the original roof and interiors. They cut away the granite base of the brick exterior walls, creating the illusion that the building floats in midair, hovering over a covered entry plaza. With the addition of two upper stories clad in rusted cast iron and two underground levels, they doubled the buildings height and increased its size five times to more than 100,000 square feet. In short, the architects have skinned and gutted the structure like an animal, transforming its tattered brick shell, four withes thick, into an exotic veneer. The basic strategy of the Caixa Forum design is similar to that to lift the building up and create a shaded public plaza underneath. It is because the condition of the site is quite compressive, with the narrow back streets sloping upward on one side. To cut off the bottom part makes the building more visible and accessible from different directions. When you walk from cross street, no matter from front or back, the first impression is a floating building with different colours and the green wall beside. Take some more steps; you will immediately feel the spectacular using of material. The incredible texture using for the facade and the paving, create a unique image. Several layers revealed on it, the covered plaza made by many triangular panels, the existing part, the top extension with perforated rusting iron and the vertical green standing by the side. Getting under the covered plaza, you will find the surrounding suddenly get dark, and see reflecting ceiling which made by triangu lar iron-cast panel, the dynamic space with three cores containing which supporting the building and also a fountain by the side. These irregular panels are hung from the upper floor slab, continuing to the central entrance a spectacular spiral entry with crisscrossing exposed fluorescent lamps on top. So people move from the dark and heavy entry plaza up to the entrance could suddenly feel the sharp contrast between the two spaces. Another key space is the main star a white curving balustrade of softly finished concrete. This spiral form will take visitors straight up to the top floor cafà © where could have a veiled view of the botanical garden and surrounding through the perforated cast iron. Herzog de Meuron developed the strategy on notions of character and collage. It gives each space its particular sensual and experiential personality. They explored it through different properties of materials and texture, transformation and decay. It created an instantly recognizable icon from distance that is also a space of intriguing complexity while walking into it. 21th CENTURY MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART The 21th Century Museum in Kanazawa, Japan built by the architect SANAA between 2000 and 2004. It is located in the center of city Kanazawa with complex contexts: town hall, public park, opera house, shopping mall, town hall, kindergarten and residential. People come from many directions for different purposes, for that reason, SANAA planned to give the building a circuital form right from the start. That makes it equally accessible from all directions, without any distinction between front and back. The building has two zones, the museum zone which required admission tickets, and the socializing zone which is free for public. But they are not completely separated. The architects want these two zones to be visually linked, divided only by transparent acrylic doors and courtyards. The first key element of this building is the outer walls. They are made of glass, reflecting the surrounding landscape. It was designed so that the inside and outside of the building overlap visually in the curved glass surface. Also it offers a 360-degree view of the surroundings. At the same time, SANAA decided to use path and courtyard to carve the transition space out, left only the solid exhibition area. Four major courtyards provide visitor several opportunities to be exposed fully to the natural light. Corridors are like streets, crossing from north to south and east to west, creating links with the landscapes outside and inside. These are also for the public to use for free, unlike the Pompidou Center which set back to create a square for public, this building intend to hollow itself from inside to invite public as participant. In this building, when the movements of the people inside the building are visible from without, the sequence of events becomes a part of its external appearance. The way they look at events reflects how the architects perceive contemporary situations. They interpret this space by creating elements of contrast and continuity between the architecture and its setting. They thought transparency has a special meaning in this museum. It is not just a way of achieving lightness, information, openness, and illumination, or including human movement as a part of the design. It is about the feel of life. PHILOSOPHY A museum is much more than the structure of exhibiting. It could be a physical system of heating and cooling, of lighting and darkening, of moving and staying, of preserving and decaying, of observing and learning. Also, it is a spiritual structure of recording and describing, of hiding and revealing, of bounding and merging. However, it is always a structure for public using; therefore, one of the most important systems would be entering and leaving. We cant only think about an exhibition room to understand the museum without considering the process of transition. This kind of transition space is made of lounge, passage, entry, and exiting etc. It could be describe as a system. We could look it individually, but actually they always bound up. We do not perceive sprit of a museum by exhibits. People coming from different directions gather in the same shelter, take some time, walking, looking, listening, seating, eating and leaving. The performance is consistently affected by the architecture, the system. The way of the system operate force us how to perform it in. While we follow the instruction to perform it, different human acts reveal. Ultimately, acts we made make us truly perceive and understand the space. Neil Leach described the idea of door, is that The door becomes the image of the boundary point at which human beings actually always stand or can stand. The finite unity, to which we have connected a part of infinite space designated for us, reconnects it to this latter; in the unity, the bound and the boundary less adjoint one another, not in the dead geometric form of a mere separating wall, but rather as the possibility of a permanent interchange. In museum, the rooms and art objects form only the container, but it is not all about that shell, the content is formed by the visitors. Without that, its like a painting only with dead surface. In this case, museum is not a private collection, an art review; it is always about the public. That is why we find museum admirable.

The Brilliant and Evil Hitler Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Pap

The Brilliant and Evil Hitler Hitler was both brilliant and evil. He won the following of nearly all German people, and brought a desperate country out of poverty and post-war dissolution. It was not by virtue that Hitler accomplished these things. Instead, it was through evil planning, mass rallies, emotional appeal to a vulnerable population, stirring military displays, and the eventual extermination of millions of innocent people: Jews (anyone with one or more Jewish grandparent), Communists, Negroes, the mentally ill, and anyone else in his way. He called his plan to rid the world of "inferior" human beings the "Final Solution." Hitler had a brilliant mind. He brought Germany out of post-war depression and create jobs, comradere, and a better economy, yet he was very evil. He used his power, coersion, and manipulation to convince Germans to committ unthinkable atrocites against millions of innocent people. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, marked the end of WW1 and the beginning of severe depression in Germany. The treaty mandated disarmament, heavy reparations, a loss of 15% of German territory, which in turn took 7 million of her citizens, 75% of its iron-ore, its entire Navy, and all merchant men (Siegel 3). The effects of the treaty were devastating, causing severe unemployment (nearly 6 million in Germany) and devaluation of the German mark. Millions lost their life savings and became destitute. Other requirements included "the surrender of goods in vast quantities and the requirement to sign over future commercial opportunities" (Seigel 3). Germany's economy was devastated and Hitler was waiting, hovering in the darkness, to take full advantage of thi... ...and, and Germany. In his effort to unify all German-speaking people and eliminate non-Aryan races, Hitler was responsible for more than 12 million deaths. Using coercion, manipulation, and threats he convinced the German people if they did not comply with his demands, they would be added to staggering list of the dead. This threat, fed by the desire for an improved life is what led the German people into Hitler's hands. Works Cited Chambers, Mortimer., er al. The Western Experience. New York: Mcgraw Hill, 1995. Perry, Marvin., er al. Sources of the Western Tradition. Ed. George W. Bock: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Siegel, Scott J., On-line article, In Defense of the German Civilian Population on Charges of Willing Accomplices to Crimes Against Humanity During WW II. Location: http://members.tripod.com/~ssscott/defense.html.

Culture and education in the development of Africa Essay

Some of the colonial power portrayed Africa as primitive in their descriptions, for instance, Cecil Rhodes Social Darwinism advocate states, â€Å"I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better†¦Ã¢â‚¬  King Leopold of Belgium assertion on civilization, â€Å"To open to civilization the only part of the globe where it has yet to penetrate †¦is, I dare to say, a crusade worthy of this century of progress.† From the above assertions, it is prudent to note that, colonial powers thought Africa to be devoid of the organization in social, political and economic perspective and therefore they wanted â€Å"to make Africa, England.† In that thought of naivety of the Africans, there were societal structures and organizations which British did not care to observe. However, it was not going to be easy as where two or three cultures interact a conflict is inevitable. Although Africa was not a plain or bear continent, Africans had their way of life, structure of government, religion, economic activities, education, systems of marriage and development plans for their societies, nevertheless the British brought their systems which conflicted with Africans established way of life, this was because the British, as many other European powers were economically depressed and Africa appeared to be the only way out. The British wanted to pass the three C’s; Commerce, that is to make money through an acquisition of free labor form Africans, raw materials for their industries as industrial revolution back in Britain was rapidly taking place, the market for their surplus production; Christianity to save Africans.Explorers such as David Livingstone, Vasco Da Gama, Portuguese Diego Cam and Arabs with Muslim faith had missionary zeal. The last C is for Civilization, they wanted to civilize Africans in terms of education, culture and many other aspects. Th us, to a larger extent, the activities of British heartened conflicts. African traditional religion is rooted in the African culture, it was difficult for Christianity to penetrate through. Portuguese tried in the fifteen century and failed. For Christianity to take the course the Africans had to abandon their culture which was hard so to say. The Missionaries in the nineteenth century, however, came up with an elaborate plan for them to spread Christianity. They introduced through religion, education and health centers which contradicted informal learning and the institution of medicine men. Africans gradually began to embrace Whiteman’s way of life but not without several clashes. These battles are seen in various forms such as spiritual, doctrinal, cultural and practical. The African religion has been given several definitions by different scholars, for instance, Dr. John Mbiti has elaborated aspects of African religion. In his book African Traditional Religion, Mbiti (1991) African religion is very pragmatic and realistic (p2), he explains that it is applied in circumstances where need arises. In addition he states that religion is rooted in the local language, so to comprehend religious life of an African society one has to understand the local dialect. He further affirms, â€Å"To be an African in traditional setup is to be truly religious.† (p30) He states that the religion can be seen in five aspects of culture; beliefs, practices, ceremonies and festivals, religious objects and places, values and morals and religious officials and leaders. He defines African religion as: â€Å" The product of the thinking and experiences of our forefathers and mothers that is men and women of their generations. They formed religious ideas, they observed religious ceremonies and rituals, they told proverbs and myths which safeguarded the life of individual and his community.(pp 13-14) Mbiti notes that Af rican religion has no scriptures as compared to Christianity and other religions, it is written in peoples history ,hearts and experiences of the people.(p14) Awolalu in his book Sin and its Removal in the African Traditional Religion defines African religion as â€Å"†¦largely written in the people’s myth and folktales, in their songs and dances, in their liturgies and shrines and in their proverbs and pithy sayings. It is a religion whose historical founder is neither known nor worshipped; it is a religion that has no zeal for membership drive, yet it offers persistent fascination for Africans, young and old.† The African traditional religion was not homogeneous as the communities had different ethnic background thus the religious practices such rituals varied one community to the other. It is worth noting that it was oral not scripted or written and was passed from one generation to the other by word of mouth, as I earlier alluded in the definitions of religion. Within their organized societal structures, Africans believed in supernatural beings together with ancestral spirits.The ancestral spirits were believed to li nk the living societal members to the gods. Therefore, the African traditional religion was and still is interweaved to the African culture. From the above insights, one cannot talk of African religion without African values as they are intertwined and inseparable. African religion was embedded in moral values or codes or standards which were believed to originate from god through the ancestral spirits, these values when observed one would be rewarded with maybe good harvest from their cultivation of land or increased number of flock of cattle. When these values were violated the culprits were reprimanded. The concept of values is a vital point as one talks of the African religion. For that reason African religion is drawn from the African values and Culture. African Culture was the source of law through the moral codes and values passed from generation to generation. From the above description we can see that law or rules of conduct were embedded in religion and that African religion was interweaved in the African culture.The African religion had some institutions as Mbiti points out in the aspects of African religion, w ho presided over religious functions, these institutions were believed to communicate directly to ancestral spirits (living dead) who in turn would communicate to the gods and grievances of the living societal members would be heard. In the Kenyan context, these institutions include Orkoyot of the Nandi, Oloibon of the Maasai, Seers, Diviners, and Rainmakers depending on the ethnic communities which they came from. These institutions apart from veneration of the ancestors, they blessed warrior before going for war, advised the political leaders, offered sacrifice to god and conducted rituals for the culprits who violated moral values in the community. The gods had some specific names for instance, in Kenyan context, we had Enkai for the Maasai, Engoro for the Abagusii, Mulungu for Akamba, Asis the Nandi, Ngai for the Agikuyu and Nyasaye for the Luo. There were specific worship places which were regarded as holy, this places included shrines, mountaintops some special trees such as m ugumo, hills and some caves. The diversity of the names given to gods and places of worship, show the lack of uniformity in the African Religion. Thus Africans were of different ethnic background and had their own religion, gods and religion as a community. The clashes can be seen in the five aspects as earlier alluded in Mbiti’s work that is beliefs, practices, ceremonies, festivals, religious objects and places, values and morals, religious officials and leaders. These aspects of African religion differ from those of Christianity. I) Source/origin of Religion The Africans believed that their religion was sourced from god, who they believed long before their ancestors’ existence. The British Missionaries conflict with Africans by telling them about the existence of a God who had a son and lived among them many years ago. The religion of British was written (Bible) thus one had to have the ability to read and write in order to understand it, whereas that of African was passed from generation to generation by oral tradition. There is an introduction of a new system of identifying the origin of religion which conflicts with the African system. II) Places of worship The Africans revered in special caves, Mountaintops, hills, Forests, Special trees (mugumo) and shrines. The British tell Africans that they should worship God places called Churches. This encounter shows that there is a bit of clashing as the African places were very clearly defined and preserved by the community members. The British also seized African land to construct churches or chapels, Africans as a result became very hostile as they had distinct worship places which occurred naturally. They believed that their land was for cultivation and a gift from their gods. III) The Practices of Religion The Africans practiced their religion by reverence to their ancestors, offering human and animal sacrifices and invoking the ancestral spirits. They offered sacrifices in order to get favours in terms of harvest. The African worship was communal that is, all community members used to convene to pray for rain and ask for wellness of the community. The British religion had an aspect of confession of one`s sins before worship, repentance and forgiveness of sin is granted. This aspect of forgiveness of sins lacks in the traditional African religion, one had to be punished for wrong doing. British missionary religion brings out an aspect of offerings in terms of money and tithe which is ten per cent of one`s total earnings. IV) Religious leaders In African religion, worship was led by Diviners, Rainmakers, and Seers who were considered righteous. The work of religious leaders was taught through apprecentiship and was hereditary from specific clans in the community. There were certain clans from whom diviners would descend. They were highly respected in the community. The British Christian religious leaders attend school to be trained mainly on theology. They study formalities of worship and nature of God. Any member of Christian family can become a religious leader although there are some myths which say one has to be ‘called’ by God. A Christian leader has to have the ability to read and write so as to pass the scriptures to his congregation. V) Uniformity of Religion As I handled earlier in this essay, the African traditional religion was diverse from one ethnic community to the other due to the linguistic differences, migration patterns and origin. Christianity is introduced as a homogeneous religion as the author of it is Jesus Christ, a common ancestry and reference point for all Christians. The diversity of worship is dismantled by the British introduction of this even religion. Africans were notoriously religious as it was found in each group. Africans who lived as per the traditional way of life were regarded as very religious.it is also worth acknowledging that Africans are at crossroads due to the fact that religion is imbedded in the African culture. It is thus difficult for Africans to fully be committed to Christianity as being fully whole-hearted means they will have to abandon some of the partaking of African culture. This has already happened as some dedicated African Christians refer to traditional religion as paganism, fetish, and animism. References. Mbiti J.S (1999) African Religion and Philosophy, Oxford, England, Heinemann Educational Publishers. Mbiti J.S (1991) Introduction to African Religion Oxford, England, Heinemann Educational Publishers. Awolalo J.O (1976) Sin and Its Removal from the African Traditional Religion Uchenna O (2008) African Crossroads: Conflict between African Traditional Religion and Christianity, The International Journal of Humanities volume 6 Number 2 History and Government Form One to Four, KLB Fourth Edition. Kwasi W. (1998) Towards Decolonizing African Religion and Philosophy, African Studies Quarterly volume 1 Issue 4. NAME: MUNYALO, DANIEL MUTHENGI REG.NO: G34/102614/2017 COURSE: GPR 109 LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING

Summary of Radical Idea of Marrying for Love

In the essay â€Å"The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love†, Stephanie Coontz discusses the change marriage has made among the different cultures around the world and how it went from being an act that was necessary to something that was done for personal joy and fulfillment. For most cultures marriage was an act that was done as a necessity. Couples married because they needed to reproduce and ensure that their family continued to have money and power. The romance of marriage did not exist and it was discouraged in most cultures for the couples to fall in love before marriage. Most marriages were arranged by the family, the couples did not marry because of being in love. In the Chinese culture the man could return the wife to her father if it appeared the husband and the wife were too in love. The husband had duties to perform as well as the wife and if those duties were neglected because the couple was too in love it was looked down upon. Couples weren’t supposed to love their spouses. It was common for each partner to have a mistress. The mistress was the one they were to be intimate with. In fact it was common for the couples to explore intimacy outside the marriage openly. The couples depending on culture would share spouses with other couples, or even siblings. In the Bari culture it was common for the women to be with other men even during pregnancy. However at time of birth the women could name all the partners she had been with since she knew she was prengnat. The men would help support the child. Acts such as this are not accepted in all cultures. In more recent centuries couples began to fall in love before they married; although it is still looked down upon in certain cultures. Certain critics felt that if women and men were in love before marriage that things would change in marriage. They felt that men and women would choose mates based on what made them happy at the moment and then could decide to not be married if they were no longer happy. The idea of marriage and love has changed over history and many cultures still have mixed beliefs on what is acceptable within the marriage. Being in love is not a necessity before marriage and those that believe this also feel that it is acceptable to find intimacy outside the marriage. While other cultures believe that you should marry for love and be faithful to your spouse. Marriage is one of the many things that vary depending on culture and the beliefs among those cultures regarding marriage has also changed over the centuries.