JCSU Undergraduate Research Journal

URJ the undergraduate research journal of Johnson C. Smith University CONTRIBUTERS: Kyla Brown Kathy Lazo Lerato Motaung Volume 16

Denio Seakamela

2015 Kayla Wilmer

URJ The Undergraduate Research Journal of Johnson C. Smith University Volume 16, 2015

Editorial Staff Jada Haynes Lindsey Laster Erica Lockhart Kayla Wilmer Madai Zamora-Candia

Dr. Gabriel Sealey-Morris, Faculty Advisor

ABOUT The URJ is: 

Johnson C. Smith University’s independent, multi-disciplinary, student-edited journal for excellence in student research



a joint project of the Writing Studio, the Department of Languages & Literature, and the Smith Institute for Applied Research



provided free of charge and open access

Welcome to the New URJ Dr. Gabriel Sealey-Morris

The original Undergraduate Research Journal ran for 15 issues, from the 1992-1993 academic year, until it was discontinued in 2007. During that time, the URJ published hundreds of pages of the best Senior Investigative Papers, showing the world what kind of research, thought, analysis, and criticism JCSU students could generate.

When the URJ faded away, students lost a valuable institutional asset. In an aggressively competitive market, whether in business, academia, or public service, students need ways to distinguish themselves from the rest of the field. The recognition a publication gives students is an invaluable way to get a leg up when applying for employment or graduate school, and provides students with hard proof of their excellence and innovation.

Though only a few years have passed since the last issue of the journal was published, this issue of the resurrected URJ appears in a new format for a new world. Electronic publication has become a standard for scholarly academic journals, and open access to information is transforming how researchers in all fields do their jobs. This is the world our students are entering, and for those accomplished students whose work is appearing in the URJ, what now seems new will be the norm.

We want to thank Dr. Diane Bowles, of the Smith Institute for Applied Research, for seeing the potential in a new URJ and providing funding for our contests; Dr. Matthew DeForrest, for providing a course in the schedule and understanding that a student-led and student-motivated electronic journal is the way of the future; Dr. Sarah Minslow, from the Smith Institute, for support and encouragement; and everyone who provided assistance, offered ideas, or even just said “You’re bringing the Undergraduate Research Journal back? Great!�

Table of Contents COVER IMAGE Carlos Venegas WRITTEN CASE ANALYSIS: NORDSTROM INC. Kathy Lazo

1-39

TRANSITIONING TO A NEW CULTURE: DEPICTIONS OF THE AMISH IN BREAKING AMISH: LOS ANGELES SEASON 2 Kyla Brown

40-58

UNDERSTANDING IDEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES IN EDUCATION POLICY REFORM: A CASE STUDY OF MANDELA AND MBEKI, SOUTH AFRICA 1994-2008 Lerato Motaung

59-84

ASIAN AMERICAN SELF-IDENTITIES: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF HYPHEN MAGAZINE Dineo Seakamela

85-103

ORDINARY LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY AND DECONSTRUCTION IN SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET Kayla S. Wilmer

104-19

NOTE: Citation styles have been maintained from the original manuscripts, appropriate to the paper’s discipline.

Johnson C. Smith University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate and master's degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Johnson C. Smith University.

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 1

WINNER: BEST ESSAY WRITTEN CASE ANALYSIS: NORDSTROM INC. Kathy Lazo CURRENT SITUATION OF NORDSTROM Nordstrom’s Company Profile Nordstrom Inc. is a fashion specialty retailer company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Nordstrom Inc. is currently present in 36 states nationwide. With a total of 270 stores, there are 116 full line stores, 151 Nordstrom Rack locations and also serves customers online in 44 countries through their website Nordstrom.com. In addition to the Nordstrom stores, there are two Jeffery boutiques, one clearance store and they also have their latest addition HauteLook, an e-business which gives customers exclusive access to limited time sale events on top fashion brands (About Nordstrom). Nordstrom operates in two segments, which are retail and credit. The retail segment offers apparel, shoes, cosmetics and accessories for women, men, and children through various channels; which are physical locations and two online stores. The credit segment operates through Nordstrom FSB, a federal savings bank that gives out private label credit cards, two Nordstrom VISA credit cards and a debit card.

Nordstrom headquarters are housed in Seattle, Washington (About Nordstrom).

Nordstrom is currently considered a luxurious retailer, but everything was not always luxurious. The company had very humble beginnings. With only thirteen thousand dollars, which he saved by working in the Alaskan gold mines (Nordstrom), John W. Nordstrom a Swedish immigrant with a dream opened a humble shoe store named Wallin & Nordstrom in Seattle, Washington in 1901. John’s approach towards his business was to be successful by providing exceptional customer services, selection, quality and value, principles that are still implemented within the company. John and his partner both retired and sold their shares to John’s sons Everett, Elmer, and Lloyd, turning Nordstrom into a family business (Nordstrom). Nevertheless, the company was eager to expand and in 1963 Nordstrom purchased a women’s clothing company. This expansion allowed Nordstrom to further grow and by 1971 the company went public in the New York Stock Exchange with their ticker symbol as JWN in honor to the founder John W. Nordstrom. The company was also formally renamed Nordstrom Inc. (Nordstrom). The company is part of the retail sector and operates under the department stores industry. The company continued to grow both regionally and nationally by expanding to California and Alaska through 1975 to 1978 and in 1988 the first East Coast store was opened in Virginia.

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Nordstrom also continues to seek growth and they have made several strategic alliances by acquiring Jeffrey luxury boutiques and HauteLook. Nordstrom is now the only department store in the United States to offer luxurious British fashion brands such as Topshop and Topman.

Currently the company is managed by the fourth generation of the Nordstrom family along with an executive team (Nordstrom). Nordstrom’s current Principal Executive Officer and President is Blake W. Nordstrom, he was appointed in August 2000, he has been part of the company for 38 years. He began his career at Nordstrom as a stockroom worker in the Seattle store in the 1970’s (Bloomberg Businessweek).

Nordstrom’s Competitor Analysis Nordstrom is part of the retail sector and belongs to the department store industry.

Nordstrom faces the challenge of competition because the retail industry is highly competitive.

The department stores industry, in particular has a very high level of competition from brick to mortar competitors but also from online retail competition (Prweb.com, n.d). The competitors selected for comparison purposes are Macy’s and Dillard’s. Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Dillard’s all offer similar types of products and services but have certain differences that set each department store aside from the other. Nevertheless, all three companies are publicly traded in the New York Stock Exchange and belong to the same industry and sector, making them comparable. The following will identify the competitors and describe what each company does and offers.

Macy’s is a premier omni-channel retailer. The company sells men, women, and children’s apparel, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, and other products. Macy’s Inc. operates the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores both stores combined add up to around 840 stores in 45 states, with presence in Guam and Puerto Rico (Macy’s Inc., 2014). The company also operates the online retail websites www.macys.com and www.bloomingdales.com, as well as the 13 Bloomingdale’s outlet stores. Macy’s Inc. allows Al Tayer Group LLC to operate a Bloomingdale’s internationally in Dubai (Macy’s Inc., 2014). The firm is publicly traded in the New York Stock Exchange and sales shares under the ticker symbol M. The second competitor that will be compared to Nordstrom is Dillard’s. The company is a department store which also sells merchandise such as fashion apparel for women, men, and children, as well as cosmetics and home furnishings. Dillard’s operates 284 department stores and 18 clearance centers in 29 states in the United States. Dillard’s also operates their website www.dillards.com (Dillard’s Inc., 2014). The firm is also publicly traded in the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DDS. The Company operates a general contracting construction company, CDI Contractors, LLC and CDI Contractors, Inc. "CDI", which is utilized for the constructing and remodeling the Dillard’s stores (Dillard’s Inc., 2014).

Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Dillard’s are strong department store companies, each company has different strategies and goals. However, the companies must take under consideration the

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competitors’ strategies, advantages and disadvantages to be able to execute successful plans that help their company improve (Entrepreneur, 2006). Therefore, as the analysis develops both Macy’s and Dillard’s will serve as reference of comparison so that Nordstrom can have a better perspective of how to plan for improvements and gain a better competitive advantage (Entrepreneur, 2006). Identifying the competitors for Nordstrom is essential to be able to execute proper recommendations and an adequate financial analysis.

Nordstrom’s Mission and Vision Statements Under the management of Blake W. Nordstrom and the team of executives, the company has followed their mission and vision statements as the core drivers and guide of the Nordstrom operations. For over 100 years Nordstrom has operated under a sole vision is to: “Offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value.” Even John W. Nordstrom believed that it was imperative to provide with the most exceptional service and experience so that customers are in the center of Nordstrom’s world (About Nordstrom). Executives and management utilize the customers as the guide of any changes of the company, consumer behavior and changes are used to make important decisions within the company. This allows Nordstrom to have a competitive edge over the very competitive department store industry.

Many aspects of consumer behaviors and lifestyles are studied to enable Nordstrom to adapt impeccably to their customer’s needs. Nordstrom has made their strategy by taking their customers as the guide and this approach has been efficient and successful for the company.

Nordstrom has several goals with which they intend to execute their mission: “Serve our customers better, to always be relevant in their lives and to form lifelong relationships (About Nordstrom).” Therefore the company has developed their approach through four essential values: “speed, convenience, innovation and personalization” values that have become cornerstones of the customer experience at Nordstrom. The company has taken those key aspects and it continues to invest in the cross-channel customer experience, which combines, accessibility of a pure online experience with the high-touch inclusivity of the Nordstrom stores (About Nordstrom). The company has been able to achieve their mission by making successful progress in 2013 the sales from the Nordstrom Rewards program has increased by eleven percent. The company has also opened 22 new Nordstrom Rack stores and the Rack’s sales have increased by twelve percent. Giving customers an easy way to shop is essential for the success of the company; Nordstrom offers four different ways to shop, in- store, online, full-price and off price.

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(About Nordstrom) Nordstrom is also dedicated to remain relevant in the world of fashion by remaining within access of the consumers. In the department store industry being relevant means that Nordstrom must have merchandise that appeals to certain customer segments. Therefore, Nordstrom added Topshop boutiques in 41 full-line stores in 2013 (About Nordstrom). The company also has great abilities to develop amazing response to the constant changes of customers’ definition of service by evolving Nordstrom’s store environment. Nordstrom’s objective is: “Making our customers feel good is what we’re all about; by using all of our touch points, we want to help them imagine the best version of themselves and empower them to shop how and when they want,” (About Nordstrom). Ultimately Nordstrom’s want to become the only retailer where customers have access to become the best version of themselves; whether purchases are made online or at the stores and in full price or off price. As Nordstrom continues to expand and find better ways to serve their customers, the company also aspires to become one of the best department stores in the industry.

Nordstrom’s Industry Analysis Nordstrom Inc. is part of the Retail sector, in the Department Store industry (Hoovers, n.d). Nordstrom’s competitors previously identified as Macy’s and Dillard’s. The three companies belong to the same sector and industry (Hoovers, n.d). However, they have distinct differences in within the industry and the market. The industry analysis allows the identification of the major competitors and their advantages and disadvantages. It also provides a better understanding of certain external factors and the methods in which Nordstrom, Macy’s and Dillard’s manages those challenges will be distinguished (David, 2011). This analysis will allow Nordstrom to identify the competitors’ advantages, the company’s own advantages, areas that can be improved, and opportunities to be considered from the competitors’ weaknesses (David, 2011).

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Understanding the target markets of Nordstrom and its competitors is important because this will allow Nordstrom to better execute future strategies that will make them gain the competitive edge (Entrepreneur, 2006). Nordstrom not only has to identify its target market, it must also recognize the competitors target market to properly assess the opportunities available and the future strategies to make for the company’s successful future (Bagley, 2013). Nordstrom provides their customers a great shopping experience through multiple channels. Therefore, we must consider the target markets of each channel of the company. Nordstrom’s full line stores and Nordstrom Direct, also known as www.nordstrom.com, can be considered upscale retailers.

Therefore, the demographic for these channels, their target market, is fashion conscious middle and upper class customers with an estimated annual income above $40,000 (Lee, n.d). The other important channels that are operated by Nordstrom Inc. are Nordstrom Rack and the off price online sites, nordstromrack.com and the HauteLook. These channels’ target market is focused on fashion forward young adults who are always on the hunt for saving (Nordstrom, 2013).

Nordstrom’s overall target market is broad because with the company’s multi-channels they are able to reach different customers. This is part of their growth oriented strategy, their goal of the company’s growth is to expand their off price channels and maintain the growth of their full price retail channels (Nordstrom, 2013). The company operates in 38 states and has around 287 stores, the company has successfully expanded into the international market and open full price stores in Canada.

Macy’s current target market is broad because like Nordstrom’s full price channels, Macy’s offers merchandise for many customers. The company offers women’s, men’s, and children’s apparel, shoes, accessories and home décor. The prices of Macy’s are target to mid and lower-middle class customers. Recently, the department store has made some changes to their target market by specifically aiming towards millennials. They’ve continued their overall marketing strategy to localized targeting but have enforced some of their focus to this specific group of customers (Macy’s Inc., 2014). The company has some major advantages over Nordstrom and Dillard’s because Macy’s has been named the industry’s number one leader according to Bloomberg. The company has the highest market share within the department store industry of 22.20 percent (Bloomberg, 2014). The company has the most national presence over Nordstrom and Dillard’s, with over 800 stores across the United States. The company has international presence with one Bloomingdales store operating in Dubai under a licensed contract (Macy’s Inc., 2014).

Dillard’s current target market is focused on primarily in the Sunbelt and Central regions of the United States, the company aims for customers with middle and upper middle income.

Dillard’s offers upscale name brand and private labels with their target market in mind. The company operates in 29 states with approximately 300 stores which all operate as full price department stores under the name Dillard’s (Dillard’s Inc., 2014). The company does not have any international presence like Nordstrom and Macy’s, it also does not have full national

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presence like Macy’s. Nevertheless, Dillard’s is a financially strong company and had the ability to carry less debt in their books than both Macy’s and Dillard’s. Since Dillard’s is considered a mid-upscale retailer, the company has been able to remain strong during the recent economic troubles. Dillard’s has been able to experience significant growth and good performance; it has been able to outperform analyst expectations.

Nordstrom and its competitors Macy’s and Dillard’s are among the nation’s largest department store companies. Macy’s is leading the industry with the largest market share given their thorough presence in the United States (Bloomberg, 2014). Nordstrom follows in the fourth pace as the largest leader in the industry with a market share of approximately 10 percent. The company is operating in less state than Macy’s, but it has more presence than Dillard’s. Dillard’s is the sixth largest department store with around five percent (Bloomberg, 2014). The company has less presence than both Macy’s and Nordstrom. The department store industry is highly competitive, older companies usually have the strongest market share and success. Considering that the industry has higher barriers of new entrants because of the high investment required to enter the industry (Hoovers, n.d). Nordstrom and the competitors must consider the alwayschanging customer behavior and economic conditions to be able to adapt and make strategies to continue growth and lower risk. Nordstrom must be able to take its strengths and enforce them and strengthen them to continue to have advantages against the competitors. It must also recognize Macy’s large market share and Dillard’s financial strength as the competitor’s strength, so that Nordstrom is able to build plans to grow and be successful despite the competitor’s strengths.

NORDSTROM’S FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Nordstrom’s 52-Week Stock Analysis Nordstrom Inc. went public on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol of JWN about 43 years ago. The company is under the retail sector as a part of the Department Stores industry. The company’s fiscal year ends on February 1st of every year. Nordstrom’s stock shares are sold in the New York Stock Exchange as common stock (Yahoo Finance). As of August 28th, 2014 Nordstrom has a market capitalization of 13.13 billion dollars. Nordstrom’s highest stock price in the last 52 weeks was $70.71 on May 16th 2014 (Yahoo Finance). This 52 week high price is the result of the quarterly report announcement which was surpassing the expectations of analyst’s speculations. Both Nordstrom and analysts had projected per- share earnings to be between 60 cents to 70 cents and a total sales growth to reach 3.5% to 5.5% (McCarthy, 2014). Nevertheless on May 3rd, Nordstrom reported 72 cents per share, and sales growth of 6.5%. Investors are always very encouraged by a company that has the capability to outperform expectations (McCarthy, 2014). Therefore making investor willing to purchase more

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shares of the company or making the value of the stocks increase significantly. The lowest stock price in the last 52 weeks for Nordstrom was $54.90 on February 5th 2014 (Yahoo Finance). The 52 week low could’ve been resulted by the announcement of the closing of several Nordstrom store locations and yet they were also announcing new store locations in other areas. This probably made investors hesitant of the decisions that Nordstrom was making about the opening yet the closing of various stores (White, 2014). This can hinder the company and make investors less interested in taking stake in a company that is closing and opening stores at the same time.

The following displays the 52 week range and volatility of the stock prices for Nordstrom Inc. during that period of time:

Financial Ratio Analysis Eight Financial Ratios have been selected, computed and analyzed for Nordstrom in order to obtain a better understanding of the firm’s performance and financial condition. The financial ratios will be analyzed in two specific aspects. First, there is an evaluation of trends in Nordstrom’s financial ratios this evaluation will show the trend of the last five years. Second, Nordstrom’s financial ratios will be compared to other competitive firms within the same industry; the selected competitors are Macy’s and Dillard’s. The following financial ratios will provide powerful information that will allow Nordstrom to identify the condition of the firm and recognize potential improvements (Cornett, 2013). The four ratios categories that have been computed for Nordstrom are liquidity ratios, profitability ratios, leverage ratios, and activity ratios. Each of these ratios are computed from Nordstrom’s financial statements. These financial ratios will serve as useful tools to understand the relationships of Nordstrom’s elements to the firm’s financial statements (David, 2011). Assessing the performance of Nordstrom will enable a

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better plan of action and changes in order to elevate Nordstrom’s performance and shareholders’ wealth.

Liquidity Ratios Cash and liquid assets are imperative for every company and Nordstrom is no exception.

The firm needs cash and liquid assets in order to be able to pay their bills or current liabilities. As previously stated Liquidity ratios will give a comprehensive measurement of the relationship between Nordstrom’s current assets and its current liabilities (Cornett, 2013). The three most common liquidity ratios are current ratio, quick ratio, and the cash ratio (David, 2011). In this financial analysis the selected ratios are current ratio and quick ratio.

Current Ratio Current Ratio is the liquidity ratio that is considered to be broadest measure. The current ratio measures the dollar of current assets available to pay each dollar of current liabilities (Cornett, 2013). Current ratio is computed by dividing current assets by current liabilities, giving you a number expressed in times (David, 2011). The firm should aim to have a current ratio that is above one. A general view of the current ratio is that it should be around two, but this is merely a generalization, the average varies among particular industries. There is a possibility of a ratio being too high meaning that a firm can have too much cash which could be reinvested for the growth of the company (Cornett, 2013).

Nordstrom’s current ratios will first be examined from a historical perspective to show the trend of the ratio and what has happened over time. Comparing the present current ratio to those of past years is essential to gain an understanding of what has occurred to current assets, current liabilities, and Nordstrom’s ability to meet their current obligations. The following table shows the 5- year trend of Nordstrom’s Current ratios: Nordstrom's 5- Year Trend of Current Ratios Year Current Assets Current Liabilities 2014 5,228 2,541 2013 5,081 2,226 2012 5,560 2,575 2011 4,824 1,879 2010 4,054 2,014 Data in Millions

= = = = = =

JWN Current Ratio 2.06x 2.28x 2.16x 2.57x 2.01x (Nordstrom Inc.)

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This trend of current ratios for Nordstrom clarifies that throughout the last five years the firm has been able to maintain a current ratio of two or higher, this is a positive indicator because it means that Nordstrom has a strong ability to pay for their current liabilities. In the past five years the current ratios have fluctuated from year to year. From 2010 to 2011 it increased, then from 2011 to 2012 the current ratio decreased, the following year from 2012 to 2013 the current ratio slightly increased; finally from 2013 to 2014 the current ratio decreased. Presently, Nordstrom has 2.06 dollars of current assets for every one dollar of current liabilities. This is a good indicator because it means that right now Nordstrom has a great ability to pay their bills or current obligations. It is also essential to compare Nordstrom’s liquidity to its competitors to be able to understand the strength or lack of in the industry’s market.

The following is a table that shows the current ratio trend of five years for Nordstrom, Macy’s and Dillard’s: Nordstrom's 5- Years of CR Macy's 5- Years of CR JW Yea N Yea r CA CL = CR r CA CL = 201 5,22 2,54 201 8,69 5,73 4 8 1 = 2.06 4 0 0 = 201 5,08 2,22 201 7,88 5,08 3 1 6 = 2.28 3 0 0 = 201 5,56 2,57 201 8,78 6,26 2 0 5 = 2.16 2 0 0 = 201 4,82 1,87 201 6,90 5,07 1 4 9 = 2.57 1 0 0 = 201 4,05 2,01 201 6,88 4,45 0 4 4 = 2.01 0 0 0 = In Million In Million (Nordstrom Inc.), (Macy’s Inc.), (Dillard’s Inc.)

Dillard's 5- Years of CR M CR 1.5 2 1.5 5 1.4 0 1.3 6 1.5 5

Yea r CA 201 1,66 4 0 201 1,49 3 0 201 1,59 2 0 201 1,70 1 0 201 1,75 0 0 In Million

CL 778.3 767.1 2 870.3 6 831.2 1 769.0 2

DD S = CR = 2.13 = 1.94 = 1.83 = 2.05 = 2.28

The table above shows the current ratios for Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Dillard’s for the last five years. This allows the firm to identify the trend of other companies and identifies how Nordstrom performs against the competitors. Both Macy’s and Dillard’s are strong competitors; they have successfully maintained a current ratio of 1.30 or more. This shows that both competitors have a good capability to pay off their current liabilities. In 2010, the firm with the highest current ratio was Dillard’s. In contrast to Dillard’s, Macy’s had the lowest current ratio for 2010. For 2011, 2012 and 2013 Nordstrom defeated its’ competitors with the highest current ratio. Macy’s had the lowest current ratio of 2011, 2012 and 2013. Currently, Dillard’s has the

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highest, Nordstrom follows and then Macy’s with the lowest current ratio. All firms have slight fluctuations, they have either increased or decreased by decimal and there have not been any drastic changes for any of the three firms. The following chart shows the trends that the firms had in the last five years:

The chart shows that Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Dillard’s have held a strong current ratio throughout the last five years. All the firms have been able to meet their current obligations and fund any other short term operations, because they have all had a current ratio above one.

Nevertheless, given that the current ratio is considered a more liberal liquidity ratio, another liquidity ratio must be computed for a more conservative liquidity ratio which describes a conservative perspective of the liquidity of Nordstrom and its’ competitors.

Quick Ratio The conservative liquidity ratio is the quick ratio also called acid-test ratio. This ratio is more conservative because inventories from the current assets are excluded because inventory is the least liquid current assets (Cornett, 2013). Since it will take longer for inventory to turn into cash the quick ratio is computed by current assets minus inventory divided by current liabilities (Cornett, 2013). The following table shows the quick ratio trend over the course of five years: Nordstrom's 5- Years of Quick Ratios CAInventor Current JWN Quick Year y Liabilities = Ratio 201 4 3697.00 2,541 = 1.45

URJ 201 3 3721.00 201 2 4412.00 201 1 3847.00 201 0 3156.00 (Nordstrom Inc.)

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2,226

=

1.67

2,575

=

1.71

1,879

=

2.05

2,014

=

1.57

The table above shows the ability of Nordstrom to pay off their current obligations solely from the most liquid assets available. This gives a better perspective of how much does a firm rely on sales of inventory to be able to meet their short term obligations. Nordstrom has and had the ability to pay off their bills because throughout the last five years the quick ratio has been 1.45 or higher. Even if inventories are taken out from this ratio it did not hinder Nordstrom’s liquidity. It is important to understand that this ratio is used because Nordstrom can not only rely on the current ratio to analyze the liquidity of the firm, because the firm does not have the guarantee that the inventories will be sold to customers on time to pay off their short term obligations. Nordstrom’s highest quick ratio was in 2011 and the lowest quick ratio was in 2014.

This low quick ratio may be due to the fact that Nordstrom’s current goal of growth associates with the increase of 2014’s current liabilities, since the firm has opened more Nordstrom Rack locations. It is important to also analyze the changes of Nordstrom’s competitors’ liquidity when inventories are not taken into account.

Therefore the following table shows Nordstrom’s 5 year trend of quick ratios in comparison to Macy’s and Dillard’s.

Nordstrom's 5- Years of QR JW Yea CAN r I CL = QR 201 369 254 4 7 1 = 1.45 201 372 222 3 1 6 = 1.67

Macy's 5- Years of Quick Ratios Yea r 201 4 201 3

CAI 313 0 257 0

CL 573 0 508 0

M = QR 0.5 = 5 0.5 = 1

Dillard's 5- Years of Quick Ratios DD Yea CAS r I CL = QR 201 4 310 778.3 = 0.40 201 767.1 3 200 2 = 0.26

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201 441 257 201 366 626 2 2 5 = 1.71 2 0 0 201 384 187 201 214 507 1 7 9 = 2.05 1 0 0 201 315 201 201 226 445 0 6 4 = 1.57 0 0 0 Data in Data Millions Millions (Nordstrom Inc.), (Macy’s Inc.), (Dillard’s Inc.)

0.5 = 8 0.4 = 2 0.5 = 1

201 2 290 201 1 410 201 0 450 Data Millions

870.3 6 831.2 1 769.0 2

= 0.33 = 0.49 = 0.59

It is evident that Nordstrom’s quick ratios were the highest each year. Nevertheless it is not uncommon for a company in the retail industry to have quick ratios similar to those of Macy’s and Dillard’s because the retail industry does rely heavily in their inventories to provide liquidity to be able to meet their short term obligations. Nordstrom has other very valuable current assets that enable them to have better liquidity than the competitors even though Nordstrom also relies on its inventory to generate sales. Macy’s follows Nordstrom when it comes to their quick ratios and Dillard’s is behind because their quick ratios are the lowest from the three firms. The table below shows the trend of the quick ratios for Nordstrom and the competitors giving a clear image of analysis. It demonstrates Nordstrom’s significant advantage over Macy’s and Dillard’s. It also shows the volatility of the quick ratios throughout the course of five years.

NORDSTROM'S COMPARATIVE QUICK RATIO TREND JWN Quick Ratio

M Quick Ratio

DDS QR

2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

In conclusion given both current ratios and quick ratios over five years it is apparent that Nordstrom has a strong position when it comes to the firm’s ability to meet their short term obligations. The competitors held similar or lower positions in the current ratios over the last five years which indicates that Nordstrom is holding a strong liquidity position within the industry.

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The liquidity strength only shows one aspect of Nordstrom’s financial condition so there are other financial elements that must be analyzed.

Nordstrom’s Leverage Ratios Leverage ratios or debt management ratios are an important element of a company’s financial analysis because a firm’s ability to manage debt adequately is essential for the financial health of the company and the growth as well (David, 2011). Nordstrom’s leverage refers to the extent in which Nordstrom uses debt securities, such as bonds and loans, in their capital structure (Cornett, 2013). Therefore leverage ratios measure the extent a firm uses debt versus equity to finance their assets, essentially their investments. This ratio helps identify if Nordstrom is reasonably financing their assets with debt versus equity and if the firm is obtaining enough returns or earning to meet their debt payment. To recognize if Nordstrom is managing debt appropriately, the debt to asset ratio and the debt to equity ratio will be analyzed within the last five years and against the competitors.

Debt to Asset Ratio Debt to asset ratio is computed by dividing total debt to the total assets of the company (Cornett, 2013). Debt to asset ratio measures the percentage of total assets financed with debt. If the debt to asset ratio is low then it indicates that the firm’s capital structure is financed by more equity (David, 2011). However, if the firm’s assets are highly financed by debt, the firm gives the debt holders first claims to the company’s cash in case of a bankruptcy. The following table shows the trend of debt to asset ratios of Nordstrom for the past five years.

Nordstrom's 5- Years of Debt to Tot. Asset Ratios Yea Total Total JWN Debt to Asset r Debt Asset = Ratio 201 6490.0 4 0 8574 = 75.7% 201 6176.0 3 0 8089 = 76.4% 201 6540.0 2 0 8491 = 77.0% 201 5440.0 1 0 7462 = 72.9%

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201 5010.0 0 0 6579 Data in Millions

= 76.2% (Nordstrom Inc.)

Nordstrom has had a debt to asset ratio of 70% or higher over the last five years which indicates that Nordstrom’s managers have decided that they will rely on more debt than equity to finance their assets. Nordstrom’s debt to asset ratios have ranged from 72.9% to 77%, the lowest percentage of debt in 2011 and the highest debt percentage in 2012. Currently, for 2014 the debt to asset ratio is 75.7% of Nordstrom assets are finance with debt. The high percentage of debt taken by Nordstrom may be because their current strategy is to expand throughout the United States with their off price store called Nordstrom Rack. The firm must assess the risk that come with having a capital structure set up with high debt because if the firm does not have return that are higher than its debt the creditors have the right to make a firm bankrupt (David, 2011). In the other hand, since Nordstrom’s strategy is focused on growth, it is likely that the company will have higher returns. Nordstrom must make sure that the assets financed with debt are able to create enough returns so that the debt obligations are met and capped.

It is also important to compare the debt to asset ratio against the competitors to have a better understanding of Nordstrom’s position against competitors and the industry. The following table explains the percentage of each of the companies’ assets financed by debt.

Nordstrom's 5- Y ears of Debt to Asset Ratios Y ear TD 2014 6490.00 2013 6176.00 2012 6540.00 2011 5440.00 2010 5010.00 Data in Millions

TA 8574 8089 8491 7462 6579

= JW N D to A Ratio = 75.7% = 76.4% = 77.0% = 72.9% = 76.2%

Macy's 5- Y ears of Debt to Tot. Asset Ratios Y ear Total Debt Total Asset 2014 15390 21630 2013 14940 20990 2012 16160 22100 2011 15100 20630 2010 16600 21300 Data Millions

= M Debt to Asset Ratio = 71.2% = 71.2% = 73.1% = 73.2% = 77.9%

Dillard's 5- Y ears of Debt to Tot. Asset Ratios Y ear TD 2014 2060 2013 2080 2012 2250 2011 2290 2010 2300 Data Millions

TA 4050 4050 4310 4370 4610

= DDS Debt to Asset Ratio = 50.9% = 51.4% = 52.2% = 52.4% = 49.9%

(Nordstrom Inc.), (Macy’s Inc.), (Dillard’s Inc.) Both Nordstrom and Macy’s have similar range of the percentage of assets financed by debt, which ranges in the 70’s, but Dillard’s has made their capital structure more balanced because from their debt to asset ratios for the last five years it indicates that Dillard’s has chosen to finance their assets with half of debt and half of equity. Since Nordstrom and Macy’s have higher debt to asset ratios this makes them have less financial flexibility because the firms have to meet the debt payment before any other financial obligations. Dillard’s has a better financial flexibility because the assets are almost equally finance from both debt and equity. Perhaps for investors the firm with less risk would be Dillard’s because they have more financial flexibility.

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 15

However, Nordstrom may be the most risky company from the three but the one with most potential returns. A chart has been created to have a visual of how Nordstrom and the competitors have changed their financial leverage in the last five years.

NORDSTROM'S COPARATIVE DEBT TO TOTAL ASSET RATIO TREND JWN Debt to Asset Ratio

M Debt to Asset Ratio

DDS Debt to Asset Ratio 100.0% 50.0% 0.0% 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

It is evident that Nordstrom and Macy’s have similar debt to assets ratios. It must be taken under consideration that Macy’s and Nordstrom are larger companies than Dillard’s. This difference may be the reason why Dillard’s does not yet have debt to asset ratios that are similar to Nordstrom and Macy’s. All three companies have ratios of 50% of more which is common for the industry.

Debt to Equity Ratio The debt to equity ratio is commonly used by companies and especially by investors.

Debt to equity ratio measures the dollar of debt financing used for every dollars of equity financing (Cornett, 2013). This ratio makes a comparison of how much is financed by debt to how much is financed by equity (David, 2011).

Nordstrom's 5- Years of Debt to Equity Ratios Yea Total Total CS JWN Debt to r Debt Equity = Equity Ratio 201 6490.0 4 0 2080.00 = 3.12 201 6176.0 3 0 1913.00 = 3.23 201 6535.0 2 0 1956.00 = 3.34

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201 5441.0 1 0 2021.00 201 5007.0 0 0 1572.00 Data in Millions

= 2.69 = 3.19 (Nordstrom Inc.)

The table above displays the debt to equity trend for the last five years. Nordstrom’s debt to equity ratio has a range from 2.69 in 2011 to 3.34 in 2012. For 2012 it was 3.34, a significant increase from one year to the other but this is because from 2011 to 2012 Nordstrom had less common stock equity in 2012. Currently, Nordstrom has a Debt to Equity ratio of 3.12. In 2014 both total debt and total common stock equity increased, causing the ratio in 2014 to increase. It is important to understand that the higher the debt to equity ratio is, this higher the financial risk that Nordstrom has. To know if Nordstrom has a high risk, the firm has to be compared against the competitors to understand how it stands within the industry.

Nordstrom's 5- Y ears of Debt to Equity Ratios Y ear Total Debt Total Equity 2014 6490.00 2080.00 2013 6176.00 1913.00 2012 6535.00 1956.00 2011 5441.00 2021.00 2010 5007.00 1572.00 Data in Millions

= JW N D/E Ratio = 3.12 = 3.23 = 3.34 = 2.69 = 3.19

Macy's 5- Y ears of Debt to Equity Ratios

Dillard's 5- Y ears of Debt to Equity Ratios

Y ear Total Debt Total Equity = M D/E Ratio 2014 15390 6250 = 2.46 2013 14940 6050 = 2.47 2012 16160 5930 = 2.73 2011 15100 5530 = 2.73 2010 16600 4700 = 3.53 Data Millions

Y ear Total Debt Total Equity = DDS D/E Ratio 2014 2060 1990 = 1.04 2013 2080 1970 = 1.06 2012 2250 2050 = 1.10 2011 2290 2090 = 1.10 2010 2300 2300 = 1.00 Data Millions

(Nordstrom Inc.), (Macy’s Inc.), (Dillard’s Inc.) Compared to both Macy’s and Dillard’s, Nordstrom has a higher debt to equity ratio. This indicates that Nordstrom may have a higher financial risk than its competitors, but this may only be true if Nordstrom does not perform well. To succeed the firm must have great returns that give the stockholders an incentive to invest in the company. From 2012 to 2014 Nordstrom had the highest debt to equity ratio among the three companies. On the other hand, in 2011 and 2010 Macy’s had the highest debt to equity ratios. Dillard’s has the lowest debt to equity ratios throughout the last five years, which makes the firm have the least financial risk from the three firms.

Nordstrom has a high leverage position compared to its competitors which can potentially make it more of a risky investment. If Nordstrom has a strategy that enabled them to have strong returns despite the high debt, it is possible for Nordstrom to have a great position among the industry. To know if they are utilizing the assets appropriately and if there are other financial ratios that must be analyzed.

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 17

Nordstrom’s Activity Ratios Activity ratios are a helpful financial analytical tool to measure how efficient a firm is utilizing their resources (Cornett, 2013). Essentially these ratios help analyze the extent of efficiency and effectiveness of managers in a firm in relation to the use of resources (David, 2011). The most common activity ratios are inventory turnover, fixed assets turnover, total assets turnover, accounts receivable turnover, and average collection period (Cornett, 2013). The activity ratios that will be examined for this analysis will be inventory turnover ratio and total assets turnover ratio. The inventory turnover ratio was chosen for Nordstrom’s financial analysis because since the firm is in the retail industry it is important to examine whether inventory managed and sold in a timely manner. The total assets turnover was also chosen because it is important to understand if the firm getting sufficient turnover for the size of their assets and to identify whether the high debt that Nordstrom has is not going to hinder the company.

Inventory Turnover Ratio Inventory turnover will measure whether a firm holds excessive inventory and if Nordstrom is slowly selling its inventories compared to the industry average (Cornett, 2013). In practical terms, the inventory turnover will measure the number of dollars of sales produced per dollar of inventory (David, 2011). Inventory turnover is calculated by dividing sales by inventory (Cornett, 2013). The following table displays Nordstrom’s Inventory turnover in the last five years.

Nordstrom’s inventory turnover ratios for the last five years range from 9.93 to 8.19.

Currently, in 2014 the inventory turnover is the lowest from the last five years and it is 8.19 dollars of sales produced per a dollar of inventory. Through the course of five years the inventory turnover has decreased, but it still remains relatively high. Nordstrom demonstrates that in general the firm has good management when it comes to inventory. The inventory turnovers show that Nordstrom is able to sale inventory fast enough to reduce cost of servicing the inventory. Before we establish that the firm’s inventory ratios are good, a comparison with the competitors must be made as well.

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 18

Nordstrom's 5- Years of Inventory Turnover Yea Total JWN Inventory r Sales Inventory = Turnover 201 4 12540 1531 = 8.19 201 12,14 3 8 1360 = 8.93 201 10,87 2 7 1148 = 9.47 201 1 9700 977 = 9.93 201 0 8627 898 = 9.61 Data in Millions (Nordstrom Inc.)

Nordstrom's 5- Y ears Inventory Turnover Y ear Sales TI = JW N Inventory Turnover 2014 12540 1531 = 8.19 2013 12,148 1360 = 8.93 2012 10,877 1148 = 9.47 2011 9700 977 = 9.93 2010 8627 898 = 9.61 Data in Millions

Macy's 5- Y ears of Inventory Turnover Y ear Sales 2014 27930 2013 27690 2012 26410 2011 25000 2010 23490 Data Millions

TI = M Inventory Turnover 5560 = 5.02 5310 = 5.21 5120 = 5.16 4760 = 5.25 4620 = 5.08

Dillard's 5- Y ears of Inventory Turnover Y ear Sales TI = DDS Inventory Turnover 2014 6690 1350 = 4.96 2013 6750 1290 = 5.23 2012 6260 1300 = 4.82 2011 6120 1290 = 4.74 2010 6090 1300 = 4.68 Data Millions

(Nordstrom Inc.), (Macy’s Inc.), (Dillard’s Inc.) The table above displays that Nordstrom has a significant advantage in the inventory turnover ratios over the last five years when compared to the competitors. From 2010 to 2014 Nordstrom had the highest amount of dollars of sales produced per dollar of inventory. This is incredibly impressive, because for Macy’s and Dillard’s the inventory turnover ratio is similar. However, the trend for all the three companies is similar; the trend shows that throughout the years the inventory turnovers have decreased. The significant difference of Nordstrom and the competitors indicates that Nordstrom has higher inventory turnover ratios than the industry. The following table displays the trend over the five years for turnover ratios for Nordstrom, Macy’s and Dillard’s.

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 19

NO RDST RO M'S CO MPA RA T I VE I N VE NT O RY T URNO VE R RA T I O T RE ND 15.00

JWN Inventory Turnover JWN Inventory Turnover

JWN Inventory Turnover

10.00 5.00 0.00 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Total Asset Turnover Ratio The total asset turnover ratio will assess if Nordstrom’s management is able to generate enough business for the size Nordstrom’s asset investment (Cornett, 2013). This ratio will also help to assess Nordstrom’s high debt, because if managers are able to take those assets financed by debt and generate good returns then the debt will be justified for the company (David, 2011).

The following table describes the five year trend of total assets turnover ratios for Nordstrom.

Nordstrom's 5- Years of Total Asset Turnover Y ear Sales 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Data in Millions

Total Asset 12540 12148 10877 9700 8627

8574 8089 8491 7462 6579

= JW N Total Asset Turnover = 1.46 = 1.50 = 1.28 = 1.30 = 1.31

(Nordstrom Inc.) The total assets turnover ratio is calculated by dividing sales by total assets of a firm (Cornett, 2013). The total assets turnover ratios in the table above show that it has increased throughout the last five years. The increase gives a good indicator that Nordstrom is managing their assets appropriately and the firm is generating enough business with their investments. The assets turnover ratios for Nordstrom range from 1.28 to 1.50 in the course of five years. The lowest ratio was 1.28 in 2012 and the highest was the following year with a ratio of 1.50.

Currently the ratio is still in the higher range, with 1.46 dollars. Higher total asset turnover ratios

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 20

are indicators of a well-managed firm. Now we also have to take into account the performance of Nordstrom relative to competitors in the industry.

Nordstrom's 5- Y ears of Total Asset Turnover Y ear Sales Total Asset 2014 12540 8574 2013 12148 8089 2012 10877 8491 2011 9700 7462 2010 8627 6579 Data in Millions

Macy's 5- Y ears of Total Asset Turnover

Dillard's 5- Y ears of Total Asset Turnover

= JW N TA Turnover Y ear Sales Total Asset = M TA Turnover Y ear Sales Total Asset = DDS TA Turnover = 1.46 2014 27930 21630 = 1.29 2014 6690 4050 = 1.65 = 1.50 2013 27690 20990 = 1.32 2013 6750 4050 = 1.67 = 1.28 2012 26410 22100 = 1.20 2012 6260 4310 = 1.45 = 1.30 2011 25000 20630 = 1.21 2011 6120 4370 = 1.40 = 1.31 2010 23490 21300 = 1.10 2010 6090 4610 = 1.32 Data Millions Data Millions

(Nordstrom Inc.), (Macy’s Inc.), (Dillard’s Inc.) The table above shows that all of total assets turnover ratios for the three companies range from 1.10 to 1.67, all of which are above 1. This may indicate that in the industry a good company must have a ratio higher one. For all five years the company with the highest assets turnover ratio was Dillard’s. Nordstrom had the second highest ratios, followed by Macy’s with the lowest ratios. Dillard’s clearly has the advantage when it comes to the total assets turnover ratio, the management for Dillard’s has been able to efficiently generate a good amount of business from their asset investments. To show a better visual of the trend of the three companies the following is a chart to explain the way that total assets turnover ratios have changed to Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Dillard’s.

N O RDST RO M'S CO MPA RA T I VE T RE ND O F T O T A L A SSE T S T URNO VE R RA T I O S JWN TA Turnover

M TA Turnover

DDS TA Turnover

2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

The retailing companies are relatively close when it comes to this particular ratio.

Nordstrom must be able to generate more sales from their total assets which are mainly financed by debt. Otherwise, investors will not be interested in investing in a company with high debt financing and no significant growth in their efficiency.

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 21

Nordstrom’s Profitability Ratios Profitability ratios are important for investors and the company because they measure the management’s overall effectiveness as shown by the returns generated on sales and investments (David, 2011). This category of ratios in a financial analysis shows the combined effects of liquidity, leverage, and activity showing the overall operating results of the company (Cornett, 2013). Profitability ratios are the most watched and known of the financial ratios because the value of a firm relies heavily on the changes of these ratios. For this profitability analysis the focus will be on return on total assets and return on stockholder’s equity.

Return on Total Assets- ROA The ROA ratio is significant because it measures the after tax profits per dollar of assets.

The higher the ROA, the better the position of the company (Cornett, 2013). Return on total assets is calculated by dividing net income available to common stockholders to the total assets of the firm (David, 2011). Evaluating the return on total assets throughout a trend of five years will enable managers and investors to identify the direction in which Nordstrom is heading. It will determine the percentage of after tax profits that Nordstrom generates per dollar of assets that the company has (Cornett, 2013). The following table will allow us to see the ratios for Nordstrom over the last five years.

Nordstrom's 5- Years of Return on Assets NIAC Year S Total Asset = JWN ROA 2014 734 8574 = 8.56% 2013 735 8089 = 9.09% 2012 683 8491 = 8.04% 2011 613 7462 = 8.21% 2010 441 6579 = 6.70% Data in Millions Nordstrom’s returns on total assets have grown over the last five years, the ratio ranges from 6.70 percent to 9.09 percent. The lowest ROA that Nordstrom had was in 2010 at 6.70% and in 2013 Nordstrom had the highest ROA in this five year trend with 9.09%. It is imperative

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 22

to understand that this ratio has to grow over time to reflect a company that is growing successfully and that has assets that generate enough business to have attractive returns for investors and the overall company. From the table it is inferred that the company’s ROA is growing over time but to know if the growth is relative to the industry it is important to compare the return on total assets of Nordstrom to the competitors.

Nordstrom's 5- Y ears of Return on Assets Macy's 5- Y ears of Return on Assets Dillard's 5- Y ears of Return on Assets Y ear NIACS Total Asset 2014 734 8574 2013 735 8089 2012 683 8491 2011 613 7462 2010 441 6579 Data in Millions

= JW N ROA Y ear NIACS Total Asset = 8.56% 2014 1490 21630 = 9.09% 2013 1340 20990 = 8.04% 2012 1260 22100 = 8.21% 2011 847 20630 = 6.70% 2010 350 21300 Data Millions

= = = = = =

M ROA 6.89% 6.38% 5.70% 4.11% 1.64%

Y ear NIACS Total Asset = DDS ROA 2014 323.67 4050 = 7.99% 2013 335.96 4050 = 8.30% 2012 463.91 4310 = 10.76% 2011 179.62 4370 = 4.11% 2010 68.53 4610 = 1.49% Data Millions

(Nordstrom Inc.), (Macy’s Inc.), (Dillard’s Inc.) It is clear that in general Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Dillard’s had their lowest return on total assets in 2010 and 2011. It may be inferred that during those years of economic crisis the retail industry was affected significantly. It is also evident that throughout the trend of five years in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 Nordstrom displayed higher percentage of after tax profit per dollar of assets. In 2012 Dillard’s had the highest return on total assets ratio of 10.76. Nordstrom remains strong when it comes to its return on total assets; the current position is 8.56 percent of after tax profit earned per dollar of assets.

The chart demonstrates how the ratios fluctuated in the trend for the three companies.

Both Macy’s and Nordstrom experienced minor changes in the trend for the last five years.

Dillard’s did experience a drastic change in the last five years. For Nordstrom this ratio must

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 23

continue to grow so that it can display their growth and the firm’s ability produce decent return from its assets. Investors will look for a firm who consistently has growing in returns. There is another ratio that specifically tells investors how much return they will obtain on their equity.

Return on Stockholder’s Equity or ROE Return on Equity is another profitability ratio that measures the return on the common stockholders’ investment in the assets of the company. To calculate return on equity ratios, net income available to stockholders must be divided by common stockholder’s equity (Cornett, 2013). This ratio will help analyze the returns that are made based on the stockholders’ equity, giving investors more knowledge of what they should expect to get in return for every dollar invested in the firm (Cornett, 2013). The table below shows the ROE trend for Nordstrom.

Nordstrom's 5- Years of Return on Equity Year NIACS CSEquity = JWN ROE 2014 734 2080 = 35.29% 2013 735 1913 = 38.42% 2012 683 1956 = 34.92% 2011 613 2021 = 30.33% 2010 441 1572 = 28.05% Data in Millions The ROE for Nordstrom during a period of five year ranges from 28.05 percent to 38.42 percent, a difference of about ten percent. Like the return on assets, the lowest ratio was during 2010 with a return on equity of 28.05 percent. The highest return on equity ratio was in 2013.

Nordstrom had 38.42 percent. During the trend of five years the return on equity has grown as well and this is a good indicator of Nordstrom’s success. Investors are likely to experience growing return when investing in Nordstrom. These ratios must be also compared with the competitors to understand how the firms ROE’s stack up in the industry.

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Nordstrom's 5- Y ears of Return on Equity Macy's 5- Y ears of Return on Equity Dillard's 5- Y ears of Return on Equity Y ear NIACS CSEquity 2014 734 2080 2013 735 1913 2012 683 1956 2011 613 2021 2010 441 1572 Data in Millions

= JW N ROE Y ear NIACS CSEquity = 35.29% 2014 1490 6250 = 38.42% 2013 1340 6050 = 34.92% 2012 1260 5930 = 30.33% 2011 847 5530 = 28.05% 2010 350 4700 Data Millions

= = = = = =

M ROE 23.84% 22.15% 21.25% 15.32% 7.45%

Y ear NIACS CSEquity = DDS ROE 2014 323.67 1990 = 16.26% 2013 335.96 1970 = 17.05% 2012 463.91 2050 = 22.63% 2011 179.62 2090 = 8.59% 2010 68.53 2300 = 2.98% Data Millions

(Nordstrom Inc.), (Macy’s Inc.), (Dillard’s Inc.) The table above display Nordstrom higher position regarding the return on equity ratios over the last five years when compared to Macy’s and Nordstrom. It is also evident that both Macy’s and Nordstrom have experienced growth in the ROE ratio. Nordstrom obviously has a better positon in the returns on equity ratios over the competitor’s; this can be a competitive edge for the firm given that both competitors are strong in other areas. Nordstrom must continue to have consistent growth in their return on equity ratios while they also lower their debt and essentially their financial risk. The following table displays the advantage that Nordstrom has over the competitors and the similar consistent growth both Macy’s and Nordstrom had over the years, unlike the inconsistent changes of Dillard’s return on equity ratios.

Nordstrom’s SWOT Analysis Performing a SWOT analysis is important in order to assess the factors that affect the company. To effectively analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Nordstrom, it is important to adequately measure and evaluate the internal and external factors.

An evaluation for the Internal and external factors of Nordstrom have been identified and rated.

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 25

The analysis of Nordstrom’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats will enable and facilitate the strategic recommendations that can improve the overall condition of the company.

External Factor Evaluation Matrix for Nordstrom Nordstrom's Opportunities 1.

Domestic Expansion

Weight

Rating WT. Score

0.05

4

0.20

2. Expansion to Growing Markets

0.07

3

0.21

3.

International Expansion

0.09

2

0.18

4.

New Services and Products

0.05

4

0.20

5. Innovative Mobile Technologies and Market

0.08

2

0.16

6.

Seamless customer e-commerce transition

0.07

2

0.14

7. Effecient Synergy of Previous Acquasitions

0.05

3

0.15

8. Consumers Pay More for Socially Responsible Products

0.05

4

0.20

Nordstrom's Threats

Weight

Rating WT. Score

1.

0.09

3

0.27

3. Social and cultural changes

0.07

4

0.28

4.

0.08

3

0.24

5. Technology Security Breach

0.09

3

0.27

6.

0.04

4

0.16

7. Lower consumer discretionary spending

0.09

3

0.27

8. Substitute products and services

0.03

2

0.06

Total =

1.00

Competition

Shifting Consumer Behavior

Government Regulations

2.52

Nordstrom’s Opportunities One of Nordstrom’s opportunities is gaining more market share within the United States.

If Nordstrom is able to have more national presence, it will be able to reach a broader market than it currently has and it will potentially increase revenues. Nordstrom Inc. is currently present

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 26

in 35 states nationwide, there are 117 full line stores, 141 Nordstrom Rack locations and there is Nordstrom.com (Nordstrom Inc., 2013). This leaves the opportunity to expand domestically within the fifteen other states that Nordstrom currently does not have presence in. Increasing domestically is a great opportunity for Nordstrom Inc. and the formation of strategies to have more locations within the United States is essential. This opportunity is weighted at 0.05, because it is fairly important but has a rating of four because Nordstrom has responded to this opportunity with their goal of expansion through their Nordstrom Rack stores.

The company also has to consider the opportunities of reaching different growing ethnic groups within the United States. It is a great opportunity for Nordstrom to gain better understanding of the consumer behavior for specific ethnic groups, because these consumers are the fastest growing population in the nation but many times they are underserved (Ernst & Young Global Limited., 2013). Therefore, if the department store wants to be ahead of the trends, it can begin to study these consumers. Being able to connect with the cultures and traditions of emerging consumer groups will allow Nordstrom to provide excellent service to all their customers despite their ethnic background, an opportunity to accelerate Nordstrom’s growing strategy (Ernst & Young Global Limited., 2013). This opportunity has also been weighted 0.07 because it is quite important, it was rated three because Nordstrom’s mission is excellent customer service and they specialize in giving customers the best shopping experience.

Having international presence is imperative in the current globalized era. Nordstrom should consider emerging into international markets in which the success of their stores will be facilitated because of the way some countries are growing economically (Wang, L., 2013). Since Nordstrom is an upscale department store it has the opportunity to reach different market in the most emerging markets globally. The advantage of the company is that they can cater to both high-end consumers with the Nordstrom stores and Jeffrey boutiques as well as the affordable luxury consumer through the Nordstrom Rack stores and the HauteLook website. According to studies made by Euromonitor, by 2018 the fastest growing region in the world for luxury goods is Asia Pacific. The luxury consumption in that region is expected to grow by 170 percent in the next five years. Another region that is expected to grow in respects to luxury consumption is Latin America, specifically Mexico and Brazil (Wang, L., 2013). This opportunity is weighted at 0.09 because is very important for business to expand internationally, it’s rated at 2 because the company has not been very responsive to emerging internationally. Nordstrom has to highly consider this opportunity because it could potentially take the company to a higher level of brand recognition and success.

The ever changing trends of fashion forces Nordstrom Inc. to be able to build efficient and strategic alliances that will allow Nordstrom Inc to bring fresh and current products to its customers. Costumers will be able to enjoy a more innovating shopping experience if Nordstrom Inc. takes the opportunity to build stronger alliances with their partners (Nordstrom). Fashion retailers rely heavily in their ability to keep up with new product and styles. Nordstrom must

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continue to stay ahead of the industry and competitors by providing fashion lovers with the latest products. Because Nordstrom is always seeking to provide customers with exclusive and great quality products, this opportunity is weighted at 0.05 and rated with a 4.

Having the ability to become an innovative company is essential for the future strategies that will give Nordstrom the competitive advantage. The company must seize the opportunities that are available through new technologies. Smartphones, tablets and handheld devices have changed the way humans do everything (Big Data Startups). The opportunity of new technologies and the m-commerce development is weighted at 0.08 because it’s very important and it is rated with a 2 because the company has not fully assessed the modern technologies appropriately. Accelerating the process of innovation in Nordstrom stores and www.nordstrom.com will allow the company to build new standards to the industry’s environment (Nordstrom). Becoming an innovative company will also lead the company into taking advantage of the opportunity of e-commerce. E-commerce is another extremely beneficial opportunity that why it weights a 0.07. The easy access to products and services from website retailers is a booming consumer trend. (Big Data Startups) Substantial growth can be facilitated by simply making a focus in the E-commerce part of the company. Facilitating Nordstrom’s exceptional shopping experience through reliable technologies will allow the company to reach more costumers and it will engage shoppers to keep relying on Nordstrom Inc. (Big Data Startups). Nordstrom is slowly trying to penetrate these channels, the opportunity has been rated with a 2. Nordstrom should take advantage of what new technologies can potentially facilitate to the company. Being aware of the latest technologies and maximizing the contributions of these technologies can become pivotal for the company.

Another opportunity is to take advantage of the costumers’ moral responsibility is essential because you can make a strategy that works to cater to meet the expectations of the customers and gain loyalty. Building a social platform that matches their customer’s values and morals will allow Nordstrom Inc. to build stronger relationships with their customers.

(Nordstrom) Studies have found that 50 percent of global consumers will pay more for product and brands that are socially responsible (Hower, 2013). Nordstrom has been able to create partnerships and retail brands that are socially responsible such as, TOMS shoes and others.

Therefore the opportunity is weighted a 0.05 and rated with a 4, because Nordstrom has been able to provide customers with these specific types of products.

The development of synergy with the acquisitions that Nordstrom has made is an opportunity that can potentially give the company a stronger edge. In 2011 Nordstrom acquired the HauteLook, an online retailer that offers limited sales on designer products (Clifford). This acquisition marked a breakthrough for the retail industry since it was the first time that a traditional retailer had made an acquisition for a company focusing in on online private sales (Clifford). The acquisition of the Jeffrey boutiques is another opportunity for the company to exploit. These two acquisitions should function hand in hand with the rest of the channels so that

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Nordstrom can achieve success in the future and utilize its assets. Nordstrom has managed to increase growth in revenues for both the HauteLook and Jeffrey Boutiques, the opportunity has been weighted with a 0.05 and rated with a 3.

Nordstrom’s Threats The extensive competition in the retail industry is one of the most important threats because competitors are always seeking new ways to become the best retailer in the market (Defotis, 2013). It is important to recognize both publicly traded competitors and privately held competitor such as Macy’s, Dillard’s, Saks Inc. and Bloomingdales. Nordstrom has to be aware that Macy’s currently has that highest market share in the nation. Other privately held competitors such as Saks and Neiman Marcus are more similar to Nordstrom, but since they are privately held they have the advantage of taking more risk than Nordstrom (Defotis, 2013). This is a threat to Nordstrom because these high-end retailers can make changes that customers may prefer over Nordstrom. Therefore Nordstrom must continue to make strategies that keep the company leading in the industry. Because the threat is very significant to the company the weight is 0.09, but the company has been a successful leader in the industry the rating is 4.

Social and cultural factors are also a threat to the company. Nordstrom is a high end retail company; but the bad economy can threaten the growth of any company at any given moment.

Since the products and services that the company offers are normally not essentials for most costumers, then the fall in the economy will affect Nordstrom. Cultural changes such as growing generations and ethnic groups can potentially become a threat because Nordstrom may not be able to truly understand different population and it will miss out those potential customers (Ernst & Young Global Limited, 2013). Growing races and changes in gender proportion will also affect Nordstrom because it will affect what products and services are preferred. This threat is relatively important and therefore it is weighted at 0.07 and it is addressed by the company by continuously researching what customers’ needs are so it is rated with a 4. This social and cultural changes lead to another threat which is continuous shifting of consumer behavior (Ernst & Young Global Limited, 2013). As previously stated, retailers must remain aware of what are the current and future potential products and changes that will drive customers to prefer Nordstrom over other competitors. If Nordstrom is not able to keep up with the popular items and new fashion trends the company will not grow. The customer behavior changing is a threat weighing 0.08 because it’s important for retailers to always have the latest products for the customers; it is rated at a 3 because Nordstrom has been successful at keeping customers satisfied.

Since Nordstrom is a retail company and they must handle customer’s information in high volumes and on a day to day basis. This causes another great threat because of the risk that there may be a system failure or a security breach (Ernst & Young Global Limited, 2013). The

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threat of a security breach is a great risk for any company but especially for a retail company because these companies process many debit and credit cards daily. Nordstrom must make sure that their systems are tightly secured and protected. There have been several high profile data breaches which magnified the severity of such event. Because the threat is unpredictable, it has been weighted 0.09 and rated with a 3 because Nordstrom has a strong IT group.

Government regulations can become a threat to Nordstrom because there are many rules and laws that companies need to follow and be aware of to limit penalties. For instance, tax regulations are a threat to Nordstrom because customers have to take into consideration the taxes with the purchases they make at a Nordstrom store (Nordstrom). Since the company is publicly traded, there are accounting regulations that the company must comply with (Nordstrom). This threat weights 0.04 and rated with a 4 because Nordstrom keeps a strong legal position. Keeping up with regulations is essential so that Nordstrom maintain a good and respectable legal status.

Tax regulations can affect the available income of customer. This is a threat for Nordstrom because it can hinder the company’s future revenues. A tax increase will cause the customer to have less money for shopping (Ernst & Young Global Limited, 2013). The decrease of discretionary income will really affect purchase volumes. Since Nordstrom is a higher end retailer it may experience this threat less, so the threat is rated with a 3 and since discretionary income is what most customers use to purchase goods that are available at Nordstrom it is weighted with a 0.09.

Nordstrom is a department store that offers many products that are often imitated and made in lower quality materials and are sold at lower prices (Live Mint, 2014). Many customers are deceived into purchasing counterfeited luxury goods because they are offered in online retail websites. Despite the legal ramifications against selling fake goods, the sales of these items continue to grow yearly (Live Mint, 2014). Because there are legal regulations against these products the weight is 0.03 and rated as a 2 because Nordstrom does not seem to address the issue. Nordstrom must be aware of these substitute products and should try to educate consumers on how to spot counterfeited luxury goods.

Nordstrom’s Strengths There are several strengths that Nordstrom has that have allowed the company to be one of the best in the department store industry. Nordstrom is a well-recognized company; it will be able to continue to grow despite circumstantial challenges such as economic recessions.

Customers are able to recognize Nordstrom’s brand and that is a great strength for any retail company. Higher brand recognition means continuous growth. Nordstrom must maintain its strong brand recognition and continue to be remembered as a company that exceeds customers’ expectations (Nordstrom Inc., 13). Since it is highly valuable for a company to be wellrecognized this strength weighs 0.09 and it is rated as a major strength. Not only is Nordstrom

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well-recognized but the company also has a strong reputation; the company is placed a great status among the industry leaders (Bloomberg, 2014). This enables Nordstrom to have a competitive advantage, because customers are more willing to build relationships with businesses that have a great reputation. Nordstrom is one of the leading fashion specialty stores across the nation with over 100 stores (Nordstrom Inc., n.d). It is imperative that Nordstrom maintains this great reputation, so that the brand and stores keep strong relationships with their customers. This strength is also valuable for the company, so it weighs 0.07 and it is consider a major strength.

Nordstrom has always been recognized for their outstanding customer service.

Employees are trained to always provide every customer with the best service. Employee training is another strength of the company. Nordstrom has been able to build a team of employees that is aware of their mission and they keep that mission a priority every day and with every customer (Nordstrom Inc., n.d). Nordstrom’s signature and competitive edge arises from their exceptional customer service satisfaction focus. Nordstrom believes in the changes of shopping and fashion but they are committed to happy customers. This strength is great and has been weighted at 0.06 and may be considered a minor strength since many retailers also prioritize their employee training.

Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix for Nordstrom Inc. Nordstrom's Strengths

Weight

Rating

WT. Score

1.

Strong Brand Recognition

0.09

4

0.36

2.

Historical Leading Reputation

0.07

4

0.28

3.

Employee Training

0.06

3

0.18

4.

Leading Retail Experience

0.10

4

0.40

5.

Customer Loyalty

0.09

4

0.36

6.

Corporate Citizenship

0.05

3

0.15

7.

Leadership

0.05

3

0.15

8.

Product Exclusivity

0.07

4

0.28

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Nordstrom's Weaknesses

Weight

WT. Rating Score

1.

Raising Prices

0.04

2

0.08

2.

Market Share within the Retail Industry

0.05

1

0.05

3.

Lack of International Presence

0.10

1

0.10

4.

High Debt

0.04

2

0.08

5.

Intermediate Domestic Presence

0.05

1

0.05

6.

Unmet Financial Expectations

0.07

2

0.14

7.

Difficult E-Commerce Transition

0.07

1

0.07

Total S+W =

1.00

2.73

Nordstrom offer a famous leading customer experience, most customers prefer Nordstrom because they have been able to build a unique shopping experience for anyone that shops at their stores. Nordstrom has been working hard to solidify their philosophy to “offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value” since 1901 (About Nordstrom, n.d). The company believes in high quality and top of the line products. “Nordstrom works relentlessly to give customers the most compelling shopping experience possible.” This is perhaps on of Nordstrom’s most important strengths therefore it weighs 0.10 and it is considered a major strength. Because of Nordstrom’s unique shopping experience, the company has been able to build significant customer loyalty (Nordstrom Inc., 2013). Having loyal customers is one of retails strongest drivers because the industry is saturated with competition. If a customer does not feel a sense of loyalty to Nordstrom it will be easier for the customer to choose other stores.

This strength is also important to the company for both growth and revenues. The strength also weighs 0.10 and it is a major strength for Nordstrom.

Nordstrom also has a great corporate citizenship platform called Nordstrom Cares. This platform enables the company to maintain a strongly ethical business (Nordstrom Cares, 2013).

Nordstrom has a specific approach to be able to be a socially responsible business. The company is dedicated to reduce their environmental impact, be part of the communities it serves, and give their employees rewarding opportunities (Nordstrom Cares, 2013). A corporate citizenship platform is required for any company that wants to remain ethical and conscious. Therefore this strength weighs 0.05 and it is considered a minor strength. Another strength that is important for

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 32

every company is good leadership. Nordstrom is a family business and the current CEO is Blake W. Nordstrom. He is recognized a strong leader and because he is part of the Nordstrom dynasty his leadership is not just business it is also personal. He has been part of the company since he was young. He has seen the development of Nordstrom (Bloomberg Businessweek., n.d.). He has held his position as CEO for over a decade. Mr. Nordstrom has a great understanding of the direction that the company is going and with his leadership the company has also become a leader in the department store industry (Bloomberg Businessweek., n.d.). Therefore, this strength weighs 0.05 and because most companies make sure that their leaders are strong it is considered a minor strength.

Lastly, Nordstrom has been able to offer its customers with exclusive products that most department stores are not able to carry. Nordstrom has scored major brands over the years and through different partnerships the company has been able to give the customers the latest in the fashion industry. Designer collections from brands such as Jimmy Choo, Prada, Gucci, Christian Louboutin, Versace and more are regular finds in Nordstrom stores. Recently, the company successfully partnered with one of trendiest British brands, Topshop and Topman. These brands are only available through Nordstrom in the United States (Nordstrom Inc., 2013). Exclusivity is weighted at 0.07 and it is considered a major strength for Nordstrom Nordstrom’s Weaknesses One of Nordstrom’s minor weaknesses is raising prices. Since prices are constantly changing some companies may be hindered if they increase their prices (Ernst & Young Global Limited., 2013). However Nordstrom is an upscale department store, most customers expect that the store will offer prices that reflect the high quality of the products that are offered. This weakness is not one of the most important weaknesses the company has so it is weighted at 0.04.

Another weakness of the company is its lower market share when compared to other leading competitors. For instance Macy’s market share in the United States nearly doubles Nordstrom’s market share (Bloomberg, 2014). This is mainly because Macy’s has a huge amount of location in nearly every state in the nation (Macy’s Inc., 2014). It is an important weakness that perhaps is being addressed by Nordstrom’s strategy to expand through their Nordstrom Rack stores. Since the company has taken action, lower market share is somewhat important weighing in 0.05.

Nordstrom does not have complete coverage of every state in the United States. This is a weakness because many states may not be familiar with Nordstrom. (Defotis, 2013) Nordstrom must seek to become a company that every state is able to identify the Nordstrom brand. This is a major weakness, especially when compared to other competitors that have presence nationwide.

Hence, the weight of 0.05 for this weakness not only does Nordstrom lack national presence it also lacks international presence. Nordstrom has such a strong history, yet it is not until recently that it expanded into international territory. Nordstrom has safely expanded into Canada during

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 33

2014 (Nordstrom Inc., 2013). This is a conservative approach towards international expansion.

The company must be able to take advantage of other regions in the world that are expected to grow in luxury consumerism. Other retailers that offer luxury products like Nordstrom have been able to expand to these regions (Wang, 2013). Having very little international presence is a major weakness for Nordstrom, which weighs at 0.10.

As indicated in the financial analysis Nordstrom has financed its assets with very high levels of debt. This puts the company at risk of financial difficulties and potential bankruptcy.

Nordstrom must be able to demonstrate that the high debt it carries is justified with higher returns. If the company can efficiently utilize its assets, this weakness is not relatively important, that’s why it weighs 0.04. Another weakness that Nordstrom has faced has been that the company’s stock prices fell because it was not able to meet analyst expectation of the company.

Financial ratios may become a weakness for Nordstrom if the expected performance is too high and it may not be an attainable goal (Defotis, 2013). It is important for Nordstrom to be able to not only meet but to outperform the expectations for the company’s stock price becomes more valuable. This weakness is important to recognize which why it is weighted with a 0.07.

Lastly, a minor but not unimportant weakness is that since the growth and expansion of ecommerce, large brick to mortar companies experience difficulties with making a smooth transition (Ernst & Young Global Limited, 2013). Nordstrom however has been able to experience fewer difficulties than many other department stores. The company has been able to recognize that it is a challenge to emerge in the e-commerce business but with strategic acquisitions, Nordstrom has been able to have a better position (Nordstrom). Since Nordstrom has proactively responded to the changes in the industry difficulties in e-commerce is a minor weakness, which has been weighted at 0.07.

Nordstrom’s Current Strategy Nordstrom currently is utilizing a combination strategy of related diversification and market development. The company’s goals are to successfully provide customers with the best shopping experience through seamless transitions within their multiple channel platforms (Nordstrom Inc., n.d). Nordstrom is growing its market share in the United States through their new off-price retail channel.

Using a related diversification strategy, Nordstrom has developed a new channel to their portfolio of business, Nordstrom Rack (Nordstrom Inc., n.d). The company has used diversification because the premise of Nordstrom Rack is a new concept of off- price retailing.

This channel was the product of what could’ve been a potential threat turned into an opportunity.

After the United States recession the company realized that despite the troubling times, there was an opportunity for the company to provide the same Nordstrom experience but with bargain and

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 34

off-price upscale products. This channel has served as a tool of geographical expansion in the United States the company’s goal is to have 230 Rack stores by 2016 (Nordstrom Inc., n.d).

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NORDSTROM Revised Mission and Vision Statements Nordstrom’s current mission statement is to “Serve our customers better, to always be relevant in their lives and to form lifelong relationships,” (About Nordstrom, n.d). This is a good mission but it may not display all the key aspects of the company. Taking under consideration all of the analysis of the company, a revised mission statement is suggested. The recommendation of an improved mission statement is so that the company is able to better transmit the message of who the company is and what is the direction of Nordstrom. The revised mission statement is the following: To always be relevant in our customer’s lives by forming happy lifelong relationships, through exceptional service and experience. These subtle changes have been suggested because Nordstrom believes in happy customers, in providing a unique relevant experience and the main priority, which is to provide their customers with the best service.

The current vision of the company is “To offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value.” The vision has remained the same for 100 years (About Nordstrom, n.d). Considering that this vision has successfully driven the company to the leading department store it is today. No changes have been made to the vision, especially because in an industry in which customer service is imperative but many companies have failed in it. For instance, Macy’s is infamous for being among the top ten retailers with the worst customer service (Hess, 2014). It is refreshing that despite all the ambitious visions a company in that industry could have, Nordstrom has dedicated the company to the customers who are the drivers of the industry.

Strategy Recommendations As the different analyses have been studied for the company Nordstrom, there were specific strategies having been identified for the company to use and execute as additional tactics for the company’s future success. There are two viable recommendations that can be extremely beneficial for the improvement of Nordstrom’s growth strategy. Considering the company’s current strategy, internal and external factors, it has been recognized that Nordstrom should penetrate the e-commerce and m-commerce market as well as internationally expanding in growing markets.

Nordstrom can strengthen their transition to e-commerce and m-commerce by utilizing their current partnerships with growing online business that promote the latest fashion products.

Since Nordstrom already provides moderate e-commerce experience with the HauteLook and

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 35

through the stores websites www.nordstrom.com and the recent addition of www.nordstromrack.com, the recommendation is to strengthen and enhance the channels to effectively provide the same experience customers have in the physical stores. Nordstrom may have begun the transition to e-commerce but it has not been able to take advantage of building integration through technologies such as social media (Foley, 2014). Nordstrom has to be able to magnify and build relationships with the customers through these tools. Instagram has been a successful tool for the company to reach a certain audience, but it should also seek to capitalize through other social interaction tools like Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat and Polyvore (Foley, 2014). These platforms can allow Nordstrom’s e-commerce websites to remain relevant within consumers of fashion and style. They will also allow Nordstrom to enhance their dedication of making customers determine the changes of the company. Many companies have strengthened customer relations through social media platforms. This strategy of market penetration is feasible because Nordstrom has valuable resources that are capable of executing the strategy (Foley, 2014). The Nordstrom Innovation Lab is precisely the resource that is best equipped to make the changes necessary to the company’s social media approach, which can potentially be significantly lucrative for the company in the forms of revenue and data intelligence.

The second recommendation that Nordstrom should consider would be to expand internationally with a market development strategy. The growth of all luxury products are increasingly shifting toward emerging markets. The average share growth of luxury goods in emerging market is approximately 30 percent (A.T Kearney, 2013). Nordstrom enjoys a comfortable position locally but it lacks global presence and that what this recommendation addresses. There are several regions that are appropriate for the expansion of Nordstrom. The two countries that stand out the most are Japan and Brazil.

Japan is the second largest growing market for luxury goods after the United States. New economic policy has triggered the growth of Japan’s economy. The economic policy known as Abenomics, has doubled the nation’s money supply. Japan has a sizeable increase in wealth caused by higher equity prices. The increasing wealth of Japan has boosted consumer spending (Salsberg, 2013). Another advantage for Nordstrom is that Japanese consumers’ number one place to buy luxury goods is the department store because Japanese tourism has notably supported sales in the United States’ luxury retailers. Japanese luxury sales are projected to be approximately $6.7 billion this year and continue in a growing trend (Salsberg, 2013). Nordstrom can capitalize from the established familiarity of Japanese consumers to their brand. Nordstrom has the advantage of having Ms. Campbell the director of the boards of the company and who also serves as part of the US-Japan council (USJC, n.d). Therefore it is feasible for Nordstrom expand in Japan through a market development strategy.

Latin America can also be a potential alternative for Nordstrom to emerge in the global market. Brazil is the number one country for global retail development in South America. The country has held that position for three consecutive years. Retail spending is expected to grow an

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Written Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. 36

estimated 11 percent in future years because of expansion investments, organic growth and infrastructure improvements caused by 2014 FIFA World Cup and the upcoming Olympics in 2016 (A.T Kearney, 2013). A growing middle class, rising employment and better credit access make Brazil a lucrative market for retailers. Many luxury goods companies like Prada, Miu Miu, Gucci, Valentino and Topshop have successfully expanded into Brazil (A.T Kearney, 2013).

This is an indication that the Brazilian market is providing outstanding condition for luxury companies to develop their international presence. Nordstrom will greatly benefit by expanding its business to regions like Brazil because the market offers the factors needed for a prosperous expansion.

CONCLUSION The research conducted in this case analysis has demonstrated the factors that have made Nordstrom a prosperous and leading upscale department store company. Their continuous effort of providing their customers with the most compelling shopping experience has led the company to build one of the industry’s best reputations. The analysis of their financial performance demonstrated that even though the company has chosen a capital structure that is made up with high debt levels, the company has been able to generate substantial returns that magnify the shareholder’s returns. The external and internal factor analysis indicated that Nordstrom should be able to turns potential weaknesses into opportunities to benefit the company’s goals. Lastly, studying and analyzing the company addressed certain weaknesses addressed with sustainable recommendations that could potentially benefit the company’s future success and prosperity.

REFERENCES About Nordstrom. (n.d.). Retrieved August 29, 2014. (Nordstrom, 2013) Nordstrom Inc. (2013).

Dear Customers, Employees and Shareholders. In 2013 Annual Report (p. 78). Seattle.

A.T. Kearney. (2013, July 1). South America Tops A.T. Kearney Global Retail Development Index—Brazil (#1). Retrieved November 24, 2014, from http://www.atkearney.com/news-media/news-releases/news-release//asset_publisher/00OIL7Jc67KL/content/south-america-tops-a-t-kearney-global-retaildevelopment-index-brazil-1-chile-2-and-uruguay-3 Bagley, R. (2013, October 1). How to Identify Your Market and Size Up Competitors. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccabagley/2013/10/02/howto-identify-your-market-size-up-competitors/2/ Big Data Startups. (n.d.). Nordstrom. Retrieved from http://www.bigdata-startups.com/BigDatastartup/how-fashion-retailer-nordstrom-drives-with-innovation-big-data-experiments/

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Bloomberg. (2014, November 1). Bloomberg Industry Market Leaders. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/industries/detail/departmentstores/::abmka9c Bloomberg Businessweek. (n.d.). List of Public Companies Worldwide, Letter - Businessweek Businessweek. Retrieved August 29, 2014, from http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=182925& ticker=JWN Clifford, S. (n.d.). Nordstrom to acquire online retailer for $180 million. Retrieved from http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/nordstrom-to-acquire-online-retailerhautelook/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1 Cornett, M., & Adair, T. (2013). Analyzing financial statements. In M: Finance (2nd ed., pp. 4958). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education ;.

David, F. (2011). Chapter four: The Internal Assessment. In Strategic management: Concepts and cases (13th ed., pp. 106-110). Boston: Prentice Hall.

Defotis, D. (2013, May 17). Don't give nordstrom the boot. Retrieved from http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748704551504578489071202428656.ht ml Dillard's Inc. (2014, January 1). Investor Overview. Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://investor.shareholder.com/dillards/index.cfm Dillard's Inc. (n.d.). Dillard’s Inc. Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://financials.morningstar.com/incomestatement/is.html?t=DDS®ion=usa&culture=en-US Dillard's Inc. (n.d.). Dillard’s Inc. Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://financials.morningstar.com/blance-sheet /bs.html?t=DDS®ion=usa&culture=en-US Entrepreneur. (2006, August 1). Competitive Analysis. Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/25756 Ernst & Young Global Limited. (2013, January 1). Turn risk and opportunities into results: Retail sector - The top 10 risks. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Consumer-Products/Turn-risk-and-opportunitiesinto-results--Retail-sector---The-top-10-risks Hess, A. (2014, February 1). Ten Retailers With the Worst Customer Service. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/02/25/ten-retailerswith-the-worst-customer-service/2/ Hoovers. (n.d.). Department Stores - Industry Facts and Trends. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from http://www.hoovers.com/industry-facts.department-stores.1529.html Hower, M. (2013, August 1). 50% of Global Consumers Willing to Pay More for Socially Responsible Products. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from

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http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/behavior_change/50-globalconsumers-willing-pay-more-socially-responsible-products Lee, S. (n.d.). How Nordstrom Inc.'s Growth Strategy Is Changing its Business. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/05/25/hownordstroms-growth-strategy-is-changing-its-bus.aspx Macy's Inc. (2014, January 1). About Us - Macy’s, Inc. Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://www.macysinc.com/about-us/ Macy’s Inc. (n.d.). Macy's Inc. Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://financials.morningstar.com/income-statement/is.html?t=M®ion=usa&culture=enUS Macy’s Inc. (n.d.). Macy's Inc. Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://financials.morningstar.com/balance-sheet/bs.html?t=M®ion=usa&culture=en-US McCarthy, E. (2014, May 15). Nordstrom earnings beat expectations, profit slips. Retrieved August 29, 2014, from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nordstrom-earnings-beatexpectations-profit-slips-2014-05-15-164854233 Nordstrom Inc. (2013, February 1). Nordstrom Company Review & Annual Report. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/nordstrom-company-review Nordstrom Inc. (n.d.). Nordstrom Inc. Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://financials.morningstar.com/balancesheet/bs.html?t=JWN®ion=usa&culture=en-US Nordstrom Inc. (n.d.). Nordstrom Inc. Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://financials.morningstar.com/incomestatement/is.html?t=JWN®ion=usa&culture=en-US. Nordstrom Cares. (2013, January 28). Nordstrom cares. Retrieved from http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/nordstrom-cares-environment?origin=topnav Nordstrom Inc. (n.d.). Nordstrom History. Retrieved August 29, 2014, from http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/company-history?origin=leftnav Prweb.com. (n.d.). Department Stores in the US Industry Market Research Report Now Available from IBISWorld. Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/7/prweb9699269.htm Foley, J. (2014, January 1). 10 Technology Trends That Will Revolutionize Retail. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2014/01/13/10-technologytrends-that-will-revolutionize-retail/ Salsberg, B. (2013, May 1). McKinsey's Japan report: The Godzilla of luxury set for another strong year. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from http://mckinseyonmarketingandsales.com/mckinseys-japan-report-the-godzilla-of-luxuryset-for-another-strong-year USJC Board of Directors. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2014, from http://www.usjapancouncil.org/usjc_board_of_directors

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Wang, L. (2013, October 1). Luxury Sales to Exceed $318 Billion, Driven by Emerging Markets and 'Affordable Luxury' - The Business of Fashion. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/10/euromonitor-coach-michael-kors-louisvuitton-versace-fflur-roberts.html White, B. (2014, February 5). Nordstrom To Close Lloyd Center Mall Store In Portland, Ore., And Vancouver Mall Store In Vancouver, Wash. Retrieved August 29, 2014, from http://finance.yahoo.com/news/nordstrom-close-lloyd-center-mall-180700258.html Yahoo Finance. (n.d.). Interactive Nordstrom Inc. Charts. Retrieved August 29, 2014, from http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=JWN Interactive#symbol=JWN;range=

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TRANSITIONING TO A NEW CULTURE: DEPICTIONS OF THE AMISH IN BREAKING AMISH: LOS ANGELES SEASON 2 Kyla Brown INTRODUCTION There are very few people who know a lot about Amish culture. In the media, the Amish are often overlooked as a whole even though they are living in America. They live an entirely different lifestyle compared to the modern technological culture other Americans live in. The researcher plans to further explore Amish culture, and how the mass media portrays them. The purpose of this study is to explore how the Amish are depicted in Breaking Amish: Los Angeles Season 2.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS RQ1: What is the overall image of the Amish culture on Breaking Amish: Los Angeles Season 2?

RQ2: How is religion portrayed in Breaking Amish: Los Angeles Season 2?

RQ3: How do the Amish people react to the modern culture on Breaking Amish: Los Angeles Season 2?

DEFINITIONS Culture - a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life and art Modern - of or relating to the present time or the recent past; happening, existing or developing at a time near the present time.

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Depictions of the Amish 41

LITERATURE REVIEW Background of the Amish culture The average person does not know a great amount of detail about the Amish culture.

Kraybill (1989) discusses how different the Amish culture is from the outside world. A main aspect of the Amish lifestyle is their lack of technology. Although the Amish choose not to use technology, they do have necessary tools and resources in order for them to survive such as doctors. Though the Amish have some modern advances surrounding them, they have maintained their identity.

Pennsylvania and Ohio are two states in the United States in which 250,000 Amish are living. One word that is relevant to the Amish culture is the German term “Gelassenheit.” The term represents the idea of peace and humility to promote a peaceful society rather than one filled with violence and war (Kraybill 1988). The Amish adapted their religious beliefs from the Protestant Reformation because they could not agree that church and civil government should be separated. The group later went off to start their own group called “the Anabaptist, which means rebaptizers” (Kraybill, 1989, p. 4). The group was driven out of Switzerland and leader Jakob Ammann emerged. Ammann had a disagreement with other Swiss who were excommunicated, and later decided to excommunicate them under his leadership. The Amish then emerged and formed their own different groups named the Amish and Mennonites in 1693 (Kraybill, 1989).

Kraybill (1989) discusses the disconnection between the cultures, but he was not the only author to do so. Furthermore, Weaver-Zercher (1999) examines the Mennonites and the Amish culture; specifically, how the Anabaptists are no longer one group and their break off into their own culture and beliefs, which resulted in the Amish and the Mennonites formation. A common tactic both cultures use to have their people follow the law is to excommunicate individuals. Each culture chooses to separate themselves from the outside world. Some values that both cultures share as well are “simplicity, humility, and nonresistance” (Weaver-Zercher, 1999, p. 91). One difference between the two cultures is the Amish believe that “worldliness” was a major cause for the two cultures to split. The Mennonites believe in celebrating holidays that have to deal with the Christian religion while the Amish disagree (Weaver-Zearcher, 1999).

Miller (2007) describes how various conflicts are resolved within the Amish culture.

Proper resolution for the wrong doing include excommunication, joining another church, repenting or leaving the church altogether. An Amish person has a better chance of committing a crime without getting caught than any other person in America. The Old Order

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Depictions of the Amish 42

Amish in the Reformation sectioned themselves off to successfully separate themselves from church and state.

Rumsey (2010) discusses how the Amish practice their religion differently from the normal Christian religion. Asking questions about the religion including the Bible is a punishable offense, which can result in shunning. The Amish culture is so rigid that they want their people to listen to the message rather than question the religion. Men in the Amish culture will relate to what their ancestors knew rather than learning from the church messages.

Hosteler (1992) discusses his own thoughts as an Amish young adult who did not enjoy the simplistic lifestyle. Hosteler recounts one such time where he was faced with letting a doctor from the modern world operate on him due to stomach issues. This is a huge deal; because the Amish do not use modern tools that hospitals use nor do they even go to hospitals. Like most Amish youth, he had to continue working on the farm rather than continue with his education. After middle school, most Amish youth do not finish school, because it is seen as “learning the ways of the town.” Hosteler sought a way to finish school by going to an agricultural college rather than going to a regular college which the community did not allow. He also discusses his experience of being shunned. Shunning occurs when the Amish community does not speak to you, because you have done something displeasing to the church. “When I was eleven years old, my father was excommunicated from the Amish church. He saw himself as a victim of a jealous member who took complaints from the Bishop…He was dogged with one complaint after another from the bishop for exceeding the boundaries” (Hosteler 1992 p. 553).

According to Toews (1988), the Mennonites often use a tactic called shunning on fellow Mennonites and Amish who live in the area in order to maintain their lifestyles.

Shunning is a tactic that is used by the Mennonites and Amish which allows everyone in the community to not speak to or interact with a person, because they have broken a rule.

Plett (2008) also describes the methods the Amish use to solve problems within their community. Some methods to solving problems are to make the person repent, get excommunicated from the community, leave the church altogether or join a different church.

An Amish person has a higher likelihood of committing a crime and not getting caught compared to people in the modern world, because of their lack of communication with outsiders. The Old Order Amish made a decision to separate themselves from church and state during the Reformation.

Savells (1988) examines the ways of the Old Order Amish emphasis the ideals of “obedience to God, humility, and modesty without conforming to the modern society” (p.

124). Faith and family are two main focuses for the Amish people. They do not welcome outsiders as much, because they want to have isolation from the outside world making it

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hard for any outsiders to come into the society. This practice is called solidarity where they try to keep themselves away from the outsiders in order to keep the ideals intact and keep out the outside world... “Sociologists tend to view the Amish as kind of a ‘sectarian society’ –emphasizing isolation and separateness and practicing a type of psychic insularity that protects them from mainstream,” (Savells, 1988, p. 126). There are some penalties for interacting with “outsiders,” which includes shunning and banishment if people do not obey their rules and beliefs from the Bible. The Old Order Amish strongly emphasized the career path of farming for a primary occupation. By contrast, the New Order Amish may take up jobs within construction work as well as building homes for others due to the cost of farmland. They also may use some labor saving devices and can use buggies as a mode of transportation (Savells, 1988).

Ediger (2005) also discusses the main ideals of the Amish people. For example, they use biblical stories as a reading tool to teach children how to read. They teach much different philosophies than the modern world. Some basic philosophies for the Amish people include the ideal of relying on yourself to do your own work. Another important ideal is to trust the Old Order Amish and become a strong believer in God. They are to believe in God, but they also strongly believe in the ideal of self-reliance. Another philosophy is to accept where God has placed them and to not question anything God has done. The civilization is not allowed to question the Old Order Amish or the Bible, or they will face consequences. According to Ediger, “non-conformity is important to the OOA in not accepting societal values (2005). Emerson stressed nonconformity as a sign of being a mature person,” (Ediger 2005, p.423). You must not conform to the ways of the modern work or you will face shunning or banishment (Ediger, 2005).

Amish way of life The Amish lifestyle is based on their specific religious beliefs. Additionally, Turco (2000) examined how the Old Order Amish came from the descendants of Mennonites.

Their conservative attire such as bonnets, straw hats and plain colored shirts can identify the Old Order of Amish. There is distinct attire that sets the Amish apart from the other societies. The girls dress in clothing that does not reveal any skin and will wear prayer caps also known as bonnets. The Amish will conduct church services at home and give a strict literal interpretation. Married men in Amish culture do not wear mustaches, but they do wear beards (Ediger, 1998). The most prominent item, which they can be identified by, is horse and buggies. “Most Amish are trilingual: they speak a German dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch at home, use German at worship services and English when interacting

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with someone anyone else who is not Amish,” (Turco 2000, p. 139). One common area where Amish settle is in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania is named the mother of the settlements for the Amish as well as the Mennonites (Kraybill 1989). Lancaster is a farming area that has fertile soils and a moderate climate as well as a good deal of rainfall. These factors together make Lancaster a great place for farming. The farmland makes up 65% of acreage. The public has created jobs out of tours around Lancaster although there are parts that do not have Amish or Mennonite settlers (Kraybill, 1989). “Despite its robust agriculture, not all Lancastrians are Amish or farmers. Today less than 2 percent of the county workforce is farming, but agroindustry creates 20 percent of all county jobs” (Kraybill 1989, p. 10). Kline (1983) discusses Amish farming and its simplistic nature. They do not use pesticides on their crops, because they have swallows (tiny birds) to remove the bugs.

Even though the Amish people do not have many sources of high income, they do not believe in receiving government assistance including Medicare and Social Security. It can be separated into three social units, which include “settlement, district, and affiliation” (Kraybill, 1989, p.13). A settlement is where the Amish live and can range in size. The district or the church district “is the basic organizational unit above the family in Amish society” (Kraybill, 1989, p.14). “Affiliation is a cluster of the congregations in a spiritual fellowship” (Kraybill, 1989, p.14).

The Amish do not use electricity, because they prefer to live the more modest lifestyle. They believe that the world is filled with temptation, consumer greed, and wastefulness. The Amish also prefer to keep themselves distant from the outside, technological world. They often attract a lot of tourism, because the modern world is not used to their lifestyle. The Amish have continued to thrive in the business of tourism due to tourism related products “and some of the local Amish men work in craft related industries – such as shops that manufacture furniture (mostly hand-crafted) and carriage shops” (Savells 1988, p. 131). The Amish attract tourism, because some people wish to unplug from the technological world and cannot. Some reasons why the Amish are so popular are because of farming techniques which increases their entrepreneur business of market places (Savells, 1988).

The popularity of the Amish is noticeable among even top government officials.

President George Bush even paid a visit to Lancaster. Cong (1994) examined how President Bush arrived at Lancaster on March 22, 1989 to give a speech for the anti-drug rally. During the visit to Lancaster, the President discussed the issue of drugs and crime while noting the Amish simple way of life in which God is the focus. Amish lifestyle is so popular, because their culture is so different that it increases others fascination. Their lifestyle has influenced the outside world to promote good images. According to Cong (1994), the Amish people

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would rather have peace rather than praise for how simpley they live. The Amish remind Americans that, “Lancaster is neither drug free nor crime free. Yet for President Bush and the American public, it is an ‘oasis’ that represents some highly-regarded values and strengths of rural America” (Cong 1994, p. 59).

During the time period of the World Wars and the Great Depression, tourism from Amish cities brought in a great deal of income. Many items from the Amish are featured in museums including their quilt work. “It is no exaggeration that Amish have already gained a museum quality and antique status. Amish quilts, furniture, and Amish costumes are all popular with well-to-do collectors. Even the Amish people are often treated as a sensuous work of art” (Cong 1994, p.60). Cong (1994) explains how their lifestyle resembles America during early periods.

The Amish lifestyle resembles that of Americans in the preindustrial era…

Oddly enough, the Amish people, who prefer to be rustic and simple, possess certain symbols that are often interpreted as reflecting status and wealth, such as land-ownership, home-ownership, horses, buggies, and costume-like attire.

Of these symbols, horses are the most important. (Cong 1994, p. 61) The Amish try not to have pride in material possessions, but they do have some items that they favor. Tharp (2007) discusses the valued possessions of the Amish communities. Valued items for the Amish are wedding gifts, guns, and other forms of gifts.

Items such as quilts are also said to be valued within the community and the Bible. Quilts are important, because they are passed on from ancestors and can be worn on woman’s current day clothing. The items that are not cherished by the Amish include technology and photos. They also do not take photographs, because it is viewed as being vain which is against the Bible.

Amish school children The Amish community teaches their children how to live in this society at a very young age. Waite and Crockett (1997) discuss how the Amish and Mennonites teach their community. The Amish enjoy their small community for many reasons including less material utilization, avoiding discrimination for their beliefs and religious practices and dominance over their children. The school for the community has to be blessed by the church in order to run. Additionally, they have a specific curriculum just for their religious beliefs. The science curriculum is taught as a religious class instead of science in New America.

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One reason that people do not teach science is due to the idea of evolution.

Evolution describes that people are formed from lower beings rather than from God. “Evolutionist attempt to demonstrate that life evolved from lower forms life. This is their academic justification for their unbelief and refusal to bow on their knees to the divine, righteous Authority and declare obedience to Him” (Waite & Crockett. 1997, p. 118)...

When it comes to using technology, it can be used by Mennonites but to a certain extent.

The civilization is selective about their use of technology. The basic principle to their school life is to simplify the schoolwork, so that they can focus on farm life. “Responsibility for work is an essential ingredient for Amish education” (Ediger 1997 p. 341). The Amish children are good students. They are expected to be well-behaved, because they live so close to school. Before a child goes to school, he must finishing basic chores such as milking the cows and feeding the chickens before going to school. They also must do these chores after they go to school as well. “The ideal size for an Amish family is eight to twelve children” (Ediger 1997, p. 342); therefore, there are many children from the same family attending the same school.

Researchers have written about the Amish feelings towards teaching science in classrooms, as it is not taught. Ediger (1998) examined how the Amish stress a work ethic rather than a science education. In science, they learn not only religion but also secular emphasis. They have a stronger emphasis on reading, writing and math than any other subjects. History is studied separately from the curriculum. They do have a practice called “Book Farming” which entails reading farm journals, following the farmland and caring for livestock. They have a first-hand look at science by being in the outdoors most of the day.

Because people know so little about the Amish, Cooper (2006) examines what the media can expect and learn from the Amish culture by watching their programs. There are about 22 different groups of Amish, Mennonites and Brethren in Lancaster County. The Amish refrain from using most technologies that the modern world uses. People can view how simplistic their lives are and learn about their culture. The Old Order Amish want to be secular because of some Bible verses in the New Testament. These two verses are “Love not the world; neither the things that are in the world,” (I John 2:15). Another verses that shows the teaching of being secular is, “Friendship with the world is enmity (opposed) with God,” (James 4:4). They can also teach some their family traditions and how they still embrace their cultures unlike many of the modern world; therefore, those who seek to learn more about Amish will learn about their religious beliefs and how they govern their everyday lives.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Cultivation theory describes the effects of watching too much television. Many cultivation theorists believe that watching television for prolonged hours may cause significant effects although it may be the smallest ending effect. This theory describes how television has the power to shape our idea of what reality is, how it affects our attitudes and the way that we also think “George Gerbner’s “Cultivation Theory” has to do with the idea that television has the power to shape our perceptions of reality and the world around us by affecting our attitudes and certain ways of thinking” (Gulisano, 2008, para. 1).

The theory also suggests that with a high frequency of viewers, the more likely the audience is going to believe that the media message is true. Another important element of the theory is resonance. “These themes ‘resonate’ with them and reinforce ideas that the viewer already holds, in a way giving them a ‘double dose’ of the message and further strengthen their perceptions” (Gulisano, 2008, para. 3). The theory relates to the current topic because the researcher will be viewing how the Amish culture is viewed in the media.

Since many individuals only know very little about the Amish culture, the television show presents more information about the culture itself. The people who watch this program may think they know more about the culture than what they actually do. In the article with Savells (1988) he describes how the Amish prefer to keep their distance from the technological world. This creates a distance between the Amish civilization and the modern world by leaving them without much knowledge since they are not allowed.

METHODOLOGY Amish culture is one that is overlooked by many people living in America. From the outside perspective, the Amish are only known for not using electricity. What else do individuals in the United States know about the Amish? How else are they viewed through the media?

Data and Data Collection The researcher will be analyzing Breaking Amish to explore how Amish culture is depicted in the media. Specifically, the study will focus on Breaking Amish: Los Angeles Season 2, which, shows the Amish transitioning from Lancaster to Los Angeles, California. In the series, it shows a struggle with adapting to the ways of the modern world and different restrictions the Amish have for them. The series director and producer is Eric Evangelista.

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The researcher will purchase Breaking Amish Season 2 and look at all twelve of the episodes. The data will be analyzed for content and behavioral patterns throughout the series Breaking Amish Season 2. This season will show how the Amish live when they are on the farms and also displays the paths of those who are leaving this civilization. The researcher plans to watch the series February 5, 2014 through February 15, 2014, and will be looking to explore common themes displayed on the series such as the religious aspect and the overall image of the Amish.

Data Analysis The data will be analyzed using a thematic analysis. “A thematic analysis is similar to content analysis, but pays greater attention to the qualitative aspects of the material analyzed”, (Joffe H., &Yardley L. 2004, p 56). The researcher will be looking for the behavior of the Amish while they are living in town and also will be looking for behavior that they do not condone. The researcher is also looking at how they will survive outside of the civilization. The researcher will use this data to further understand how the Amish image is portrayed on television.

Results In season two of Breaking Amish, the themes that are relevant are 1) religion, 2) the overall image of the Amish from the outside world, 3) the adaptation from the Amish to the modern world. The Amish men and women on the show include Devon, Lizzie, Iva, Sam, Andrew and Betsy. The only Mennonite person on the show is Matt.

Theme 1: Religion Religion plays a big part in the Amish community, and it strongly influences the Amish people in many of the decisions that they make. Throughout this season, there is a significant amount of verses that appear before or after an event takes place that are relevant to their actions. For instance, episode nine, “Paradise Lost” shows the reality of coming back to the Amish life after the cast visited Los Angeles, California. The episode starts with the cast member Betsy on the plane going home with the quotation from the Bible “Children obey their parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord Colossians 3:20.” This foreshadows the trouble that faces the members as they disobeyed their parents and journeyed off to Los Angeles.

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The importance of religion is clear in episode three. The family is not happy as Lizzie is pregnant, and she is not married.

Episode Three: “Black Sheep”: Sam: Seriously what do you think you’re doing? You’re bringing shame to our whole family!

[In Dutch shouting] Sam: Who’s the father? I want to find out what he thinks he’s doing!

Lizzie: Why does it matter? It’s not his fault!

Sam: Yes it is! This is ridiculous.

Lizzie: Listen it’s not his fault! This is absolutely crazy!

Sam: Get her away from me! I’m about ready to knock her out. You’re supposed to wait until you get married! I’m trying to protect you here!

Lizzie: What about the family and church? What about them? It’s not their life it’s mine!

Sam: I’m going to make sure you marry this guy in the Amish church! That’s what the Bible says!

Sam: Lizzie is gonna be shunned.

In this episode, the siblings Sam and Lizzie are faced with trouble when Sam finds out that his sister is seven months pregnant out of wedlock. Sam points out that the Bible says that they have to get married in an Amish church. According to him, if she goes back to the community, she will be shunned since the child is out of wedlock. She will already face being shunned, because she has left the community altogether. Here religion is incorporated with marriage and pregnancy. The Amish church believes you must be married in order to have children and be married in only their church.

In Episode 4 the men and women are going on a trip to get makeovers and new clothing. The girls head to the salon to get their hair and makeup done for the first time. Iva describes how she is not allowed to wear makeup because in the Amish community, wearing makeup is vain.

Episode Four: “Metamorphosis”: Hairdresser: So, What were you thinking, I mean, as far as, like—What’s your fantasy hairstyle? What do you like leaving today like?

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Iva: I like curls.

Hairdresser: What do you usually do with makeup?

Iva: My mom taught me no makeup, so…

Hairdresser: No makeup? But sometime, a little eye shadow – do you ever Iva: Whatever you think looks good, maybe.

Hairdresser: Okay.

Iva (in confessional): Amish women usually don’t wear makeup or cut their hair because that’s like praising themselves when you’re supposed to praise God. The Amish are not supposed to wear makeup and praise themselves; they are supposed to be praising God instead. Amish women are also not allowed to cut their hair off or take off their Amish head covering. Wearing the head covering is important to the Amish community for women, because you have to be as modest as possible.

In episode seven, Iva has waived the charges made against her roommates after she lied about an incident that occurred. Iva explains how the Bishop handles their situations in their community. A Bishop is a Christian clergy member who has authority over the fellow church members.

Episode Seven: “Judgment Day”: Iva: The first step I have to do to resolve the situation is going to the cops and dropping the charges and getting everyone’s name off of it. For the most part, Amish don’t really go to the police. They go to the Bishop and talk it over. We handle the things, like, in the community, and we keep it between ourselves and work it out. We don’t go to the police.

The importance of this scene shows that the religious figure is also the authoritative figure in their community rather than going to the police to handle a situation. The Amish do not believe in calling the police; they would rather handle it within their community than have outsiders become involved. The importance of the Bishop is also evident in episode 11.

Episode Eleven: “Redemption”: Lizzie: We are on our way to the Bishop’s house to confess our sins. And with everything that went on, I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to do this.

Sam: Well, here we are.

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Depictions of the Amish 51 Lizzie: Yeah.

Sam: Might as well go get this done with.

Lizzie: I guess.

Sam: This is gonna be really hard, but it’s what an Amish person has to do to get back into the good graces of the church, the community and the family.

Lizzie: Sam I can’t do this.

Sam: We’re here now. We came all the way over here. You might as well.

Lizzie: I can’t. No, I can’t do it. I just. .I can’t.

Lizzie (in confessional): When you’re Amish, the Bishop’s opinion is everything to you, and he’s gonna shun me. I just don’t think I can do this.

Sam: You want to hold the horse?

Lizzie: Yeah.

Sam (in confessional): Lizzie can’t just keep running. She’s home now, she had her baby out of wedlock, and she’s gonna have to just face the consequences of her actions. If Lizzie can’t face the Bishop, she may not be cut out to be Amish anymore.

In this episode, Lizzie only has to confess to the Bishop about her child out of wedlock, and Sam has to confess about everything that he has done in Los Angeles in order to be accepted back in the community and their family. Lizzie describes how the Bishop’s opinion is important to the Amish people. She is hesitant to go, because she knows she will be shunned if she tells the Bishop all she has done. Sam is concerned for his sister, because she cannot face the Bishop. This displays how much power a religious member holds and the influence his decisions have on the Amish community.

Theme 2: The overall image of the Amish from the outside world Throughout the season, the directors allow the audience to see how people who are not part of the Amish community view the culture. In this episode, Iva decides to see what a career in baking will be like in the modern world. The owner of the bakery views Iva’s skills and notes that thinks that she has little experience in life. This is due to the sheltered lifestyle that many Amish people face.

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Episode Seven: “Judgment Day”: Erica (owner of bakery); Iva is really sweet. She seems like she has had very little experience in life, though, in general, but she’s had some baking experience.

Iva does have basic baking experience, which would help her to get established in her dream to open up her own bakery. Even the baker can sense that she is has been sheltered even by just meeting her. She can learn more life experiences if she decides to stay in the modern world.

During episode four, Sam is criticized for his overall appearance. Sam and Andrew go to the barbershop to blend into California better. Sam sits in the chair and the barber comments on his entrance to the establishment. Her reaction is that he smells like he lives on a farm.

Episode Four: “Metamorphosis”: Woman: The first thing I noticed is he kind of smelled really bad. I know he’s Amish but apparently they don’t have showers. He definitely smelled like the farm back home. He left smelling like fresh lavender, not cow.

The woman does not know about their hygienic practices such as showers. They do not have flowing showers in their community. She says that he has left the shop with him smelling better thanks to her help.

In episode two, Betsy, an Amish woman, went to Venice beach, and she feels the glaring eyes of the English people staring. This is important, because she feels as though she is an outsider. People keep looking at her differently.

Episode Two: “Exodus”: Betsy: I just feel so out of place here. Everybody’s staring. All these English people looking at me. Feels like I am this little lost sheep in a pigpen.

Betsy uses the analogy that she feels like she is a lost sheep in a pigpen. This means that she feels like an entirely different breed placed in a different world or environment. It

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gives a clear understanding that she feels out of place in the English world especially if other people around her are staring.

In episode 10, Lizzie’s baby’s father Hoj does not understand why she is leaving him to go back to the Amish community especially after she delivered their half black child. He does not understand the concept of shunning, because he states if her parents really loved her, they would accept her mistakes and love her. Lizzie tries to explain how shunning is a tactic used by people who love her.

Episode Ten: “Cast Off”: Lizzie: Look you don’t get it. I’m not gonna be able to contact them at all.

Lizzie in confessional: It’s really hard to try to explain in to somebody that isn’t Amish, because if I would live with Hoj, my family might never talk to me again, and I need them.

Lizzie: This way, I can hopefully get a little bit of both worlds.

Hoj: If your family really loved you, they would love you no matter what. It would be unconditional.

Lizzie: No they do love me. See, the reason they shun me is because they love me.

The concept of shunning is one that the outsiders will not understand. She is conflicted on whether to go into the English world or back to the Amish community.

Theme 3: The adaptation from the Amish to the modern world The people in the Amish community are depicted as having trouble adapting to the modern world. In episode 10, Lizzie explains to her baby’s father Hoj that she cannot really live in the outside world. From what she saw, it was filled with sex, alcohol and witchcraft. These are things that are only present in the English world, because the Amish world does not allow those activities.

Episode Ten: “Cast Off”: Lizzie: I tried your world, and it wasn’t it too great. And all that was there was just, like, drinking and threesomes and witchcraft and all kinds of things that I don’t want around my baby.

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The English world has too many distractions for someone who has just came from the Amish world. Those types of activities are not the world that she wants her child to live in today.

In episode three, the guys end up going to a strip club. They explain that they have never seen women in Amish country look or act like the modern world women. This is a new experience for all of them. They are intrigued but their roommate Matt steps out. Matt had to a step out because he could not take the naked women dancing around him. He decides to go back to prayer and pray for his roommates since they are in the strip club.

Devon also explains that when the Amish are faced with a chance of freedom in the outside world, they go beyond what they did in the Amish community.

Episode Three: “Black Sheep”: Devon: Oh, Yeah. This place is awesome.

Matt: Oh, No. Matt steps outside Devon (in confessional): Us Amish kids, we’re so sheltered our whole lives.

If we get out in the English world, we go all out.

Sam: Hey. Whoa. What is this? This is not at all what the Amish women are like. There’s no way to even compare.

Matt: Thank You, Heavenly Father, for this day. Lord, I thank you for protection so far. Lord, thank you that I could spend time with Sam and Devon today, the guys’ day out. Pray that you would, you know guide them out here safely. Pray that you would give us protection here today. And help them to be open about where they’re headed in their lives. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The nervousness of socializing in a club is also evident in episode two.

Episode Two: “Exodus”: Devon: Holy [bleep] this club is pumped. The girls are just walking around with practically nothing on. This is awesome.

Matt (in confessional): It’s just overwhelming there.

Betsy: I was literally freaked out cause I’ve never been to a place like that before.

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Depictions of the Amish 55 Matt (in confessional): There’s lots of alcohol there. Um, I had some. Jesus turned water into wine, but he did not get hammered on it.

Lizzie (in confessional): Everybody is drinking liquor, and I’m pouring water into my shot cup because I’m pregnant, and it’s just really hard for me to actually relax and try to have a good time. I didn’t feel safe there. And I was just like, “I have to leave.”

In this episode, the group goes to a club for the first time. While Devon seems to be enjoying the club and is entranced by the half-naked girls roaming about, Matt feels overwhelmed by everything going on. Matt also explains that the alcohol should not be used to get drunk and uses a biblical reference. The only member that seems to be enjoying the club scene is Devon. Lizzie does not feel as though the environment is safe although she is not drinking like the other members of the house. Betsy is freaked out about all the things happening in the club and the alcohol.

Episode Six: “Sin City”: Matt (in confessional): Vegas is like a candy store for adults, like, for sin.

Devon (in confessional): Girls in Las Vegas are – a lot of beautiful women.

Matt (in confessional): It’s definitely not a Matt Bristol party. It’s so far from where I’ve grown up in Amish country. It’s totally the opposite.

In this episode six, the group is in Vegas, also known as sin city. The gang ends up going to another club and a strip club. The club has plenty of naked people surrounding the group. Matt describes how Vegas is a candy store of sin for adults. Devon is the only member that likes all the naked girls around him. Matt further explains how the scene in Vegas is the complete opposite from Amish country. He later describes in the episode how he was faced with lust issues before and was almost sent away to a group of men to help him with those issues. This is important because it shows the great difference between Vegas and how the Amish community operates.

DISCUSSION The cultivation theory is important for this study because it describes how a person who watches a certain amount of television believes what they watch. Since a lot of people are not allowed in the Amish country, there is a potential for viewers to believe that the Amish really behave in the same manner they are portrayed on the show Breaking Amish.

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The cultivation theory suggest that the audience will think they know more about the Amish culture when they will only know a small amount about the culture. The concept of cultivation theory is important, because the main themes developed in this study can act as guidelines for the image of the Amish.

The first discovery suggests that the theme of religion is one of the most important aspects of the Amish living. In the paper by Ediger (1996), religion is the most important part of life in the Amish culture and you must be a strong believer in God. Ediger (1996) says that the Old Order Amish have a strong religious sense, and they use this throughout their daily routines. This is evident in the show Breaking Amish, because they are constantly relating back to what they were taught from the Bible and also from the church.

According to Plett (2008), the Amish go to religious figures in order to not be shunned by the community: you must obey the Bible and their interpretations. The researcher’s findings on religious shunning made by Plett (2008) and shunning relate to the series, because many of the members were scared of being shunned by their community for leaving and for their actions while they left.

Rumsey helped to depict religion in the season (2010). His findings suggest that the Amish practice a different form of Christianity that was stricter than other forms. This form punishes the community if they question or do not follow the Bible. This correlates with the season, because the members of the cast were all making extreme references to the Bible and are scared of being shunned by their family although it is a form of their love for them.

The overall image of the Amish on the reality show is that they are God fearing and obey their community. This image supports the findings from Savells (1988) as he describes the direct link between obedience to God and also not conforming to the ways of the outside. This idea is important because it also answers the question of how the Amish reacted to the outside world. The Amish on the reality show did conform to the ways of the outside world; they decided to change their clothes, mannerisms and ideals. The members felt overwhelmed, and when it was time to come home many could not and were shunned by their community. The incidents of shunning on the show supports Hosteler (1992) who writes also being shunned in his community, because they did not follow the Bible laws.

During Breaking Amish: Los Angeles Season 2, the cast members’ reactions to the modern world were all different, but most of the members went back to their society. The outside world was too much for them to handle. The overall image was displayed when the outsiders who have never seen the Amish before reacted to them, as they were outsiders from a different country. It appears the analysis of Breaking Amish: Los Angeles Season 2 is comparable to the previous studies the directors and producers of the show balance real life situations and entertainment,

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Depictions of the Amish 57

LIMITATIONS The limitation for this study is that the researcher only watched one season of the series Breaking Amish. If the researcher could watch another season, the researcher would find out more information about the way the Amish are depicted. Another limitation is that there is only one researcher instead of many. When you have many researchers, you can possibly pick up on more information that you may have not noticed before. One last limitation for this study is that this was the only show the researcher watched about the Amish. There are various programs that will speak about the Amish culture as well.

Future Research For future research, the researcher can view another sub culture living in America and compare it to the way the Amish culture is portrayed. This is important, because people in America view the country as equal but it is not. There are various sub cultures throughout America that carry their own ideals and follow their own laws instead of American laws.

The researcher would look into the show Breaking the Faith, which shows a group of girls in the religious group Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) as they journey into the modern world since their religious leader is in jail. The researcher would compare the two cultures and understand how they have grown into a sub culture living in America as well as how important religion is to them.

REFERENCES Cooper, T. W. (2006). Of Scripts and Scriptures: Why Plain People Perpetuate a Media Fast. Journal Of American Culture, 29(2), 139-153. doi:10.1111/j.1542734X.2006.00325.x Ediger, M. (1996). Teaching about another culture: The old order Amish. Social Studies, 87(4), 161.

Ediger, M. (1998). Teaching science in the Old Order Amish School. Journal Of Instructional Psychology, 25(1), 62.

Ediger, M. (2005). Old Order Amish Philosophy Of Education. Education, 125(3), 422425.

Cultivation Theory. (n.d.). Cultivation Theory. Retrieved January 30, 2014, from http://www.colorado.edu/communication/metadiscourses/Papers/App_Papers/Gulisano.ht Hostetler, J. A. (1992). An Amish beginning. American Scholar, 61(4), 552.

Kline, D. (1983). Amish Farming: The Gentle Way Of Life. Saturday Evening Post, 255(2), 62-63.

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Kraybill, D. B. (1989). The riddle of Amish culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Miller, W. F. (2007). Negotiating with Modernity: Amish Dispute Resolution. Ohio State Journal On Dispute Resolution, 22(2), 477-526.

Peaceful societies an alternative to violence and war. (N.D.). Encyclopedia of Selected Peaceful Societies: Amish. Retrieved Janaury, 10, 2014, from http://www.peacefulsocieties.org/Society/Amish.html# Plett, L. (2008). Refashioning Kleine Gemeinde Women's Dress in Kansas and Manitoba: A Textual Crazy Quilt. Journal Of Mennonite Studies, 26111-131.

Rumsey, S. (2010). Faith in action: heritage literacy as a synchronisation of belief, word and deed Faith in action. Literacy, 44(3), 137-143. doi:10.1111/j.17414369.2010.00561.x Savells, J. (1988). Economic and Social Acculturation Among the Old Order Amish in Select Communities: Surviving In a High-Tech Society. Journal Of Comparative Family Studies, 19(1), 123-135.

Tharp, B. M. (2007). Valued Amish Possessions: Expanding Material Culture and Consumption. Journal Of American Culture, 30(1), 38-53. doi:10.1111/j.1542734X.2007.00463.x Toews, P. (1988). Faith In Culture And Culture In Faith: The Mennonite Brethren In North America. Journal Of Mennonite Studies, 636-50.

Turco, D. (2000). Amish Communities. Parks & Recreation, 35(9), 138.

Waite, D., & Crockett, D. (1997). Whose education? Reform, culture and an Amish Mennonite Community. Theory Into Practice, 36(2), 117.

Weaver-Zercher D. (1999). Putting the Amish to Work: Mennonites and the Amish Culture Market, 1950-1975. Church History, 68(1), 87.

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UNDERSTANDING IDEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES IN EDUCATION POLICY REFORM: A CASE STUDY OF MANDELA AND MBEKI, SOUTH AFRICA 19942008 Lerato Motaung

ABSTRACT This thesis examines the ideological perspectives that have informed political decision-making in post-Apartheid education policy reform and their subsequent impact on Black educational achievement since the advent of democracy. Studies have shown that educational disparities along racial lines, particularly between Black and white South Africans, persist. By examining the development of Apartheid education policy that resulted in the enactment of the Bantu Education Act of 1953, we sought to understand the degree to which post-Apartheid education policy has developed in similar fashion. To that end, we examined the political ideologies and influence of two key political elites in post-Apartheid South Africa: 1) Nelson Mandela, political activist and prisoner and, later, the first democratically elected president, and 2) Thabo Mbeki, second democratically elected president. Our study adopted content analysis as the primary methodological approach best suited to answer the research question: How have the ideological perspectives of South Africa’s political executives influenced education policy, and how have these choices in policy impacted Black educational achievement in the post-Apartheid era? Our findings revealed that post-Apartheid education policy continues to be influenced by political ideologies of the heads of state as they did under Apartheid. Surprisingly, however, unlike the Apartheid state, whose consistent ideological and philosophical approach to education achieved its ends in the intellectual subjugation of the Black majority, the democratic state has changed in accordance with the perspectives of the politics of the day rather than the state. As a result, only access to education has improved for Blacks but not the quality of education.

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Access to quality education is an ongoing concern in modern democracies. It has become a truism in political science literature that the more educated citizens are, the more they participate in the political system by voting and becoming active in the political process, thereby contributing to political stability and safeguarding democracy. This research is situated within political theory and public policy subfields of political science focusing on the role of the state in the provision of public education. To that end, the objective of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the ideological perspectives that have informed political decision-making in post-Apartheid education policy reform and their subsequent impact on Black educational achievement since the onset of the South African democratic project.

The post-Apartheid government of 1994 inherited one of the most unequal societies in the world. Decades of social and economic discrimination against Black South Africans left a legacy of educational inequality along racial lines. For example, just before the 1994 democratic elections in 1990, over 75 percent of all passes in Physical Sciences were obtained by white students and about 12 percent by both Indians and Coloreds, and only one in a thousand Black students achieved grade-12 exit matriculation with mathematics and science as subjects.1 This was achieved through the National Party government’s adoption of the Bantu Education Act of 1953. The Act was authored by Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, whose ideology of separate development of the races became the primary strategy toward the indoctrination of Blacks into perpetual servitude using the school system.2 Apartheid became the ideology of the state and thus every act of government was predicated on achieving its objective of securing the political, economic and social superiority of white society.3 IDEOLOGICAL RATIONALE: APARTHEID EDUCATION POLICY “There is no place for the Bantu (Black person) in the European community above the level of certain forms of labor…What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in practice? That is quite absurd.

Education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live.”

– Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, South African minister for native affairs and future Prime Minister: 1958- 1966 on his government’s education policies in the 1950s.

Apartheid education in South Africa promoted race, class, gender and ethnic divisions that emphasized separateness rather than common citizenship and nationhood. Central to the advancement of the Apartheid government’s aim toward the subjugation of Blacks in South 1

Ibid Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, commonly identified as Dr. H. F. Verwoerd, was native affairs minister and author of the Bantu Education Act of 1953 prior to becoming Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his 2

assassination in 1966. He has been credited with the title of “architect of Apartheid.”

3

Ibid

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Africa was Christian National Education, through which the transmission of Eurocentric values and culture to everyone in the school system was achieved. Thus education became a political battle field where schools were used as instruments to support and legitimize the position of white supremacy and its political interests. The culturally divided population was kept apart in all spheres of society where conformity to and continuity of the ideologies and culture of white South Africa were prioritized.4 PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE: APARTHEID EDUCATION Apartheid educational doctrine focused on control through an authoritarian approach.

Policy and curriculum development was used as an ideological state apparatus to promote the interests of the National Party government, whose philosophical base was fundamental pedagogics. To be clear, when speaking about learning, the philosophy of fundamental pedagogics placed emphasis on innate ideas based on the assumption that in the most extreme versions Blacks had fewer innate ideas than whites. Teaching was thus seen as providing, in the classroom, the well-established facts, exercises and mental drills which would stimulate these ideas in the minds of learners. Knowledge came to be seen as fixed, innately known, and took on a repetitious form ensuring its indoctrination.5 Educational resource disparities between Black and white systems Prior to the enactment of the Bantu Education Act, funding and administration of Black education was controlled by English missionary farm schools. However by 1958, Bantu education became a separate department of state, overseeing administration and funding.

Throughout the implementation of Bantu education, Black schools were afforded minimal educational resources while white learners continued to exclusively thrive under a better-funded system. For example, under the enactment of the 1984 Education Act, expenditure on the average white student was R4 for each R1 spent on a Black student. Similarly the other two nonwhite racial groups similarly managed under a separate education system also received less funding than white students but were considered superior to Blacks. On average an Indian student was allocated R3 and the average for a Colored student was R2.6

4

Ibid

5

Ali A. Abdi, “Apartheid and Education in South Africa: Select Historical Analysis,” The Western Journal

of Black Studies 27, no. 2 (2003): 89-97, accessed November 11, 2014, https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-114700216/apartheid-and-education-in-south-africa-selecthistorical.

6

Duncan Thomas, “Education Across Generations in South Africa,” The American Economic Review 86,

no. 2 (May, 1996): 330-34, accessed November 11, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2118147..

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1984 Education Act The 1984 Education Act established fifteen separate departments of education to implement national education policy with the implication that separate development systems were in effect.7 Clustered according to the four predominant population groups, namely White, Indian, Colored and Black, three main departments of education were established: the Department of National Education for whites, the Departments of Education and Culture (DEC) for whites, Coloreds and Asians respectively, and the Department of Education and Training (DET) for Black education.8 Expectedly and still, the DNE’s resource allocation far exceeded that of the DET despite the fact that black South Africans constituted about seventy three percent of the country’s population.9 According to an International UNESCO Education Server for Democracy, Peace and Human Rights Education 1989 budget breakdown per population group, Blacks who reportedly constituted 74.6 percent of the population received 43 percent of the education compared to the 40 percent for whites who made up only 14 percent of the population. Coloreds (8.8 percent of the population) received 12 percent and Indians (2.6 percent of the population) received 5 percent.10 Clearly these figures demonstrate the extent to which the Apartheid government sought to secure the racial subjugation of Blacks and other non-whites in general. Verwoerd’s solution to the Black problem was well underway.

The advent of democracy in South Africa brought about constitutional reform and sweeping transformative legislation aimed at social redress in order to overturn the effects of Apartheid.

On both sides of the social spectrum, high hopes and tensions collided as Blacks anticipated the realization of a better life for all South Africans irrespective of race, color, creed, gender or sexuality. On the one hand, they were full of hope and enthusiasm for a future that promised to prioritize their needs. Among the most pressing social needs was the immediate transformation of the education system. While on the other, most whites anxiously waited with baited breath to see what this new reality would mean for them. Amid varied perceptions of what democracy would mean for all South Africans, one reality was certain, a Government of National Unity (GNU) led by the African National Congress under Black majority leadership was to be established. Imminent were the tasks of widespread social transformation and the creation of a new non-racist and non-sexist South African society.11 PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES: POST-APARTHEID EDUCATION “The power of education extends beyond the development of the skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation. Our 7

Beverley Lindsay and Richard C. Zath, “South African Education: A System in Need of Structural

Transformation”, Journal of Black Studies 24, no. 4 (June 1994): 462-83, accessed February 1, 2014,http://www.jstor.org/stable/2784565.

8 Ibid 9 Ibid “Characteristics of the Apartheid System (Iii): Social Discrimination,” International UNESCO Education Server for Democracy, Peace and Human Rights Education, 1991, accessed October 9, 2014,http://www.dadalos.org/int/menschenrechte/grundkurs_mr5/Apartheid/apartheid/bestandteile/gesellschaft.htm #Bildungsausgaben.

10

11

Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (London: Abacus, 1995), 720-45.

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Mandela and Mbeki 63 previous system emphasized the physical and other differences of South Africans with devastating effects. We are steadily but surely introducing education that enables our children to exploit their similarities and common goals, while appreciating the strength in their diversity.” ~ Nelson R. Mandela

The South African Apartheid resistance movement believed that education should reflect the existential situation of the people. In this sense Black students had begun to critically evaluate their future roles in society and the manner in which the education system was to prepare them to fulfill those roles. While the Bantu Education Act of 1953 was designed to reinforce passive acceptance among Blacks of perpetual servitude in a racist capitalist society, it was the deteriorating material conditions including education in Black townships that produced generations of increasingly radicalized students. In the end, it was the youth who not only redefined their own role in society but articulated new visions of an equal, non-racial and democratic post-Apartheid society.12 Therefore, given that Black resistance was supported by a philosophy of equality in the face of oppression and exploitation, the pertinent question contemplated at that point was how and by what methods did the leaders of the movement envisage achieving their vision for equality?

Would South Africa continue to follow Western philosophical approaches to education? How would these be modified for application in the nation’s new socio-political reality? Below is an overview of the prevailing philosophical traditions that have shaped education in Western societies.

Philosophy of Education: Two Perspectives in Western Traditional Thought Western perspectives on the purpose of education emanated from two philosophical ideas, idealism and realism, derived from ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. On the one hand, Plato’s idealism argues that the aim of education is to discover and develop each individual’s abilities and full moral excellence in order to better serve society. Thus the curricular emphasis is placed on subject matter of mind: literature, history, philosophy and religion. Teaching methods focus on handling ideas through lecture, discussion, and Socratic dialogue.13 On the other, Aristotle’s realism purports that the ultimate reality is the world of physical objects. In this metaphysical view, the aim of education should be to develop rational thinking, where teaching methods focus on mastery of facts and basic skills through demonstration and recitation. In the end, curriculum should be scientifically approached, standardized, and distinct-discipline based. For idealists, character is developed through imitating examples and heroes. Conversely, realists hold that character is developed through training in rules of conduct. Over time five tenets of the philosophy of education developed from idealism and realism and have been adopted by Western school systems. Table 1 below provides

12

Peter L. Berger and Bobby Godsell, A Future South Africa: Visions, Strategy and Realities (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1988), 145-80.

“Philosophy of Education,” University of Mumbai, accessed November 20, 2014,http://www.mu.ac.in/myweb_test/MA%20Education-Philosophy/Chapter-5.pdf.

13

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a summary of these such that we may work our way toward understanding the tradition that postApartheid education policy espoused toward the development of new visions for the future.14 Table 1: Western Educational Philosophies and Comparisons Chart Philosophical Perspective

Aims

Essentialism (Authoritarian)

Traditional education. Development of the mind. Core curriculum. Reality is based on the physical world. Citizens of democracy need critical thinking skills and civic values. Teacher-directed learning. Appreciation of master works of art and literature.

Perennialism (Authoritarian)

Some ideas are perennial (timeless) and should be taught to all. Emphasis on general, liberal humanities. Education should shape rational mind. Studies should include great thinkers of the past. Prepare students for adult life.

Teacher-centered curriculum.

Behaviorism (Authoritarian)

No such thing as free will. Learning is a physiological response to stimuli.

Behavior can be modified by using positive rather than negative reinforcements to shape and refine learning.

Progressivism (Democratic)

Application of experience and science to problem-solving. School is a microcosm of society. Real life curriculum that optimizes inquisitive and active learning style of students. Experiential and cooperative learning techniques to be utilized. Student-centered curriculum.

Existentialism (Democratic)

Focus on individual. No universal reality, only what individual perceives it to be. Education should aim to develop the whole person. Subject matter takes second place to develop positive self-concept, knowledge and responsibility. Student-centered curriculum.

Source: gradcourses.rio.edu STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The Constitution (1996) sets out executive authority as follows: Powers of the president Section 85 of the Constitution outlines executive authority of the Republic vested in the president as the head of state. The president is to exercise this authority together with the other members of the Cabinet by implementing national legislation except where the Constitution or an Act of Parliament provides otherwise. Thus developing and implementing national policy; coordinating the functions of state departments and administrations; preparing and initiating “Educational Philosophies Definitions and Comparison Chart,� Teachers as Leaders, accessed February 28,

14

2015, http://gradcourses.rio.edu/leaders/philosophies.htm.

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Mandela and Mbeki 65 legislation; and performing any other executive function provided for in the Constitution or in national legislation.

Although the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 guarantees the right to free access to equitable quality education for all South Africans, disparities in educational achievement between Black and white South Africans persist, albeit major causes can be directly attributed to the legacy of racial discrimination in Apartheid education policy.

Blacks continue to perform poorly despite redress efforts made by the government since the dismantling of the Apartheid state. A 2003 University of Michigan Institute for Social Research study titled “Family Structure, Schooling Outcomes, and Investment in Education, South Africa” concludes that substantial racial disparities in schooling outcomes exist between blacks and whites. In fact, there is a gap of three grades between the completed schooling of whites and Blacks, particularly in literacy and numeracy skills.15 These statistics provide a basis for concern and impetus for investigation into the factors that contribute to continued low educational outputs of the education system given that, unlike under Apartheid, the South African government invests about 20 percent of total state expenditure (R254 billion) in education for all population groups making up its single largest budget item.16 The primary objective of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the ideological perspectives that have informed political decision-making in post-Apartheid education policy reform and their subsequent impact on Black educational achievement since the advent of democracy. In other words, how have subsequent political elites’ ideologies influenced education policy choices? Since the passing of the 1996 South African Schools Act, South Africa has changed its education policy framework on three occasions; however our investigation focuses only on the first two. To that end, we examine the ideological perspectives of the first two democratically elected presidencies of Nelson Mandela (1994 – 1999) and Thabo Mbeki (1999 – 2008) respectively. Due to the enforced fragmented nature of the Apartheid system, the pre-1994 statistical system in South Africa was deeply distorted. Detailed analysis was available on the three of the four population groups, white, Colored and Indian while little data was available on Black South Africans who constituted more than 70 percent of the population.17 Thus the scope of our study will be limited to the available statistical data on Black educational achievement during the periods in which Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki took office as state presidents.

CENTRAL RESEARCH QUESTION How have the ideological perspectives of South Africa’s post-apartheid political executives’ influenced education policy choices and how have these choices in policy impacted Black educational achievement in the post-Apartheid era?

15

Kermyt G. Anderson, “Family Structure, Schooling Outcomes, and Investment in Education in South

Africa,”The Population Studies Center Reports (PSC) at the University of Michigan 3, no. 538 (September 2003): 127, accessed October 18, 2014, http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr03-538.pdf.

16

Luis Crouch, “Will 'Things' or Will Knowledge and Ideas Fuel South Africa's Growth?”, The Journal of

Negro Education 66, no. 4 (Autumn 1997): 468-82, accessed February 1, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668174.

17

“Statistical Reform in South Africa,” Statistics South 2014,http://www.statssa.gov.za/nss/documents/Statistical_Reform.pdf.

Africa,

accessed

November

20,

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CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF LITERATURE “We have at last achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another – Free at last! Free at last! This is a time to heal old wounds and build a new South Africa.”18 - Nelson Mandela (May 1994) Archetypal Apartheid was developed to its epitome under Hendrik Verwoerd. It represented a brutal, massive, but almost heroic attempt on the then ethnically solitary National Party of the time to secure a correspondence between nation and territory for whites by imposing an order much more incisive than race segregation.19 When the National Party won the election of 1948, a full barrage of legislative, economic and administrative strategies followed bringing about a new era in the South African social order where racial discrimination became systematically institutionalized. First, this study focuses on the impact that Hendrik Verwoerd’s influence had in his authorship of one such law, the Bantu Education Act of 1953 that established a separate and inferior education system for Black South Africans.20 Secondly,the demise of Apartheid and the advent of a new democracy resulted in the need to transform the education landscape. The racially divided structure of Apartheid education into separate departments with discriminatory funding policies evidenced in the capitation for Black and white students where the per capita expenditure for a white student was five times that for a Black student meant that there would be an enormous diversity and inequality of schools' educational outcomes between the races.21 This literature review studies the prevailing body of scholarship on the post-Apartheid South African education system. First, the review will examine the general characteristics of the body of knowledge on the subject by highlighting the similarities and differences covered in the research. Next, we identify gaps in the literature so as to provide the basis for further analysis with an intention to add to the existing literature.

To that end, the review is organized by addressing three prevailing themes in current literature: 1) educational decentralization in South Africa, 2) poverty and inequality of 18

Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (London: Abacus, 1995), 720-45.

19

Peter L. Berger and Bobby Godsell, A Future South Africa: Visions, Strategy and Realities (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1988), 8-10.

20 There were 15 fragmented departments of education with a disproportionate allocation of resources to white schools mandated by Apartheid with the implication that separate development systems were in effect (Lindsay, Zath 1994).

21

Umesh Ramnarain, “The Achievement Goal Orientation of Disadvantaged Physical Sciences Students

from South Africa”, Journal of Baltic Science Education 12, no. 2 (February 12, 2013): 139-51, accessed February 28, 2014,http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=98d1199d-696c-4caa-a6a04ccb7e1679ee%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4108.

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educational opportunities and 3) persisting gaps in academic achievement between Black and white students in the post-Apartheid era.

EDUCATIONAL DECENTRALIZATION Much of the research conducted on South African education after the demise of the Apartheid system generally focuses on the aims of the reforms established to redress the inequalities of that system since the advent of democracy. In their analyses most authors are concerned with the extent to which education reform undertaken by the new Government of National Unity (GNU), and an integrated education system have served to improve educational achievements between previously disadvantaged Black, Colored and Indian students in comparison to their privileged white counterparts.

According to a study by Yusuf Sayed (1997), educational decentralization refers to three broad dimensions of education policy: administrative, political and ideological. In that study, Sayed states that the idea of decentralization of education systems around the world began with the 1988 Education Reform Act of England and Wales and the “Tomorrow’s Schools” report of the Australian government and the changes that resulted thereafter.22 In South Africa, educational decentralization may be understood in the context of the efforts that followed the ratification of the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996 23 and the passing of the South African Schools Act (SASA) also in 1996.24 Sayed reports that discourses in educational decentralization in South Africa find expression and support in the policies of both the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government and the previously ruling National Party which for a period of three years after the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 was a member of the new GNU. Albeit their notions on integration and decentralization may have been interrelated, they were also contradictory.

Using the Department of the Western Cape Province as reference to support his findings, Sayed argues that the benefits of integration and decentralization of the education system at provincial levels were likely to redefine inequalities resulting from a racially based social organization and not completely eliminate them. Furthermore, while on the one hand the government’s reform efforts may have led to a non-racial public school system, on the other the benefits of the system remain questionable for the majority of students as issues of equity and quality prove a persisting challenge.25 Consistent with Sayed’s views, another prominent scholar on South African education policy issues, Dr. Jonathan Jansen’s critical analysis of post-Apartheid curriculum reform argues that there exists a general belief that the goals the new government set out to achieve under an 22

Yusuf Sayed, “Understanding Educational Decentralization in Post-Apartheid South Africa”, The Journal

of Negro Education 66, no. 4 (Autumn 1997): 354-65, accessed February 28, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668163.

23

Section 29 of Chapter two (Bill of Rights) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) states that Every South African has the right to a basic education including adult basic education and further education which the state through reasonable measures must make progressively available and accessible.

24 The South African Schools Act (1996) makes provision for a uniform system for the organization, governance and funding of schools and to amend and repeal certain laws relating to schools; and to provide for matters connected therewith. SASA represents the officially authorized philosophy of school governance in South Africa and integrates preceding theories on education.

25 Ibid6

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integrated system are being met at an alarmingly slow rate.26 Jansen states that despite twenty years into democracy, integration, and efforts in curriculum reform, the education system only works for about 20 percent of South Africa’s schools and that the remaining 80 percent are marked by low pass rates, few university passes, and small numbers passing in gateway subjects of Mathematics and Physical Sciences (Jansen; Blank 2014).27 Furthermore, Jansen asserts that the Ministry of Education’s three attempts in national curriculum reform initiatives focused on schools since 1994 should be a cause for concern because it signals a lack of clarity regarding South Africa’s philosophy of education in the postApartheid era. In the first attempt the GNU sought to purge the Apartheid curriculum of racially offensive and outdated content; secondly, continuous assessment into schools were introduced; and thirdly, the most ambitious curriculum policy, outcomes-based education (OBE), against which Jansen has been a prolific critic, contending that its adoption as the national curriculum had no historical legacy upon which to base that decision in the South African context.28 Similarly, Soudien and Baxen (1997) reported that the difficulties of reconstruction and social renewal were great and demand levels of commitment that challenge entrenched sensibilities about the nature of the world and its organization. Questions of epistemology and ontology expressed as indices of power, knowledge, inclusion, access, legitimacy, coherence, integration, equity and equality of opportunity have been particularly sublimated in the discourse of reform in favor of narrow notions of progress.29 Put another way, Sigamoney Naicker (2006) wrote that while there had been sufficient reason to be highly optimistic about the future of decentralization of education after Apartheid in South Africa, the caveat was not to underestimate the challenges and complexities of developing a single, integrated system for all students regardless of race, gender, sexuality or socio-economic status.30 POVERTY AND INEQUALITY IN EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY According to a study conducted by Umesh Ramnarain titled “The Achievement Goal Orientation of Disadvantaged Physical Science Students from South Africa" (2013), large-scale research revealed that South African students continue to score lower than their counterparts in other developing countries on comparative tests such as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS). Particularly, Black educational achievement scores continue to be significantly lower than white scores. To provide perspective, Ramnarain’s study also reported 26

Jonathan D. Jansen, “Curriculum Reform in South Africa: A Critical Analysis of Outcomes Based

Education”,Cambridge Journal of Education 28, no. 3 (1998): 321-31, accessed April 11, 2014,http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0305764980280305#.U0_3KlVdWSp. 27

Jonathan Jansen and Molly Blank, How to Fix South Africa's Schools (Johannesburg: Bookstorm, 2014),

15-89.

28

Ibid9

29

Craine Soudien and Jean Baxen, “Transformation and Outcomes-Based Education in South Africa:

Opportunities and Challenges,” The Journal of Negro Education 66, no. 4 (Autumn 1997): 449-59, accessed February 3, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668172.

30

Sigamoney Naicker, “From Policy to Practice: A South African Perspective On Implementing Inclusive

Education Policy,” International Journal of Whole Schooling 3, no. 1 (2006): 1-6, accessed November 20, 2014,http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ847472.pdf.

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that in 1990 (prior to democracy), over 75 percent of all passes in the physical sciences were obtained by white students and about 12 percent by both Indians and Coloreds, and only one in a 1000 Black students achieved Grade 12 exit matriculation with Mathematics and Science as subjects.31 Luis Crouch’s analysis of the macroeconomic impact of low educational outcomes on South Africa’s economic growth and development, argues that while poverty is a valid indicator and/or factor contributing to low educational achievement, it is not the whole story.32 He demonstrates that despite the large share of public monies going to education in contrast to Apartheid, increased financing of education for the poor has not realized matching returns on that investment due to sources of inefficiency located in critical structural areas of the education system.33 In another study, Servaas van der Berg (2000) demonstrated that socio-economic differentials still played a major role in educational outcomes at the primary school level in South Africa. The data showed as had been done in an earlier study using matriculation data for the secondary school level that the school system was not yet systematically able to overcome inherited socio-economic disadvantage especially for poor schools.34 To consider then that economic mobility in the South African labor market correlates with higher levels of educational attainment, differential school outcomes were likely to translate into large inequalities in labor market outcomes.35 PERSISTING GAPS IN BLACK/WHITE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT “The racism we meet daily does not only exist on an individual basis; it is institutionalized to make it look like the South African way of life. Stupidly enough, the system turns back to say that Blacks are inferior because they have no economics, engineers etc. although it is systematically made impossible for them to acquire these skills.” ~ Bantu Steven Biko, Black Consciousness and the Quest for True Humanity (1978) In an article providing a select historical analysis of Apartheid education in South Africa, Ali A. Abdi asserts that unfortunately for Blacks, the social development engineering of Hendrik 31

Umesh Ramnarain, “The Achievement Goal Orientation of Disadvantaged Physical Sciences Students from

South Africa”, Journal of Baltic Science Education 12, no. 2 (February 12, 2013): 139-51, accessed February 28, 2014,http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=98d1199d-696c-4caa-a6a04ccb7e1679ee%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4108.

32

Luis Crouch, “Will 'Things' or Will Knowledge and Ideas Fuel South Africa's Growth?”, The Journal of

Negro Education 66, no. 4 (Autumn 1997): 468-82, accessed February 1, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668174.

33

Ibid

34

Servaas van der Berg, “How Effective Are Poor Schools? Poverty and Educational Outcomes in South

Africa,” Center for European, Governance and Economic Development Research 69 (January 2008): 1, accessed November 27, 2014, http://hdl.handle.net/10419/32027.

35

Ibid

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Verwoerd and his racist collaborations was evidently a great success. For example, he reported that while only 7.4 percent of architects were Black, only 0.1 percent of engineers were Black and that in 1994 there was not a single Black actuary in the country. Not surprisingly for the beneficiaries of Apartheid, any of these highly regarded, high-paying jobs that demand a certain level of Mathematical dexterity were to remain, as far as Black South Africans were concerned, forbidden pastures that they were not to tread. Ironically, as Blacks were being denied opportunities to acquire the necessary training to excel in these professional domains, they were also being accused of intellectual and employment underachievement in these same areas using prevailing theories supporting the racialization of intelligence and other human capacities.

Although of late there is a feeble attempt to gloss over the overt racist elements in the system, it is still true that the system derives its nourishment from the existence of anti-Black attitudes in the society. To make the lie live even longer, Blacks have to be denied any chance of accidentally proving their equality to the white man. ~ Bantu Steven Biko Kermyt G. Anderson, Case and Lam’s (2001) study showed that mean years of schooling by years of age from the 1995 October Household Survey (OHS) for the four population groups that were used under Apartheid and continue to be used in most South African surveys: white, Black, Colored, and Indian.36 They elaborate that years of schooling in this case refers to the highest grade completed, and does not necessarily correspond to the actual number of years individuals spent in the school system. The OHS sample was 70.3 percent Black, 13.5 percent Colored, 12.5 percent white, and 3.6 percent Indian.37 Not surprisingly they report, there was a substantial schooling advantage for whites, although the gap has narrowed across more recent cohorts.38 For the oldest age groups the gap between whites and Blacks is almost 8 years, while for younger cohorts it is around 3 years.39 Schooling for the Indian population has become roughly equal with that of whites and the mean schooling of Black and Colored populations appeared to have converged among recent cohorts.40 Studies comparing the Science achievement of students from different groups show that that students from high Socio-Economic Status (SES) groups tend to outperform those from lower SES groups. Likewise, in South Africa, students from lower SES groups perform poorly in comparison to those from higher SES groups, where SES is associated with possessions in the

36

Kermyt G. Anderson, Anne Case, and David Lam, “Causes and Consequences of Schooling Outcomes in

South Africa: Evidence from Survey Data,” Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies 27, no. 1 (2001): 37-59, accessed November 26, 2014, https://www.princeton.edu/rpds/papers/Anderson_Case_Lam_Causes_and_Consequences_SD.pdf.

37

Ibid Ibid 39 Ibid 40 Ibid 38

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home and the expanded opportunities which the home provides to students.41 However, the relationship between family structure and schooling outcomes has not been extensively examined in South African education research. The existing studies that have been done have focused on small, regional, or non-representative samples. Anderson and Lam (2003), using a sample of young adults living in Cape Town, found significant probability of passing a grade where whites have completed more grades than Blacks and were most likely to be currently enrolled in school. Whites also have completed more grades per year, indicating faster progression through school where they on average, have completed 0.91 grades per year, and Blacks 0.78 grades per year.42 Similarities in post-Apartheid education research also present identifiable gaps.

According to the South African National Research Foundation while qualitative research on post-Apartheid education policy has persuasive merits, it has not focused on what has worked in education over the last twenty years that may be replicated across the country. In that way, serve to augment the initial successes of educational transformation espoused by democracy, desegregation of South African society as well as efforts that have been made to afford quality education to all students in South Africa, regardless of socio-economic status or racial background as had been the case under the Apartheid system.

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY The objective of the study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the ideological perspectives that have informed political decision-making in post-Apartheid education policy reform. We focus on the first two leaders of the post-Apartheid state, former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, to determine how they have influenced policy decisions in education and the subsequent impact on Black educational achievement since the advent of democracy. To do this, the author has identified thematic content analysis as the most appropriate qualitative methodological technique used in political science for the purposes of pursuing opportunities to further our understanding of political behaviors.43 In the first instance, the primary data set will be obtained from official speeches delivered

by Mandela and Mbeki during their tenures as state presidents between 1994 and 2008. More specifically, the author will analyze two types of speeches: 1) presidential inaugural speeches (May 10, 1994: Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as state president, June 16, 1999 and September 24, 2004: Thabo Mbeki’s inauguration address as state president) and 2) State of the Nation Address speeches, which are delivered every year at the opening of parliament during a joint

41

Anne Case and Angus Deaton, “School Inputs and Educational Outcomes,” Quarterly Journal of

economics (1999): 1, accessed November 27, 2014, https://www.princeton.edu/~deaton/downloads/School_Inputs_and_Educational_Outcomes_in_South_Africa. pdf.

42 Ibid 43

239.

Craig Leonard Brians et al., Empirical Political Analysis, 8th ed. (Boston: Longman Pearson, 2011), 194-

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sitting of the Houses of Parliament44 (between 1994 and 2008: one by Nelson Mandela on May 24, 1994 and nine by Thabo Mbeki from 2000-2008). Thematic content analysis of these speeches will help us to determine underlying political attitudes and policy preferences that may enable us to postulate meanings and to explain actions, trends or themes that have influenced political decision-making on education during their presidencies.45 And secondly, in order to assess the impact that post-Apartheid education policy has had on Black educational achievement, we will examine Grade 12 national assessment test results (primary data set) which the national Department of Basic Education (DBE)46 uses as the principal instrument to determine how successfully the system is working. The parameters of our examination will be limited to the assessment results between 1999, when data sets first became available, and 2008, when Thabo Mbeki’s term in office ended. By studying the level of achievement before and after the enactment of the South African Schools Act and subsequent policy frameworks, we will explore whether and how there is a correlation between education policy and achievement scores.

TYPES OF DATA TO BE COLLECTED Primary data: Speeches by Nelson Mandela may be accessed online at www.nelsonmandela.org as published by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and speeches by Thabo Mbeki may be found at http://www.dfa.gov.za/docs/speeches/mbeki.htm as published by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation for the Republic of South Africa. All sets of speeches by Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki are also available at the African National Congress (ANC) website at www.anc.org.za. The ANC is South Africa’s ruling majority party, to which both men were first presidents prior to ascending to national government. 47 Secondary data: Scholarly analysis of the Department of Basic Education publishes the National Senior Certificate results following Grade 12 national matriculation examinations taken at the end of each academic year. The researcher will refer to data reported through peerreviewed journal articles on education in South Africa as categorized by race.

In order to ensure the reliability of data collection procedures, the researcher will only utilize printed or online books by major publications, scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles and publications accessed online from Jstor.org, Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC) sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education website: www.eric.ed.gov, Google scholar and EBSCO Host accessed via the Johnson C. Smith University James B. Duke Library’s online portal. The researcher will cite all sources 44

The Republic of South Africa (RSA) is a constitutional democracy consisting of three structures of government, namely: national, provincial and local governments with a bicameral Parliament (two Houses) supported by a joint administration: the National Assembly which American equivalent of the House of Representatives directly elected by the voters, and the National Council of Provinces which is elected by the provinces and represents them to ensure that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government. Unlike during Apartheid, where the head of state was referred to as Prime Minister, the post-Apartheid leader is referred to as the President of the Republic, supported by a deputy president.

45 Ibid3 46

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) was formed when the then National Department of Education was split into two: DBE and the Department of Higher Education and Training. DBE has been tasked with overseeing primary and secondary education in South Africa.

47 In South Africa, the leader of the winning political party also becomes the president of the country.

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from which numerical data is referenced and tables used to show or quantify the extent to which post-Apartheid education policy has impacted Black educational achievement.

RESEARCH DELIMITATIONS Due to the enforced fragmented nature of the Apartheid system, the pre-1994 statistical system in South Africa was deeply distorted. Detailed analysis was available on the three of the four population groups, white, Colored, and Indian, while little data was available on Black South Africans, who constituted more than 70 percent of the population.48 Thus the scope of our study will be limited to the available statistical data on Black educational achievement during the periods in which Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki took office as state presidents. For clarity, although Nelson Mandela took office in 1994, comprehensive Black educational achievement data does not become available until 1999. This is because systematic institutional changes only began to take effect after the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa No. 108 of 1996 was ratified, followed by the South African Schools Act, also passed in 1996. These two founding documents provided the framework through which education reform was to be undertaken.

This study does not aim to prove a causal relationship between the executives’ ideological standpoints and Black educational achievement, rather our objective is to ascertain the degree to which the political ideologies of post-1994 political executives have influenced education policy choices as they did during Apartheid and subsequently evaluate how these choices have impacted Black educational achievement. Also, our study does not extend to the period when Thabo Mbeki was succeeded by Jacob Zuma as the third democratically elected state president (2008 to present) because to do so would require more time and resources not currently available.

The sections that follow discuss the transition from Apartheid to democracy following the historic release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners in 1990 that subsequently led to the fall of the Apartheid system in April 1994. As such lead our discussion to an analysis of Nelson Mandela as the first democratically elected president of the Republic followed by Thabo Mbeki who succeeded him after only one term in office.49 THE DEMOCRATIC STATE AND EDUCATION REFORM When the African National Congress won the majority vote following the first democratic election on April 27, 1994, Black education once again took center stage as the scene for reform and resistance toward dismantling white supremacy. The strategic logic of the reformists sought to create Black institutions capable of producing a Black buffer class through education by reversing the deeds of Apartheid education.

Policy, Strategy and Impact on Black Achievement

48

“Statistical Reform in South Africa,” Statistics South Africa, accessed November 2014,http://www.statssa.gov.za/nss/documents/Statistical_Reform.pdf.

49 The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) sets one political term in office at five years where presidents may be elected to a maximum of two terms or ten years in office.

20,

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Education White Paper 6 on inclusive education (2001) describes the government’s intent to implement inclusive education at all levels in the system by 2020, facilitating the inclusion of vulnerable learners and reducing barriers to learning. The Preamble to the South African Schools Act, which became law in November 1996, explains its rationale as follows: [This] country requires a new national system for schools which will redress past injustices in educational provision, provide an education of progressively high quality for all learners and in so doing lay a strong foundation for the development of all our people’s talents and capabilities, advance the democratic transformation of society, combat racism and sexism and all other forms of unfair discrimination and intolerance, contribute to the eradication of poverty and the economic well-being of society, protect and advance our diverse cultures and languages, uphold the rights of all learners, parents and educators, and promote their acceptance of responsibility for the organization, governance and funding of schools in partnership with the State. (Republic of South Africa, 1996c) After assuming office in April 1994, the Government of National Unity, led by the African National Congress (ANC), responded to the pressing need to create a consolidated education system based on non-racial, non-sexist and non-discrimination principles stipulated by the new Constitution (1996). Under the Constitution, the right to equal opportunity to basic education is guaranteed for all citizens.50 To that end, the post-Apartheid Department of Basic Education derives its mandate from three key policy provisions as ratified by Parliament.

First, the South African Schools Act No. 84 1996 (SASA) sets out the laws for uniform governance and funding of schools. The Act recognized that a new national system for schools was needed to redress past injustices. It thus supports the rights of learners, educators and parents and sets out the duties and responsibilities of the state. In the spirit of the Constitution, access, quality, and democratic governance in the schooling system are emphasized. School was made compulsory for all children of school-going age from seven to fifteen to ensure that all learners actualize their right to access quality education without discrimination.

Second, to supplement the provisions of SASA, the National Education Policy Act of 1996 sets the framework for monitoring responsibilities of the minister of education, as well as the formal relations between national and provincial authorities. And third, the Employment of Educators Act of 1998 regulates the professional, moral and ethical responsibilities of educators,51 as well as the competency requirements for teachers.52 The goal of Apartheid was to enforce and increase de jure segregation that already existed in the country. Legislation enforced institutional discrimination so that the quality of education, employment, housing and other opportunities varied greatly along racial lines, with whites 50

“Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996,” South Africa Government Online, March 3, 2014,

accessed March 3, 2014, http://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/index.html.

51

The words “educator” and “teacher” are used interchangeably in South Africa with a preference for the

former.

52

Yusuf Sayed, “Understanding Educational Decentralization in Post-Apartheid South Africa”, The Journal

of Negro Education 66, no. 4 (Autumn 1997): 354-65, accessed February 28, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668163.

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having the greatest access to resources and Blacks the least.53 As a result, racial disparities impacted every aspect of life substantially achieved through discriminatory educational provision that resulted in stark differences in schooling outcomes, demonstrable by a gap of three grades between the completed schooling of whites and Blacks; where literacy and numeracy skills of Blacks were lower than that of whites and all other racial groups; and where extreme variances in school quality and public investment in schooling infrastructure of white surpassed that of Black schools.

As referred to earlier, Umesh Ramnarain’s study on the achievement of disadvantaged students in Physical Science education showed that in 1990 over 75 percent of all passes in Physical Sciences were obtained by white students and about 12 percent by Indians and Coloreds. And only 1 in 1000 Black students achieved matriculation (Grade12) with Mathematics and Science as subjects.54 Additionally, another study showed that even though white and Black enrollment rates were nearly equal by 1995 for example at 98 and 95 percent respectively, Blacks were more likely to fail or repeat grades at a higher rate than whites and thus advanced through school at a slower rate. Fundamental to note here is that grade retention has been shown to have significant impact on subsequent schooling outcomes as previous grade failure is used to predict future academic performance.55 The implications of these narratives of Black educational achievement considerably impacted future employment and income trajectories of many Black families.

CHAPTER FOUR DATA ANALYSIS Mandela's inaugural address was highly symbolic. He demonstrated that South Africa had rejoined the world community after a long period of isolation under Apartheid. Although he does not address issues of education per se in this inaugural address, he sets the tone regarding the kind of South Africa people should imagine: We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both Black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity – a rainbow nation at peace with itself.

While it is difficult to assess the precise impact of any speech, Mandela's inaugural address helped to promote the reconciliation agenda that was to be the hallmark of his

53

Kermyt G. Anderson, “Family Structure, Schooling Outcomes, and Investment in Education in South

Africa,”The Population Studies Center Reports (PSC) at the University of Michigan 3, no. 538 (September 2003): 127, accessed October 18, 2014, http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr03-538.pdf.

54

Umesh Ramnarain, “The Achievement Goal Orientation of Disadvantaged Physical Sciences Students

from South Africa”, Journal of Baltic Science Education 12, no. 2 (February 12, 2013): 139-51, accessed February 28, 2014,http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=98d1199d-696c-4caa-a6a04ccb7e1679ee%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4108.

55 Ibid 24

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presidency. Both Blacks and whites were uplifted by his explicit commitment to bridging the chasms that had divided the two communities.

State of the Nation Address (1994) “Consistent with our objective of creating a people-centered society and effectively to address the critical questions of growth, reconstruction and development, we will together with organized labor and the private sector, pay special attention to the issues of human resource and not a cost. Education and training must therefore be looked at very closely to ensure that we empower the workers, raise productivity levels and meet the skills of a modern economy – where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.”

From this transcript, we found that Mandela’s choice of words may be understood to be consistent with a neo-Marxist social agenda that prioritizes the needs of the people over those of business. He states that his government is one whose objective is to create a people-centered society where special attention is to be paid to issues of human resources and not on cost.

Mandela charged his administration to ensure that education and training was such that it empowers workers and restores human dignity. His directive led to the Reconstruction and Development Program, initiated as the mechanism through which government agenda would be realized. Its goals were to ensure that the fundamentals were in place with little regard for fiscal discipline. In the case of education, policy implementation relied heavily on stated claims to address inequalities, confront the Apartheid legacy, promise equity, redress, democracy, transformation, quality, lifelong education and training, access for all for which implementation capacity was subsequently undermined by economic choices.56 Findings from Thabo Mbeki’s Speeches We will continue to confront these challenges so as to erase in our country that which is ugly and repulsive so that together we can speak of freedom and the happiness that comes with liberty. An examination of education and skills acquisition shows improvement of quite a high base by 2004, though at a slow pace. This applies to literacy levels, gross school enrollment and tertiary participation rates. The fluctuating Matric pass rates do indicate that much more needs to be done to stabilize the system and ensure steady improvement. At the same time, the number of Matric students who pass Mathematics at the higher

56

Jonathan D. Jansen, “Political Symbolism as a Policy Craft: Explaining Non-Reform in South African

Education After Apartheid,” Journal of Education Policy 17, no. 2 (2002): 199-215, accessed November 18, 2014,http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/02680939.asp.

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Mandela and Mbeki 77 grade is only slightly better than in 1995. We also continue to show weaknesses in implementing the Adult Basic Education program.

Dissimilar to Mandela’s tone, President Thabo Mbeki’s speeches take on a reporting voice, concerned primarily with fiscal strength in the economy. When referring to education, Mbeki makes a clear link between education and access to the job market. He expresses throughout his messaging that the economy was the way to empowerment and thus his administration ended Mandela’s RDP and replaced it with the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA). Through the new program, every government policy was amended to focus toward economic empowerment by instituting such programs as affirmative action in education and economic policy. Examining his word choices and use of language, our analysis found that Mbeki was driven by a more neo-Liberal with a fiscally conservative economic agenda as opposed to a neo-Marxist one, a move that would ultimately lead to an abrupt end to his presidency when he was asked to step down by the ANC on September 25, 2005.

Post-transition Period: Mandela Years, May 1994 – June 1999 “Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom.” ~ Nelson R. Mandela Prior to South Africa’s first democratic election in April 1994, the ANC drafted a 150 page document which formed the basis of its election manifesto known as the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP), outlining its plan to 1) create jobs through public works, 2) to build a million new houses with electricity and flushing toilets, 3) to extend primary health care and 4) to provide ten years of free education for all South Africans.57 The RDP was also an ideological reference point that seemed to confirm the political and historical continuity between an earlier document (the Freedom Charter) and the realities of post-Apartheid South Africa.

As an attempt to produce a consensus that would tie a newly elected ANC government to a labor-driven development program, Nelson Mandela spearheaded negotiations for a growth and redistribution policy which was envisioned towards meeting the basic needs of the people containing elements of social security in return for support from the labor movement collective led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). From 1994 – 1996, the RDP soon became the paradigm within which all development policies were to be discussed located in the RDP Office within the Mandela Presidency.58

57

Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (London: Abacus, 1995), 720-45.

“Growth, Employment and Redistribution: A Macro-Economic Strategy,” National Department of Treasury: Republic of South Africa, accessed November 20, 2014,http://www.treasury.gov.za/publications/other/gear/chapters.pdf.

58

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Curriculum 2005 From the RDP, the Mandela administration introduced Curriculum 2005 in 1996 as a counter hegemonic strategy to the dogmatic, authoritarian, teacher based, racist, sexist Apartheid curriculum that perpetuated the status quo. Deliberately intended to simultaneously overturn the legacy of Apartheid education and catapult South Africa into the 21st Century, Curriculum 2005 was an innovation both bold and revolutionary in the magnitude of its conception. As the first major curriculum statement of a democratic government, it signaled a dramatic break from the past. No longer would curriculum shape and be shaped by narrow visions, concerns, and identities. No longer would it reproduce the limited interests of any one particular grouping at the expense of another. It would bridge all, and encompass all. Education and training, content and skills, values and knowledge: all would find a place in Curriculum 2005. The success of Curriculum 2005 was necessary because of the value that had been vested in it as an instrument of social change and educational achievement by broad layers of a new society.

There is consensus among policy analysts about a widely observed policy and practice within South Africa’s education since the inauguration of the Government of National Unity in April 1994 under the Mandela Administration. In terms of the goals set for educational transformation since the change of government the following are prominent: 1) equity, because of the gross levels of inequality in education funding, something reflected in the visible disparities between former-white and Black schools; 2) efficiency, because of the high levels of wastage expressed in terms of high dropout and repetition rates; 3) quality, because of the documented poor quality of teaching and learning in schools; 4) effectiveness, because of the poor response in educational performance to the high levels of funding to education; and 5) democracy, because of the legacy of authoritarian practices in education generally and the lack of parental participation in school governance.59 In the first instance the aims of President Mandela’s term in office was to achieve a critical mass of Black students enrolled in school.

More importantly, to ensure that girl-children in particular had access to educational opportunities.

Transformation: Thabo Mbeki Presidency June 1999 – September 2008 “I don't imagine Heads of Government would ever be able to say I'm not an economist therefore I can't take decisions on matters of the economy; I'm not a soldier I can't take decisions on matters of defense; I'm not an educationist so I can't take decisions about education.” ~ Thabo M. Mbeki Although Mandela’s objective of improving access to educational opportunity was clearly being met as shown by various reports on improved enrollment rates, Curriculum 2005 fell short of improving the quality aspiration expressed in both the Constitution and the South 59

Jonathan Jansen and Nick Taylor, “Educational Change in South Africa 1994-2003: Case Studies in Large-

Scale Education Reform,”Education Reform and Management Publication Series 2, no. 1 (October 2003): 1-61, accessed November 19, 2014,http://jet.org.za/publications/research/Jansen%20and%20Taylor_World%20Bank%20report.pdf.

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African Schools Act of 1996. The system had changed, however it had become increasingly apparent that the epistemological issues inherited from the fundamental pedagogical philosophy of Apartheid education were persisting.60 Thus clashes between the authoritarian nature of Apartheid education and the liberal approach of Inclusive Education presented new challenges of quality and effectiveness of the new system. Concerned about the country’s ability to afford RDP policies, President Thabo Mbeki instituted a change in direction by shifting policy from equity to quality such that education policy responded to the economic realities of the second phase of the post-Apartheid state.

Revised National Curriculum Statement and National Qualifications Framework The Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) was an amendment to Curriculum 2005 in response to the epistemological shortcomings of the policy: The revised National Curriculum Statement (NCS) (Department of Education, 2002a) was adopted in 2002. It aims to develop the full potential of all learners as citizens of a democratic South Africa. It seeks to create a lifelong learner who is confident and independent, literate, numerate and multi-skilled. The NCS has been phased in gradually throughout the grades and culminates in the phase-in of the new curriculum in grade 12 in 2008. The National Protocol on Assessment, which regulates the recording and reporting of learner achievement of learning outcomes for grades R to 12 has been finalized and gazetted.

Because RNCS is learner-centered, it follows the progressive and existential framework of educational pedagogy. In order to move towards the actualization of RNCS, the National Qualifications Framework was established as the coordinating structure and mechanism set up to respond to the fragmented system of education and training in the nation. Its primary objective was to create an integrated national framework for learning achievements and to further enhance access to, quality and mobility within education and training.61 To operationalize the framework, an outcomes-based system of education was introduced to focus on transformation of the country’s pedagogical and ideological legacy.

Table 2 below summarizes the ideological persuasions of the two political elites examined in this study: Summary of Mandela and Mbeki’s ideological persuasions on education

60

Sigamoney Naicker, “From Policy to Practice: A South African Perspective On Implementing Inclusive

Education Policy,” International Journal of Whole Schooling 3, no. 1 (2006): 1-6, accessed November 20, 2014,http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ847472.pdf.

61

Craine Soudien and Jean Baxen, “Transformation and Outcomes-Based Education in South Africa:

Opportunities and Challenges,” The Journal of Negro Education 66, no. 4 (Autumn 1997): 449-59, accessed February 3, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668172.

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Political Actor

Themes

Ideological Standpoint / Legacy

On Education

Nelson Mandela

Humanity Nation-building People-centered Redistribution

Neo-Marxist Architect of Democracy

Existentialist Humanistic Pedagogy

Thabo Mbeki

Economy Liberty Market-efficiency Self-sufficiency Standards Sustainability

Neo-Liberal Architect of NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa’s Development)

Word Frequency Count: Education

Mandela = 10 (1995 - 1999) Mbeki = 66 (2000 - 2008)

Progressivism Empiricist Pedagogy

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Words have meaning and purpose. Likewise, speeches by government officials have political intent. This chapter follows the content analysis of three inaugural address speeches by presidents Mandela and Mbeki’s in 1994, 1999 and 2004, as well as one State of Nation Address speech delivered by Nelson Mandela on May 24, 1994 and nine State of the Nation Address speeches by Thabo Mbeki between 2000 and 2008 once a year at joint sittings of parliament throughout their collective terms in office (1995 – 2008). We summarize our findings here.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa confers powers to the president that enable him/her to influence policy choices. The objective of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the ideological perspectives that have informed political decision-making in post-Apartheid education policy reform and the subsequent impact on Black educational achievement since the advent of democracy. We sought to ascertain how South Africa’s subsequent presidents’ political ideologies have influenced education policy choices and the degree to which they acted (or not) in the same way that Verwoerd had done as native affairs minister and later prime minister of the Apartheid state. To that end, we examined the ideological perspectives of two democratically elected presidencies of Mandela (1994-1999) and Mbeki (1999 – 2008).

In summary, the study found that both Mandela and Mbeki have had significant influences on policy direction. Mandela’s policies were geared toward reaching critical mass in educational access for all South Africans, an aspiration which has been successful; however, quality was compromised. As soon as Mandela’s term ended and Mbeki became president,

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policy objectives shifted from a people-centered to a business centered neo-liberal focus. In the end, both their actions have had disparate impacts on Black educational achievement.

CONCLUSION The primary objective of our study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the ideological perspectives that have informed political decision-making in post-Apartheid education policy reform and their subsequent impact on Black educational achievement since the advent of democracy. We sought to ascertain how South Africa’s subsequent presidents’ political ideologies have influenced education policy choices and the degree to which their actions resemble (or not) those of Verwoerd as native affairs minister and later prime minister of the Apartheid state. To that end, we examined the ideological perspectives of two democratically elected presidencies of Mandela (1994-1999) and Mbeki (1999 – 2008).

Throughout our examination of historical events in the development of the South African state from Apartheid to democracy, we have undertaken a comparative analysis of two consequential political actors in the development of post-Apartheid South Africa. First, we referred to the historical context and basis for education reform by providing an overview of Hendrik Verwoerd’s influence on the development of Apartheid ideology and the enactment of the 1954 Bantu Education Act and its impact on the education of Black South Africans. Second, we examined the development of the democratic state subsequent to the release of Nelson Mandela and all political prisoners. And thirdly, we analyzed developments under Thabo Mbeki’s presidency. To that end, the researcher conducted content analysis of official speeches delivered by Mandela and Mbeki during their inaugurations as state presidents in 1994, 1999 and 2004, as well as State of the Nation Address speeches for every year that both men were in office.

Social Justice, like democracy, is an ideal that must continually be re-visioned in theory, policy, and practice because context, history, and interconnected global relationships and social movements change the landscape of justice and equity.62 South Africa is a democratic state and a predominantly Western outpost in a mainly non-Western area. Today, still under the governing of African National Congress (ANC), the country shows worrying signs, including the possibility of reverting to a one party state, away from the democratic camp.63 Subsequent to our findings herein, the researcher hopes to conduct further research in this regard. We conclude that continual study aimed toward understanding philosophical approaches, ideologies and political motivations of government action are necessary. To do so promotes more accurate evaluation of the extent to which the political system is stable enough to undo Apartheid’s discriminatory legacy. In the end, provide the basis for well-informed policy-making instead of current fascinations with new policy statements each time a new head of state is chosen.64 62

Sharon Subreenduth, “Theorizing Social Justice Ambiguities in an Era of Neoliberalism: The Case for Post-

Apartheid South Africa”, Educational Theory 63, no. 6 (December 2013): 581-600, accessed February 25, 2014,http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9114f7b8-6e8f-46c2-a6b30998ee9b9472%40sessionmgr110&vid=4&hid=107.

63

Howard J. Wiarda, Political Development in Emerging Nations: Is There Still a Third World? (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2004), 92-97.

64 Ibid67

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ASIAN AMERICAN SELF-IDENTITIES: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF HYPHEN MAGAZINE Dineo Seakamela

ABSTRACT Stereotypes such as the model minority and yellow peril have long informed and maintained the depictions of Asian Americans in U.S media. This study looks at the portrayals of Asian Americans in Hyphen magazine, a publication that celebrates Asian American culture, politics and arts, and whether these portrayals form a discourse for the reformation and re-identification of Asian Americans. By means of a content analysis of 102 images, the researcher found that the magazine does, in fact, look to reform and re-identify Asian American; compared to other media sources that depicted Asian Americans as the model minority for decades.

The researcher found more than 80% of the images in the magazine were not related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. That is astounding since this is one of the most prevalent depictions associated with Asian Americans.

The researcher also found that regardless of the variety of the cultural and ethnic groups that make up Asian Americans, East Asian Americans are predominantly represented in the magazine; significantly more than other Asian groups.

INTRODUCTION At the mention of the term Asian American, which group of people primarily comes to mind? In the US, the faction that is typically associated with that term is East Asian Americans; a group that from the late 20th century has been considered the "model minority." The "model minority" is a stereotype that implicates Asian Americans as a minority group that has reached high levels of success in US society. An exemplary group of people whose impeccable work ethic other minority groups should adopt. However socially elevating it may seem, this stereotype of the model minority is not fully embraced by Asian Americans themselves. In shaping what they deem fit to be the model for their culture, a group of Asian Americans established Hyphen magazine. It is a publication that now serves as a cultural discourse that goes beyond prevalent Asian American stereotypes in US media, i.e. the "model minority." The purpose of this study is to explore the images in Hyphen magazine.

RESARCH QUESTIONS RQ1: What are the overall images of Asian Americans in Hyphen magazine's issues 26 (Spring 2013), 25 (Spring 2012) and 24 (Winter 2011)?

RQ2: What are the professional images of Asian Americans in Hyphen magazine issues 26 (Spring 2013), 25 (Spring 2012) and 24 (Winter 2011)?

RQ3: What are the creative images of Asian Americans in Hyphen magazine issues 26 (Spring 2013), 25 (Spring 2012) and 24 (Winter 2011)?

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RQ 4: What are the depictions of Asian American children in Hyphen magazine issues 26 (Spring 2013), 25 (Spring 2012) and 24 (Winter 2011)?

DEFINITIONS Asian Americans: these are the main people who appear to be of Asian descent showcased in the issues of Hyphen magazine that will be used for the analysis of this research.

Depict: the graphical and lyrical characterization of Asian American Health: content that is related to illnesses or the medical field Hyphen: an Asian American magazine that explores Asian American politics, culture, and art Images: the symbolic representation of Asian Americans Model minority: a minority group that has greatly achieved high levels of success in US society.

Professional image: describes the photos of people of Asian descent in Hyphen magazine shown in a professional setting.

LITERATURE REVIEW The term "model minority" may be considered positive; however, the fundamental problem with this concept is that it fails to acknowledge the diversity of Asian American personalities. Additionally, the term has a "social and psychological impact" on Asian American children, women and men as they try to adhere to certain standards. The stereotype also suggests that other minority groups, namely African Americans and Hispanics should model themselves after Asian Americans, in order to reach high levels of success (Kawai, 2005).

ASIAN AMERICAN STERYOTYPES IN TELEVISION AND FILM Asian American stereotypes have been consistent in the types of images, characteristics and personalities they depict in the media. Taylor and Barn (1997) examined the portrayals of Asian Americans in the television industry. The researchers used a content analysis of 1300 TV advertisements from one full week of prime time programming (8pm-11pm). The results indicated that, more likely than members of other minority groups, Asian Americans would be featured in background roles, and Asian American women rarely appeared in major roles. The term background is defined as "a character who is difficult to find in an ad (i.e., not likely to be noticed by a reader glancing at the ad) and is not important to its theme or layout," (Taylor & Barn, 1997, p.61). The term "major" as it relates to this article is defined as "a character who is very important to the advertising theme or layout, shown in the foreground or shown holding the product" (Taylor and Barn, 1997, p.61). Taylor and Barn (1997) also found that Asian Americans were over-represented in background roles such as business settings and relationships, but underrepresented in home settings and family and social relationships.

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Wo (2012) analyzed three contemporary TV shows: All-American Girl (ABC, 1994), Gilmore Girls (The WB and the CW, 2000-2007) and Glee (FOX, 2009-Present). Margaret Cho, the lead actress in All-American Girl, explained that the show was canceled because when ABC advertised the show as being "The First Asian American Family on Television" (Wo, 2012). The Asian American community was expecting a show that would portray them in a positive light, showcasing their diversity through multi-dimensional characters. Since this was not achieved, the show became unsuccessful due to its incredible focus on race. The characters were not able to progressively develop which is why Margaret Cho said that they were unable to find out who they were as characters (Wo, 2012).

Asian American stereotypes were also found in Gilmore Girls. Researcher Wo (2012) found that Mrs. Kim's character (a Korean mother) was consistent in pressuring her daughter to work in their family business and to marry a Korean boy who has aspirations of becoming a doctor. To explain the possible implications of this, Wo (2012) noted an ethnographer by the name of Nzli Kibira, who did research on the "doctor-in-law" hunting. It suggests that Asian American immigrant parents tend to counterbalance their disadvantaged racial identity. With that logic, it requires them to be "twice as good" in order that they may "outshine their peers in their achievements" (Wo, 2012, p.12).

On the other hand, the show Glee is known for its diverse array of characters, different races, cultures, religions and sexual orientations. After analyzing seasons of Glee, Wo (2012) noticed in certain episodes that there were young Asian American children recording people with cell phones in their classrooms that were decorated with Asian textiles. The episode also has an Asian male who has aspirations to be a dancer, but his father is not supportive as he expects him to attend Harvard or Stanford upon graduation (Wo, 2012). Depictions of this nature continue to feed into stereotypes that Asian Americans are smart, tech savvy, controlled and/or controlling people.

Other stereotypes found by researcher Wang (2013) explored intermarriage issues and the portrayal of Chinese women in film. Wang studied Hollywood films spanning from the 1930s to early 2000s and explored the costumes, stereotypes and geographies that were used to portray Asian women. The films were Daughter of Dragon (1931), The World of Suzie Wong (1960), Year of the Dragon (1985), and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). These films looked at three different generations of Chinese-American actresses in Hollywood. Wang (2012) found that culturally and sexually, intermarriage still seems to be taboo where Asian societies are concerned. Irrespective of multiculturalist views that have shown that cross-cultural and interracial relationships have long been in existence for Native Americans, Africans, European colonizers and Asian Americans had cultural contact (Wang, 2012). Regardless of this, Wang says that Asian American "relationships have historically been subject to legal censure, suspicion and ridicule" (Wang, 2013, p.78).

After exploring the factors mentioned above, Wang noted that when Asian women play prominent and more just roles, they attain that power through their Martial Arts skills, a stigma that is attached to all Asians. In addition to that, Wang discussed the importance of understanding that Asians and Asian Americans are not passive, unemotional people. In fact, Wang (2013) noted from researcher Xing (1998) that Asian Americans are not passive, unemotional people. Therefore, they should be depicted as emotional, political and dependable characters who "laugh, cry and swear" (Xing, 1998, p.229 as cited in Wang (2013).

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ASIAN AMERICANS IN MAGAZINE ADVERTISMENTS In addition to the stereotypical depictions in television, a heavy presence of Asian American stereotypes has also been found in magazine advertisements in the US. Taylor, Landreth and Bang (2005) looked at Asian American representation by magazine types. They found that slightly more than 16% of advertisements had Asian Americans, but women's magazines only had less than 4% of Asian females. The results are interesting because statistics show Asian American females are higher purchasers of cosmetics and high fashion. It was also noted that, even in women's magazines in Asia, there tend to be more Caucasian models.

Even if the situation has improved, it has not necessarily been resolved, as Asian Americans are still portrayed as technically savvy individuals. Asian Americans are seldom depicted having family contact in ads. Taylor et al suggest that market groups should restrategize, as there is increasing evidence that minority groups respond better to ads with more realistic portrayals of them (Taylor et al., 2005).

Using the expectation theory (among other theories), Taylor, Landreth and Bang (2005) suggested that the continuous perpetuation of these stereotypes create expectations that some Asian Americans have difficulty living up to. Taylor et al. made an example of how the math genius, serious, hardworking stereotypes can negatively impact Asians. There are Asians Americans who are creative and artistic who do not want to fit into that societal standard that has been set for them. (Taylor et al., 2005). In reality, not all Asians are good at math or business.

These expectations contribute to anxiety among American Asian children. As a result, they may tend to be too embarrassed to seek help when they need it, and they will most likely go to counselors compared to children in other groups. In addition, delinquent behaviors are less likely among Asian American children than they are more likely among other minority groups. Asian American children are also most likely to have poor self-images and go through depression compared to children in other minority groups (Taylor et al., 2005).

Similar to the results found by Taylor et al. (2005), Paek and Shah (2003) found that the stereotypes were consistent with previous studies on Asian Americans in American advertising.

In terms of financial success, they are depicted as workaholics whose families come second, as well as individuals who seek high academic excellence, whose success comes at great social and personal costs. An example of this is found in an ad that Paek and Shah examined which portrayed an Asian American professor who pushes the limit of his students and overstuffs their brains. As a result, the ad alluded to the idea that Asian Americans expectations are that others should be workaholics too.

Wang's (2013) research showed that intermarriage in Asian societies is still taboo, but Paek and Shah (2003) found that where gender dynamics are concerned, Asian American women are more likely to marry interracially than men. Examining the identity crisis of Asian Americans, Paek and Shah (2003) highlighted the idea that there are poor Asian Americans too.

In fact, Paek and Shah noted from researcher Yin (2000) that Asian Americans have been divided into two groups; "uptown Asians (well educated, living suburban areas and integrated into mainstream society) and downtown Asians (blue-collar, working-class immigrants determined to survive conditions in secluded and poor urban areas"(Yin, 2000 as cited in Paek & Shah, 2003, p.238).

Peterson (2007) evaluated the degree to which consumer magazine advertisements in the US represented models by race, direction, hierarchy position and social authority. The paper had four main and 12 supporting hypotheses, to determine whether the positive or negative status of

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African American, Asian, Hispanic American models relative to White American models.

Peterson's (2007) results in contrast with previously conducted research that showed that minority groups were infrequently featured, models were frequently featured and depicted in a favorable manner, relative to White models. African Americans came first, Asian Americans second and Hispanics third. Asian American models occupied highest hierarchy position.

As Asian Americans are stereotyped as "the model minority," research has shown that they are commonly portrayed in advertisements as technicians and business people. Using social learning, cultivation, and priming, an experiment was used to test whether model minority characteristics of Asian-American spokes models were passed on to products advertised. Data collected from the research provided support for the acknowledgment of model minority characteristics to high-tech products in advertisements featuring Asian-Americans (Peterson, 2007).

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS AND IDENTITY FACTORS The positive and negative implications of the model minority stereotypes have been found to influence the identities of Asian Americans. A study by Eguchi and Starosta (2012) looks at the how eight college-educated Asian American professional men negotiate the model minority image in order to perform constructions of their "multiple identities," in order to fit into or survive U.S organizations that are said to be "racialized and gendered" (Eguchi and Starosta, 2012).

While the model minority has positive factors, researcher Kawai (2005) said, as noted by Eguchi and Starosta that the stereotype is in reality used to deny the "existence of institutional racism and to prove that the U.S. society is sensibly fair and open for racial minority groups to work their way up the social ladder" (Kawai, 2005, p.114 as cited in Eguchi & Starosta (2012).

In their research, Eguchi and Starosta (2012) note that researchers Ono and Pham (2008) view the yellow peril stereotype as a "threatening concept" that Asian Americans will one day take over America (or the West) (Eguchi and Starosta, 2012, p.89). Due to this, it is suggested that the model minority image must celebrate Asian American contributions to American culture, and to "distinguish Asian Americans from the mainstream in order to maintain the structure of White heteronormative masculine superiority" (Eguchi and Starosta. 2012, p.89).

Similar to other researchers, Eguchi and Starosta (2012) agree with the idea that the model minority stereotype homogenizes Asian Americans and disregards the cultural diversity that the group has to offer. To get a better understanding of this, Eguchi and Starosta (2012) conducted an in-depth interview to get an idea of Asian Americans' concept of the model minority. Some results from the interviews found that all the Asians American men who participated believed that Asians live up to the model minority, to move up the social and corporate ladder. Some say that they have to work hard in order to fit into their Asian American identities and that it is useful as a survival tactic. All the participants also agreed that not all Asian Americans occupy positions of power in the U.S workplace. Instead, the top positions such as the CEO and CFO are occupied by white males (Eguchi & Starosta, 2012).

Asian males and females are not the only groups that are affected by stereotypes. In fact, Asian students have been affected in a number of rarely discussed ways. An article written by Zhang indicates that "the model minority stereotype psychologically, emotionally, and socially affected Asian American students," , as they may "study harder and longer, forego their social lives, endure loneliness and alienation and experience extreme depression and stress" Because

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they are not paid enough attention to, these problems go largely unrecognized and Asian American students receive little institutional support to cope with the problems.(Zhang, 2010, p.1) Researcher Zhang (2010) suggests that educators and parents should recognize the burdens and "vulnerabilities of the seemingly positive" model minority stereotype for Asian children, particularly for the sake of their psychological, social, and relational well-being (Zhang, 2010).

In another study, Zhang (2010) used the cultivation theory to find the social implications of the model minority stereotype about Asian Americans. This was done to determine the extent to which people's stereotypes of Asian Americans are consistent with stereotypes portrayed by the media. Before this, Asian Americans were perceived to be a yellow peril; that is "a horde of depraved, uncivilized heathens who threatened to undermine the American way of life" (Suzuki, 2002, p. 21 as cited in Zhang (2010). From the late 19th to 20th centuries Asian Americans were considered a threat to the White Christian culture. This stereotype led to obvious racial targeting and xenophobia against them (Zhang, 2010).

Four scenarios were used to test four hypotheses: "academic success, lack of communication skills and social skills, peer rejection and likelihood to initiate friendships." The results of the study showed that people's perceptions and judgments were aligned with media representations. From this, four perceptions of Asian Americans were concluded: "more likely to achieve academic success, perceived as nerds, most likely to be outcast; people are least likely to initiate friendships with Asians and Hispanics" (Zhang, 2010, p.20).

Looking further into the social implications it is argued by Kawai (2005) that as positive as the model minority is, it is inseparable from the negative yellow peril stereotype of Asian Americans. Kawai (2005) argues that racial concepts cannot be discussed without the global and local contexts of the stereotypes. In doing so, the political, social, economic contexts of Asia and the U.S are explored, as they relate to the production and reproduction of the stereotypes. The two stereotypes are looked at in the context of a film called The Rising Sun. The article discusses "racial triangulation" and how it is depicted in the film. The film portrays Japan as a high achiever in the world of business (the model minority) even by outperforming the United States, the most powerful capitalist nation in the world (the yellow peril) (Kawai, 2005).

The article suggests that the conflict between the model minority and the yellow peril creates a meaning that the yellow race is a menace not only to the White race but also for the Black race in the United States. Asian Americans are ‘‘bad'' to White Americans because they are the yellow peril. The same can be said for African Americans because Asian Americans are the model minority, that is superior to African American (Kawai, 2005).

IMPLICATIONS FOR OTHER MINORITY GROUPS While the model minority term may seem positive, it has implications for the way in which other minority groups are perceived. The purpose of Dalisay and Tan's (2009) research was to investigate the effects of exposure to TV portrayals of Asian Americans on judgments regarding Asian and African Americans. The researchers found that the results had three implications, the first being that constant positive portrayals of one minority group "can result in negative stereotyping of another minority group" (Dalisay & Tan, 2009, p.18); something that educators must inform their students about. The second is that it is possible that constant exposure to information that reinforces the model minority could influence hiring preferences for Asian Americans versus African Americans. The third and last implication is that television

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portrayals of a specific racial group can affect the perceptions people have about other groups (Tan & Dalisay, 2009).

Studies conducted at a Chinese high school by Tan, Yungling, Lingling and Dalisay (2009) sought to find out the general perceptions of America. To achieve this, the students were surveyed in order to find out the stereotypes and sources of information about Americans in general, and whether media use/exposure was a possible cause. It found this to be an important subject, because of the media exposure that people have through growing communication technologies. With amplified globalization of business, education, and diplomacy and the increased participation of African-Americans and other American racial minorities in U.S. government and diplomacy, foreign populations increasingly interact with American racial minorities. It is important to understand how American racial minorities are perceived in foreign countries and how those perceptions are formed (Tan, Yungling, Lingling, Dalisay, & 2009).

The results of the experiment were found to be mixed. The use of Chinese media sources led to the positive stereotypes of African Americans while the use of American media sources led to negative stereotypes of African Americans. The article discusses the general perceptions of White Americans, finding that Americans are perceived negatively in most countries, but even more so the American government. Moreover, the study found that Chinese students' perception of African Americans was more positive than stereotypes of Americans, in general, which were less negative than those of the American government. The positive images showed African Americans as "less arrogant, less violent, more honest, less aggressive, less prejudice, less hedonic (pleasure seeking) and less greedy" (Tan et al., 2009, p.268). On the contrary, the negative perceptions were that African Americans were less beautiful, less moral, less polite, more close minded and less intelligent. This is due in part to the frequently mentioned sources of information such as Chinese television, American movies and the Internet. White Western standards of beauty were adopted in Asian countries (Tan et al., 2009).

A similar study was conducted to analyze African American stereotypes in South Korea

by Tan, Francis, Zhang, Han & Merchant (2010). The researchers found that audiences will most likely be affected by media messages that are consistent with their predispositions. "Positive media portrayals perceived to be real and believable result in positive stereotyping, while negative media portrayals perceived to be real and believable result in negative stereotyping" (Tan et al., 2010, p.569).

MARKETING STRATAEGIES Marketing strategies are not effective enough in their efforts to successfully target Asian Americans. Asian Americans' buying power has attracted marketers in advertising. Even with their attractiveness, La Ferle and Morimoto (2009) highlight how marketing strategies are not effective enough in their communication. The researchers have suggested that marketers should consider "the Life stages of Asian Americans" in order to effectively communicate with them.

Life stage is defined in the context of this paper as, "experienced periods of time that are often marked by a major life transition and within which the self-concept changes" (La Ferle & Morimoto, 2009, p.149).

The research concluded that life-stage is critical, as it is cautious not to treat Asian Americans as a homogenous. The life stages of Asian American female students and working women were found to influence ethnic media use, levels of ethnic identifications and attitudes towards adverts with racially congruent models for Asian American females. This will be helpful

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in better understanding Asian American consumers and the subgroups within this target audience (La Ferle & Morimoto, 2009).

Even though Asian Americans might be sometimes misrepresented in the media, there are signs that the media industry on a global scale recognizes the importance of Asians as consumers. When MTV World was introduced, MTV was the first major media company to realize the inception of MTV Desi for South Asians, MTV CHI for Chinese Americans and MTV K for Korean Americans. The purpose of these channels was not to reproduce MTV, but rather to provide customized programming that catered for and showcased the Asian culture.

This was important because Asia's ethnic groups increased to above twenty groups, of which 87.5% of the total of Asian American population was represented by one of the six ethnic groups, including: Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese (Jang, 2006).

Jang (2006) noted that it is good to recognize that since the 1960s, Asian Americans have continuously struggled to define the Asian American identity. Its corporate perspective highlighted two things, firstly Asian Americans are fast growing, and they deserve a greater focus, and secondly, they are increasingly diverse or complex and must be targeted accordingly.

Jang points out that the challenges for "Asian American leaders are to reconsider seriously and recapture the significance of the Asian American identity for the future" (Jang, 2006, p.54).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Although the social learning theory was intended to explain the link between violent media programs and audience member aggression, it can still be applied to this particular study as it "offers us many models, all of which form the basis for imitation of the depicted behavior" (Phua, 2008, p.19). This imitation, results in the expectation that Asian Americans should fit those depictions because people eventually accept those behaviors and think that they are "typical of a particular group" (Phua, 2008, p.19).

The social learning theory was established by Albert Bandura, a Stanford University psychologist who developed "a four-step process/model: attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation" (Campbell, Martin & Fabos, 2012). In applying a model like this to the current research study, the first process, attention, can be found in the presence of Asian American stereotypes in the media, and the portrayals of Asian Americans in Hyphen magazine that are witnessed by audience members. The retention aspect of the social learning theory is attainable through the storage of these stereotypes and portrayals that audience members can later retrieve.

In expecting Asian Americans to adhere to the stereotypical ways they are portrayed, and by treating them according to those portrayals, a motor reduction is achieved. Then finally, any personal gain that one gets by being stereotypical towards Asian Americans will continue to motivate those individuals to be stereotypical towards the group.

METHODOLGY DATA The researcher for this study analyzed Asian American portrayals in three issues of Hyphen, namely; issues 24 (winter 2011), issue 25 (spring 2012) and issue 26 (spring 2013).

Hyphen was specifically chosen because it is one of few magazines that celebrate Asian American culture, politics and art in the US. According to hyphenmagazine.com, the publication was established in 2002 to produce Asian American narratives that would go beyond the usual celebrity interviews and lackluster stories about Asian Americans discovering their roots. This is

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what makes it a great publication for analysis, because it will allow the researcher to understand how Asian Americans portray the variety of their culture in print.

DATA COLLECTION The researcher analyzed Asian American portrayals in three issues of Hyphen magazine.

To obtain these issues, the researcher went to Journal Finder and typed in "hyphen magazine" therefore, all copies used for the analysis were online. The researcher used the following 16 categories for coding: attire (professional, traditional, casual wear, sleep wear, active and other); gender; age (infant, child, adult); social setting (settings of nature, night club, beach, park, restaurant); STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics (images that relate them to these fields); entertainment (theatre, music, art, dance, film); interactions with non-Asians; politics; cultural foods; health; sporting event (playing sports events related to sports), cartoon, writer photo (whether the illustrator, photographer and/or author are Asian American) issue. This gave the researcher a good comparison. The researcher set up all 15 categories in a codebook in Excel for analysis. The researcher has chosen not to look at cover pages, and will mainly be looking at prominent photos in the main text of the magazine.

DATA ANALYSIS A content analysis was used to analyze the data. This method was appropriate because, Macnamara (2006) cited researcher Neuman's (1997) definition of a content analysis as a technique that is used for the gathering and analyzing of "the context of text" (Macnamara (2006) as cited in Neuman, 1997, p.272-273). By context, Neuman is referring to "words, meanings, pictures, symbols, ideas, themes or any message that can be communicated," and text refers to "anything written, visual or spoken that serves as communication" (Macnamara (2006) as cited in Neuman, 1997, p.272-273). This is fitting to analyze the messages communicated by the images and captions in the magazines. To collect the data, frequency word and theme counts will be used that will be coded and categorized.

RESULTS After conducting the content analysis of Hyphen magazine, the researcher found most of the photographs show males and females together, with a four percent gap between the two groups, where the males had a greater representation than the females. See Figure 1.

Figure 1

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It was also found that the photographs contained more images of adults, compared to the smaller numbers of infants and children. However, there were more images of children and adults together than they were of children alone. See figure 2.

Figure 2

In terms of Asian representation, the numbers of East Asians in the magazines were vastly higher than that of other Asian groups. The numbers for other and/or none were greater than the number of South (Indian) groups, which had the second most Asian representation. See figure 3.

Figure 3

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The magazines scarcely had images relating to STEM fields. There was 87% of no representation of either field. Science and technology were the only two fields portrayed in the magazines. See figure 4.

Figure 4

The magazines only had 17% family images in them, leaving a majority of the magazines with no family representation. See figure 5. Most of the people in the photographs dressed in casual clothes, followed by professional and other clothes. There was more representation of clothes outside of the coded categories than there were in traditional clothing. See figure 6.

Figure 5

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Figure 6

There were 38% images that had political representations in them, and 68% that did not.

See figure 7. Few images were shown with Asian Americans in natural social settings, such as the beach, park, or areas with gardens in them. There were fewer images of Asian Americans in nightclubs, and even fewer images either showing them or connecting them to restaurants. They mostly showed them in enviroments outside of the coded categories, such as their houses or work spaces. See figure 8.

Figure 7

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Figure 8

The magazines had cartoons in them, so this accounted for the 10% illustrator presence in the magazine. There was a greater Asian American photographer presence than there was of the illustrators and the authors. See figures 9 and 10. Because of the cartoons, the arts had the highest number of Asian American creative talents shown in the images of the magazine. Music and dance followed this percentage. See figure 10. There were only a few photos depicting Asian Americans enjoying some form of entertainment with the most significant percentage in the arts.

See figure 11.

Figure 9

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Figure 10

Figure 11

Images of Asian Americans foods were seldom found in the magazines, as there was only five percent of Asian American cultural foods shown, and two percent of other cultural foods.

See figure 12. Few images related to health were depicted, as there was only 10% representation in images. See figure 13.The researcher also found that there were very few images found in the magazines that related to sporting events. There was almost an equal amount of images used from all three magazines. Issue 26 was a percentage higher than issues 24 and 25. See figure 14.

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Figure 13

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Figure 15

DISCUSSION The results of the study show that clear efforts are being made to reform and redefine the image and identity of Asian Americans in U.S media among a media outlet produced by people of Asian descent. These images also seek to recognize the contributions made by Asian Americans and their significance in American history. This is important, as it has been noted by researcher Jang. Since the 1960s, Asian Americans have struggled to define their identity, hence the leaders of this group ought to: "reconsider seriously, and recapture the significance of the Asian American identity" (Jan, 2006, p.54).

There are three main factors that were observed in the results that show how the content of Hyphen magazine challenges prevalent Asian American stereotypes.The first was by providing images that counter them, and second by providing fewer or no images that currently perpetuate those stereotypes.

The model minority stereotype deems Asian Americans as individuals who excel in STEM-related fields. Contrary to many studies that have found overrepresentation of Asian Americans and their relation to technology, business, science, mathematics and engineering, the results of this study found that less than 15% of the images were related to science and technology, which denotes a significant percentage of the images in the magazine had no STEM representation. This is different from a previous study by researcher Phua (2008) who found previous content analyzes have overwhelmingly portrayed Asian Americans in business, science and technology related settings, compared to other ethnic groups.

Based on these results, it would be reasonable to suggest that the lack of images connecting Asian Americans to STEM fields, would incline one to consider it an image the founders of the magazine, who are of Asian American descent are disconnecting themselves from in order to promote the creative and professional diversity that makes up the group.

Hyphen magazine provides audience members with an opportunity to engage in Asian American relations. The witnessing of fewer images of Asian Americans could lead to less

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frequent associations of Asian Americans with STEM fields, thus defending prevailing notions that all Asian Americans are good at math or science. The scarcity of these images will remain in the minds of the audience members, and could counter oppose STEM images that perpetuate stereotypes. It is reasonable to assume that the lesser the frequency of the images, the lesser the expectation that Asian Americans must live up to this stereotype.

There are many cultural and ethnic groups from different regions that make up the Asian continent, i.e. Chinese and Koreans are just some of the cultural groups from East Asia, Indians, Pakistanis and Sri. Since Hyphen magazine is an Asian American magazine that seeks to explore the culture, politics and arts of the group by going beyond prevalent stereotypes that fail to holistically represent the cultural, ethnic and professional diversity of Asian Americans, questions must be raised about the high representation of East Asian American images in the magazine, compared to other Asian group images. The issue with having a greater representation of East Asian images is that Hyphen is not a true cultural, political or artistic representation of all Asian Americans.

From a theoretical perspective, the social learning theory would argue that the East Asian images shown in Hyphen magazine are predominantly represented, stored and become "cognitive scripts" that are later reviewed and used by audience members. Over time, this causes them to associate the term Asian American with East Asians, and probably Indians, as they are the second most prevalent Asian American group in the magazine. It is highly unlikely from the publication alone that connections between the term Asian American and groups from Pakistan, Russia, Afghanistan etc., could be made.

A potential concern with the images presented in the analyzed issues of Hyphen magazine is that, in addition to placing East Asians and South Asians (mainly Indians) above the other groups, it also deprives the group of its cultural and ethnic diversity. In essence, the publication's failure to include other Asian American groups does not change the current homogenized perception of Asian Americans. This is the same perception that Eguchi and Starosta (2012) noted from a participant in their in-depth interview, who stated I think that appearance is first. So they look at me. And they say 窶連sian.' Because I speak English, they first think I'm an Asian American or something. Then I tell them I speak Japanese on a regular basis when my boss comes. Even though, I speak with an American person and say, oops, sorry, my boss is calling, I speak Japanese. They go, oh, Wow! You speak Japanese. And then that's when they know that I'm Japanese. (Eguchi and Starosta, 2012, p.92) Despite the fact that this excerpt is a clearer example of the homogenization of East Asians, it shows the failure to diversify the publication through the inclusion of other Asian American cultures, continues to deprive the group of its cultural variety. When audience members are constantly exposed to East Asian faces and the occasional Indian and/or Sri Lankan face in the magazine, that to them is Asian America, and very seldom the other groups.

While few images represented STEM fields in the magazine, there was a considerable amount of cartoons and artistic depictions of Asian Americans. Almost all of the illustrators, authors and photographers were Asian American, which spoke volumes about the artistic and creative ability that the group has, and is communicating to audience members. These images counter the "nerdy" perceptions that people have about Asian Americans, breaking the stereotypes that they are only intellectual geniuses who have no creative and artistic abilities. In

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fact, the images in the magazines also portray Asian Americans in non-traditional dances, such as breakdancing, which is a popular cultural dance form. Taylor, Landreth and Bang (2005) discuss the expectation theory and how it especially pressurizes Asian American children to live up to the expectations of their peers and teachers. The artistic side of them is one that they do not embrace enough because of the perceptions of others. More images of Asian Americans in this light will be instrumental in connecting other's perceptions with the creativity and artistic ability of this group, further allowing them to liberally showcase more of it, instead of succumbing to societal and self-prophesied notions of who they are.

STUDY LIMITATIONS A limitation of the current study is that the analysis was only conducted on three publications of Hyphen magazine. The issues that are being discussed in the paper are solely based on the information on the three issues. The researcher could have analyzed more issues, or could have compared Hyphen magazine to another Asian American magazine, to compare and contrast the different methods that are used to reform and redefine the identity of Asian Americans. A second limitation is the researcher conducted a content analysis. A content analysis should have a second coder to ensure correct interpretations. This study is based on the work of one coder.

FUTURE RESEARCH Following this research, the researcher is going to look into the domination of East Asian cultures in Asian American publications. Furthermore, the researcher may look at a year of publications from Hyphen magazine to make sure the analysis is consistent throughout the publications. Lastly, the researcher may take a qualitative approach and use a focus group to gauge opinions about the images depicted in Hyphen magazine.

REFERENCES Campbell, R., Martin, C., & Fabos, B. (2012). Media & Culture: An introduction to mass communication. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins Dalisay, F., & Tan, A. (2009). Assimilation and contrast effects in the priming of Asian Americans and African American Stereotypes through TV exposure. J&MC Quartely.

86(1), 7-22) Eguchi, S., & Starosta, W. (2012). Negotiating the model minority image: Performative aspects of college-educated Asian American professional men. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 13(1), 88-97.

Jang, D. (2006). How MTV and other corporations are challenging Asian America: An examination of the business perspective on Asian American identity. Asian American Policy Review, 1549-56.Kawai, Y. (2005). Stereotyping Asian Americans: The dialectic of the model minority and the yellow peril. Howard Journal of Communications, 16(2), 109-130.

La Ferle, C., & Morimoto, M. (2009). The Impact of life-stage on Asian American females' ethnic media use, ethnic identification, and attitudes toward Ads. Howard Journal of Communications, 20(2), 147-166.

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Macnamara, J. (2006). Media Content Analysis Paper Uses, Benefits & Best Practice Methodology. Media content analysis – blog de seminar. Retrieved January, 23, 2014 from http://blogdeseminar.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/media-content-analysis.pdf.

Paek, H. J., & Shah. (2003). Racial ideology, model minorities, and the ‘‘Not-So-Silent Partner:’’ Stereotyping of Asian Americans in U.S. magazine advertising. Howard Journal of Communication, 14, 225-243.

Phua, J. J. (2008) "Attribution of model minority characteristics to products in print advertisements with Asian-American spokes models: An experiment." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the NCA 94th Annual Convention. San Diego, CA. Peterson, R.T. (2007). Consumer magazine advertisement portrayal of models by race in the US: An assessment. Journal of Marketing Communication, 13(3), 199-2007.

Tan, A., Dalisay, F., Zhang, Y., Han, E., & Merchant, M. M. (2010). A cognitive processing model of information source use and stereotyping: African-American stereotypes in South Korea. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 54(4), 569-587 Tan, A., Yunying, Z., Lingling, Z., & Dalisay, F. (2009). Stereotypes of African Americans and media use among Chinese high school students. Howard Journal of Communications, 20(3), 260-275.

Taylor, C., & Stern, B. (1997). Asian-Americans: Television advertising and the "Model Minority" stereotype. Journal of Advertising, 26(2), 47-61.

Taylor, C., Landreth, S., & Bang, H. (2005). Asian Americans in magazine advertising: Portrayals of the model minority. Journal of Macromarketing, 25(2), 163-174.

Wang, H. (2013). Portrayals of Chinese women's images in Hollywood mainstream films: An analysis of four representative films of different periods. China Media Research, 9(1), 75- 79.

Wo, E. (2012). Beyond the Color Line: Asian American. Scripps College, 1-54.

Zhang, Q. (2010). Asian Americans beyond the model minority stereotype: The nerdy and left out. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 20-37 Zhang, Q. (2010). Perceptions of Asian American Students: Stereotypes and Effects.

Communication Currents, 5(1), 1.

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ORDINARY LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY AND DECONSTRUCTION IN SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET Kayla S. Wilmer

INTRODUCTION Language has always been a complex and often misunderstood tool of mass communication. Since it evolves so rapidly, fragmentarily, and independently it can be hard for some people to keep up with the plethora of definitions in language that arise in various segments of a given society; even for the same individuals at different historical times. Of course, this can lead to a number of problems within the literary world since authors use historical and regional language to generate meaningful narratives. Whether it is through slang, everyday conversation or literary expressions, words have been shown to hold more than one meaning at a time for different individuals and segments of a society. Over the course of time, some words gain multiple meanings due to the way that it is used within everyday life. While this may not seem like a big issue within society, in the literary realm, this problem with language serves as a roadblock to fully interpreting, if that is possible, the text as a reader.

William Shakespeare is well known for his ability to manipulate language to fit in any aspect that he chooses; he even created his own Shakespearian language. Being most known for his tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare has captivated reading audiences all over throughout the course of literary history, with works such as Othello and even Macbeth. Still, while being praised for the worldwide productions of his works, Shakespeare was also known for his prolific use of language and dialogue among his characters. It is this very same dialogue that I am interested in analyzing.

Besides the struggle with Shakespearean language, one must also be aware of multiple meanings within Shakespeare’s works. One play that is shrouded with these multiple meanings is Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Hamlet is a tragic tale that involves a prince who has seemingly gone mad due to the loss of his father and newfound depression in his own life. Shakespeare creates this character, this story, to purposely have multilevel meanings, due to the context of the play, but how is a reader to understand these double meanings still? Ordinary Language Philosophy (OLP) and Deconstruction are two methods that look at the text beyond what is written on the page to fully understand the intention of not only the writer, but of the work as well. This essay will explore, analyze and illuminate meaning within various misunderstood words and phrases throughout Shakespeare’s Hamlet using the combination of Ordinary Language Philosophy as well as Deconstruction.

LITERATURE REVIEW It is ironic to think that language that is considered “ordinary” would be misunderstood by readers and authors alike. To misconstrue any text from the response that the author wanted from their readers is dangerous for any literary work while being liberating, at least for the reader, at the same time. For one, it could confuse the reader and possibly make them walk away from the text with either a negative or unclear understanding of the text; secondly, it could just frustrate the reader into indifference. This concern in language became prominent in the life of Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in a study in which he coined Ordinary Language

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Philosophy (OLP). This philosophical concept is a complicated one to say the least for it challenges linguists, authors, and, most importantly, readers of any text in the universe.

Wittgenstein studied this concept in two forms and redeveloped this concept from a previous philosophical thought. In Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein rejects the idea that the meaning of a word is determined by truth in favor of the belief that words only obtain meaning through the way they function in everyday life. Meaning in language, according to Wittgenstein, is only determined through the way that society applies the language in life, whether that is its true intention or not.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare is seen taking advantage of a similar approach to language through the dialogue of almost all characters. By taking simple words and placing them in an ambiguous context, Shakespeare is able to create simultaneous interpretations or meanings of one word. As it pertains to society, certain English words used in Shakespearian works vibrate with additional connotations over the course of time, such as the word “nunnery” as used by Hamlet in Act III of the play; which will be analyzed further later in this essay. Nonetheless, Hamlet serves as a strong example of how words can hold more than one meaning, based on how one uses/experiences the word in everyday life.

Melvin Bragg explores the essence of OLP, what it is and how it functions in the literary realm in his discussion of “Ordinary Language Philosophy.” With Professor Stephen Mulhall, Professor Ray Monk and Reader in Philosophy Julia Tanney, Bragg’s segment thoroughly explored this philosophical school. This podcast of the BBC Radio 4 program In Our Time, is one that can be hard to follow if one is not used to these types of discussions due to not only the unfamiliar philosophical language used throughout the segment, but also due to the way that this school of thought challenges one’s perception of reality, in a sense. One of the speakers during the segment noted that the “best way to understand reality is to look at the language we use in it” (Bragg). In Dr. Carly Lane's short summary of Bragg’s podcast she writes that “[OLP] is concerned with the meanings of words as used in everyday speech” and goes on to explain that “its adherents believed that many philosophical problems were created by the misuse of words, and that if such ‘ordinary language’ were correctly analyzed, such problems would disappear” (Lane). If this notion is to be held true, then OLP would then solve the issue of ambiguities and double meaning with the language of Hamlet and other works of literature. Through Wittgenstein’s method and understanding of OLP, both Lane and Bragg understand that it is possible to shed light on the possible misunderstandings in language for the true intention of the text can never be revealed if one doesn’t.

In 1903, Bertrand Russell published a book titled Principles of Mathematics, which Wright notes “profoundly affected Wittgenstein’s development” in the philosophical realm (Wright). Russell, according to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, was a philosopher known for “his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy” (“Bertrand Russell”). Russell’s contributions to analytic philosophy showed in not only his own work, but in Wittgenstein’s as well. Russell believed that as a philosopher, it was one’s duty to “discover a logically ideal language – a language that will exhibit the nature of the world in such a way that we will not be misled by the accidental, imprecise surface structure of natural language” (“Bertrand Russell”).

Noticing the imperfections and complications in language, Russell turned to mathematics to help give definition to the “imprecise” structure of language while Wittgenstein turned to the actual words themselves. In his book, Principles of Mathematics, Russell applies the thought of analytic philosophy to that of mathematics, claiming it to be comprised of nothing but logic.

Wittgenstein, intrigued by this work, looked past the mathematical claims of Principles and

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focused on the analytical philosophy that Russell explored. While successfully creating a new branch of logic, he also set the stage for other philosophers, like Wittgenstein, to create their own schools of thought.

Stepping away from mathematics, Wittgenstein furthered his philosophical interests at Cambridge University. Upon following Russell’s teachings and eventually developing his method of thought into his own, Wittgenstein came up with two very important pieces to support his thought: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations. Although Tractatus is generally classified as Wittgenstein’s “early” thought and Philosophical Investigations as “later” thought, both rely on one another to ultimately understand his progression through this realm. Much of the “early” thought of Wittgenstein includes a firm understanding but rough formulation of his theory. In his “later” thought, Wittgenstein is seen creating a new branch from his “early” thought by refuting his own theory in language. Still, since this paper will focus on the later thought of Wittgenstein as it works along with Deconstruction, Philosophical Investigations will be the main literature of focus on understanding what OLP is and how it works.

Philosophical Investigations is an extension of Tractus in the sense that it furthers the philosophical thought first established in Tractus and not only develops the thought, but in a sense contradicts some of the thought originally established; in a sense, he purposely contradicts himself to fully prove a point. Marie McGinn, having a PhD in philosophy and being a close follower of Wittgenstein, is responsible for writing The Routledge Guidebook to Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, which is an in depth summary and analysis of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. McGinn notes that unlike Tractus, Investigations is an attempt to create a “clear theory of what the essence of language consist in” which Wittgenstein “gradually develops a number of techniques for countering these misunderstandings by means of a clarified view of how language actually functions within […] everyday lives” rather than “trying to resolve the confusions about the logic of our language – which he believed to be the root of philosophical problems” (McGinn). Jennifer Gariepy, editor of Vol. 59 of the Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism series, also has some background insight on Investigations and its overall purpose in language philosophy; Investigations “reject[s] the notion that meaning is determined by truth or falsity, positing instead that language achieves meaning only through the way it functions in everyday life” (Gariepy). Furthermore, Wittgenstein achieves this through “understanding language through a set of formal rules [which] he argued that we can only understand […] in its natural context” (Gariepy).

This is the foundation of ordinary language philosophy, its overall function and purpose.

It is clear that this level of philosophical thought was new and fresh in the sense that one that has never explored the meaning of language in this fashion before. Through these new sets of language rules set forth by Wittgenstein, one can understand exactly what the author is trying to convey in any text that one so chooses. For the purposes of this argument, this applies to the language problems in Shakespeare’s Hamlet for it contains key words/phrases that are both misleading and key to the internalization of the play. In fact, even the characters in the play are aware of this issue in Hamlet’s language through their own responses; Polonius, Ophelia’s father, mentions the obscurity of Hamlet’s language towards him: POLONIUS.

[Aside] How pregnant sometimes his replies are (II.ii.209).

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While Polonius uses the word “pregnant” to elaborate on the obscurities of Hamlet’s responses towards him, one could also apply this same phrasing to the entirety of the play. Looking at the word “pregnant” from an OLP perspective, that is how it is ordinarily used in everyday language, one can understand it to mean something being full of meaning or implications. With this in mind, one can understand the nature of the language used within Hamlet; that it is ambiguous and needs to be further analyzed. It is ironic that Shakespeare makes the characters within the play aware of the ambiguities in Hamlet’s speech even though it is impossible to ignore. While Polonius uses “pregnant” to further express Hamlet’s vast amount of meaning within his replies, he engages in this “word game” along with Hamlet. Still, the ambiguity of this word, along with the other words and phrases that will be analyzed in this essay, is vast even after using OLP. One cannot fully shed light on such problems in language through one philosophical concept alone which is why the implementation of deconstruction so set forth by French philosopher Jacques Derrida should be used alongside that of OLP to assist in defining meaning within Hamlet.

The basis to understanding Deconstruction as it pertains to literature is to look at the text and nothing else at all; this includes all outside thoughts and personal views. Deconstruction, being that it is a challenging concept, falls under post-structuralism as it pertains to literary criticism. In a chapter titled “Post-structuralism and Deconstruction” in Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Peter Barry explains the basis of what poststructuralism constitutes in the context of literary theory. In Barry’s explanation he explains the consequences of Structuralism as understood by Post-structuralists: Structuralism’s characteristic views is the notion that language doesn’t just reflect or record the world: rather, it shapes it, so that how we see is what we see. The poststructuralist maintains that the consequences of this belief are that we enter a universe of radical uncertainty, since we can have no access to any fixed landmark which is beyond linguistic processing, and hence we have no certain standard by which to measure anything. (Barry) By serving as an extension to the structuralist theory, post-structuralism shows the limits of our own conceptualized mental paradigms by revealing the linguistic-driven values that serve as a point of reference of the world constructed by our language. Pushing this point further, Barry makes the notion of readers and authors alike having anxieties about language because language is of public domain, in which no person can fully “control” it. This anxiety has the potential to leave one with the feeling that “the language will express things we hadn’t intended, or convey the wrong impression,” which can leave one with the “underlying sense that we are not really in control of the linguistic system” (Barry).

Honing back in on Deconstruction, it is important to note the founder of this literary theory, Jacques Derrida, for it is through his thought that meaning within language ceases to exist. Derrida was regarded as “one of France’s most innovative philosophers” due to his philosophical method which “involves a radical critique of Western metaphysics and revision of the traditional concept of language” (Gunton). While there isn’t a lot of background information on Derrida’s early life at home, it is important to note when he was first exposed to philosophy.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy mentions that Derrida began studying philosophy after World War II (Biletzki). According to the European Graduate School’s biography on Derrida, Derrida moved to France at the age of 22 to study under Edmund Husserl and his phenomenology (Jacques Derrida – Biography). Much like Wittgenstein, in a sense, Derrida was

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interested in language; he was specifically interested in “the analysis of écriture, the writing of philosophy” (Jacques Derrida – Biography). Still, while the similar interest in language is clear, Derrida still referred to himself as a “deconstructionist:” “As a reader, he feels that he must reduce a text to its most self-referential point because language in itself conveys no true meaning” (Gunton).

Derrida effectively portrays this stance in several of his published works, but among them all his most influential work within the literary world is his book titled Of Grammatology. This book, with background influence from philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, is where Derrida introduces and explains Deconstruction as a whole. In a biography of Derrida by Christopher Giroux, editor to Contemporary Literary Criticism, notes that “Of Grammatology is Derrida’s most extensive and conventionally argued presentation of his central theme, that Western philosophy systematically portrays writing as the debated 'supplement' of the voice” (Giroux). Furthermore, this literary critic goes on to explain the method in which Derrida took with using “deconstruction”: Utilizing the method known as “deconstruction,” a form of close textual interpretation which analyzes the internal contradictions of philosophical discourse, Derrida demonstrates that Western philosophy’s arguments against writing consist of metaphors and figures of speech – the very elements of rhetoric which philosophers since Plato have denigrated as unphilosophical. For Derrida, the metaphysical philosopher’s inherently rhetorical argumentation betrays his desire for a transcendental truth beyond the imperfections of language – a perception which Derrida expresses very succinctly in his famous statement, “There is nothing outside of the text.” (Giroux) Derrida’s drive to discover the truth within the “imperfections of language” drove him to believe that words are solely linguistic and are not representational in any way, shape or form; hence there being “nothing outside of the text” (Giroux). While I find myself struggling to see language in this light, I can understand what Derrida is trying to convey. Still, if this notion is true, then the language within Hamlet, more so the complication of language in Hamlet, should no longer be considered an issue in terms of how to interpret text for there would only be one meaning to all words. Giroux analyzes that for Derrida, “words do not need to represent […] This opposes the traditional critical view that the study of literature is the search for meaning, ideas and truths in the text, based on the preconceptions of authorial intention” (Giroux). One is to search for the meaning for words through the context of the text that it functions in rather than confuse oneself with an abundance of possible definitions.

Literary scholar Peter V. Zima strongly sides with Derrida in terms of how he views language and the meaning within it. Zima explains in his section of Deconstruction and Critical Theory titled “Derrida: Deconstruction, Philosophy and Literary Theory” the basis of what Deconstruction is and how it has the power to “turn against criticizing agencies themselves,” including some of Derrida’s own arguments in his theory (Zima). Zima further mentions the “limits” that Deconstruction pushes in order to reach meaning: “the phonetic, semantic and syntactic structures of texts” which are all considered tools in what Zima notes as the “strategy of interpretation” (Zima). While this essay will not focus on the formalities of Zima’s set “limits”, they will be briefly mentioned for they do play an intricate role in the formulation of meaning within Hamlet.

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Professor of English at Cornell University Johnathan Culler, in his analytical synthesis of Derrida’s thought, On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism, further elaborates on what Deconstruction is and how it is used. In his book Culler defines Deconstruction as “a mode of philosophical and literary analysis […] which interrogates basic philosophical categories or concepts” (Culler). This challenge to language is achieved through what Barry notes as “reading against the grain” (Barry). This is a method of reading that requires one to read texts slower, or as Culler notes, read “with virtuoso resourcefulness, attentive to their rhetorical strategies and ideological investments” (Culler). It is through this method of reading that one is able to deconstruct some of the problems in comprehension that are rooted in the misuse or misunderstanding of language within literary works. Further than that of OLP, Deconstruction calls for the literal analyzing of the text and nothing else. This concept is a difficult one to understand for humans use language to relate to everything within reality and without something to compare or relate it to, one is only left with one solitary meaning.

It is clear that Derrida believes that words are simply words and nothing more in terms of how they appear within texts while Wittgenstein, on the other hand, believes that words and their meaning are evident and weighed according to how they are used in everyday life, thus deeming them to be “ordinary” in a sense. Literary critic Nicholas F. Gier explains in his critic of both Wittgenstein and Derrida titled Wittgenstein and Deconstruction, the similarities and differences between theories as it pertains to language and meaning. Gier notes that Wittgenstein had a belief that “nature and culture effect language” which therefore effects its meaning. The way that society interacts with a word and applies it accordingly therefore affects its meaning in this understanding. He further mentions that “Wittgenstein believes that ‘language grows up as a natural extension of primitive behavior […] and it can count on it most of the time […] for ordinary certainty and communication’” (Gier). In terms of Derrida, Gier notes that Derrida believes that language is “bewitched” in the sense that society has taken language and pushed power behind their letters rather than letting the text speak for itself, within itself (Gier). Gier explores this major difference further: There will be misunderstanding Nevertheless, there will be common ground […]

Deconstruction, on the other hand, requires us to make the “outside” a permanent way of life […] But Wittgenstein sets up a dialectic between ordinary and non-ordinary language, the each being used to critique and understand the other. Derrida is interested in […] the anarchic languages that make everything thoroughly peculiar and meaningless.

But Wittgenstein’s deconstruction has a constructive purpose: it allows us to step back momentarily and, then, reconstructing, it permits us, as T. S. Eliot says, to “arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” (Gier) So, what exactly is the underlying correlation between these two very different philosophers with their two separate theories? The answer is clear: words. Using both the ideas of Wittgenstein as well as Derrida, this paper will depict how these ideas can be used together to gain a better understanding of language and meaning within texts. Henry Staten is an English professor at the University of Washington who has done extensive research on both Wittgenstein’s as well as Derrida’s theories. From this research, Staten published Wittgenstein and Derrida, a book focusing on the parallels in philosophical thought between the two theorists and effectively conveys to the reader that Wittgenstein may have had some deconstructive tendencies within its own study of language, although the notion of deconstruction came much

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later than that of OLP. Staten notes that “Derrida’s language, precisely because it is so much like the language of metaphysics, carries dangers of its own – namely that it will seem too much like another version of what it seeks to distinguish itself from” (Staten). Furthermore Staten mentions that “we can use Wittgenstein’s language to remind ourselves how much there is to be suspicious of in the metaphysical tendencies of Derrida’s style” (Staten).

Referencing back to Nicholas Gier, in taking notice of all the differences between Wittgenstein and Derrida’s thoughts, Gier mentioned the similarities in thought between the two thinkers. Referencing the same literary critic, “both Wittgenstein and Derrida could then be seen as radical descendants of the phenomenological movement […] moving through existentialism and then beyond to deconstruction” (Staten). Gier brings up a very important notion through this quote: that both Wittgenstein and Derrida are extensions of one another. Being that the idea of Wittgenstein came before that of Derrida, Gier is making the accusation that Derrida’s deconstructive methods is a step beyond where Wittgenstein was in his philosophical studies before his death: “Wittgenstein’s deconstruction has a constructive purpose” (Gier). After the emergence of Derrida, critics have noticed traces of Wittgenstein’s thought within Derrida’s own theories. Gier notes that “commentators who read Wittgenstein as a deconstructionist capitalize on those famous passages in which he says ordinary language misleads, tempts and even bewitches us;” this is the central basis for understanding the connection between the two philosophers (Gier).

American philosopher Marjorie Grene published an article discussing both philosophers as well titled “Life Death and Language: Some Thoughts on Wittgenstein and Derrida”. In this cretic Grene compares “two such language-focused enterprises, which look – and are – very different, yet feel – and are – somehow related” within both works of Wittgenstein and Derrida (Grene). Grene goes into a deep and extensive analysis of both parties and, while she was stumped a couple of times in her defense due to the philosophical nature of Derrida and Wittgenstein’s teachings, creates a new platform of thought in terms of language. While Grene notes that “[Wittgenstein’s technique] is to reconstruct language at work” and “Derrida’s, in contrast, is to deconstruct its alleged working,” there are shared similarities that draw these two concepts to one another (Grene). In trying to shed light on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one will run into problems of comprehension that are rooted in the misuse or misunderstanding of the language within the play; it is here that one can apply those thoughts of both Wittgenstein as well as Derrida to help grasp a better understanding of the play and the characters within it as a whole ILLUMINATING HAMLET William Shakespeare has captivated both his reading and viewing audiences through his works of literature over the course of history through memorable works such as Othello, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. From themes of love to the characters themselves, Shakespeare was notorious for giving viewing audiences, as well as reading audiences, an entirely new way of looking at drama. With this being known, it is important to take a closer look at Shakespeare’s writing to truly shed light on his intentions of his text. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is most known for its vengeful plot, characters going mad, and of course its double meanings within the dialogue amongst the characters. This play serves as an excellent case study to apply those theoretical thoughts of both Wittgenstein’s OLP as well as Derrida’s literary method of Deconstruction due to the fact that the language and word choice in Hamlet is filled with ambiguities that can be reused more than once and may even have multiple meanings.

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“Misunderstandings are among the most frequent phenomenon in Hamlet,” notes Lawrence Danson; “there is hardly a character with whom Hamlet does not become involved in a linguistic contretemps” (Bloom).

It is important to look at the context of the play; is it not shrouded with people speaking in jumbled riddles who have seemingly gone mad? Is this not the intention of Shakespeare?

While this misleading method may have been intentional, it does not mean that the reader understands or even notices these multiple meanings in the text. His language throughout the play can be analyzed as puns. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “pun” as “the use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect; a play on words” (“pun, n.1”). While the notion on the humorous aspect could be debated in terms of how it is used in Hamlet, the overall understanding of doubling meaning within Hamlet’s dialogue.

Teresa Hooper notes in her critique of Hamlet’s language, Dangerous Doubles: Puns and Language in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, that the usage of puns further defines Hamlet as a character.

She goes on to note how Hamlet becomes a slave to himself, particularly to his language, for it is through language that he straddles the thin line between sanity and insanity. Hooper begins by defining a pun as being “an instance where a single word or phrase carries more than one independent meaning in a given context,” parallel to the definition previously provided by Oxford English Dictionary (Hooper). Noticing the complications in having multiple meanings exist in the same space, “the pun, whether intentional or not, abstracts and subverts the intended meaning” (Hooper). While Shakespeare fills Hamlet with ambiguities, there are certain puns that divert the reader’s attention from the intended meaning of the word or phrase. Being that there are so many puns, it is important to decipher which words/phrases are integral to the overall understanding of the play.

Shakespeare sets no barriers with the language of this play. He stretches the usage of “puns” to not only Hamlet, but to secondary characters as well, such as Ophelia and Polonius. By engaging all characters in this multilayered word play, Shakespeare challenges the audience to look deeper into the text in order to decipher meaning. Meaning changes when one looks at the word outside of the text versus inside of the text but to illuminate meaning within the play in terms of comprehension, one must combine both of these methods to fully understand the intention of the word itself.

Hamlet is a character that is still seen as complex and multidimensional among reading audiences due to his insane-like nature and dialogue used throughout the play. Being an inquisitive character who was constantly fighting an internal battle in searching for the ultimate meaning of life, it is important to keep in mind his educational background, although it is not spelled out directly in the play. Hamlet was a student at the University of Wittenberg where he, more than likely, studied philosophy. Within the first act of the play, one gets a basic understanding of Hamlet and who he is as a friend, lover, and person. While analyzing his character, Hamlet is deemed as a “mad” and depressed individual while not always having the mindset as such. This is an interesting factor to keep in mind while not only reading his dialogue, but deciphering it as well. Shakespeare is seen using misleading words and phrases in the form of puns within the first act of the play amidst the conversation between his new step father/uncle Claudius and Hamlet:

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OLP and Deconstruction in Hamlet 112 KING CLAUDIUS. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine, And thy best graces spend it at thy will!

But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,-HAMLET. [Aside] A little more than kin, and less than kind. (I.ii.62-65)

This comeback made by Hamlet has a deeper purpose than being deemed a sly and witty remark, but rather gives insight on the relationship between these two men that is not so blatantly written.

For one, this begins to show the true nature of Hamlet and what is going on inside of his head.

Secondly, this shows how Shakespeare is able to manipulate language in such a way that one could have a different meaning of Hamlet’s seemingly minuscule response. Focusing on Claudius’s greeting to Hamlet, “my cousin Hamlet, and my son,” and Hamlet’s response, let us first look at this exchange of words through the perspective of Wittgenstein and that of Ordinary Language Philosophy.

In his critical interpretation of Hamlet, Tragic Alphabet, Lawrence Danson mentions this conversation between Hamlet and Claudius and notices a trend that is prominent throughout the play’s language. Danson views Hamlet as a character whose purpose is to overwhelm the reader with meaning while everyone else, in this instance Claudius, tries to cancel out those meanings in order to make sense of them: “Claudius greets Hamlet as ‘my cousin Hamlet, and my son,’ but Hamlet responds (aside), ‘A little more than kin, and less than kind’ – informing us that Claudius’s double kinship is (through the pun of “kind”) both unnatural and ungracious, not at all of Hamlet’s kind” (Bloom). The word “kind,” as Hamlet uses it, is the word that can be seen as misleading to the reading audience for it has several meanings, in the context of the phrase.

Looking at the word “kind” from an OLP perspective, one could understand it to be identified with something of preference or nice being that that is how it is understood in its “ordinary” use.

However, this still leaves room for possible confusion: Why the use of the word “kind”? Why not another choice of words to keep this possible confusion from arising within the text? Because it is how Shakespeare intended it to be. Through dialogue, Shakespeare is trying to convey a man spiraling into madness and what better way to depict this than through his word choice. Danson effectively deciphers the possible meanings in “kind” in terms of how Shakespeare may have intended its use to be; both “unnatural and ungracious” as well as referring to “kind” in the sense of preference. Both of these meanings are vital to the interpretation of the play for they both illuminate the issues in the play; one serving as a response to an elder and another serving as a sly remark.

Hamlet uses these puns against Claudius frequently throughout the play due to his resentment towards him. Still, no matter how Hamlet places the word, one can assume that he is making multiple claims simultaneously. Following the misuse, or misunderstanding rather, of the word “kind”, Hamlet twists the meaning of another common word within the same conversation as before: KING CLAUDIUS. How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

HAMLET. Not so, my lord; I am too much i’ the sun. (I.ii.66-67) After attempting to shed some light on the meaning of “kind” and what Hamlet really intended by it, it is clear to the reading audience that Hamlet is, once again, playing with Claudius with only one word; in this case “sun”. The context of the conversation, as previously analyzed, is between Hamlet and Claudius and their newfound relationship as stepfather and stepson. Hamlet,

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clearly not agreeing with this union, continues to slyly answer Claudius in such a manner that he does not disrespect him, yet he still is able to insult him.

Looking at the word “sun,” in light of OLP, there are already a variety of meanings one will find. Being that one often uses this word within everyday language, one could conclude the definition to be an intergalactic star or even a source of light and heat. However, what if one where to look at the word “sun” beyond its written meaning, in other words, deconstruct the word. In this instance, Shakespeare intentionally plays on the homogeny of the word “sun” as it is written, and uses the homophonic word, “son,” to push Hamlet’s response further than the immediate conversation. When one looks at “sun” turned to “son,” the pun shifts the meaning to a whole new context. Initially read, one could interpret Hamlet’s response as a positive one due to the context of the clouds no longer hanging over him because he is “too much i’ the sun” (I.ii.67). However, upon changing “sun” to “son,” one could interpret Hamlet’s response to be a negative one, possibly even disrespectful.

After rewording the phrase from “too much i’ the sun” to “too much i’ the son,” one can then see the difference in meaning and intent as it pertains to Claudius. Worded as “too much i’ the son,” the reader can then understand Hamlet’s distaste of Claudius and his newfound status as stepfather; not to mention that he does not like to be referred to as his “son” as analyzed in Act I. This phrase, when worded like this, then sheds light on Hamlet’s resentment towards Claudius and his annoyance with his calling him his “son” being that he is his uncle. Danson makes the connection that “the sunshine of royal attention and the too-much son-ship of double paternity become a distaste for life itself” in Hamlet’s opinion (Bloom).

Inga-Stina Ewbank, Shakespearian scholar and professor, brings up Sigurd Burckhardt in Shakespearean Meanings where he notes that the pun “‘denies the meaningfulness of words’” due to its double meaning; parallel to the thought of Derrida (Ewbank). However, this would contradict the thought of Wittgenstein who believed that language and meaning are determined by how one uses it [language] in everyday life. Ewbank takes an interesting approach toward this notion of word and whether they are meaningless or not, according to Hamlet, by pronouncing that “Hamlet’s puns do no such thing: they deny the logic and sincerity and meaningfulness of Claudius’s words but suggest that there is a language elsewhere” (Ewbank). This is a strong connection to make in terms of Wittgenstein’s and Derrida’s philosophical thought for it would then force a new philosophical theory into the literary realm; one that forces the two methods to depend on one another while, hopefully, reaching a sound conclusion in terms of meaning.

Nonetheless, both meanings of the homogenous word “sun”/”son”, similar to “kind”, play an important role in the reader's understanding of the play and the “language games” that Shakespeare plays. Still, without critically reading Hamlet, one often misses the language and only obtains the gist of the story.

While Hamlet is the primary character who uses these puns, a few secondary characters become intertwined with his word play as well, such as Claudius’s Lord Chamberlin, Polonius.

Polonius is seen using ambiguous language towards Hamlet, as well as other characters in several instances, which not only helps define him as a character, but also shows how Shakespeare can engage anyone in his “word games.” Polonius and Hamlet have an interesting exchange of words in the second act of the play where the two men engage in a confusing conversation: POLONIUS. HAMLET.

What do you read my lord?

Words, words, words.

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OLP and Deconstruction in Hamlet 114 POLONIUS. HAMLET. POLONIUS.

What is the matter, my lord?

Between who?

I mean the matter that you read, my lord. (II.ii.191-195)

Ironically enough, the reader is not the only one who misinterprets this portion of the conversation, but Hamlet as well. Previously, Hamlet’s puns had misunderstandings within one word where in this instance, there are a few phrases that need to be analyzed closer. Firstly, the response to Hamlet’s claim of reading “words, words, words” can misunderstood within language due to it being unclear. One is aware that Hamlet is reading, yet he chooses not to specify exactly what he is reading to Polonius; being that he was pretending to be “mad,” he may have purposely responded as vaguely as he did to throw Polonius off of his trail. Danson mentions this phrase and concludes that Hamlet was responding in this manner to “bait” Polonius and that “Hamlet cannot, or will not, understand the language of the court – a language which has lost its necessary relationship to a world it no longer adequately describes” (Bloom). If Danson’s claim is deemed true, then this means that language means nothing to Hamlet and he is simply saying what he wants because he knows that people will not understand him and his intent; which would prove to be useful in his attempt to seem “mad.” However, it could also be that Hamlet is aware of this relationship's loss and, in a way, creates a new world of language with an entire new set of meanings that many people of the court would deem as crazy or irrational. Still Hamlet believes Polonius to have mistaken him by his response of “what is the matter” with the word “matter” being the second source of confusion.

In the process of Polonius trying to understand Hamlet’s troubles with these “words, words, words,” he seems to confuse not only himself, but Hamlet as well. In responding to Polonius, Hamlet misconstrues the meaning of the word “matter,” as shown in his response of “Between who?” (II.ii.194). Hamlet mistook the intent of “matter” by thinking that Polonius was referring to an issue of some sort being wrong between two people while Polonius was actually referring to the subject matter that Hamlet was reading; being that he didn’t define it in his first response. However, unlike previous puns and misconstrued phrases that Hamlet made, Polonius clarifies the meaning that intended: “I mean the matter that you read, my lord” (II.ii.195). One can say that Hamlet was possible using his basic knowledge of the word “matter” as he has applied and used it ordinarily. Even without applying the method deconstruction one quickly discovers the true meaning of this word, as it was intended by Shakespeare.

Being used on both Claudius and Polonius, Hamlet uses puns against his love interest, Ophelia, as well. Ophelia is a fragile secondary character who loves Hamlet, but cannot stand up for herself as a woman. This is an important factor to keep in mind for it helps in understanding her demeanor as well as her downward spiral into madness caused by Hamlet. In order to keep up his charade, Hamlet is forced to push away all of the people that he loves for it is the only way that one could reach the ultimate truth not only about his father’s death, but about life as well. Hamlet achieves this goal through a plethora of puns which include demoralizing Ophelia as a woman. Ewbank acknowledges Hamlet’s language towards Ophelia and notes that “[in] his dealings with Ophelia – which is as much as to say his language to Ophelia – that Hamlet most shows his destructive powers of speech” (Ewbank). These particular puns, being misunderstanding in context, cause confusion in not only Ophelia’s mind, but in the reading audiences as well.

“Hamlet’s vision of Ophelia has changed with his vision of the world. The language to be spoken to her is that current in a worlds where frailty is the name of woman […] and nothing is

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constant,” which has been depicted throughout Hamlet’s puns thus far (Ewbank). Ewbank’s claim of “frailty” in women is strongly supported in a conversation with Ophelia over the discussion of nunneries: HAMLET.

Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest (III.i.121-122)

This speech to Ophelia serves as an important signifier of change within Hamlet. “though he does not know it, and would hate to be told so,” mentions Ewbanks on Hamlet’s “nunnery” speech, “his language has moved away from Ophelia’s and towards Polonius’s”; Polonius’s in the sense that he talks at Ophelia rather than to because of her frailty as a woman (Ewbank).

Taking a closer look at the word “nunnery”, in terms of OLP, one would assume that Hamlet’s intention of the word was a positive one despite the negative connotations following his statement of “Get thee to a nunnery” (III.i.121). As a way of deconstructing this word to illuminate true meaning, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), multiple definitions of the word “nunnery” have appeared over time; therefore altering the overall intent and meaning of the word. When isolated outside of the text, a “nunnery” is “a place of residence for a community of nuns” (“nunnery, n”). But when looking at “nothing outside of the text”, as Derrida would, the meaning of “nunnery” as Hamlet uses it then alters to that of slang. The OED acknowledges this definition as “a brothel” which is equivalent to a whorehouse, which is probably what Hamlet was implying of Ophelia being that he follows this statement by saying, “why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” (III.i.121-122). An essay by Imtiaz Habib, professor of English, titled “‘Never Doubt I Love’: Misreading Hamlet,” Habib does a close reading of Hamlet and concludes that misleading concepts, of all kinds, are central to the meaning and understanding of Hamlet itself. Habib explains further the meaning of “nunnery” in the context it is placed in: The instability of the signifier ‘nunn’ry’ with which he ends his tirade – poised as it is between its formal sober connotation as a retreat of sanctity and its bawdy popular Elizabethan denotation as a brothel – masks perfectly the sense of his feeling for her, now or in the past. (Habib) Through a closer look, one is able to see the vulgarity that Hamlet is using towards Ophelia, a woman that he has claimed to have loved dearly, but why and why through the word “nunnery”?

Being that language is ever-evolving, the meaning of words change over time, just as the spelling of certain words may sometimes change over the course of time. Being that this occurs, one often takes the meaning of certain words out of context or misunderstand them completely and, therefore, misinterpret the reading. However, through a further step of deconstructing words that OLP has trouble defining, one can truly gain a better understanding of Hamlet’s language, especially towards Ophelia.

While Hamlet does verbally attack Ophelia with harsh language several times within the play, there are several instances where Hamlet attempts to convey his love to Ophelia. This is seen in Act II, scene ii where Polonius is talking to Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, about a letter he found from Hamlet to Ophelia:

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OLP and Deconstruction in Hamlet 116 POLONIUS.

[Reads the] letter: “Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love” (II.ii.116-119)

In reading this poem, one assumes that this is Hamlet’s way of asserting his love towards Ophelia, yet through OLP and deconstruction, one reveals deeper intentions. The word that gives this poem philosophical complications is “doubt” for its repetition as well as its misleading context. At first glance, “doubt” seems to mean uncertainty as in Hamlet is not certain that the stars are made of fire or any other analogy that he made; yet he is not uncertain of his love for Ophelia.

On the other hand, the word “doubt” could be interpreted to mean “suspect” due to the meaning of the word during this era (“doubt, v”). If one replaces the meaning of “doubt” to mean “suspect” rather than to mean uncertainty, the meaning of the “love” poem then changes into something new entirely. In this light, Hamlet would then be telling Ophelia that he “suspects” that the stars are fire, he “suspects” that the sun does move, he “suspects” that truth lies within the liar but he doesn’t “suspect” that he has the ability to love. While Hamlet may, or may not, have tried to give off the impression that he was expressing his inability to love Ophelia, Polonius gives the impression that he meant it in such a manner; being that he is the one who rereads the poem aloud to Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Shakespeare does an amazing job with the language within this seemingly harmless poem for it only shows the reading audience that the smallest of Hamlet’s linguistic gestures are shrouded in ambiguities and complications.

While these examples of the “misuse” or misunderstanding of words within Hamlet serve as an adequate example of how one can apply OLP as well as methods of deconstruction to help shed light on literary works, it is essential to also further analyze phrases as well. Among all of the monologues, speeches and soliloquies written in playwright history, the most profound and memorable one is from Hamlet. In his “To be, or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet stuns all audiences with his own internal struggle with the ultimate meaning and purpose of life. Furthermore, this soliloquy not only contains content that challenges philosophical thought, but also misleading phrases that seem to contradict themselves.

The famous phrase that Hamlet speaks at the beginning of this soliloquy set the tone for the entirety of his speech. In illuminating meaning in this soliloquy, one must begin by deconstructing the initial phrase of “To be, or not to be” (III.i.56). The reading audience is to assume that by Hamlet stating this that he is questioning taking his own life; to live, or not to live. Looking closer at the text, the word “be” seems to be the cause of confusion for the reader upon many reasons. The main argument is that there are so many forms of “be,” or “being,” that one cannot definitely define what it means, rendering it meaningless to a certain extent. This is something that challenges the thought of Wittgenstein, for his theory strongly believes in “language games” and that one learns the meaning of words as they come and go. Being that, at this point in the play, Hamlet has indeed gone mad to the point where he is considering suicide, his word choice in this matter is to be treated no differently. Hamlet is learning as he goes, slowly but surely; he is learning more about himself, his father’s death and the overall meaning and purpose of life. Through this method of deconstructing the phrase and then using ones knowledge of OLP to further analyze the meaning of words, one can not only illuminate meaning, but shed light on the philosophical state of the characters as well.

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Continuing with this soliloquy, Hamlet immediately follows his initial question to life with the statement: HAMLET.

Whether tis’ nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and opposing to end them? To die, to sleep (III.i.57-60).

The reader can sense Hamlet losing faith in himself and his ability to understand life in these lines, but when broken down reveals a new meaning. The word “nobler,” much like “be,” is vague in meaning and intent, for the reader cannot know how Hamlet values nobility. In terms of OLP, the nature of the word “nobler” is seen creating more philosophical problems in language rather than trying to solve them due to the abstraction of the meaning. Ordinarily, the word “nobler” or “noble” is understood to be someone or thing that is distinguished in nature.

However, in Shakespeare’s usage, “nobler” is to mean something “of quality, action […] proceeding from or indicative of greatness in character” (“noble, adj. and n.1”). While these various definitions are similar in meaning, there are still problems in comprehension that OLP alone cannot resolve.

In deconstructing this word in the context that it is used in, the mental state of the character speaking the language is important to keep in mind as well. The mental state of Hamlet certainly has a lot to do with his word choice, as was shown through his usage of puns. In the case of this soliloquy, Hamlet is questioning the conditions of life, struggling to figure out if it is truly worth living in such a cruel and oppressed world. While being confused, Hamlet is also trying to rationalize with himself throughout the entirety of the soliloquy, wrestling with the question of human nature and endurance to deal with life only to conclude that the burden of death is larger than life. So when Hamlet is then faced with an internal struggle, it is important to note his state of mind as well. Looking at nothing outside of the text, one could argue that the meaning of “nobler” is null and void due to the instability of Hamlet himself, not to mention how Hamlet constantly contradicts himself throughout the rest of the soliloquy in efforts to reach a sound truth.

CONCLUSION Language is an ever-evolving tool that can be twisted and manipulated to fit whatever context one chooses it to. Through Hamlet, Shakespeare successfully creates a character who indulges in theses “language games,” as Wittgenstein eloquently coined, yet problems of comprehension are to arise. Being that Hamlet is a character who is understood to be vague and eccentric in nature, his language thus represents the same idea. However, this misunderstanding in language can cause the reading audience to misinterpret important aspects of the play which is integral to the comprehension of the play as a whole. Both Wittgenstein and Derrida noticed these problems within language and through their theories have shed light on the meaning of these particular words. Through Wittgenstein’s idea of Ordinary Language Philosophy, one is able to understand how one word may hold multiple meanings, yet, how is one to decipher among all meanings, which one is the proper definition to apply to the word in terms of the context it was used in? This is an issue that OLP leaves to the reader to decide; however, through

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the application of Derridian thought and theory, one can come to a conclusive meaning of a word as it pertains to the text.

Through deconstruction, one can take a further step towards illuminating meaning in words to help grasp a better interpretation of the text. The deconstruction of a word or phrase, after finding all the relevant meanings of the word/phrase through OLP, simply looks at nothing outside of the text. Being that Derrida did not believe that words had meaning at all, he searched within the text to find true meaning. As shown through Hamlet, Shakespeare purposely makes Hamlet an ambiguous character whose language reflects mental state. Hamlet’s word and phrases have been shown to hold multiple meanings, all of which are integral to understanding not only the play, but the characters within the play as well.

In the case of Hamlet, the language used in the play serves an overall purpose to the plot of the play: Hamlet going mad. This being known, it is important to identify all of the possible meanings within ambiguous words for they add definition to Hamlet’s character. Nevertheless, the reading audience cannot fully grasp the deeper meaning of the play through all of these meanings; one concise definition must be found. Deconstruction weighs the content of the text and places it upon the word to help give the word definite meaning as shown in the analysis of Hamlet’s poem to Ophelia or even in his famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy. Through seemingly impossible, it is possible to create meaning within the text even though deconstruction looks at nothing outside of the text only through the assistance of OLP. Language can be tricky and will sometimes work against the reader rather than with the reader, but it is not impossible to figure out.

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CONTRIBUTORS KYLA BROWN Kyla Brown is a senior communication arts major at Johnson C. Smith University. She is a Queens, New York native and came to Charlotte to explore its media culture. Kyla was previously the editor for the Bull's Eye Newspaper and also an intern for AMC Networks. The next steps for Kyla will be to attend graduate school to gain her masters in media entrepreneurship and to work for an enterprising media company.

KATHY LAZO Kathy Abigail Lazo Pineda was born in El Salvador. Kathy is the youngest out of two children. Kathy came to the United States at the age of ten. Kathy is and was an achiever since the beginning of her education career. Kathy made it a goal to go to college despite the financial difficulties she faced, she was able to excel academically in high school and successfully obtain a full academic scholarship from Johnson C. Smith University. She majored in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.

Kathy continues to excel not only academically but as leader in her community. She serves as a children's ministry coordinator at the church she attends. Kathy will be graduating after four years at Johnson C. Smith University with honors in 2015. In the future Kathy wants to continue becoming a successful and accomplished business women and community leader.

LERATO MOTAUNG Lerato Motaung is a Duke Endowment Academic Merit Scholar and graduating senior student in Political Science and Government at Johnson C. Smith University. Upon graduating, she intends to join a policy research institute with specific interest in education policy with an eye to enrolling in a master’s degree program in urban and social policy at a reputable graduate institution. Being a native of the Republic of South Africa, her primary research interests focus on decolonization and decentralization of education in post-Apartheid South Africa. This interest in education reform is fuelled by Lerato's strong belief that the success of South Africa's democratic project depends on the quality of its education system. Broader research topics include democratization, governance and sustainable development in post-colonial Africa.University.

DINEA SEAKAMELA Born and reared in the heart of Soweto, South Africa, Dineo Liziwe Seakamela was awarded a Duke Endowment International Scholarship to attend Johnson C. Smith University in 2011. In addition to completing her Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Dineo is also an engaged member of JCSU’s campus community where she serves as the: president of JCSU’s Pre-Alumni Council of the United Negro College Fund, Inc., co-founder and student advisor of The Innovo Scholar society, member of the JCSU Student Research Committee, and is an events and research assistant at Innovo Laboratory -a leadership and entrepreneurship program under JCSU’s Smith Institute for Applied Research. Amongst other career goals, Dineo plans to improve the living experiences of youth in underserved communities by working for technology based companies that use relevant and innovative solutions to tackle challenges faced by these communities. All this with plans to pursue a master’s degree in urban development, and to eventually establish her own social enterprise.

KAYLA WILMER Kayla Wilmer is a graduating senior from Johnson C Smith University majoring in English with a minor in Philosophy. Being a Charlotte native, Kayla has been a Golden Bull all of her life and has actively been involved in various programs during her collegiate career such as working with Upward Bound Programs as well as interning as a librarian in her school’s library. Furthermore, she is a Golden Scholar recipient directed under Dr. Carter as well as a member of several social and academic organizations including Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority as well as Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society. Upon graduation, Kayla hopes to attend graduate school where she will further her studies in linguistics and language with a philosophical outlook.