Short Essay on Philosophy: Buddhist Discourses.

In his argument which is in favor of ‘no permanent self’ Buddha systematically builds his case through discussion with his disciples. Though I tend to agree with most of the points of his argument, I disagree with his conclusion that there is no such thing as the permanent self.

            Firstly the conversation centers upon external and internal anxieties experienced by a person. Buddha says that the anxiety about something non-existent externally can be overcome by the realization that the possession of things is impermanent (Early Discourses, 110). What mine was before is not certainly mine now. If a person understands this truth, he will have no external anxiety. Also a person who thinks he will become a permanent thing and remain so for eternity after death becomes anxious if he is exposed to the dhamma as taught by the tathagata or his disciple. The teaching eliminates all standpoints of speculative views which involve obstinacy, favoritism, and possessiveness, produces an effect of calming of all dispositions to actions, forsakes all attachments, and destroys craving (Early Discourses, 110). The teaching is for nibbana, the complete freedom from suffering. This internal anxiety could be overcome if the person does not think he will be permanent and then expose himself to the teaching.

            At the end of this part of the conversation, the disciples do not seem to continue their quest for solution to the anxiety. Buddha simply starts asking questions about permanency of things. It was not clear how the internal anxiety could be overcome, meaning the process of removal of the anxiety. It was hard to accept that the knowledge that everything is impermanent removes internal anxiety.

            It will be unfair to conclude that the bhikkus are just stray men who agree with questions in the next part of the conversation, yet it seems so certainly. Buddha establishes that body, feelings, perception, dispositions to action, and consciousness are impermanent and therefore painful (Early Discourses, 112). Hence he says it is not proper to view these things as ‘mine or my self’. For each of his questions the monks just politely agree with him without making an effort to further explore the possibility of whether there is such a thing as a permanent self. Or one could argue that Buddha did not allow them space to raise such questions.

            Finally it is difficult to find a logical answer to Buddha’s contention that there is no such thing as the permanent self. It is agreed that the body, feelings, perception etc. are impermanent. But what about the one who undertakes the quest? Is he also impermanent? How can the person who establishes that everything is impermanent be impermanent? The conception that the one who observes that everything changes must be an unchanging entity has not been considered in Buddha’s teaching and hence the teaching can not be deliberated complete.

Works Cited

Early Buddhist Discourses. PP 110 -113. Ed. John. J. Holder. Indianapolis:                                                       

Hackett Publishing Company, 2006. Print.

Women Philosophy

At the beginning of the part four of the discourse, Descartes explained his position concerning the omissions he had made when trying to explain the three kinds of primordial notions, namely; body, soul and the union existing between the body and the soul. He said that we cannot recognize the above three notions by way of comparing with one another (Women Philosophers, P18). Hence he felt that he must have stated the difference that subsists among the soul along with its functions, body, the union of the two and the means with which all these three notions become immediately obvious. He affirmed that although the soul is conceived as a material, it is distinctly separate from it (Women Philosophers, P18).

            The major difference among the three kinds of notions lies in the fact that the soul can be recognized by pure understanding alone whilst the body can be recognized by understanding assisted by imagination. But the matters that are relevant to the union of the body and the soul can be recognized only ambiguously by understanding or imagination (Women Philosophers, P 19). They are known to the senses evidently. Hence those who solely rely on their senses consider the body and the soul as one single thing and believe that the body acts upon the soul. Descartes feels that the metaphysical thoughts that employ pure understanding make the notion of the soul clear to us (Women Philosophers, P19). Whereas one can conjure up the notion of the union of soul and body by availing oneself to life and simple conversations and refraining from meditating and studying matters which implement imagination (Women Philosophers , P19). 

            There are some logical errors made by Descartes here. He himself admits that human mind is not capable of conceiving soul and body. At the same time he explains it is possible to understand the union through senses. In my opinion senses borrow their existence from mind. Without the aid of mind the senses cannot function. Hence even senses cannot conceive the union.     

Also I disagree with Descartes’ discovery that everything we conceive very clearly and very distinctively is true. Even in our dreams we conceive things very clearly and distinctively only to find when we wake up that they are nothing but the creations of our own mind. In the same way the waking reality can also be negated in our dream. For instance, if a beggar dreams to be a king, he would not agree if someone comes in his dream and says that he is actually a beggar.

Another obscurity is that the word ‘soul’ is not defined clearly. Does soul include mind and the very person who tries to understand the notion of the union? Descartes agrees that the union is evident. But he must have tried to establish the fact whether it can be communicable.

Works of Yoko Ono Vs Feminist art

Feminist art is a specific art form that has been dedicated to explore and examine the explicit forms of physical violence, pain and anguish experienced by women in a world dominated by the patriarchal system. Awakened to the consciousness of misogyny, women renounced their passive acceptance to social pressures and intended to show their intolerance toward the cultural frame work in which their fruit of labor denied; their expressions through art never considered important; their bodies excessively romanticized, methodically objected, and/or subject to extreme policing (feminist art 3, n.d, pptx) . Through feminist art, women were encouraged to envision a more comprehensive identity for themselves. As a specific aesthetic practice, feminist art has been one of the influential factors on sexism and racism. In this paper the works of one of the renowned feminist artists Yoko Ono have been chosen for the discussion. The article explores Ono’s works with relevance to basic conceptions of feminist art.

Yoko Ono, an American musician and artist, was an explorer of conceptual art and performance art. Through her performances she wanted to stress on the point that the people have “the conviction that gender has been, and continues to be, the fundamental category of the organization of culture” (Peggy Phelan, Art & Feminism Phaidon, 2001 as cited in Feminist art 1, n.d,  pptx) the pattern of which usually favors men above women. She used her performances to show disapproval against the ways in which political systems collapsed women’s lives, aspirations and dreams (Feminist art 1, n.d, pptx). As a feminist artist, she made art work that was more inclusive of women.

In one of her performances, titled as ‘cut piece’, she sat passively on the stage and invited audience members to approach her and to cut off her clothing until she was almost naked (cage-Ono 1, n.d, pptx). This performance enabled the audience to investigate the possibilities of victimization and to instigate a medium of expression for their endurance. Since “creation was the highest form of human activity, and art was its essence” (Marcus, 2003), she proved through her performances such as the ‘cut piece’, that a woman can establish her own existence through her conscious creation (Marcus, 2003).

Ono took opportunity to utilize art as an arena for an inquiry into personal revision. She made a lot of experimental films in which she tried replicating the structures of victimization and sexual harassment that haunt the woman in the patriarchal system (Feminist art 1, n.d,  pptx). In one of the experimental films named ‘Fly Piece’ show a naked woman fast asleep. A fly moves all over her body making unbearable noise all the way. Two inferences can be drawn from this work of art. The first one, the fly represents the male dominated society which perceives woman’s body only as an instrument of physical pleasure and ignores the possibility a soul residing inside the body. The second one is the incessant noise that the fly makes through which we can understand the constant troubles and ordeals the woman has to undergo in order for her to simply exist.

Ono’s conceptual work on feminism can be found in her book entitled ‘grape fruit’ which include surreal instructions. Many of the instructions from the book were enacted as performances forming the basis of her art exhibitions (Cage – Ono 1, n.d, pptx). As argued by Grail Marcus in his book Lipstick Traces: a secret history of the twentieth century, “any aesthetic form could illustrate the necessity” (2003), Ono’s performances, experimental films and artworks illustrate the necessity that women should be liberated not only from the cages of the patriarchal system, but also from the women themselves who benefitted by obeying explicitly or implicitly to the structure of sexist society.  They led to the conversation among audience to illuminate the more extensive patterns of discrimination (Feminist art 1, n.d,  pptx).

Ono’s work encompasses social, political, racial and sexist issues. The figurative elements found in her works speak an intuitive language of emotions. The positivity, interactivity and the underlying humor can be experienced in her works such as ‘the ladder’ leading up to a black canvas with a magnifying glass attached, allowing the viewers to read ‘YES’ written on the canvas and ‘Painting to Hammer a Nail’ inviting gallery visitors to hammer a nail into the surface( Cage – Ono 1, n.d,  pptx). Being the wife of the popular singer John Lennon, she used their fame to promote their social ideals. Ono and Lennon open their honeymoon suit to the press to discuss and promote world peace (Cage – Ono 1, n.d,  pptx). Ono’s works criticized at the visual stereotypes they portrayed women as a mother, a prostitute, or an instrument of bodily pleasure (Feminist art 2, n.d, pptx). She cultivated the art forms that had previously been considered as craft into fluent and accessible languages of seriously pointed art making.

Works of Yoko Ono Vs Feminist art - Abstract

Abstract

Art created exclusively by women inevitably takes up the doctrine of women’s liberation. The artists find the women’s liberation as an underlying principle and an inspiration for a new system of aesthetic practice, which is called feminist art. This art practice has become an arena for an inquiry into political, social and personal reconsideration. Feminist art works also disproves of the assumption that in a patriarchal system, humiliation and victimization only produce passivity and silence. This project is a combination of writing and artwork in photographs. In the writing part I have chosen the works of Yoko Ono and discussed in detail the relationship between her works and the concept of feminism. In the artwork part I have made my own works in the style of the artist I have chosen and enclosed the digital renderings of them.

Site Specific Artworks

HOW DO AUDIENCES ENGAGE WITH SITE-SPECIFIC ARTWORKS?

Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place where the artist takes the location and environment into account while planning and creating their artwork. Site-specific or environmental art refers to an artist’s intervention in a specific location, creating a work that is integrated with its surroundings and that explores its relationship to the geography of its location whether indoors or out.   Unlike more traditional mediums such as painting and drawing where a viewer can only respond to the 2d image in front of them, with site specific there are more levels with which you can engage as an audience. The audience is physically involved in the artwork which provides them with an ‘art lived experience’.   In this essay I will look at the works of three artists - Christo and Jeanne Claude’S   SURROUNDED ISLANDS, Jeff Koons’ S PUPPY and  investigate how the audience engages with the site-specific artworks.

The installation of CHRISTO AND JEAN-CLAUDE’S Surrounded Islands was completed on May 7, 1983. 11 islands in Biscayne Bay of Miami, were surrounded with 585,000 square metres of pink woven plastic fabric covering the surface of the water, floating and extending out 61 metres. THE FABRIC WAS SEWN TO FOLLOW THE CONTOUR OF THE ISLANDS. The luminous pink colour of the fabric was in harmony with tropical vegetation of the islands, opening eyes and turning heads. CHRISTO AND JEAN-CLAUDE’S INTENTION WAS TO MAKE THE PUBLIC MORE AWARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT BY GIVING THEM A FRESH VIEW OF IT.   THEY WANT THEIR WORK TO BE JOYFUL AND BEAUTIFUL. 

By creating an artwork integrated with the nature that is lived near, seen through windows and experienced from the surrounding land and waterways everyday by locals Christo and Jeanne Claude have taken away the sterile formality which one might feel in an art gallery. The want of touching an “untouchable” artwork is diminished when one is able to engage from the inside out, living the experience rather than looking at picture which may seem a beautiful 2d fantasy.   His intervention in this environment may also have the effect of causing the local audience to reassess their own relationship to the environment, especially as this project involved clearing up 50 years of garbage from the area. However while this artwork has a high impact on those who have the privilege to experience it in the flesh it can only last a short time and in the case of Surrounded Islands, two weeks. While Surrounded Islands is still amazingly picturesque when viewing   in a photograph it loses much of its ‘head turning quality’ and becomes less of a reality and more a pretty picture. Even though the audience is aware that the artwork once existed and that the photograph has not been tampered with it cannot take away the grandness of viewing something so special with your own two eyes. In saying this, the fact that the art is only existent for a short amount of time adds to the magnificence and makes it a ‘once in a lifetime experience’. Surrounded Islands can also be seen in the form from models and sketches made in the process. 

The second artist whose work I have chosen to illustrate the way in which audiences engage with site-specific artwork is Jeff Koons and his work Puppy. ‘Puppy’ (1992) is a 12.4 metre sculpture of a West Highland Terrier, executed in thousands of flowering plants GROWING IN SOIL on a steel frame, and is definitely a hard one to miss. Koon’s first and smaller version of ‘Puppy’ was created for an art exhibition in Germany - this did not last. ‘Puppy’ was again temporarily re-erected at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney Harbour in 1995 before being more permanently installed at the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain.   JEFF KOONS PUPPY IS AN EXAMPLE OF HIS WORK WHICH EXPLORES CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ICONOGRAPHY AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KITSCH AND ART. His intention could be to validate SIMPLE CULTURALLY POPULAR images and icons by transforming them into works of carefully prepared beauty SUCH AS PUPPY.

‘Puppy’ provides one thing that a large number of artworks lack, a reassuring simplicity and happiness. This makes ‘Puppy” easier to engage with as the audience don’t feel intimated or scared away but feel it is more a break from the very serious art and happenings of the time. Children unselfconsciously love the work which shows us Puppy can be enjoyed and engaged with from all ages. A quote from Jeff Koons himself “I’m always trying to create work that doesn’t make audiences feel like they’re being spoken down to, so that they feel open to participation.”   KOONS HAS ACHIEVED THIS BY USING 2 THINGS THAT THE ARE A PART OF DAILY LIFE– GARDENS AND TOYS. PUPPY IS MOST APPRECIATED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF SEEING IT AND THE REMAINING MEMORY BUT CAN ALSO BE APPRECIATED AS CONCEPT WHEN SEEN IN PHOTOS OR READ ABOUT.   Puppy is universally comprehensible, and can and has been enjoyed and engaged with by people from all over the world.   

The final work I will discuss is ‘Edge of the Trees’ - a site specific sculptural installation commissioned by the Museum of Sydney in 1995. The artwork was created by Fiona Foley and Janet Laurence. Foley’s work refers to her unique life history as an indigenous woman. Edge of the Trees is made up of 29, wood, sandstone, and rusting steel columns. These materials relate to both the indigenous and European history of this site. The 29 columns represent the 29 aboriginal clans who used to inhabit the area and are a metaphor for the impact of European culture on the environment. In the poles there are samples of seeds and resins to remind the audience of original flora and fauna as well as bone, human hair and other organic materials which reminds the audience of human presence throughout the history of the site. You can hear a soundscape of Koori voices reciting the names of places in Sydney that have been replaced with metropolis. 

‘Edge of the Trees’ provides the experience of a ‘forest’ of pillars. This makes audience feel surrounded, depending on which way you interpret the work it could feel protective or even intimidating. The whispering voice is juxtaposed with the noise of the modern day traffic. The audience is permitted to touch the artwork which allows them to engage by feeling the different textures of stone, wood and steel. The gravelled sandstone which the poles are placed upon gives a rough feel and creates a particular sound when walking over. Unlike some site-specific artworks such as ‘Puppy’ which is beautiful to look but untouchable Foley and Laurence’s work provides audience with site, sound AND touch. ‘Edge of the trees’ gives viewers a sensory experience, taking the artwork to a whole a new level.

In conclusion the ways in which an audience can engage with a site specific artwork are varied and depends upon the work that is offered to them.   The intention of the artist is usually a powerful influence on the audience’s response to a successful site specific work (even though some such as Koons delights in the idea that his work takes on a life of its own once out of his hands).   For works such as Christo’s Surrounded Islands the sheer magnitude is enough to inspire the awe of an audience while the ideology behind ‘Edge of the Trees’ immediately sets up a platform from which to engage.

Discussion on the Works of Ukeles and Banksy

Site specific practices lay emphasis on the presence of the physical condition of the location as an integral part of the reception of art (Kwon, 2004, p. 1).  Also, in conventional terms, the physical inseparability between a work and its site of installation makes the site specific art unique. Unlike the viewing experience gained within the confinement of the walls of a museum, the site specific art provides an opportunity for the audience to decipher the institutional conventions and understand the ways in which institutions shape the meaning of the art to adapt its cultural and economic value (Kwon, 2004, p. 14).

The two artists who have been chosen for the discussion here utilized the site of art intricately to raise questions on the social, economic and political arena and to challenge the prevailing system (Kwon, 2004, p. 3). For them the site of art is not merely a geographical location or an architectural setting. The artists made use of the sites to bring about a network of social relations (Kwon, 2004, p. 6). Their works exposed the cultural confinement within which the museum artists function.     

            Firstly, I have chosen to analyse the works of Mierle Laderman Ukeles, in relation to Kwon’s discussion on site specificity and integration Vs intervention. Before starting her career as a maintenance artist, Ukeles was struggling to acquire the freedom of an artist due to her obligatory duties as a mother and a housewife. During that time, in which she was pregnant, she felt lot of changes physically and mentally within her and also saw changes happening around her in the social and political arena. New York based art critic Robert C. Morgan (2002) says in his article Touch Sanitation: Mierle Laderman Ukeles, ‘Ukeles wanted to reinterpret the conventional housewife stereotypes, not in imagistic terms, but through a systemic style of creative action’. Hence she announced her intentions through a manifesto and declared herself a maintenance artist. By becoming a maintenance artist she transformed the mundane activities of the household maintenance into works of creation. She further extended the references in her work to expose conditions of work, stereo types handed to maintenance workers at all levels, ecological situation, and institutional critique (Morgan, 2002).

           

In one of her performances in 1973, Ukeles washed the floor of the Hartford art museum during routine operating hours.  Through this performance she showed that the site of art could be deviated from the actual place of art. In the conception of a site, the physical condition of a specific location ceased to be the primary element in these ways (Kwon, 2004, p. 19). She wanted to prove that the tedious domestic tasks typically associated with women could be taken as a means for aesthetic contemplation. Also the performance helped people realize the unseen and the unrecognized labour of daily maintenance workers who are responsible for the perfectly immaculate presentation of the museum (Kwon, 2004, p. 19). The critical intervention of the site through this performance adopted a strategy which is immaterial to aesthetic appreciation, in the conservative visual sense. The performance does not establish a specific relation with the site permanently but presented itself to be experienced as ‘an unrepeatable and fleeting situation’ (Kwon, 2004, p. 24).

            In the performance called Touch Sanitation, Ukeles showed how the site oriented art can shift its attention beyond the gallery space and address social concerns of the institutional frame. The performance involved Ukeles meeting 8,500 workers of the New York City Department of Sanitation. She shook hands with each one of them, thanking them for the service they provide to keep the city clean and alive. The gesture of handshake involved no immediate spectatorship and raised a number of important questions regarding ecological issues and the stereotypes connected with maintenance employees. It created an awareness of what happens to the inestimable tonnes of waste discharged every day and about the existing social mind-set that encircles the sanitation employee who keeps the city alive by his maintenance work (Morgan, 2002). Hence the conceptualization and production of site oriented arts such as these are possible through the collaborative involvement of the audience group, in this case, the employees themselves (Kwon, 2004, p. 30).

            While initial definitions of site specificity supported the immobility of the art work from its site, Ukeles defied this concept with ‘The Social mirror’.  The unhinging of the site specificity was embodied in ‘The Social Mirror’. One of the New York City sanitation trucks was reconfigured with mirrored glass panels to show the interrelationship between the people who discharge garbage and the people who collect them. The truck continues to be a mobile public art work.

The second artist chosen for the discussion is the well known yet unknown graffiti artist Banksy. His satirical pieces of art combine graffiti with stenciling work and aimed at criticizing issues regarding politics, culture, ethics and the like. It could be argued that Banksy relied on the commercialization of his site specific art. For instance, in February 2007, a house with a Banksy mural on the sides was sold through an art gallery and the Banksy mural was listed as an item that came with the house attached.

            In 2006, Banksy created an image of a naked man hanging out of a window.  The image sparked some controversy, but the City Council left it up to the public to decide whether it should stay or go.  After an online discussion 97% of people supported the stencil and the City Council decided to leave it up on the building. This incident revealed ‘the problematics of site specific art in the mainstream public art context’ (Kwon, 2004, p. 57), which also meant that the appropriateness of a site specific art could be decided upon public intervention.

By no means have banksy’s site specific works served the purpose of ‘aesthetic edification and urban beautification’ (Kwon, 2004, p. 65). But his satirical view point in his works jolts the viewer and makes him/her to reassess the social and political values. The messages that were written on the walls of London and Bristol Zoos which expressed the boredom felt by the animals and stunts like the same tell us that Banksy utilized the site of work to provoke deliberation on the part of the viewer. As Serra stated, Banksy’s site specific works ‘invariably manifest a judgment about the larger social and political context of which they are a part’ (as cited in Kwon, 2004, p. 74).

In addition, I would like to describe the works of Ukeles and Banksy in terms of Roger Fry’s Essay on Aesthetics. Fry, in his essay, said that art cannot be considered merely as a theory of imitation (Harrison & Wood, 2003, p.75). Definitely the works of both these artists are not imitations of any situation, though they might have been inspired by so many political, social and ecological factors.

According to Fry, human life is of two parts. One is the actual life, a greater part of which is made up of intuitive appropriate reactions to the sensible substances and their accompanying emotions (Harrison &Wood, 2003, p.76). On the other hand, the imaginative life, wherein the instinctive reactions are absolutely unnecessary, provides an opportunity to the human beings to ‘be focused upon the perceptive and emotional aspect of the experience’ (Harrison and Wood, 2003, p.76). Hence Fry suggested that art is essentially ‘the expression and a stimulus of this imaginative life’ (Harrison & Wood, 2003, p.76).  Banksy’s graffiti and stenciling works and Ukeles’s  performances as a maintenance artist express the desirability of their imaginative life and help the audience to reflect upon their aspirations and aversions of which the human character is capable (Harrison &Wood, 2003, p.76).

Fry also argued that due to the limited requirements of our actual life, our sense of vision is restricted to things that are only needful for our purposes (Harrison &Wood, 2003, p.78). Only toward an object that exists for no reason does a man adopt ‘artistic attitude of pure vision’ which is free from the urges of necessities (Harrison &Wood, 2003, p.75).  Ukeles’s performances like The Hartford shower, The Touch Sanitation and The Social Mirror showed the above concept to be true. People pay no attention to details of how a museum is kept clean everyday, how the enormous amount of garbage produced in a city is kept away from it or how much of hard work the sanitation workers have to put in  to keep a city alive. But when these issues are presented through an art form, people get interested and really look into what the underlying problems are.

For Banksy, the aesthetics of art is clean and immediately comprehensible (Collins, 2007).  Banksy with his graffiti and stenciling creations made places such as roadways, pavements, building walls, places where an ordinary person would be the least interested, into sites of notable works. The creations enable the audience to a disinterested intensity of contemplation which is the result of cutting of the responsive action (Harrison &Wood, 2003, p.79). 

Fry described the emotional elements of design in his essay. They are namely; rhythm, mass, space, light and shade, and colour. He also suggested a sixth element, which is the inclination to the eye of the plane (Harrison &Wood, 2003, p.81). One could think the contribution of these elements is negligible in both Banksy and Ukeles works. But however diminutive their presence is, the impact they make on the viewer is significant and long lasting. The emotional elements present in their work appropriately combined with the demands of the imaginative life (Harrison & Wood, 2003, p.82), help the audience recognize the elements of  aesthetics present in their works.

In conclusion, the intention of the works of Banksy and Ukeles is to powerfully influence the audience to respond to their site oriented art and instill in their minds the ideology behind their works. At the same time, people enjoy the level of aesthetics possessed by their works which compel the audience to ‘regard it with that intense disinterested contemplation that belongs to the imaginative life’ (Harrison &Wood, 2003, p.82). 

 

References

Collins, L. (2007). The invisible man of graffiti art. Retrieved from

         http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/14/070514fa_fact_collins

Harrison, C., & Wood, P. (2003). Art in theory 1900 – 2000. An anthology of ideas.

Massachusetts, MA. Blackwell publishing.

Kwon, M. (2004). One place after another. Site – specific art and locational identity.

            Massachusetts, MA. MIT press.

Morgan, R.C. (2002). Touch Sanitation: Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Retrieved from

           http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/touch_sanitatio.php

Discussion on the Works of Ukeles and Banksy - Abstract

Abstract

This article takes the opportunity to discuss two site specific artists in detail in relation to Kwon’s discussion of site specificity and integration Vs intervention. In addition it describes the works of theses artists in terms of Roger Fry’s Essay on Aesthetics. This analysis determines how these artists utilized their site of work to influence the audience to respond to their work of art/ performances. By taking a few of their works as illustrations, the article tries to establish the methods adopted by these artists are in accordance with the conceptions of site specificity. The integration of their work of art with the site of work, the effect of artists’ intervention into a specific location, and the results of their work of art are also discussed in detail in this article.

The Westphalian order

How is the contemporary globalization altering or undermining the Westphalian order?

The contemporary globalization has been altering the Westphalian order as well as undermining its importance in the global stage with regards to various factors. The Westphalian system which has the ‘nation – state’ as its basic unit (Suter, 2006, p.1) has been undergoing a reconstitution and its sovereign statehood is affected strongly by the forces of accelerating globalization (Conteh -Morgan, 2006, p.1). The objective of this article is to analyze the various issues which are altering and/or undermining the Westphalian order.

 The fundamental system of governance across the world is the Westphalian world order (Suter, 2006, p.1). It has four principles, namely, territoriality, sovereignty, legality and autonomy (Mc Grew, 2000, quoted Lange hove and Costea, 2005, p.3). For the efficient functioning of the world order, the competence of these four principles is important. Functioning as nation –state block, the responsibility of the Westphalian system is to provide welfare for its citizens, the defense around its boundaries, internal order and civic engagement (Lange hove and Costea, 2005, pp.3-4). The role of the Westphalian system in the execution of these duties has been greatly affected by the growing importance of the contemporary globalization.         

The concept of globalization may be defined as ‘a fundamental shift of transformation in the spatial scale of human social organization that links distant communities’ (Mc Grew, p.3). Globalization helps the human activities to shift from the constricted boundaries of the nation-state to the entire globe itself (Valaskakis, 2000). Due to the rise of the multi national corporations, the globalization of production, which paved way for the mass migration of the skilled labour, trans- border movement of the entrepreneurs, technology etc, is introduced. Globalization happening in various sectors at a rapid speed makes permanent marks on the face of the Westphalian world order.

In the economic sector, the emergence of the international corporations has changed the perspective of the global business. Subjects of a country no longer produce goods only for the local market. People do not entertain thoughts of patriotism when they buy a product in the market. They are primarily interested whether the product is cheap and is of good quality. A consumer uses goods in his day to day life which are probably manufactured in countries he has never visited. The corporations do not want their product to have a national identity since it becomes a burden in the global market (Suter, 2006, p.4).

Since the national governments lost control over their economies and hence are unable to provide employment for its citizens, the transnational corporations move across boundaries and encourage intertwining of national economies (Suter, 2006, p.4) thereby creating job opportunities around the globe.

The real power to organize production and marketing of goods rests with the multinational corporations and hence the global financial markets get to determine to which countries the terms of credit go (Mc Grew, p.8). Hence the significance of the role of the national governments in the financial sector is greatly reduced due to contemporary globalization.

            At the same time, the economic restructuring of countries ‘in response to globalization requirements tend to produce civil strife in structurally vulnerable states’ (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, p.3). Due to free global market competition, the disparities in individual income have become greater which lead to frustration, anger and hostility in states (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, p.3). This makes the nation susceptible to state failure and collective violence. Structurally weak states like the African countries failed to support mercantilism and could not provide national support under globalization pressures which made the states work for the upper class at the expense of the lower class (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, pp.9-10). Globalization in the African countries induced mass unemployment, increased national insecurity and violent uprisings targeted at the incumbent governments leading to state failure and state collapse (Conteh-Morgan, 2006, p.2).

            Globalization has also brought about another major change in the international arena that challenges the sovereignty of the Westphalian order. Though the existence of the nation-state block is important for national identity and local governance, the Westphalian order is now transforming into a world order where world regions play a central role in creating international relations (Langenhove and Costea, 2005, pp.21-22) due to contemporary globalization. A region comprising of many states becomes the centre of governance and has the authority for policy implementation and elaboration (Langenhove and Costea, 2005, p.7). The regional world order makes a certain region a geopolitical entity with Westphalian statehood properties. ‘The European Union (EU) is the world’s best example of how a regional inter-governmental organization is eroding the Westphalian system’ (Suter, 2006, P.3).

            With the increasing awareness of the international human rights, the domestic affairs of the states can be intervened in the notion of preventing injustice, intolerance and violence thereby questioning sovereign equality of the states (Ingvarsdóttir, 2009, p.35). Though there will be no permanent damage done to the Westphalian order due to the intervention by human rights organizations, the order has to adjust itself to accommodate to the needs of the international human rights, the awareness of which is surely brought about by the globalization.

            Also the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly gain popularity over the national governments and influence governments in decision making process. People cease to have faith in their local political parties in power who fail to introduce policies owing to accelerating globalization. (Suter, 2006, p.5)  NGOs bring people together to work for a greater goal, encourage them to volunteer themselves to work for community welfare, raise concerns about public issues, provide continued care which the governments might prefer to ignore, (Suter, 2006, pp.5-6) and hence providing the people with an alternative set up to work out the social issues. The significant influence of the NGOs over the Westphalian system is strengthened by globalization.

            Many of such above factors brought about by globalization alter or undermine the Westphalian order. The overall impact of globalization on the Westphalian order can be summed up as the reduction in the policy capacity and policy legitimacy of national governments (Valaskakis, 2000). It seems that global financial system, the internet, global environment, spread of epidemics, genetic engineering, international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (Valaskakis, 2000) do not have borders and do not come under the control of any particular nation.  

            Globalization is making considerable changes in economical, social, legal, military, cultural and ecological sectors thereby altering the Westphalian order continuously. It is by no means to argue that the Westphalian order will disappear in the wake of globalization. In fact the sovereignty of the Westphalian order is, ‘a flexible but a resilient concept’ (Ingvarsdóttir, 2009, p.38) which can adapt itself to the changes brought about by forces of globalization. 

References

Conteh-Morgan, E, 2006, ‘Globalization, state failure, and collective violence: The case of Sierra Leon’, International Journal of Peace Studies, Volume 11, Number 2,  PDF e – book.

Ingvarsdóttir, A, 2009, ‘The Fall of Westphalia? Sovereignty of States Post Globalization’, University of Akureyri, PDF e – book.

Langenhove, LV and Costea AC, 2005, ‘Inter-regionalism and the Future of Multilateralism’, UNU – CRIS occasional papers, United Nations University, PDF e – book.

McGrew, A, ‘Globalization and global politics’, PDF e – book.

Suter, K, 2006, ‘Globalization and the new world order’, Contemporary Review, PDF e – book.

Valaskakis, K, 2000, ‘From ‘Westphalia’ To ‘Seattle’: Long-Term Trends In Global  

    Governance’, OECD Forum On 21st Century Governance, Expo 2000, Hanover  Germany.  

International Rights Exhibition of Books on Indian Cinema at 20th New Delhi World Book fair

M A Sikandar

Director

Edit/20NDWBF/Theme/2011-12

Dear Publisher/Author

As you are aware, during New Delhi World Book Fairs, National Book Trust, India organises a Theme Pavilion to showcase books related to a particular field. During the 18^th New Delhi World Book Fair, the Theme was presented in the form of an International Rights Exhibition of the Works on and by Mahatma Gandhi titled IN WORDS AND IN DEEDS to commemorate the 60^th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of our Father of the Nation. During the 19^th New Delhi World Book Fair, the Theme was READING OUR COMMON WEALTH: An International Rights Exhibition of the Books on Sports in India organised on the occasion of the Commonwealth Games.

In view of the immense response received to the concept of the Rights Exhibition, National Book Trust, India is now happy to announce that during the 20^th New Delhi World Book Fair (25 February-04 March 2012), the Theme would be POINT OF VIEW: An International Rights Exhibition of Books on Indian Cinema (Towards Hundred Years of Indian Cinema). The International Rights Exhibition of the books on Indian Cinema has twin purpose: a) it is aimed at showcasing and documenting publications on Cinema in India by bringing out an Annotated Rights Catalogue and b) it seeks to bring into focus from the perspective of the publishing industry the role and contribution of the Cinematic medium towards popular culture as the centenary year celebrations of Indian Cinema approaches. It also gels with the objectives of National Action Plan for the Readership Development among the Youth (NAPRDY) mooted by NBT, India which is ‘Bringing Youth and Books Closer.’

Books published in English, all Indian and foreign languages on Indian cinema, actors, directors, producers, music directors and the vast spectrum of professions that make cinema, its history, sociology, economics,  legends, myths, problems and prospects and anything gelling with the concept will be welcomed for inclusion in the Catalogue as well as for display during the Exhibition. A publicity card on the event giving other details is enclosed for your kind reference.

I take this opportunity to request you to send your relevant titles with the details as per the format given in the card to make it a memorable and meaningful event for the publishing community.

For any further details or clarification please feel free to contact Dr. Baldev Singh Baddan, Chief Editor & Joint Director and Nodal Officer of the project or Shri Kumar Vikram, Editor & Project-Incharge at nbtrightscell@gmail.com.

Looking forward to receive your kind co-operation in this venture,

With kind regards

To study is to score?

The recently released SSLC results effected many thoughts in me. The result percent is close to eighty six and as usual girls performed better than boys. Again the notion of studying in a private school enables a student perform better results is proved wrong by the excellent top results produced by the students who belong to government schools. Five students scored 496 out of 500 and came out as state toppers (first place), twelve scored 495 to occupy the second place. About 12500 of them scored a centum in Mathematics. And the details followed in the same fashion.  Students, parents, teachers and the school management were ecstatic of their results and celebrated incessantly. Television presenters called the toppers over the phone and asked the inevitable questions, ‘which group are you going to select for the higher secondary? What is it you want to become in your life?’ etc. They have along with them the specialists in Education who suggested the students about their selection of groups in the higher secondary level and even compared the present year’s results with the previous years. They were concerned about not many students getting centum in Tamil and suggested the examiners to encourage the students by giving them centum in Tamil, thereby avoiding the danger of students opting for other languages instead of their mother tongue.

            Students’ ambition for the future revolved around either Engineering, or Medicine or Indian Administrative service. Rarely did I hear a student announcing her true desire to study anything other than the above said fields, for which the students cannot be blamed. They have been always taught that once they complete their education they must be settled into a profession which provides them with sufficient wealth for their life time. Education is primarily a helping tool to achieve this goal. You top SSLC to get into your desired group in +2; you score high marks in higher secondary to get a professional seat in a reputed institute; you top your graduation to get a placement in one of the numerous multinational companies to settle down in your life. And that is it. This is, and has been the ambition for the parents and students and even teachers for the past many years.

            I just want explore the possibilities education offers to an individual to grow into a complete person. Keeping aside all the incorrect notions about education, let us ask ourselves the question, what is the true purpose of education?

 Education aims at improving the overall personality of an individual. Education given to a person enables him to think independently and provides him an opportunity to realize his true potential. It offers him unlimited possibilities to act upon a current situation in relevance to agreeable standards of social responsibilities.

Education prepares the learners for an unpredictable future. When he is presented with an unprecedented state of affairs, he is able to draw inferences from the storage of his acquired knowledge to comprehend, compare, analyze, determine, and to react to a given situation.  Education gives him the skills, knowledge and the courage to plan for a change in the conditions of life about which he becomes aware of.

Of course, by acquiring the necessary education an individual can earn a living; lead a life of comfort and refrain from involving activities that will cause damage to society and the surroundings.

According to John Dewy (1938), the true purpose of education is to ascertain the causes for the conflicts and to provide a more deeper and inclusive plan of operations. .

However much we dwell on the purpose and benefits of education, the present set up and the social expectation do not allow either the learners or the educators to employ the concepts of education. It has always been a case of transfer of information from teacher to students and from students to the examiners. Once the assessment of the concepts is completed, the concepts are forgotten, as though. As for now the primary purpose of education is to help the students with high grades. They do not have to continue their pursuit once their intention is fulfilled. Even during the period of learning, the learning strategies are only aimed at producing material benefits; not spiritual. Students are in an intense race, and hence they have to adhere to the techniques which will provide them factual results.

There is no hope of doing perfect research

The question of whether doing a perfect research is possible or not is based on the degree of perfection expected out of the results of a particular research.  Researches in any field are undertaken with an intention to improve upon the prevailing conditions. Doing a perfect research in my understanding is obtaining a set of perfect results at the completion of the research which are absolute that should not lead us to further investigation.  A perfect research demands desirable conditions, maximum number of specimens with all possible qualitative aspects, absolute precision and accuracy in measurements throughout the process.  Errors due to the biased approach of the observers, time constraint, and limited access to gathering information may prevent us from conducting a perfect research.

 The meaning of the word research is a methodical investigation into a subject in order to discover facts, to establish or revise a theory or to develop a plan of action based on the facts discovered (Microsoft Encarta Dictionary, encarta.msn.com).  Obviously the results of a research can always be improved upon further by doing researches again and the theories established by one research can be revised or even negated by the next one.  Hence it is impossible to do a perfect research. I intend to support my argument by discussing with detailed reference to two examples of research done.

I happened to come across a research article in the NCCAM (National Centre for Complementary and Alternative medicine) website, originally published in Clinical infectious Diseases. The researchers at the University of Michigan conducted a study to see whether drinking cranberry juice is better than placebo, a simulated medical intervention, in preventing urinary tract infections (UTI). The study was conducted among 319 college aged women with symptoms of an acute UTI. For six months they were randomly assigned to drink either 27% cranberry juice or non-cranberry juice (placebo). Periodically the participants provided urine specimens and completed questionnaires. The results of the study showed drinking cranberry juice offered no better protection compared with placebo (“Cranberry juice no better than placebo” nccam.nih.gov )

 However findings from a previous study in similar populations in which cranberry juice proved to reduce the recurrences of UTIs. The researchers cited that the previous studies were unable to detect a significant effect because they were inadequately powered (“Cranberry juice no better than placebo” nccam.nih.gov ). Hence it is proved that the previous studies were not perfect. Also the present research is aimed at establishing the effect of cranberry juice against that of a medical component, while cranberry juice has been used primarily as a home remedy for UTIs. There could many factors such as the size and average age of the population, the duration of the study, the condition of the urinary samples, the details given in the questionnaires which may hinder the accuracy of the study thereby preventing a perfect research to be conducted.

 Another article published in the US National Institutes of Health website, I read that scientists discovered that calorie restriction, along with various other factors, can prevent people from aging. They have conducted a research in some animals and found up to 40 per cent of fewer calories than normal showed significant effects on disease and markers of aging (“Can we prevent aging?” nia.nih.gov). It has been found to extend the life of many species. The article also said, “Early findings of the Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE) study show that slightly overweight adults who cut their calorie consumption by 20 to 30 percent lowered their fasting insulin levels and core body temperature. Both of these changes correlate with increased longevity in animal models” (“Can we prevent aging?” nia.nih.gov). Hence it can be concluded that calorie restriction will prevent us from aging.

But there are some contradictory factors found along with the positive results. The effects of calorie restriction are not universal. Several species did not show any lifespan extension by calorie restriction. In some species, calorie restriction appears to shorten lifespan. Hence these factors prevent us to conclude that calorie restriction can definitely extend lifespan in humans. Therefore further research needs to be conducted to establish the truth of the fact. This proves that the research on calorie restriction is not a perfect one. Hereditary factors, climatic conditions in which the humans live in and the type of food they take strongly influence human lifespan. During research these same reasons could have hindered the prospect of producing a perfect research.

On the basis of these arguments, I completely agree with the statement that there is no hope of doing perfect research. Though doing a perfect research is impossible it must be accepted that researches are being carried out in various fields for the betterment of mankind and we must encourage researches as the studies continue to evolve towards the peak of perfection.

Works cited

n.p “Research.” Microsoft Encarta Dictionary. n.pag. n.d. encarta.msn.com  Web. 03 May 2011

 n.p  “Cranberry juice no better than placebo at preventing recurrent UTIs.” n.pag. 24 March 2011 nccam.nih.gov. web 03 May 2011

Barbosa-Cesnik C, Brown MB, Buxton M, et al. “Cranberry juice fails to prevent recurrent urinary tract infection: results from a randomized placebo-controlled trial.” Clinical Infectious Diseases. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.2011 Jan;52(1):23-3. Web 4 May 2011

n.p.  “Can we prevent aging?” 27 Aug 2010. n.pag. nia.nih.gov. web 04 May 2011

Life of Pi

Life of Pi is a Man Booker prize winning novel written by Yann Martel. Martel visited India to write a novel which happens in another country. But when he heard a true story of a sixteen year old boy from a person he met during his stay in India, his whole plan changed.

                I came to know of this novel when the Tamil writer S.Ramakrishnan recommended this in his website. I happened to see this novel in a sale in our school conducted for fund raising. The book was written in 2002 I think, but by the appearance it looked as if it was printed seventy five years ago. Nearly a hundred pages had come off the binding, and the remaining pages were also on the verge separating themselves from their parent if we made an attempt to read. But the thing that caught my attention was its price, five ruffia, fifteen rupees in Indian currency. So I bought it after making sure all the pages are present inside the book and started reading it immediately.

                The hero of the novel is a sixteen year old boy named Piscine Patel, the son of a Zoo director in Pondicherry, India. Since the students of his school made a mockery of his name, calling him ‘pissing Patel’ he decided to change his name. When he visits a new school he introduced himself as Pi. The name was catchy and was quickly popularized. Pi was interested in all three major religions in India, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam and tries to follow all the religions simultaneously. Representatives of three religions meet the boy’s father in the hope of trying to attract Pi towards their religion. But Pi liked all the religions and wants to worship Rama, Jesus and Allah equally.

                Being the son of a Zoo director gives him the opportunity of living with the animals. He knows in and out about the behaviour of wild animals. In fact, his involvement in the religious activities and his wide knowledge of the wild animals led him to choose to study theology and Zoology at his graduation level.

                The story happens in 1970s I suppose. It was the time when Mrs Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India, enforced emergency throughout the country. Pi’s father foresees the danger of running a zoo business and decided to migrate to Canada. He sells the Zoo but not the animals. Since it is a good bargain to sell the animals in America, Pi’s family, along with the animals travel in a cargo ship to Canada.

                On its course the ship meets with an accident and sinks. The boy was thrown on to a lifeboat and onto the sea. He survived the accident along with a zebra with a broken leg, an orangutan, a hyena and 450 pound royal Bengal tiger.

                Though it was almost certain that all the creatures on the lifeboat would die killing each other or try to save them from being killed by one another or of natural causes, the novel describes the miraculous escape of the boy from the dangerous animals and also from the cruelties of the sea.

                The continuing pages tell us the compelling incidences that involve the boy attempting to survive through the ordeals. He tries everything that is possible to prolong his life until a savior of some sort sights him. He utilizes all the materials that were available in the lifeboat and the persisting situations around him to his benefit and cheats death.

                It is hard to believe that for the major part of the novel, Pi was the only human character and yet the pace and interest of the novel did not go down; in fact they go up once Pi ends up on a life boat. Yann Martel’s style of writing is simple, lucid and humorous even in the most catastrophic situations.

                The story of Pi is a prime example of why we should believe in God. It proves even when you are thrust into a calamity; miracles are bound to happen if you have faith in God and life. Life presents itself with simple solutions for major adversities when you have willingness to survive. Life of Pi is not only a story, but a lesson to all of us who lose hope and interest in life even when we live comfortably.

To be continued.