Islam in the Modern World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Islam in the Modern World - Essay Example Traditional law remained in force. The Medina period established a new order and codified different religious traditions and separate laws. The Quran was revealed to Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years in order to meet the needs of the Islamic society in Mecca and then in Medina. It gradually provided an Islamic ideology for the community and, in the process, modified or supplemented existing customs not meeting Islamic standards. Quranic values were concretized and interpreted by the second material source of law, the Sunnah of the Prophet (Murata and Chittick 12). 2. Quran is the main religious text in Islam. Since the Quran is not a law book, i.e., not a collection of prescriptions providing a legal system, and because the Prophet was no longer alive to resolve problems, the early Caliphs, and later, during the Umayyad period (661-750), the judges (qadis) shouldered the responsibility of rendering legal decisions. The Muslim concern not simply to know the divine will but also to execute it, inspired the early Muslim community's expansion and conquest of Arabia, the Eastern Byzantine Empire in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, the Persian (Sasanid) Empire in Iran and Iraq, and Egypt. However, the realization of the Muslims' religious vision to transform the world was not a simple task. The Quran is the revelation of God, the central fact of the Islamic religious experience. As the very word of God, for Muslims the Quran is the presence of the numinous in history (space and time). Thus, the primary material source of the revealed law is quite natural ly the Holy Quran, the sourcebook of Islamic values. While the Quran does contain prescriptions about matters that would rank as legal in the strict, narrow sense of the term, these injunctions, in fact, comprise but eighty verses (Murata and Chittick 27). 3. The social-historical interpretation of Quran treats the book as the main source of ancient laws and principles, social-economic relations and political power. As Muslims seek to root their personal and national identity in an Islamic past, the importance of reinterpretation and community consensus is evident. Providing an Islamic methodology for reform is an essential part of this process. Lack of such a methodology undermines any sense of the Islamic character of reforms and consequently the acceptance of such reforms by the vast majority of Muslims. While passage of reforms may be effected through an autocratic leader of a legislature comprised of a small elite, their ultimate acceptance by the vast majority of the Islamic community will not be assured. Literal interpretation of Quran is aimed to investigate literary and oral traditions of this period, analyze cultural and national uniqueness of the text. Literary interpretations take into account the use of language and cultur al peculiarities of the text. Despite the changes thus far, the conflict between the forces of conservatism and modernism has continued. Resistance to change often resulted in indirect, ad hoc legal methods of reform as well as the shelving of draft legislation. The problem which has emerged is still very much that of taqlid (following tradition) versus ijtihad (reinterpretation), the infallibility of classical law

Evolution Lab Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evolution Lab - Assignment Example One particular animal, which gained Darwin’s attention, was the finches on the island. It was through studying these finches that Darwin came up with one of the most important terms in evolutionary biology which is one of the driving forces for evolution: natural selection. Natural selection plays into the role that nature selects organisms, which are best fit for the environment. Those that have the traits that give them the best advantage in environmental conditions will survive and proliferate while those who have the inferior traits will not thrive and die out (Darwin, 2010). In this particular simulation, we were looking at what the effects of precipitation on two separate islands and how it would affect the size of the beak on a species of finches. We are able to make this hypothesis due to the fact that we know that the amount of precipitation will influence the different types of flora and seeds, which will grow on the island. This can affect size, hardness, and shape of the seeds and this will have a direct effect upon the size of the beak of the finch that inhabits the island. Our hypothesis was that of non-directionality, meaning that we did not know how precipitation was going to affect beak size in any particular direction, but we knew that the precipitation was going to have an effect on how flora grew on the island, thus this would have an effect on beak size. Materials Since this was an interactive simulation, very few materials were needed in order to complete this lab. A computer with an active Internet connection was necessary in order to use the online simulation software in order to collect the data, due to the fact that this observational data would be impossible to be collected over the thousands of years. Methods The first step of being able to run the experiment was to log onto the site in order to carry out the experiment at http://www.biologylabsonline.com/axia/EvolutionLab/. Next, depending on the experiment, the experimenter has the option to set the variables that they are interested in looking at. For the case of our hypothesis, we are looking at beak size in relation to precipitation. The independent variable is the initial size of the beaks. The experiment calls for modifying the precipitation on the islands in order to see if this has an effect on beak size. On one island, move the precipitation to the extreme of there is no precipitation and then on the other island, move the precipitation to the maximum amount of precipitation the island can have. Set the amount of time to look at over the course of three hundred years and run the experiment. Then look at and analyze the data to see if the data matches the proposed hypothesis. Data Parameter DARWIN WALLACE ------------------------------------------- Initial Beak Size: 12.0 mm 12.0 mm Heritability: 0.7 0.7 Variance: 1.0 1.0 Clutch Size: 10.0 eggs 10.0 eggs Precipitation: 35.0 cm 20.0 cm Population: 200.0 birds 200.0 birds Island Size: 0.5 km 0.5 k m Darwin ------ Wallace ------- Discussion and Results As can be seen from the graph, we have an interaction effect at the start and then both populations diverge from each other as time progresses. On Darwin Island, where the precipitation was observed to be 100.0 cm, there was an increase in beak size as time increased. On Wallace Island, where the precipitation was observed to be 0.0 cm, there was a decrease in beak size as time increased. Based on this result, we can conclude that over the 300-year

Dual task experiment proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dual task experiment proposal - Essay Example Therefore determination of the effectiveness of dual or multiple tasks over single task is very important in many areas. It is interested to know whether someone can perform multiple and single auditory tasks with similar effectiveness. The objective of this study is to measure the effectiveness of dual auditory tasks against single auditory task. The hypothesis is effectiveness of a single auditory task is significantly higher than that of the dual auditory tasks. It is expected to find out the human ability to correctly understand and interpret two verbal messages when heard simultaneously compared to separate events. In general these findings will be helpful to understand the divided attention in auditory tasks and thereby minimize human errors in critical situations. Equipment: This experiment requires two IPod players, one with a 3-minute news broadcast containing 5 news items and one with a 3-minute meaningful song consisted of 4 stanzas, which had not been heard by the subjects before (both in English). Subjects are 60 undergraduates 30 males and 30 females between the ages 18 to 25, randomly selected from Johns Hopkins undergraduate students. Persons having any type of hearing loss or mental illness or who cannot understand the English language are excluded. Fifteen males and 15 females are selected randomly from the total sample for the controlled group and the rest is considered as the experimental group. All the participants are given a reference number. Procedure: This experiment is performed in a classroom with a quiet environment. Firstly, the controls are advised to seat in the class room and a question paper is given to list out news items and the meaning of the each stanza in the song. Then the song is played for 3 minutes and at the end 5 minutes time is allocated to write the meaning of the stanzas. Then the news broadcast is played and another 5 minutes time is provided to

You decide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

You decide - Essay Example The foundation for this attention on the business is that inside the aggregate sum of CO2 emitted at last usage (transportation part, control area and high temperature era), the oil and gas parts represent almost 50% of all worldwide outflows in different sectors(Mckinsey Quarterly organization, 2012). While a lot of people still live trying to claim ignorance about the linkage between human nursery gas (GHG) outflows and the climate framework, numerous different organizations around the globe are as of now occupied with exercises that will decrease their GHG discharges and putting resources into new innovations to take care of vitality demand. These organizations are under steady observing and reputational weight from governments, worldwide bodies, for example, the United Nations (Kyoto Environmental and Regulatory laws) to lessen both upstream and downstream CO2 emanations, and to investigate and execute elective, vitality effective, and low- discharge strategies to meet vitality requests from all areas of the economy. These deliberations will need to be embraced while keeping on proving vitality for financial needs. It is crucial to know the position of the oil and gas industry by investigating a percentage of the techniques has created for decreasing GHG discharges that would include evident changes in the generation and use of vitality. The oil and gas industry perceives the significant issues and prospects that lie ahead in tending to climate change. These are exercises that cant be maintained a strategic distance from on the grounds that they happen commonly, for example, the emission of a fountain of liquid magma transmits Co2, vapor gasses, vaporizers in plenitude to the air. An alternate regular reason for climate change that emanates nurseries gas is the Ocean Circulation which radiates Co2 into the environment. The

Managing Multi-disciplinary Teams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Managing Multi-disciplinary Teams - Essay Example Besides, the set goals should not only be practically realizable, but also in line with the relevant criteria and objectives governing the working of a particular organization. The most important task that calls for urgent attention in the management of a multi-disciplinary team is that all the members in that team should be sure about the specific roles assigned to them (Bacal, 2009). While allocating such roles, not only the abilities and aspirations of the specific employees ought to be taken into consideration, but no confusion should be left as to the allocation of responsibility and leadership pertaining to the specific tasks and roles. It is a common tendency amongst the teams to try to retain their old ways of working. However, the attainment of optimum efficiency and the successful achievement of the project goals require the teams to be flexible and adaptable (Bacal 2009). The case study under consideration brings to the light the need for setting clear-cut goals while managing multi-disciplinary teams, but also looking into the job of performance management through regular evaluation and feedback (Bacal 2008). The case study under consideration primarily involves a set of employees that includes two respiratory therapists, an intern, an administrative staff member, and a supervising head managing the overall activities of the department.One of the respiratory therapists is relatively young and is of an enthusiastic and positive temperament. The other therapist is quieter, mature, calibrated and much disciplined in his approach towards the work. The two therapists are expected to perform a whole range of duties like conducting an analysis of the issues at hand, conducting tests, assembling the equipment, and interacting with the patients and their family members. Being a therapist happens to be a stress intensive job and both the therapists tend to handle their jobs well in their own unique way. While the friendly nature of the younger therapist makes the patients feel at ease, the balance and confidence of the older therapist leaves his patients calm and reassured. Despite their conductin g periodical meetings, the relationship between the two therapists is marked by high conflict and disagreement, owing to the large scale and considerable differences in their approaches and ideas towards their work. The differences existing between these two therapists certainly need some astute conflict management (Farmer, 2009).The older therapist's approach towards one's work is very conservative while the younger therapist is more adventurous and spontaneous in his approach and wants to incorporate new challenges and issues in the organizational list of priorities. A conflict of opinion in the sphere of organizational priorities often has the potential to affect efficiency and productivity (Kerina, 2009). While the older therapist intends to be fixed and obstinate in his adherence to safety procedures, his younger counterpart believes in taking chances and to react according to the situation at hand. This environment of high conflict is negatively influencing the working of othe r therapists within the organization.

Poetry Is Key Essay Example for Free

Poetry Is Key Essay I interview Amani because she is a teenager guided by mentorship. She revealed to me how being mentored by positive, loving, and caring people has changed who she is as a person. She said â€Å"I see a big change in myself. It’s like my whole life I’ve been so angry and upset, and it was all because I was being misguided and I didn’t have the chance to become who I am now. † This interview helped me because It kind of showed me what type of response I should be getting from the kids in my program. It is simply a calibration of how the kids that decide to participate in my mentorship program should react. Frohman, Denice. Denice Frohman Gangsta Poetry YouTube. YouTube, 16 June 2009. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. This video is a video of a youth poetry mentor for PYPM (Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement) who also participated in the Unliter Us Campaign. In this poem she speaks about differ writing tools (metaphors, similes, personification, etc) and different types of poems (haiku, slam, etc). She also talks about motivating the youth to get involved in poetry and imagination. This poem will help me because It is not only an introduction to different types of poetry and all types of writing tools but it’s in a cool poem that, to me, will make the kids want to know more and be less reluctant to participate in my program. Howard, Zora. Zora Howard Mama (lyrics). YouTube. YouTube, 04 Mar. 2011. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. This is a video by a youth slam poet alumni named Zora Howard who is now on a traveling adult poetry group called Strivers Row. This video is of a poem she performed. The poem is in letter form so it starts out saying, â€Å"Dear Son,†. Evidently, she is talking to her son in the letter. Her son is in the army and she’s writing him on his birthday just reminiscing about all the things they used to talk about and do before he was drafted into the army. This poem will help me because performance wasn’t at a competition so the tension is low and she’s just releasing. Although, from my knowledge, the poem is just not real fact for her, it still tells a story in it. It will show the kids how to turn a poem from a regular free  form poem into a letter or a story. James, Cliche M. Who Needs Mentorship. Personal interview. 27 Jan. 2013. I interview the mom of a boy who had never had any form of mentorship to ask her if she thought that mentorship was important and who did she think that it was for. She said that she thinks that it is a difference between â€Å"needing† mentorship and â€Å"wanting† it. She feels as though kids who going down the wrong road in life or kids who just have pain in there life that is hard to let go of should have mentorship. This interview helped me with my research because it, for the most part, proved to me that I made the right choice in targeting kids who have some pain in them, kids that practically have nothing to look forward to because of the situation that their parents are in. James, Nasir. The Importance of Mentorship. Personal interview. 27 Jan. 2013. I interview my nephew, a 15 year old boy who has had mentorship every super since he was 12. I asked him what the importance of mentorship was. At first he was a little reluctant because he though that he didn’t get much out of it but when I began to ask him other questions to break it down. Questions like was there anything about his personality that changed because of the interaction with someone who you could put your trust in and things like that. He ultimately said that after 3 years of being in contact with his mentors, he has seen a difference in who he is and that being with them, he now knows what kind of man he wants to be. He also said that if he didn’t have mentors, he would still have become a good person it would have taken a bit longer. This interview was important because I wanted to know how younger teens felt about mentorship because if they didn’t care, then there would be no purpose of me doing it in the long run because it wouldn’t have changed anything. Lissaint / Strivers Row, Carvens. Praise by Carvens Lissaint. YouTube. YouTube, 02 Feb. 2011. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. This is another video of a youth poet alumni from New York city. He is another member of the poetry group called strivers row and in his younger years, he was on the NYC poetry team that went to the nation wide poetry competition BNV (Brave New Voices) which  premiered on HBO in 2006. This poem is about poetry and every sense that plays a part in writing and speaking poetry. I think that this will help me because I know that a lot of people have a single story about poetry. A lot of people don’t really know what it cane be and in this poem, the poet Carvens Lissaint, touches in on all of that . Mans, Jasmine. Michelle Obama by Jasmine Mans. YouTube. YouTube, 25 Oct. 2010. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. This is a video of yet another strivers row poet. Jasmine Mans was on the NYC team in 2006. This is a video of a poem she recorded called Michelle Obama. This poem is about how first lady Michelle Obama inspires young black women to be great and do great things. It tells them that because she did it, that they can. I think that this will be a good video to use in my program because when I visited the shelter, there was a significant number of girls and I think that showing them this will help them find confidence. Perrin, Brianna. The Importance of Mentorship. Personal interview. 30 Jan. 2013. I interview a senior named Brianna Perrin about her experience with mentorship and community service to get a better understanding of how she felt about it afterward. I also got a chance to find out what she took from the experience as a person who had been mentored and decided to pass it on. I think that this interview was very helpful and very successful. It gave me a perspective of a person who had the same urge as I had. She expressed to me that to her it was more than just helping others and I feel the same way. Going to the shelter is about more than helping others its also a branch of growth for myself. Poetic Devices. Poetic Devices. N. p. , n. d. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. This is a link to a list of poetic devices. This link will be useful because I know that even I don’t know so It’ll help me and help the kids at the program. Poetry. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. I decided to use this link because some people think that poetry is only one thing, when in all actuality, poetry can be many things. This will be helpful because it will give a mor formal introduction than me saying this is was a metaphor is. It will actually explain to them what things are and how they should be used. I also think that this will show the kids the overall brand of poetry so that they know that poetry can be almost anything. This will be just an outline for what I want the kids to take from this program come April or May. Shearlds, Khalil. Mentorship. Personal interview. 7 Jan. 2013. This is the Manager, Center for Parenting Early Childhood Education at the People’s Emergency Center. I interviewed him about the importance of mentorship and who needs it. This interview was important for me to do because this is what he does on a day to day basis. He mentors kids to show them where they can go and to let them know that they don’t have to stay planted in a place where they aren’t happy just because someone put them there. This will be important in the long run because, not that I already didn’t know, i will always know my mission. What Is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy? What Is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy? N. p. , 05 Apr. 2007. Web. 04 Jan. 2013. This is a link to the definition of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I was talking to someone about my capstone and they told me that my whole idea fell along the lines of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. When I looked it up it actually told me a lot about myself and why poetry seemed to work for me. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach that is directed toward dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes. It’s basically disturbances of your feelings triggered by the things and stresses that you go through. This helped me because it told me almost exactly what these kids are going through inside. Young, B. I Am A Queen Urban Word NYC BNV Semis 2008. YouTube. YouTube, 24 July 2008. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. I decided to use this video of a New York City Poet B. Young. This poem was about his theory of why he would want to be a queen in the game of chess because it’s not about being the protected, he thinks that the protecter is the most important. I decided to use this video because I think it is a good perspective for young men to A realize how important a Queen/girl is and B to understand that being the protected or being the person who everyone who is always being looked after isn’t always who you want to be, sometimes you want to be apart of something bigger. Z. , Sharvon. Philly Youth Poetry Movement. Philly Youth Poetry Movement RSS 20. N. p. , 01 Feb. 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2013. This is the website for PYPM or Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement. This is the where I got my mentoring from so not to incorporate and utilize this source would be foolish of me. This website will give me the latest updates on the PYPM team, there videos and events that I could possibly invite my teens to. I can use the videos posted on the website and some of the ideas from poetry workshops to use during my program.

Patricia Hill Collins Views On Feminism

Patricia Hill Collins Views On Feminism As a standpoint feminist, Patricia Hill Collins continuously argues that feminist studies should be practiced from the standpoint of women or particular groups of women who are not as egocentric to think they understand certain aspects of the world. Because of the differences that women have, many standpoint feminist now recognize this division of women and how it is impossible to claim one universal experience for women. Sexism occurs so miraculously that it is important to view it in relation to other systems of domination and analyze how it interacts with other classes in Collins matrix of domination. Collins does this through the thought of black feminist point of view. Collins is embedded in this idea that despite long standing claims by aristocrats; women, African Americans, Latinos, and other downgraded groups in America remain incapable of producing the type of analytical thought that is labeled as a feminist theory. People with powerful knowledge of resistance trampled former social structures of social and cultural inequality abandon this view. Members of these downgraded groups do in fact theorize and our critical social theory has been central to political empowerment and the search for justice. This led to Collins publishing Black Feminist Thought. Collins is above all concerned with the relationship among empowerment, knowledge, and self-definition with a primary focus on black women. It is the oppression with which she is most personally familiar. But Collins is also one of the few Standpoint and Social thinkers who are able to rise above their own experience. She challenges us with a significant view of oppression and other views that no t only has the possibility of changing the world but also of opening up the likelihood of continuous change. To her, for change to be continuous, it cant be exclusively focused on one social group. In other words, to be continuous, a social movement that is only concerned with racial inequality will end its influence once equality for that group is achieved. Collins gives us a way of transcending specific politics that is based upon Black Feminist Epistemology. Her intent is to place black womens experiences in the center of analysis without privileging those experiences. Basically we can learn from black womens knowledge. There are so many major trends that influence her to do so much of her work. She has sociological significance in a few different areas of which the content of her ideas has been influenced by on-going dialogue in many sociological societies. This has showed that in some way women are gaining more of a voice. For instance in her popular book From Black Power to Hip-Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism, this examines the debated spaces of racism, feminism, nationalism, and popular culture in an attempt to expand the struggle for a truly democratic society for the whole universe. She highlights specific themes to truly hint the struggle of place in society. The book is divided into 3 parts: Race, Family, and the US; Ethnicity, Culture, and Black Nationalist politics; and Feminism, Nationalism, and African American women. She is careful with words, she reclaims the term Black women for its globalizing potential to include more than America women of African descent. She redefines the g roup, she states, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a unifying language that women of African descent and women who are rendered socially Black [in and outside the US] can use to describe their needs as racial and ethnic women (Collins 23). With this said early on in the book, one anticipates a broader view to reframe black feminist thought in the global eye. Not necessarily to analyze everything but to at least rethink the effects of transnational migration on urban environments in America. Collins highlights these shifts in black identity, in ways of how we discuss black experience, race relations, and how contemporary feminist redefine themselves as women of color. In spite of that, Collins sticks closely to the familiar ground of African American urban communities and their related feminist theories and practices. She is concerned with the development of contemporary black feminist thought into social movement and its expansion into multiracial collective identity politics. Hip Hop is the dominant cultural expression in many black womens lives, but it is just one part in the complex of her matrix of domination. Because of our influence of Hip-Hop and other trends of society she tries to influence us to put into practice the collective identity of politics. She tries to influence into creating a group base identity while avoiding group based essentialism. She wants us to detach ourselves from this intricate and worldwide place of domination without falling into more temptation. It doesnt seem like she has many forerunners that truly influence her to do all of what she has done. She is more influenced by herself. She gives her opinion of what she thinks females (mostly black females) need to achieve and prove, and how others should understand and learn. As mention before she operates on the Matrix of Domination. This is a sociological theory that explains issues of oppression that deal with race, gender, and class. Even though these issues are classified differently they all are connected in a way. Other forms such as age, sex, gender, and religion apply to this too. Collins introduces this in her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and Politics of Empowerment. Many feminist have contributed a great deal of research to help her in an advantage. Although, it seems Collins has had a little bit of help from Alice Walker and her view of black women and feminism, in which she changes to Womanism. Walkers construction of Womanism was an attempt to establish the true black woman in history and culture and to change the negative and inaccurate stereotypes that are given to black women. Walker lists the black woman as a thinking subject who is always seeking knowledge. She interrogates the epistemological exclusions she endures in intellectual life and general and feminist intelligence. Walker also highlights the black womans strength, capability, and independence. Opposed to feminism, Womanism presents an alternative for black women by framing their survival through men and women. In Black Feminist Thought, Collins states, Many black women view feminism as a movement that at best is exclusively for women, and, at worst, dedicated to attacking or eliminating menà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Womanism seemingly supplies a way for black women to address gender-oppression without attacking black men (Collins 11). Collins seems agreeable in this case of Womanism and seems to be that Alice Walker is a versatile influence upon her. Collins goes into a lot of depth about Womanism in her book, a great impact on the Matrix of Domination. Patricia Hill Collins outlined America Black Feminism through the expression in music, fiction, poetry, and oral history. She continuously saw and pointed out three themes. The oppressions are interconnected greatly through the different points. Black women create alternative world views for self-definition and self determination. Black women also have often incorporated imposed and restraining definitions of who they are. They especially do this by revitalizing concepts of beauty, skin color, and physical body notions. Collins also points to areas that have been overlooked many times. Gender roles within family and work, politics, violence, and homophobia all need to be revitalized also. Collins draws on black womens experiences and voices to explain concepts that have been obscured institutionally and ideologically. Her interdisciplinary methodology engages an analytical approach to domination and subordination. She rejects defensive thought because either/or thinking categorizes people, things, and ideas in terms of their differences from each other. She stresses the both/and analysis because it could transform the way in which we think about the claims in knowledge. Her work has made Afro-centric and feminist thought more liable, broader in view, and more essential. She forces her readers to think differently and to reexamine the way in which truth and knowledge are thought to be, produced, and approved. This helps us to realize the importance of our gender society. This is some knowledge of why she seems to be an important figure in the evolution of gender studies. She gives her opinion with valuable information to back it up. Collins largely devotes a significant amount of work to present intellectual ideas mixed with everyday life ideas in an accessible way. This gives more of an encouragement for black females and other races to say what they feel, to give their opinion straightforward as can be. Her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment seems to be one of the most contributing books that she has published for the general public, but with a focus for black women. She reanalyzes race, gender, and class as an interlocking system of oppression. She talks about the lack of womens experiences as blood-mothers and other-mothers. The community reveals that there is a norm of a heterosexual, married couple, with a husband earning the money. This is far from being natural, universal, and preferred but instead is deeply embedded in specific race and class formations. Placing African American women in the center of analysis not only reveals much needed information ab out black womens experiences but also questions what perspective we give them. Black womens actions in group survival suggest a vision of community that stands in opposition to that extent in the dominant culture. This community is seen as arbitrary and fragile, structured accordingly by competition and domination. Afro-centric models of community stress connections, caring, and personal accountability. As cultural workers African American women have rejected the generalized ideology of domination in order to safeguard the conceptualizations of the community. According to Collins, black women have been unable to spend time theorizing about alternative conceptualizations of community. Instead, through daily actions black women have strongly created alternative communities that truly empower themselves. Experiences as mothers, other-mothers, educators, labor women, and community leaders seem to suggest that power as energy can be encouraged by resistance. In Fighting Words: Black Wome n and the Search for Justice, Collins states, The spheres of influence created and sustained by African American women are not mean to solely to provide a respite from oppressive situations or a retreat from their effects. Rather, these black female spheres of influence constitute potential sanctuaries where individual black women and men are nurtured in order to confront oppressive social institutions (Collins 56). Collins explores an astonishing range of ideas and images through history, sociology, and popular culture. Rather than debate the dominance of race versus sex in the history of social injustice to black women and other races; Collins offers a theory of Intersectionality, viewing race, gender, and sexuality together. She explores the social and personal implications of historical images and more current concerns about the influence of urban culture and how its glorified. Demonstrating how the politics of race has traditionally neglected concerns about gender and sexual orientation, Collins explores a range of issues, advocating certain aspects of cultural situations.