Oppression is the unfair or cruel use of power to control another person or group. The term is often used in a political context to refer to the oppression of minority groups such as women and racial minorities. Oppression occurs whenever one person exercises authority or power in an unfair, abusive, cruel, or needlessly controlling way. For example, a parent who locks a child in the closet could be said to be oppressing that child. Slavery, the refusal to allow women to inherit and own property, the denial of equal rights to people with disabilities, and the involuntary commitment of people who deviate from social norms are all examples of oppression. Because oppression is often used to refer to political circumstances, the definition of the term is debated, and it is unlikely that there is a single example of oppression that all people can agree constitutes oppression. The degree to which groups in the United States are oppressed is a frequent source of debate with feminists, civil rights activists, disability rights advocates, and prison abolitionists arguing in favor of rampant oppression. A feminist, for example, might view high rape rates in the United States as indication of systematic attempts to control and oppress women, while another person might argue that rape is an opportunistic, individualistic crime not related to oppression. Therefore, this story will shade more light on the themes that comes out in the text, this world (pano calo) by Stephen Mpashi are abused of authority and oppression of the disadvantaged. From the readings of the text, this academic piece of writing will show how the two themes comes out in the text.
However, the abused of authority and oppression of the disadvantaged is shown in the story on how people where making lies for someone who where unable to talk rather a deaf person. Obstacles have been noted in the literature among deaf people in general terms of being oppressed with employment, doctors, education, family discrimination, stereotyping, stigmas and cultural conflicts because they are deaf. The obstacles facing deaf had not been specifically explored before. The shift attention to deaf is needed in order to make their experiences known and at the same time their lives, values, and strengths need to be understood and recognized.
Hence, at first the deaf was been oppressed and abused by some boys who killed the chicken which was not theirs and pointed the deaf that he killed the chicken which he never did according to the story. Thus, hearing loss affects daily life at home like what happened, work, and in social settings. In all of these contexts, effective communication is key to healthy relationships. Therefore, hearing loss can create stress in relationships with family and friends. Additionally, being unable to hear clearly in situations where families are gathered can cause some people to withdraw (Cudd, 2006).
Hence, abused of authority and oppression of disadvantaged was seen also in the scenario where a deaf was been bitten and make him wet with urine, after that the group of boys went forward and lied to the chief that the deaf pushed the friend Mwanangwa into the river when they were playing. Therefore, Audism is an attitude based on pathological thinking that results in a negative stigma toward anyone who does not hear; like racism or sexism, audism judges, labels, and limits individuals on the basis of whether a person hears and speaks (Humphrey and Alcorn, 1995: 85). Audism reflects the medical view of deafness as a disability that must be fixed. It is rooted in the historical belief that deaf people were savages without language, equating language to humanity. Because many Deaf people grew up in hearing families who did not learn to sign, audism may be ingrained. Audists can be either hearing or deaf. This attitude can also be present among Deaf individuals.
Although people with different impairments and social positions do not share the same perspectives or experiences as other disabled people, 'there is a cultural gulf between the disabled and the non-disabled; to become disabled is to enter a different world' (Wendell 1995 p 65). Because disabled people do not regularly see themselves in dominant forms of representation, such as television, theirs is a largely unscripted world.
Furthermore, the other scenario which was their on the abuse of authority and oppression of the disadvantaged was when the chief judged the deaf and the family to be killed because of the lies the boys made that the deaf pushed Mwanangwa into the river and die. Hence, as the deaf and his family where waiting to be killed, they were taken to the prison. Oppression refers to the use of power by one group to disempower, marginalize, or exert dominance over another group like what happed to the story. Dominant groups can maintain their status, privilege, and power over others both intentionally and unintentionally as well as in obvious and subtle ways. Acts of oppression can become institutionalized or systemic, thus becoming hidden and seemingly 'normal'. They can also play out on the personal and interpersonal levels, influencing individual values, beliefs, and actions as well as interactions between people (Fage, 1959).
The chief agreed to make the deaf and his family to become slaves. The family started working for the chief and their home was a prison. This was the other scenario on the abuse of authority and oppression of the disadvantaged. Further, the debilitating effects of slavery in our own recent Africa past linger on. Regrettably, the church can claim no better than a mixed record regarding slavery, oppression, and prejudice in this context. The institution of slavery varied widely in Africa but the United States serves as an example of both changing and conflicting religious assumptions about slavery.
Charlton (1995) observed that the dominant culture portrays certain beliefs concerning superiority and inferiority as natural and taken-for-granted, rather than as historically and culturally specific. Devalued groups are 'submerged in negative stereotypes' (Barnes and Mercer 2003 p 88). Central to cultural imperialism is the desire to assert the normality and superiority of the dominant group, hence critics contend that the purpose of displaying negative imagery of disabled people in literature, film and the media is to affirm how different 'they' are from 'us', and thus how admirably normal 'we' are (Thomson 1995). Lorde (1984) claimed that the 'mythical norm' is always at the edge of consciousness.
In addition, a scenario where a chief bitten a man in front of his wife is the abuse of authority. Devaluation, exploitation, and privilege are key concepts in it, which are inextricably linked to the phenomenon of oppression, which exists in all societies, and has probably done so throughout history. Attempts to eradicate oppression in society are relatively new, and the focus may be on one villagers to the neglect of another. For example, in the same story some group movements brought a focus on discrimination and denial of human rights to minority villagers on the basis of race and religion, respectively, the denial of disadvantaged rights were largely ignored by the chief and other groups (David, 2009).
In conclusion, Members of an oppressed group that experience oppression for sustained periods of time may also begin experiencing internalized oppression. Abuse of power or abuse of authority, in the form of malfeasance in office or official abuse of power, is the commission of an unlawful act, done in an official capacity, which affects the performance of official duties.