A Format for Case Conceptualisation

Many professional and personal challenges confront practicum students as they work with clients. For example, students must establish a counseling relationship, listen attentively, express themselves clearly, probe for information, and implement technical skills in an ethical manner. Those counseling performance skills (Borders Leddick, 1987) center on what counselors do during sessions. At a cognitive level, students must master factual knowledge, think integratively, generate and test clinical hypotheses, plan and apply interventions, and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. Those conceptualizing skills, within the cognitive operations used to construct models that represent experience (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988), show how counselors think about clients and how they choose interventions. It is highly desirable for instructors of practica to have pedagogical methods to promote the development both of counseling performance skills and conceptualizing skills. Such methods should be diverse and flexible to accommodate students at different levels of professional development and with distinct styles of learning (Biggs, 1988; Borders Leddick, 1987; Ellis, 1988; Fuqua, Johnson, Anderson, Newman, 1984; Holloway, 1988; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993; Stoltenberg Delworth, 1987). RATIONALE FOR THE FORMAT In this article, we present a format for case conceptualization that we developed to fill gaps in the literature on the preparation of counselors (Borders Leddick, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991). Although many existing methods promote counseling performance skills, there are few established methods for teaching students the conceptualizing skills needed to understand and treat clients (Biggs, 1988; Hulse Jennings, 1984; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983; Turk Salovey, 1988). We do not discount the importance of counseling performance skills, but we believe that they can be applied effectively only within a meaningful conceptual framework. That is, what counselors do depends on their evolving conceptualization of clients; training in that conceptualization matters. Given the large quantity of information that clients disclose, students have the task of selecting and processing relevant clinical data to arrive at a working model of their clients. Graduate programs need to assist students in understanding how to collect, organize, and integrate information; how to form and test clinical inferences; and how to plan, implement, and evaluate interventions (Dumont, 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Fuqua et al. , 1984; Hoshmand, 1991; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Turk Salovey, 1988). Although systematic approaches to collecting and processing clinical information are not new, the case conceptualization format presented here, as follows, has several distinguishing features: 1. The format is comprehensive, serving both to organize clinical data (see Hulse Jennings, 1984; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983) and to make conceptual tasks operational (see Biggs, 1988). The components of the format integrate and expand on two useful approaches to presenting cases that are cited often and that are linked to related literature on supervision: (a) Loganbill and Stoltenbergs (1983) six content areas of clients functioning (i. . , identifying data, presenting problem, relevant history, interpersonal style, environmental factors, and personality dynamics), and (b) Biggss (1988) three tasks of case conceptualization (i. e. , identifying observable and inferential clinical evidence; articulating dimensions of the counseling relationship; and describing assumptions about presenting c oncerns, personality, and treatment). In addition, the format makes explicit the crucial distinction between observation and inference, by separating facts from hypotheses. It advances the notion that observations provide the basis for constructing and testing inferences. Thus, the format fosters development of critical thinking that is more deliberate and less automatic than the ordinary formation of impressions. The approach is compatible with recommendations that counselors receive training in rational hypothesis testing to reduce inferential errors (Dumont 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991; Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Turk Salovey, 1988). 2. The format can be adapted to the developmental stage of students by its focus on stage-appropriate components and implementing those components in stage-appropriate ways (Ellis, 1988; Glickauf-Hughes Campbell, 1991; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993; Stoltenberg Delworth, 1987). As an example, beginning students use the format to organize information and to learn the distinction between observation and inference, whereas more experienced students focus on using the format to generate and test hypotheses. 3. The format is atheoretical, thereby permitting students to ncorporate constructs from any paradigm into their case conceptualizations. In this sense, the format resembles the cognitive scaffolding described in the constructivist perspective (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). Rather than being an explicit template through which observations are filtered to conform to an imposed representational model, the format provides an abstract set of cognitive schemas. With the schemas, the student actively fashions a conceptual framework from which to order and assign meaning to observations. Simply put, the format is a generic structure that the student uses to construct his or her reality of the case. COMPONENTS OF THE FORMAT The format has 14 components, sequenced from observational to inferential as follows: background data, presenting concerns, verbal content, verbal style, nonverbal behavior, clients emotional experience, counselors experience of the client, client-counselor interaction, test data and supporting materials, diagnosis, inferences and assumptions, goals of treatment, interventions, and evaluation of outcomes. Background data includes sex, age, race, ethnicity, physical appearance (e. . , attractiveness, dress, grooming, height, and weight), socioeconomic status, marital status, family constellation and background, educational and occupational status, medical and mental health history, use of prescribed or illicit substances, prior treatment, legal status, living arrangements, religious affiliation, sexual preference, social network, current functioning , and self-perceptions. Initially, students are overwhelmed by the data that they assume need to be collected. Guidance must be provided on how students are to differentiate meaningful from inconsequential information. In our program, for example, we ask students to evaluate the relevance of background data, for understanding clients presenting concerns and for developing treatment plans. We advise students to strive for relevance rather than comprehensiveness. Presenting concerns consist of a thorough account of each of the clients problems as viewed by that client. This task might begin with information contained on an intake form. We assist students in developing concrete and detailed definitions of clients concerns by showing them how to help clients identify specific affective, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal features of their problems. For example, the poor academic performance of a client who is a college student might involve maladaptive behavior (e. g. , procrastination), cognitive deficits (e. g. , difficulty in concentrating), negative moods (e. g. , anxiety), and interpersonal problems (e. g. , conflict with instructors). Counseling students should also explore the parameters of presenting concerns, including prior occurrence, onset, duration, frequency, severity, and relative importance. We further suggest that students explore how clients have attempted to cope with their concerns and that they examine what clients expect from treatment, in terms of assistance as well as their commitment to change. In addition, students should assess immediate or impending dangers and crises that their clients may face. Finally, we instruct students in identifying environmental stressors and supports that are linked to presenting concerns. Verbal content can be organized in two ways. A concise summary of each session is appropriate for cases of limited duration. Alternatively, verbal content can include summaries of identified themes that have emerged across sessions. Occasionally, those themes are interdependent or hierarchically arranged. For example, a client may enter treatment to deal with anger toward a supervisor who is perceived as unfair and, in later sessions, disclose having been chronically demeaned by an older sibling. We teach students to discriminate central data from peripheral data through feedback, modeling, and probing questions. Students need to focus their sessions on areas that are keyed to treatment. For instance, we point out that clients focal concerns, along with the goals of treatment, can serve as anchors, preventing the content of sessions from drifting. Verbal style refers to qualitative elements of clients verbal presentation (i. e. , how something is said rather than what is said) that students deem significant because they reflect clients personality characteristics, emotional states, or both. Those elements can include tone of voice and volume, changes in modulation at critical junctures, fluency, quantity and rate of verbalization, vividness, syntactic complexity, and vocal characterizations (e. g. , sighing). Nonverbal behavior includes clients eye contact, facial expression, body movements, idiosyncratic mannerisms (e. g. , hand gestures), posture, seating arrangements, and change in any of these behaviors over time and circumstances. Instructors can assist students in distinguishing relevant from unimportant information by modeling and providing feedback on how these data bear on the case. As an example, neglected hygiene and a listless expression are important nonverbal behaviors when they coincide with other data, such as self-reports of despair and hopelessness. Clients emotional experience includes data that are more inferential. On the basis of their observations, students attempt to infer what their clients feel during sessions and to relate those feelings to verbal content (e. g. , sadness linked to memories of loss). The observations provide insights into clients emotional lives outside of treatment. We caution students that clients self-reports are an important but not entirely reliable source of information about their emotional experience. At times clients deny, ignore, mislabel, or misrepresent their emotional experience. Students should note the duration, intensity, and range of emotion expressed over the course of treatment. Blunted or excessive affect as well as affect that is discrepant with verbal content also merit attention. To illustrate, a client may report, without any apparent anger, a history of physical abuse. Initially, students can be assisted in labeling their clients affect by using a checklist of emotional states. We have found it helpful to suggest possible affect and support our perceptions with observation and logic. Empathic role taking can also help students to gain access to clients experience. Instructors may need to sensitize students to emotional states outside of their own experience or that they avoid. Counselors experience of the client involves his or her personal reactions to the client (e. g. , attraction, boredom, confusion, frustration, and sympathy). We strive to establish a supportive learning environment in which students can disclose their genuine experiences, negative as well as positive. Students often struggle to accept that they might not like every client. But students should be helped to recognize that their experience of clients is a rich source of hypotheses about feelings that those clients may engender in others and, thus, about the interpersonal world that the clients partially create for themselves. The feel of clients often provides valuable diagnostic clues (e. g. , wanting to take care of a client may suggest features of dependent personality disorder). Sometimes students need assistance in determining whether their reactions to clients reflect countertransferential issues or involve normative responses. We draw on parallel process and use-of-self as an instrument to help clarify students feelings and to form accurate attributions about the origins of those feelings (Glickauf-Hughes Campbell, 1991; Ronnestad Skovholt, 1993). Client-counselor interaction summarizes patterns in the exchanges between client and counselor as well as significant interpersonal events that occur within sessions. Such events are, for example, how trust is tested, how resistance is overcome, how sensitive matters are explored, how the counseling relationship is processed, and how termination is handled. Thus, this component of the format involves a characterization of the counseling process. Students should attempt to characterize the structure of the typical sessionspecifically, what counselors and clients do in relation to one another during the therapy hour. They may do any of the following: answer questions, ask questions; cathart, support; learn, teach; seek advice, give advice; tell stories, listen; collude to avoid sensitive topics. Taxonomies of counselor (Elliott et al. , 1987) and client (Hill, 1992) modes of response are resources with which to characterize the structure of sessions. At a more abstract level, students should try to describe the evolving roles they and their clients play vis-a-vis one another. It is essential to assess the quality of the counseling relationship and the contributions of the student and the client to the relationship. We ask students to speculate on what they mean to a given client and to generate a metaphor for their relationship with that client (e. g. , doctor, friend, mentor, or parent). Client-counselor interactions yield clues about clients interpersonal style, revealing both assets and liabilities. Furthermore, the counseling relationship provides revealing data about clients self-perceptions. We encourage students to present segments of audiotaped or videotaped interviews that illustrate patterns of client-counselor interaction. Test data and supporting materials include educational, legal, medical, and psychological records; mental status exam results; behavioral assessment data, including self-monitoring; questionnaire data, the results of psychological testing, artwork, excerpts from diaries or journals, personal correspondence, poetry, and recordings. When students assess clients, a rationale for testing is warranted that links the method of testing to the purpose of assessment. We assist students in identifying significant test data and supporting materials by examining how such information converges with or departs from other clinical data e. g. , reports of family turmoil and an elevated score on Scale 4, Psychopathic Deviate, of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 [MMPI-2; Hathaway McKinley, 1989]). Assessment, as well as diagnosis and treatment, must be conducted with sensitivity toward issues that affect women, minorities, disadvantaged clients, and disabled clients, because those pe rsons are not necessarily understood by students, perhaps due to limited experience of students or the homogenized focus of their professional preparation. Diagnosis includes students impression of clients diagnoses on all five axes of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994). We guide students efforts to support their diagnostic thinking with clinical evidence and to consider competing diagnoses. Students can apply taxonomies other than those in the DSM-IV when appropriate (e. g. , DeNelsky and Boats [1986] coping skills model). Instructors demonstrate the function of diagnosis in organizing scattered and diverse clinical data and in generating tentative hypotheses about clients functioning. Inferences and assumptions involve configuring clinical hypotheses, derived from observations, into meaningful and useful working models of clients (Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). A working model consists of a clear definition of the clients problems and formulations of how hypothesized psychological mechanisms produce those problems. For instance, a clients primary complaints might be frequent bouts of depression, pervasive feelings of isolation, and unfulfilled longing for intimacy. An account of those problems might establish the cause as an alienation schema, early childhood loss, interpersonal rejection, negative self-schemas, or social skills deficits. We help students to elaborate on and refine incompletely formed inferences by identifying related clinical data and relevant theoretical constructs (Dumont, 1993; Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). We also assist students in integrating inferences and assumptions with formal patterns of understanding drawn from theories of personality, psychopathology, and counseling (Hoshmand, 1991). As with their instructors, students are not immune from making faulty inferences that can be traced to logical errors, such as single-cause etiologies, the representative heuristic, the availability heuristic, confirmatory bias, the fundamental attribution error, and illusory correlations; (Dumont, 1993; Dumont Lecomte, 1987). As an example, counselors tend to seek data that support their preexisting notions about clients, thus restricting the development of a more complete understanding of their clients. We alert students to the likelihood of bias in data gathering, particularly when they seek to confirm existing hypotheses. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to generate and evaluate competing hypotheses to counteract biased information ]processing (Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Kanfer Schefft, 1988). Instructors, therefore, must teach students to think logically, sensitizing them to indicators of faulty inferences and providing them with strategies for validating clinical hypotheses as well as disconfirming them (Dumont Lecomte, 1987; Hoshmand, 1991). The proposed format can accomplish this task because it separates inferences from the clinical data used to test inferences and thus deautomatizes cognitive operations by which inferences are formed (Kanfer Schefft, 1988; Mahoney Lyddon, 1988). We have found it beneficial to have students compare their impressions of clients with impressions that are independently revealed by test data (e. g. , MMPI-2); this exercise permits the correction of perceptual distortions and logical errors that lead to faulty inferences. Although students intuition is an invaluable source of hypotheses, instructors need to caution them that intuition must be evaluated by empirical testing and against grounded patterns of understanding (Hoshmand, 1991). We also model caution and support for competing formulations and continued observation. This approach fosters appreciation of the inexactitude and richness of case conceptualization and helps students to manage such uncertainty without fear of negative evaluation. With the development of their conceptualizing skills, students can appreciate the viability of alternative and hybrid inferences. Moreover, they become more aware of the occasional coexistence and interdependence of clinical and inferential contradictions (e. g. , the simultaneous experience of sorrow and joy and holistic concepts such as life and death). The increasingly elaborate conceptual fabric created from the sustained application of conceptualizing skills also enables students to predict the effect of interventions more accurately. Goals of treatment must be linked to clients problems as they come to be understood after presenting concerns have been explored. Goals include short-term objectives along with long-term outcomes of treatment that have been negotiated by the client and trainee. Typically, goals involve changing how clients feel, think, and act. Putting goals in order is important because their priorities will influence treatment decisions. Goals need to be integrated with students inferences or established theories and techniques of counseling. In their zeal, students often overestimate the probable long-term aims of treatment. To help students avoid disappointment, we remind them that certain factors influence the formulation of goals, including constraints of time and resources, students own competencies, and clients capacity for motivation for change. Interventions comprise techniques that students implement to achieve agreed-on goals of treatment. Techniques are ideally compatible with inferences and assumptions derived earlier; targets of treatment consist of hypothesized psychological structures, processes, and conditions that produce clients problems (e. g. , self-esteem, information processing, family environment). Difficulties in technical implementation should be discussed candidly. We provide opportunities for students to observe and rehearse pragmatic applications of all strategies. Techniques derived from any theory of counseling can be reframed in concepts and processes that are more congruent with students cognitive style. To illustrate, some students are able to understand how a learned fear response can be counterconditioned by the counseling relationship when this phenomenon is defined as a consequence of providing unconditional positive regard. In addition, we teach students to apply techniques with sensitivity as well as to fashion a personal style of counseling. Finally, legal and ethical issues pertaining to the conduct of specific interventions must be made explicit. Evaluation of outcomes requires that students establish criteria and methods toward evaluating the outcomes of treatment. Methods can include objective criteria (e. g. , grades), reports of others, self-reports (e. g. , behavioral logs), test data, and students own judgments. Instructors must assist students in developing efficient ways to evaluate progress over the course of treatment given the presenting concerns, clients motivation, and available resources. USES OF THE FORMAT We developed the :format for use in a year-long practicum in a masters degree program in counseling psychology. Instructors describe the format early in the first semester and demonstrate its use by presenting a erminated case; a discussion of the format and conceptualization follows. The first half of the format is particularly helpful when students struggle to organize clinical data into meaningful categories and to distinguish their observations from their inferences. The focus at that point should be on components of the format that incorporate descriptive data about the client. Later in their development, when students are prepared to confront issues that influence the counseling relationship, components involving personal and interpersonal aspects of treatment can be explored. As students mature further, components that incorporate descriptive data are abbreviated so that students can concentrate on the conceptualizing skills of diagnosis, inferences and assumptions, treatment planning and intervention, and evaluation. When conceptualizing skills have been established, the format need not be applied comprehensively to each case. Rather, it can be condensed without losing its capacity to organize clinical data and to derive interventions. The format can be used to present cases in practicum seminar as well as in individual supervision sessions. It can also be used by students to manage their caseloads. Also, the format can be used in oral and written forms to organize and integrate clinical data and to suggest options for treatment (cf. Biggs, 1988; Hulse Jennings, 1984; Loganbill Stoltenberg, 1983). For example, practicum seminar can feature presentations of cases organized according to the format. As a student presents the data of the case, participants can construct alternative working models. Moreover, the format compels participants to test their models by referencing clinical data. Written details that accompany a presentation are also fashioned by a student presenter according to the format. The student presenter can distribute such material before the presentation so that members of the class have time to prepare. During the presentation, participants assume responsibility for sustaining the process of case conceptualization in a manner that suits the class (e. g. , discussion, interpersonal process recall, media aids, or role play). Supervision and case notes can also be structured more flexibly with the use of the case conceptualization format to give students opportunities to relate observation to inference, inference to treatment, and treatment to outcome (Presser Pfost, 1985). In fact, supervision is an ideal setting to tailor the format to the cognitive and personal attributes of the students. In supervision, there are also more opportunities to observe students sessions directly, which permits instruction of what clinical information to seek, how to seek it, how to extract inferences from it, and to evaluate the veracity of students inferences by direct observation (Holloway, 1988). FUTURE APPLICATIONS AND RESEARCH The format is a potentially valuable resource for counselors to make the collection and integration of data systematic when they intervene with populations other than individual clients. Application of the format to counseling with couples and families might seem to make an already conceptually demanding task more complex. Yet counselors can shift the focus from individuals to a couple or a family unit, and apply components of the format to that entity. By targeting relationships and systems in this way, the format can also be used to enhance understanding of and improve interventions in supervision and with distressed units or organizations.

Emerging market Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Emerging market - Assignment Example There was a rising tendency in the consumption of strong alcoholic beverages until the end of 1980s; in mid 1990s this trend was reversed. Since then the demand for vodka has been decreasing, whereas the demand for beer and wine has been growing1 (Tabel 1). "Alcohol is often characterized as unconditionally negative in the context of poverty." ("Poverty and Alcohol" - an article by Yoon Hui Kim, 2004). Yet, the same author agrees that arguments have been made for both the benefits and disadvantages of alcohol production and consumption - as an industry, alcohol production has been argued to spur economic growth and alleviate poverty, while as a commodity it has been criticized for exacerbating the conditions of impoverishment. Consequently, for poor people alcohol can have both positive and negative repercussions on economic, political, social, and health factors. Alcohol consumption can act as a financial drain for indigent households by diverting limited funds from expenditures on food, healthcare, and education. White spirits and in particular, vodka, have been on the increase since 1999. Much of the growth has been inspired by younger adults, who are either supplementing or bypassing altogether, beer and wine, in preference3. The alcohol industry is an innovative industry able to use a wide variety of marketing tools to achieve success in the market-place. The various aspects of product marketing include advertising, labeling, consumer promotion, packaging and merchandising, being an integral part of promoting different brands of consumer goods. Alcohol consumption in Poland is comparable to that in other European countries4. Buying of alcohol (frequency & amount) depends on demographic, socio-economic and psychological factors. Statistical data reveal that alcohol consumption is wide spread in Poland. In the period of the last dozen years changes in the quantity and structure of consumption were observed. The most frequently consumed alcohol is currently beer, particularly among young people. In may 2003, a research investigating "The conditions of alcohol consumption among Polish adults" published in Electronic Journal of Polish Agricultural Universities shows that older people seem to prefer wine and v odka. Apart from age, sex also influences preferences: "women more frequently than men drink all kinds of wine and flavoured vodka, "whereas beer, pure vodka and mead are drunk more often by men" (the

Consultation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Consultation - Essay Example providing nursing services for a while and hence is qualified to provide advice and information about rehabilitation to organizations dealing with different forms of rehabilitation and their providers (Harmsen, 2008). Even before becoming a fully qualified CNS, the preceptor started her education and gathered much experience as a registered nurse where she worked in different settings including a hospital and even in different rehabilitation centers. Her passion to reform addicts led her to write her thesis based on rehabilitation centers and this required numerous research in that area including also dedicating time to work as a volunteer nurse in the centers where she was collecting data from (Fulton, Lyon and Goudreau, 2009). The years of experience combined with the educational expertise in rehabs has led her to become one of the top consultants and teacher in that field and that is why she is sought after by many rehabilitation organizations and the practitioners in the rehabilitation centers and even well-wishers wishing to invest in different forms of rehabilitation. Her caring nature contributed by her nursing career also has made her a consultant with a passion who follows up on her consultees to ensure that they understand issues and problems in rehabilitation (Hamric, Spross and Hanson,

Female Genital Mutilation Essay -- essays research papers fc

The practice of female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision, occurs throughout the world, but it is most common in Africa. Female genital mutilation is a tradition and social custom to keep a young girl pure and a married woman faithful. In Africa it is practiced in the majority of the continent including Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mozambique and Sudan. It is a cross-cultural and cross-religious ritual, which is performed by Muslims, Coptic Christians, Protestants, Catholics and members of various indigenous groups.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Female genital mutilation is usually performed on girls before they reach puberty. It is a procedure where either part or the entire clitoris is surgically removed leaving a reduced or total lack of sexual feeling. This procedure is an attempt to reduce the sex drive of women, making them less likely to be sexually active before marriage or engage in extra-marital affairs. Although this procedure can be seen as a means to control a woman’s sexuality, the act of female circumcision determines the gender identity of women. A circumcised woman is a virgin, ready for marriage and to bear children for her husband, â€Å"Girls who are infibulated will probably not find husbands. In most cases they will become outcasts.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Female genital mutilation is not a new practice. In fact circumcised females have been discovered among the mummies of ancient Egyptians. A Greek papyrus dated 163 BC refers to operations performed on girls at the age they received their dowries. A Greek geographer reported the custom of circumcision of girls he found while visiting Egypt in 25 BC. In Africa female circumcision has been reported in at least twenty-six countries and can be viewed as a public health problem â€Å"because of its wide geographic distribution, the number of females involved and the serious complications caused by the operation.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Female genital mutilation is practiced in three major forms: â€Å"Sunna† circumcision, Clitoridectomy, and Infibulation. Sunna circumcision consists of the removal of the tip of the clitoris and/or the prepuce (covering). Clitoridectomy, also referred to as excision, consists of the removal of the entire clitoris (both prepuce and glans) and removal of the adjacent labia. Infibulation, also referred to as phara... ...s, and aunts footsteps, which would bring shame against herself and tarnish her family honor. Female genital mutilation is such a brutal and barbaric practice that it is amazing it is still occurs today. The health hazards associated with it should be enough to have it terminated. However, the reasons women have forgoing through with the operation is the custom of female genital mutilation is so engrained in their sociocultural system. The importance of family honor, virginity, chastity, purity, marriageability, and childbearing in these societies cannot be overstressed. Therefore in the minds of the people who adhere to this belief, the benefits gained from this operation for the girl and her family far outweigh any potential danger.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Works Cited Female Genital Mutilation. See: http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm Female Genital Mutilation Research Homepage. See: http://www.hollyfield.org/fgm/ Kouba, Leonard and Judith Muasher 1985 Female Circumcision in Africa: an Overview. African Studies Review 28:95-110. Van Der Kwaak, Anke 1992 Female Circumcision and Gender Identity: A Questionable Alliance? Social Science and Medicine 35(6):777-787.

Native Tribes

Cormac McCarthy’s â€Å"Blood Meridian† deals with racism in the form of The Judge’s attitude toward the orphans, the tangible efforts of the gang to be more savage, and even in the Kid’s role in the border skirmishes between the American settlers, the Native Americans and Mexicans living along the border. In a novel that some have called the greatest American novel since â€Å"Moby Dick†, McCarthy discusses racism on an inherent level, making people examine the historical context and the situation itself. Remarkably, the novel has a lasting appeal as a commentary on the way Americans address their southern neighbors even today.The first evidence of racism the book offers is in the Judge’s attitude towards the orphans. The Judge is a pedophile, raping the orphans and then killing them or having them killed to hide his indiscretion. In his mind, the Judge justifies his actions with the thought that many of the children in the orphanage are hal f-breeds and somehow therefore less important than people who are purely Caucasian. In his mind, the Judge and others who look after the orphans, even as wantonly as the Judge does, are doing their Christian duty and providing for children that are otherwise unwanted.In this way, the book takes a hard and accurate look at the racism that was prevalent in the West regarding children descended from Native Americans and Europeans. The children were dismissed by white society as half savage and by the Native populations because they often represented the humiliation of one of the women of the tribe—either voluntarily or involuntarily. To some extent, these children were more accepted in the Native populations when their parents were both accepted by the tribe, but even then they were mostly second class citizens.The next evidence of racism and its extreme application comes from the Gang. Though the gang is composed of outlaws of Caucasian and Native descent, as a means of instill ing terror in their victims, the gang resorts to scalping those they killed. As history demonstrates, only a very small number of Native Tribes took scalps as counting coup, but the stereotype of the novel and of the gang members was that Injun’s took scalps and that would make people more afraid of them. It is also interesting to note that primary targets of the gang were settlers coming up from Mexico or those of Hispanic descent.The stereotype that the Mexican were outlaws or lazy ot somehow second-class citizens is prevalent in the novel. Perhaps equally interesting in the long-term is the prejudice within the Hispanic/Mexican/Chicano community itself. Even now, those who are descendents of the Spanish Conquistadors are sometimes offended by being identified as Mexicans, whom they identify as those of mixed blood between the conquistadors and the Native American people of Central America. However, Chicanos in Southern California would be equally offended by being called a Hispanic as they take pride in their connection to Mexico.The fact that this racism persists to this day is both interesting and depressing at the same time. The simple reality of Cormac McCarthy’s novel is that it portrays an evil man attempting to justify his actions via racism and a gang of thugs using racism to make themselves seem bigger and badder than they are, when in truth murder should have been enough. McCarthy’s ability to capture the tenor and reality of the racism without pandering to it does make this a novel worth reading.

Visa H-2A trabajar en EU como temporero en agricultura

Con una visa H-2A se puede trabajar temporalmente en Estados Unidos en el sector agrà ­cola. Y es que es un hecho que la agricultura en USA està ¡ en manos de trabajadores extranjeros. Se estima que hasta el 50 por ciento de dichos trabajadores son indocumentados. El resto son residentes, ciudadanos y, un buen nà ºmero, personas con visas de trabajo temporal H-2A. El dato fundamental para que las embajadas y consulados emitan los visados es que es necesario cumplir una serie de requisitos que regulan quià ©n puede obtenerlos y en quà © condiciones. Y, por supuesto, contar con el patrocinio de una empresa americana. Ciudadanos de quà © paà ­ses pueden solicitar una visa H-2A Para poder beneficiarse de esta visa el primer requisito que hay que cumplir es ser nacional de un paà ­s designado anualmente en una lista especial por el gobierno de Estados Unidos. El 18 de enero de 2019 se publicà ³ en el Registro Federal un listado de 84 paà ­ses cuyos ciudadanos pueden tener esta visa. Tipo de trabajo Ha de estar relacionado con la agricultura, incluyendo los servicios agrà ­colas, y ha de ser de carà ¡cter temporal o de temporada. Cà ³mo se inicia el proceso para obtener estas visas El patrono agrà ­cola o las organizaciones de productores del campo son los que inician el proceso. Es decir, no se puede ir al consulado y decir: quiero aplicar para una visa H-2A. En primer lugar la empresa que contrata debe conseguir una certificacià ³n del Departamento del Trabajo, ya que para poder solicitar un trabajador extranjero deberà ¡ probarse que no hay en Estados Unidos personas con permiso de trabajo y con la calificacià ³n y el deseo necesarios para realizar ese tipo de trabajo. Con esta certificacià ³n en la mano, se solicita al Servicio de Inmigracià ³n y Ciudadanà ­a (USCIS, por sus siglas en inglà ©s) mediante el formulario I-129 la autorizacià ³n para solicitar a un trabajador extranjero con carà ¡cter de no inmigrante. Es decir, es un trabajador laboral y al acabar el trabajo o llegar la fecha de expiracià ³n de la visa debe salir de Estados Unidos. Si el USCIS da su aprobacià ³n, entonces la persona extranjera podrà ¡ solicitar ante la Embajada o consulado americano que le corresponda una H-2A. Tiene que  pagarse la cuota o arancel correspondiente por su tramitacià ³n y si no se cumplen todos los requisitos, la visa puede ser denegada. Cà ³mo tienen conocimiento de estos trabajos los extranjeros que se encuentran en sus paà ­ses Es comà ºn que este tipo de empleo se ofrezca a travà ©s de agentes, reclutadores o agencias de servicio de empleo. Estos agentes no pueden solicitar ningà ºn tipo de cuota, arancel o pago al trabajador extranjero a cambio de ofrecerles un puesto de trabajo. Se recomienda utilizar los servicios de una agencia o reclutador con excelente reputacià ³n. Este es un listado de mà ¡s de 60 reclutadores de visas H-2A y tambià ©n H-2B en Mà ©xico  con explicacià ³n de cà ³mo es el reclutamiento, problemas y cà ³mo verificar la reputacià ³n de los reclutadores y agencias. Validez de la visa H-2A En general este tipo de visa se concede por un periodo de 1 aà ±o. Puede extenderse hasta dos veces por un periodo de un aà ±o hasta un total de 3 aà ±os. Se deberà ¡ entonces abandonar Estados Unidos por tres meses antes de volver a aplicar por una nueva visa. Hay que tener en cuenta que la condicià ³n fundamental para que la visa sea và ¡lida es que el empleado està © realmente trabajando. Si el extranjero con una visa H-2A no se presenta a trabajar en los cinco dà ­as siguientes a la fecha de inicio de empleo o si es despedido, o si se ausenta del trabajo cinco dà ­as seguidos sin notificar al empleador la razà ³n de la ausencia entonces el patrono notificarà ¡ dichas faltas al USCIS y las autoridades migratorias entienden que se està ¡ violando las condiciones de la visa y, por lo tanto, ya no es và ¡lida. Lo mismo sucede si el trabajo se acaba al menos 30 dà ­as antes de la fecha programada. Si el trabajo que se ha venido a hacer se ha acabado, se debe abandonar Estados Unidos. En este artà ­culo se puede consultar informacià ³n mà ¡s en detalle sobre con cuà ¡ntos dà ­as de antelacià ³n al inicio del trabajo se puede ingresar a Estados Unidos. Y tambià ©n sobre el periodo de gracia para salir del paà ­s una vez que finaliza la labor. Familiares de trabajadores temporales en la agricultura Si la persona que recibe una visa H-2A està ¡ casada puede viajar a Estados Unidos con su esposo o mujer y sus hijos, siempre y cuando à ©stos està ©n solteros y sean menores de 21 aà ±os. Los familiares tendrà ¡n una visa  H-4 y no està ¡n autorizados a realizar ningà ºn tipo de trabajo durante su estancia en EUA. La H-2B Esa es otra visa que permite trabajar temporalmente en Estados Unidos, pero que està ¡ limitada a trabajos no agrà ­colas. Es comà ºn que se utilice para trabajar en un resort, en ferias, etc.  Es decir, las H-2A y las H-2B son parecidas, pero al mismo tiempo tienen objetivos completamente diferenciados. No deben confundirse. Puntos Clave: Visas H-2A  ¿Para quà © es la visa H-2A?: para trabajar en agricultura temporalmente en EE.UU.Paà ­ses cuyos ciudadanos pueden optar a estas visas: 84, de los que son hispanohablantes Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Espaà ±a, Guatemala, Honduras, Mà ©xico, Nicaragua, Panamà ¡,Paraguay, Perà º, Repà ºblica Dominicana y Uruguay.Tramitacià ³n de la visa H-2A: empresa estadounidense inicia el proceso solicitando certificacià ³n al Departamento de Trabajo, despuà ©s envà ­a papeles a USCIS y el tercer paso es la entrevista en la embajada o consulado.Tiempo de la visa: por 1 aà ±o, que puede extenderse a un mà ¡ximo de 3 aà ±os.Visas para los familiares: el cà ³nyuge y los hijos solteros menores de 21 aà ±os de una persona con visa H-2A pueden obtener una visa H-4. Con dicha visa, pueden estudiar en EE.UU. pero no pueden trabajar.

Tragedy and Common Man by Arthur Miller - 1559 Words

Tragedy and the Common Man by Arthur Miller In this age few tragedies are written. It has often been held that the lack is due to a paucity of heroes among us, or else that modern man has had the blood drawn out of his organs of belief by the skepticism of science, and the heroic attack on life cannot feed on an attitude of reserve and circumspection. For one reason or another, we are often held to be below tragedy-or tragedy above us. The inevitable conclusion is, of course, that the tragic mode is archaic, fit only for the very highly placed, the kings or the kingly, and where this admission is not made in so many words it is most often implied. I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as†¦show more content†¦Among us today this fear is as strong, and perhaps stronger, than it ever was. In fact, it is the common man who knows this fear best. Now, if it is true that tragedy is the consequence of a man s total compulsion to evaluate himself justly, his destruction in the attempt posits a wrong or an evil in his environment. And this is precisely the morality of tragedy and its lesson. The discovery of the moral law, which is what the enlightenment of tragedy consists of, is not the discovery of some abstract or metaphysical quantity. The tragic night is a condition of life, a condition in which the human personality is able to flower and realize itself. The wrong is the condition which suppresses man, perverts the flowing out of his love and creative instinct. Tragedy enlightens and it must, in that it points the heroic finger at the enemy of man s freedom. The thrust for freedom is the quality in tragedy which exalts. The revolutionary questioning of the stable environment is what terrifies. In no way is the common man debarred from such thoughts or such actions. Seen in this light, our lack of tragedy may be partially accounted for by the turn which modern literature has taken toward the purely psychiatric view of life, or the purely sociological. If all our miseries, our indignities, are born and bred within our minds, then allShow MoreRelatedTragedy And The Common Man By Arthur Miller1675 Words   |  7 PagesIn Arthur Miller’s Essay entitled â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man,† the author states, â€Å"I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in his highest sense as kings were.† (Miller 14) The author deems that each individual had tragedies particularly the common man who dealt with it in his lifetime. He contends that tragedy possibly will also depict ordinary people in domestic surroundings. Miller had a new view of tragedy in which he saw tragic experience as impartial of widespread ethicalRead MoreTragedy And The Common Man By Arthur Miller2260 Words   |  10 PagesIn his essay â€Å"Traged y and the Common Man† Arthur Miller redefines the genre of tragedy and the tragic hero. Miller defines a tragedy as a person struggling against an injustice in the world around him to, which he responds forcefully. Miller states that the â€Å"wound from which the inevitable events spiral is the wound of indignity, and its dominant force is indignation† (144). The wound originates from the injustice in the environment, but it is perceived by the character as an â€Å"indignation† or otherRead MoreQuest For Literary Form : The Greeks Believed That The Tragedy1742 Words   |  7 PagesGreeks believed that the tragedy was the greatest form of drama, and Aristotle’s concept of tragedy followed this belief. In the modern times, there has been a change in this view with various authors abandoning the classical form to follow more liberal forms of literacy. (Kennedy Gioia, Pp. 1203) Aristotle s Concept of Tragedy The analysis of Aristotle on tragedy formed the guideline for later poets in the Western civilization. Aristotle defined tragedy as â€Å"the simulation ofRead MoreTragedy and the Common Man1191 Words   |  5 PagesArticle â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man† In Arthur Miller’s essay â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man,† Miller mentions tragedy as man’s struggle to gain his â€Å"rightful† position in his society, and whoever that character may be—king or common man—that character is eventually brought down by his or her tragic flaws and that’s what makes that character a tragic hero. In the past, there have been many tragic heroes which can relate to Arthur Miller’s essay â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man,† in bothRead MoreWilly Loman, the Modern Hero in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman1739 Words   |  7 Pages In Arthur Miller’s essay â€Å"Tragedy and the Common Man†, a picture is painted of a â€Å"flaw-full† man, known as the modern hero of tragedies. Miller describes what characteristics the modern tragic hero possesses and how he differs from the heroes depicted by classic Greek playwrights such as Sophocles and Aristotle. In order to understand how drastically the modern hero has evolved, one must first understand the basic characteristics that the heroes created by Sophocles and Aristotle encompass. TheRead MoreExamples Of Everyday Tragedy732 Words   |  3 PagesEveryday Tragedy When a person thinks of tragedy the thing that flows to mind is death and destruction. Even though this way of thinking is valid, there are several ways to analyze the concept of tragedy. Tragedy is when one suffers an unexpected punishment that has merged together through ones actions. Arthur Miller believes that tragedy can happen to any type of person if youre rich or if youre poor, no matter what, it can happen to all of us. Arthur shows this to us in the book Death of aRead More Analysis of veiwpoints on tragedy Essay864 Words   |  4 PagesAnalysis of veiwpoints on tragedy The question of what defines tragedy has been an issue addressed by several different literary minds since the day of Aristotle, the first person to define tragedy. When Aristotle first defined tragedy he believed tragedy was something reserved for a person of noble stature. He said this person was eventually brought down by a tragic flaw, hence the term tragedy. Robert Silverberg agrees with Aristotle’s views on tragedy, but other authors don’t acceptRead More Death of a Salesman is a Tragedy as Defined in Millers Tragedy and the Common Man1046 Words   |  5 PagesDeath of a Salesman is a Tragedy as Defined in Millers Tragedy and the Common Man In Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller discusses his definition and criteria for tragedy as they apply to the common man. The criteria and standards proposed by Miller may be used to evaluate his timeless work, Death of A Salesman. The first major standard of tragedy set forth is:   â€Å"...if the exaltation of tragic action were truly a property of the high-bred character alone, it is inconceivable thatRead MoreConventions of Tragedy in A View From The Bridge By Arthur Miller1100 Words   |  5 PagesConventions of Tragedy in A View From The Bridge By Arthur Miller Arthur Miller manipulates his characters and uses literary devices to effectively convey to the audience the trajectory of Eddie Carbone and his flaws of misconduct in the play, A View From The Bridge. He uses all the conventions of a modern tragedy adequately to help arouse sympathy, suspense and fear from the audience at significant intervals of the playRead MoreA Survey of Tragedy984 Words   |  4 PagesA Survey of Tragedy A modern tragedy of today and a tragedy of ancient Greece are two very different concepts, but ironically, both are linked by many similarities. In â€Å"Poetics†, Aristotle defines and outlines tragedy for theatre in a way that displays his genius, but raises questions and creates controversy. Aristotle’s famous definition of tragedy states: â€Å"A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious, and also as having magnitude, complete in itself in language with pleasurable accessories