Ethnicity Determination and Race - Assignment Example

Name Course Instructor: Date REFLECTIVE WRITING RACE Race is a classification or grouping system used to identify or categories groups of human. The classification system took into account the anatomy, cultural, ethnic, genetic, geographical, historical, linguistic, religion, and social affiliation. Unfortunately scientist have never agreed on the definition of race and others doesn’t want the term used preferring to use other similar terms like ethnic group, population, or just the term community. However a good percentage believe race is as a result of difference in genetics among the human population as defined by phenotypes. However others say that there is nothing like race since we are all products of Homo sapiens. Unfortunately with all my education, I still believe in the biblical origin of mankind and that in the beginning there was nothing and our god used his powers to create the land and the sea. And on the sixth day, God created human being (Adam) in his own image. And later the lord saw that Adam needed a companion and used his ribs to create eve. Therefore I believe that there is nothing like race, because every person on the earth surface came from Adam and Eve. Therefore it doesn’t matter your color, geographical location or your configuration, we are one. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve and the creation of God. The difference in color might have occurred due to the weather variation on the earth surface. People within areas with a lot of sunlight normally tend to be darker as compared to the people living in relatively cold areas. According to me, I believe in the scientist explanation that people living in regions with more ultra violet radiation especially along the equator are darker in color. The reverse is true with people living towards the poles where ultra violet radiation is low tends to have a lighter skin. The intermarriages that go on within the world are another contradictory line that one can adopt to criticize the unnecessary grouping of race. This is because a child born from combination of parents from different racial background may end up missing specific race to fully identify with. The question is does the child belong to the race of the mother or the race of the father. America is a land full of a mixture of a mixture of people from all other continents that went and settled in it after it was located by world renowned explorers. Slavery brought in the Negros, the term they used to the dark skinned especially from African origin. The red Indians were the first to join the American continent and stayed in it. However the, mixing up between the people has diluted the races thus it is unfortunate when I here racial discrimination In America then it sounds funny because everyone is a visitor and no one deserve it more than the others. We are one people and racial discrimination should be avoided at all cost and the people involved should be punished by the government and charged. ETHNICITY Ethnicity is a collective noun derived from singular noun ethnic group which is normally specified as a given group of people. However the term ethnic is an adjective that refer to a large group of people that normally share things in common such as race, culture, religion, homeland, national experience and other character traits. Therefore by accurate definition ethnicity is, “an ethnic quality or affiliation resulting from racial or cultural ties.” or “is a social group of people who identifies with each other.” Normally the population vary depending on many factors hence an ethnic group can have a population of few thousands to more than a billion people. Unfortunately due to factors such as geographical separation, varying weather condition and social differences, the large ethnic groups may go through a process called ETHNOGENESIS and split into smaller sub-tribes. However sometimes the split doesn’t affect the language and they continue to share the same original language hence being referred as ETHNO-LINGUISTIC. A good of ethno-linguistic groups are Iranian people and Austronesian people while a good example of small ethnic groups is KOROWAI people with a population of only around 3000people. Ethnicity determination sometime can become a challenge due to many contradicting and hard to separate obstacle. Should we use the color of the skin, the way of life in terms of food, clothing and language? Or the ethical background of the parents. Such obstacles leave more question than answers since the parents may come from a different ethnic background and the child grow up in another culture. Wolf views the ethnicity issue as perilous due to the danger it poses to the peaceful living of mankind. People have in the past faced saddening situations due to ignorance of our people and the superiority complex that come into play due to ethnic difference in background. A good example is the Rwanda genocide experience in Africa that occurred due to the political misunderstanding between the leaders from different ethnic background struggling for power. The result led to an Air crash that killed the president and led to mass murder as the Hutu community went on a rampage to wipe out the Tutsi community resulting to murder of about 800,000 people. Ethnicity is the source of most discrimination especially in the community or country relationships or in the job seeking market. Good example is in African countries where a small area is dominated by many ethnic groups. The discrimination in the job market in such cases create imbalance leaving some community in total poverty. Moreover, political selection during election is based on ethnicity with an aim of the president favoring the people from his/her ethnic background. Therefore the view of ethnicity as perilous by Wolf is honest and sound as an alert to human to avoid unnecessary feeling that one is superior to the other but a build society where each and every individual is treated with respect and understanding. Looking at our own experience in life, we can’t avoid looking back and realizing in one way or the other, ethnicity compelled us to behave differently. Human is human and our misunderstanding of ethnicity make us feel some magnitude of difference exist between as. As a Christian I believe in the presence of God and that we all originated from Adam and Eve and therefore human are one. The color difference, taste difference and way of life difference are all brought about by weather condition and the type of life we leave in .Otherwise ethnicity is addressing experts should handle it with care. LIFE EXPECTANCY Life expectancy is the average years that living person is expected to live. However life expectancy is a mere average and when somebody takes good care and live a health life, they can surpass the life expectancy and at times double it. Scientist has proved that eating healthy meal devoid of cholesterol and a good exercise make people live a longer life. The British colonization may have contributed significantly on the failure of growth within the Aboriginal Australian and exposed them to condition that are make it difficult to prosper. For example the coming of the British was sandwiched with introduction of small pox as a defense when the ammunitions had been outnumbered. This was a menace because it nearly wiped out the entire population. The greatest mistake done by the British was on land appropriation and water resources resulting to conversion of the rural land for grazing cattle and sheep’s. This denied the Aboriginal people the freedom to practice the nomadic lifestyle they were used to which involve hunting and fishing. Due to the poor way of life, most being employed as stockmen on cattle and sheep station caused a major decline in their population number. The discrimination that that led to being denied right to vote and poor job condition might have affected the self-esteem and brought a feeling of inferiority complex within them. The social discrimination the aboriginal people were exposed to was too much and being denied voting right ensured they had no voice to fight for their right hence economic discrimination followed. Discrimination and luck of head count led to economic exploitation leaving them with the poor jobs that resulted to poor pay and subsequent failure to afford meaningful life. The education level of the Aboriginal people is low and they cannot qualify for meaningful job opportunity that has reasonable return. Therefore, the racial discrimination and the failure by the leadership to protect his people and treat them equally in terms of supplying the basic need of the people like education, healthcare and voting rights affected the Aboriginal Australian and impeded their growth. Life expectancy normally depend on the kind of life someone live. Therefore blocking the channel to the good life was enough to create the difference in life expectancy. Life expectancy is the measure of quality of life in a country or region and a list of top 100 towns doesn’t have any African country simply because of the tough life people live in Africa with automation only in few places hence most of the jobs have excess manual labor that is not ideal for a healthy persons. The sudden forceful civilization of the aboriginal people brought by governor Macquarie failed to understand the life system and carry out the procedure in a reasonable and systematic way. Human beings tend to be resistant when forced to do something hence Macquarie attempt to introduce education, farming and building techniques was fiercely resisted. This made the governor to get annoyed and put the Aboriginals under control permitting the guards to shoot anyone who dared resist the rule. Therefore the loss of land, the introduction of diseases, the forceful introduction of the way of life by Macquarie and the fights with the colonizers affected the quality of life of the Aboriginal hence it might have had effect on life expectancy. JOURNALS This academic writings related to a particular line of academic discipline. They normally serve as a scrutiny for the forum meant towards introducing or presentation geared towards toward explaining given concepts. Normally the writer has a detailed idea about the topic. Journal writing was very beneficial to us student especially when done on topic already discussed. According to me, the journals gave me an opportunity to look back and revisit the content we had covered in the semester. This is because I had to revisit my notes and clearly understand the topic before reviewing other relevant writings to act as reference and add more knowledge about the topic. Therefore after the end of my journal, I feel better off and widely informed about the topics. Writing journals is a short way of developing as a future writer. I believe famous writers all started somewhere and through short writing we develop our writing techniques for the better. To get the courage of being relevant in a more diverse writing, it reasonable that we start from rather direct writings like journals. Therefore the move by our instructor to frequently write reflective journals on topics done was a welcomed gesture that is meant to make us better and enjoy freedom of reasoning and understanding. Journals are educative and through journal writing we can communicate to willing readers. Therefore journal writing is a give as students a channel to express ourselves to the readers and inform them of information that they may be missing hence that is educative gesture. The fact that the journals portray the author and are posted online gives us student the morale to even do better research and shine in front of the people we give information to. As people always say, information is power and putting it in writing makes it even more long lasting and available for review and subsequent referencing. A good writer understands the audience and is creative with good linguistic approach full of good choice of words. Unfortunately we are never born with such level of technical capability but we develop gradually until we reach the recommended level. Therefore frequent reflective writing on the done topics give as writers a chance to improve and learn and be more and more creative and a good listener of public response to the journals they write. This will give us a chance to learn faster the student stars and be more vigorous in reaction. Moreover, the competition within the student of the same class makes them even better as everyone want to win acknowledgement of teacher involved. Students have varied confidence in class and hence some might be good in oral expression in a more face to face approach, the shy group I belong to prefer written expression. Therefore by lecturers giving us reflective writing, he get more understanding of the shy group and this can even emerge to giving him more morale in his duties. Such teaching method gives us as student a competitive age compared to our age mates at other institution as it build strong will of expression and courage. Therefore, involving journal writing as a mode of refreshing students to go and revisit part of the notes done earlier. As mentioned above, the benefits are numerous and it a significant step in the education that can be used to develop thinkers and great researchers to assist in the struggle for better future. LAY BELIEFS This is simply a term used to refer to different beliefs harbored by people regarding different health problem that they have experience in the past. It is unfortunate that at time the lay belief is not true but ignorance based hence doctors have to be keen when dealing with patient because such beliefs vary with background and culture. Belief is essential in recovery medically and the doubt created by the ignorance of lay belief can at times be pull back to an individual recovery process. The coming in of HIV was a big blow to the world, the economy, social interaction and a call for health care restructuring. Few years down the line, the virus is under control but no real cure yet in the market. The mostly affected are the Africans and the stringent catholic believers who in one way or the other hard a wrong lay belief. It so unfortunate that people took that long to accept that HIV was present and we needed to improvise the sex relationship we were in for the better. The lay belief in the picture was that the dead died of, “Chira” a nonexistent diseases that come in due to ancestral wrath when one doesn’t follow the societal beliefs. The belief made it hard for the ignorant to take the available medication always believing that one of the family members had cast a spell on them. The ARV medication was furiously resisted and many waited for their death arrogantly believe that no man had the ability to prolong their lives. The second lay belief is on the diseases that affect the young children. Normally some people believe that if the dads of a parent engage in promiscuous activity during the young age of the children then that resulted to the child’s death. Unfortunately this is not true but just a mere belief. The truth is, a young child is sensitive and proper care in terms of warmth and cleanliness to avoid illness that kills children like malaria. The third lay belief is that on albinism with most ignorant people blaming it on the mother failure to give the child enough sunlight at birth. A quick check on the disease suggests that albinism is caused by inheritance from either a parent with the same ailment or a parent with an albinism gene. The lack of pigment in the skin, eye and hair is due to absence or defect of tyrosine, a copper-containing enzyme that is involved in the production of melanin. Therefore this is a health condition rather than a miscalculation in the solar ray duration at birth. A more general belief is that too much solar exposure leads to malaria. Unfortunately I don’t have a medical explanation behind it but belief it doesn’t hold any water more than it just being another lay belief. Fortunately education seams to wipe out this lay belief and looking back at some of the lay beliefs I temporarily accepted in the past make me have a laugh at how ignorance is a disease in itself. But it is realistic that such belief lowers the body ability to receive treatment and get quick recovery. Just like the biblical treatments miracle of prophets, some amount of believe is necessary in whatever medical prescription we are given. Therefore lay beliefs should be a thing of the past in the 21st Century where exposure and education has been a global agenda. In conclusion, lay belief doesn’t in any way affect my health behavior and I belief that all the diseases in life have prevention and we just need to leave responsible life to escape most of such diseases. CLIMATE The climatic changes in the globe has risen in the past especially after industrialization due to rise in pollution and increased emission of greenhouse that has resulted to depletion of ozone layer hence rise in temperature. The sad news is accepting the fact that Australia will be one of the most hit with a rise of 1.1m above the current sea level. This is a possibility because human activities that result to emission of greenhouse gases cannot be held back due to the increasing need as the global population increases. The government will lose a lot of experts in different line of occupations and good number of its tax payers. The rise of sea level and the subsequent displacement of the people living along the coast like me and my family are greatly at risk. My life is actually at a risk because the situation has caused an increase in health need with the government calling health practitioner to get involved. The loss of investment and all the property have worked for all this years with my family is at a risk and we have to start a new life and forget this never happened. Considering the loss of my wealth and the situation the life of my family are facing make me lose the strength to work own saving lives. This is because this is the time my family need me most to stand by them and protect them and give them a way forward because we have no money at the moment, we need to reestablish our lives in a new surrounding we have totally no idea where and how to survive in. With all this into consideration I will still be stronger than ever and urge our people to fight on and never lose hope. The fact that am about to vacate the place have called home all my life is killing me but I have to do it for me, my family and the government. However my choice of destination is Africa in the country called Kenya. This is because it is a country I have a clue on the hospitality and the beauty of the people that welcome visitors with open hands. Second ill choose Africa due to the economic potential that is not yet fully exploited. And considering my profession as a doctor, it will be difficult not to get absorbed as quickly as possible and start rebuilding my life and the life of my young family. However the separation of my extended family with some preferring to move to other continents is a big blow as it is hard living with a fact that I might not see them again. However I’ll take satisfaction from my profession and continue bringing a smile in people’s faces. If by any chance the country of my choice doesn’t allow anymore climatic refugees I would relocate or change my destination to Tanzania a neighboring country to Kenya that is also equally welcoming and in dire need of expertise in the health sector thereby ill gets easier time getting in and starting a new life. As much as we as a family love the African continent, due to the variation of weather condition, culture and a significant drop in the technology level, my family will really struggle to adopt. Unfortunately my choice of destination is a parental choice and considering the young family I have, I can’t really tell how they are going to settle in the new surrounding and pick up a new life in a new surrounding we are learning to call home. Unfortunately there is nothing better we can do about it but pray to God that the future life in the unknown new home be for the better. All I can do now is keep hoping that we adapt quickly and pick up from where we left and build on it for a better future. But I get encouraged that all will be well because we are all human being and no matter the ethnic background or racial origin, we are all sons and daughters of God who we all believe and trust in. PATIENT INTERACTION GUIDE The relationship between a doctor and a patient should be open kind of relationship where the patient is free to speak out no matter how sensitive the issue may be. However the relationship needs to be mutual in that the patient should give the doctor easy time while the doctor should also portray approachable qualities to assure the patients that he/she is the right person to share his or her problems. First the doctors need to be a good communicator and give confidence the patients a humble time in the hospital. He/ she should create the notion that all is within the hospital is safe and the recovery will soon come to pass. At the same time the doctor should be a good listener to avoid requisitioning the patient to pardon which can really frustrate the patients and create tension between the patient and the doctor. The doctor should show the patient respect during the treatment period by counseling them, empathizing with them and encouraging the patients to be stronger during the medication period. The doctor should be able to understand the core family values so that he/she can have a clear picture of his patient. However the doctors need to give the patient room to express himself / herself so that the doctor have easier time understanding the patient. There are cases in the health sectors where decision has to be made for the doctor to get way forward on given medical decision. If the patient is an adult and in talking condition, he is given full responsibility to decide the next course of action to be taken by the doctor so that medication can begin to be administered. Such situations are for example amputation of the feet if a person has an excess wound that is hard to get heeled. In such a case the decision is left for the patient to take a bold decision. Normally the doctor is encouraged to encourage patients expand their role in decision making concerning health decision making that directly affect their lives and its only through that that they can have full control on their health and achieve self-management . Communication varies with individual and it is quite useful that the doctor understand the age of the workers, cultural background and the sex to know how to communicate and address them in the recommended way. The cultural background being diverse in Australia, the doctor has to have a diverse knowledge and understanding on how to approach issues regarding culture. However, some medical cases need proper planning hence the doctor need to give the patient set goals after given balanced duration that will help him/her improve in a programmed manner. This is because broken down targets are easy to achieve and doesn’t appear overloaded or being pushed or overworked. However at the same time the action plan should be clearly programmed in achievable and realistic manner to encourage the patient and at the same time the patient should understand the level of expectation he/she is given. With all this in mind, the doctor needs to give the patient self-management support every visit. Finally, to cement on the mutual relationship and bond of the doctor patient relationship, the patient should give the doctor feedback. This can be given by the parents, family or the patient on the medical experience during the medication period. However there are situations in which the feedback may be in form of action and the improvement rather than the oral conversation. Such information’s are important to the doctors as they are used to weigh the quality of the service the hospital offer and hence use it as a bench mark for quality improvement. . Read More