Digital Commons Network^™

How Is Collectivism Possible In Rural China?, Kin Chi Lau

South South Forum 南南論壇

With the reform policy of 1979, the household responsibility system effectively and largely dismantled the people’s commune system that had been in place for over a decade during the Cultural Revolution. Partly as an imperative policy from above, and partly as an aspiration of peasant households to claim right of usage over a piece of land, over 90% of rural assets that were collectively owned and managed by the village community have been de-collectivized. Nevertheless, fragments of collectivity have remained in diverse forms, with variations in terms of ownership or management.

Two cases have drawn much media attention: the Huaxi …

Our Food Sovereignty And Well Living In The Peruvian High Plains, Eliana Apaza

South South Forum 南南論壇

We the aymara people in the region of Puno in Peru, consider that everyone’s life is important, that is why our life is based in living as a community with everything that surrounds us. One of the main activities of our people is the growth of agricultural diversity, focused mainly in the potato, the broad beans, the quinoa, the barley and other crops, each one is planted and cultivated in an specific way and it is consumed in a different way. The families cultivate with a loving raise, before, they used to do a ritual to ask for permission to …

Land Grabbing In Africa, Khadija Sharife

South South Forum 南南論壇

At least 80 million hectares of land have been recently purchased in what are being termed ‘land grabs,’ around three quarter of which are in Africa. The deals, displacingAfrica’s small farmers, primarily women, are often facilitated by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, acting as a one-stop-lease-shop via Investment and Export Promotion Agency. These agencies remove obstacles allegedly blocking Foreign Direct Investment by constructing sovereign-backed toolkits, streamlining for investors issues ranging from land ownership, availability, titling, to legal obligations, taxes and duties. While the architecture of land grabbing is an extension of the neoliberal system, a new set of land-grabbers …

Contestation, Cooperation And The Transborder Commons, Carl Middleton

South South Forum 南南論壇

The Mekong River traces its 4,900 kilometer path southwards through the heart of mainland Southeast Asia from its source in the Himalayan Tibetan plateau through Yunnan Province of China, Myanmar/ Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Host to the world’s largest inland fishery and vital to agriculture, the Mekong River is a transboundary commons that is central to the livelihoods, local economies and culture of millions of people living within the basin.

Mainland Southeast Asia is rapidly industrializing, urbanizing, and undergoing a process of regional economic integration shaped predominantly by neoliberal economic policies. Economic growth is uneven, however, and large …

Mapping The Global Land Grab, Neide Vargas

South South Forum 南南論壇

2008年以后，在美联储、英格兰银行、欧洲央行宽松的货币政策的刺激下，国际金融资本在世界范围内的圈地运动愈演愈烈。目前，一些中心国家及边缘国家的农业公司、资本集团之间展开了圈地竞赛，目标主要集中在拉丁美洲、非洲，以及澳大利亚。在这一形势下，考虑到农产品的生产与需求的现状，农地，或者有潜力开发为农地的土地在未来会变得愈加稀缺。我们试图帮助理解这一趋势。

这一场圈地运动是由国际投资基金、主权财富基金、各国国有产业集团、农业企业等资本集团掀起的。各国政府在其中扮演了推动和刺激企业圈地的角色，为全球范围的圈地活动提供了平台。很多政府和多边机构为此提供了有利的政策。这里面的各种关联错综复杂，难以理清，投机交易与套利活动涉及很多国家和组织，编织成了一张全球性网络，并呈持续扩张态势。目前的土地交易，都是资本在追逐短期利润的投机动机下进行的，这将给上述相关地区带来很大的风险和不确定性，我们将用GRAIN的数据揭示当下这一圈地运动的特点。

转基因话语、利益结构与基因竞赛 = Transgenicdiscourse, Interest Structure And Gene Competition, Li Zhou

South South Forum 南南論壇

由于近些年生物技术的突飞猛进，世界各国已经展开了一场类似于核竞赛，又远比核竞赛更为隐秘和严重的基因竞赛，我们需要认识转基因竞赛甚至战争的性质，走出技术化的缺乏主体性的转基因话语讨论。转基因研发推广过程中，有七股力量已经联合，形成一个利益共同体，使得转基因大潮势不可挡：跨国粮商得利润、外国政府得战略、地方政府得政绩、中资公司得好处、科研院所得经费、国家部门得租金、种粮农民得闲暇。我们需要认识让生存逻辑和生命逻辑，服从于商业逻辑和政治逻辑的转基因利益结构，认识其可能导致人类生存危机等系统性风险，旗帜鲜明地反对转基因育种和产业化推广；退一步讲，即使进行转基因技术的研发，也要采用国家集中体制，以防止类似核扩散的基因技术不可控行为的发生，阻止一场在种子领域的殖民掠夺；同时重点发展和推广常规育种，强化农田水利建设，采用更为安全可行的措施，以阻止人类在转基因领域的自杀式竞争。

Since the rapid development of the biotechnology in recent years, the countries in the world have already started a new kind of competition—genetic competition, which is similar to nuclear arms race but far more secret and serious. We need to recognize the nature of the transgenic contest and genetic war, getting out from the subjectivity-absent technical discussion on transgenic technology. In the process of transgenic research and development(R&D), seven forces have already jointed and formed a “community of interests”, pushing the transgenic trends overwhelming: the international food dealers gain profits, foreign government wins strategy, local government achieves performance, Chinese-funded …

Structural Crisis, Speculative Attacks And Food Sovereignty, Pedro Paez

South South Forum 南南論壇

The present crisis is not only a financial one. It is a crisis of civilization. The convergence of long term contradictory processes in several levels (economic, demographic, ecological, etc.) has reduced capital’s margin of maneuvering with historical progressive projection, opening the room for very painful situations for large segments of Earth’s population.

The anti-fascist forces victory in the Second Word War triggered the constitution of a series of regimes of accumulation with significant endogenous dynamics of growth based upon re-distributive patterns at the domestic and the international levels that expressed the new balance of power. The pervasive destruction of local …

Feeding World’S Hungry-Food Security Or Food Sovereignty, Vinod Raina

South South Forum 南南論壇

The increased wealth creation by nations stands in contrast with the extent of hunger around the World. By hunger we simply mean the want or scarcity of food in a country. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimates that 925 million people in the World are hungry. Against a total World population of 6.8 billion, this means 1 out of every 7 in the World goes hungry. Most of them live in developing countries, and sixty-five percent of them live in only seven countries: China,India,Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo,Indonesia,PakistanandEthiopia(FAO, 2011). Furthermore, each year more people die due to hunger …

Economic Resilience : Including A Case Study Of The Global Transition Network, Julie Richardson

South South Forum 南南論壇

This paper explores the dynamic properties of organisms and ecosystems that make them so resilient and capable of adapting to changing circumstances, allowing them to maintain an overall condition of coherence, wholeness and health while living in balance within the resources of the planet. Key principles of resilient ecological systems are explored including: self-regulation; positive and negative feedback; diversity; scale and context; cooperation; emergence and novelty; and ecological tipping points. In contrast, market based economic systems can produce unstable growth with unintended destruction of cultural and species diversity and homogenisation of global life-styles. The paper re-examines fundamental economic principles using …

Alternatives In Times Of The Reinvention Of Capitalism, Pablo Solon

South South Forum 南南論壇

Crisis & reconfiguration

1. A new attack to the labor force
2. Privatization of public services and knowledge (the commons)
3. The expansion of financialisation
4. A new assault to Mother Earth: Natural capital
5. Intervention, criminalization and war

The Implosion Of The Contemporary Global Capitalist System = 当代资本主义体系的内爆, Samir Amin

South South Forum 南南論壇

Contemporary capitalism is a capitalism of generalized monopolies. By this I mean that monopolies are now no longer islands (albeit important) in a sea of other still relatively autonomous companies, but are an integrated system. Therefore, these monopolies now tightly control all the systems of production. Small and medium enterprises, and even the large corporations that are not strictly speaking oligopolies are locked in a network of control put in place by the monopolies. Their degree of autonomy has shrunk to the point that they are nothing more than subcontractors of the monopolies. This system of generalized monopolies is the …

主权外部性与币缘战略 : 关于发展陷阱的案例研究 = Sovereignty Externalities And Currency-Strategy Development Trap Case Studies, Tiejun Wen

South South Forum 南南論壇

本报告以全球化危机向发展中国家转嫁为据，提出两个论点。其一，大多数发展中国家因“成本转嫁”而沉落于发展主义陷阱的根本教训，在于其在向殖民主义宗主国争取国家“合法”独立的交易中，已经形成了失去资源和经济主权的负外部性。其二，当前金融资本时代强权政治控制的币缘战略不同于传统的产业资本时代的地缘战略，并且在以国家为单位的全球竞争框架中，客观地形成了金融主导国家币权为核心的“币权三角”；由此衍生出国家竞争的微笑曲线，乃是制造业国家承担金融化制度成本的内在机制。

这些理论创新，可以解释包括中国在内的一般发展中国家的困境成因。

本文把通过非暴力形式的政治谈判这种“交易”来形成发展中国家独立主权进程中与生俱来的制度性缺陷，称为“主权外部性”；把金融资本阶段凭借政治强权维护世界储备货币地位、并据此向能源和食物市场释放过剩流动性，借以把巨额债务转化为他国通胀危机的“巧实力”运作，称为“币缘战略”。

这两者都是发展中国家难以改出发展陷阱的主要原因，也是金融全球化阶段内在形成国家竞争的微笑曲线的前提条件。

Based on an understanding that the crises of core nations are being transferred to developing countries and thus globalized, two perspectives are highlighted here: first, the development trap most developing countries are caught in due to “cost transfer” by advanced countries can be attributed to the negative externalities of having lost part of their resources and economic sovereignty in the transaction with their former suzerains for gaining “legitimate” independence; second, the currency-strategy of political dominance by the super power in contemporary financial capitalism is different from traditional geo-strategy in the age of industrial capitalism. In the …

Why Chinese Neo-Confucian Women Made A Fetish Of Small Feet, Aubrey L. Mcmahan

Grand Valley Journal of History

Abstract for “Why Chinese Neo-Confucian Women Made a Fetish of Small Feet”

This paper explores the source of the traditional practice of Chinese footbinding which first gained popularity at the end of the Tang dynasty and continued to flourish until the last half of the twentieth century.[1] Derived initially from court concubines whose feet were formed to represent an attractive “deer lady” from an Indian tale, footbinding became a wide-spread symbol among the Chinese of obedience, pecuniary reputability, and Confucianism, among other things.[2]^,[3] Drawing on the analyses of such scholars as Beverly Jackson, Valerie Steele …

The Flow Of Water, Power, And Ideas: Water Commodification In Cape Town, South Africa And The Stratified Experiences Of Time And Space Compression, Jenna Washburn

Master's Theses

I use the neoliberalization of the water sector in Cape Town, South Africa in order to test my theory of unequal development. I assert that the neoliberal economic practices of water commodification, business-friendly tariff policies, and prepaid management devices keep people along the periphery from accessing water, power, and ideas – thus causing a stratification of time and space compression between the core and the periphery.

By painting a theoretical picture of world cities, I wish to complicate the dominant views of time/space compression and suggest that, much like development and arguably because of it, time and space compression actually …

The Unending Cycle Of Political Violence In Haiti A Case Study Of The 1991 Coup D'Etat, Lourdes Eliacin Mars

HIM 1990-2015

Deye mo-n se mo-n is a proverb in Haiti that roughly translates to "Beyond the mountains, more mountains." This saying holds a deep meaning to the Haitian peoples, who have lived through unrelenting violence and poverty. In its 200 years of independence, Haiti's inhabitants have seldom known a decade without political violence. Like the chain of mountains, political violence in Haiti seems to go on forever with no end in sight. Not only are the devastating effects of violence felt within politics, but also in the economic and social sectors of the country. The collapse of these sectors has created …

Living A Parallel Life: Memoirs And Research Of A Transnational Korean Adoptee, Mary C. Robinson

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This thesis project consists of two parts: a memoir of my experience as a Korean adoptee, and a research paper examining how transracial, transnational adoption affects identity development in Korean adoptees. The memoir, as a first person narrative, gives voice to the research as one example of the findings. The majority of research on Korean adoptees has focused on levels of adjustment within a short time frame after adoptees’ placement in their adoptive homes. While the overwhelming majority of the prior research has declared positive and overall satisfactory adjustment for most adoptees, serious flaws exist in the methodologies that do …

Aesthetic Constructions Of Korea Nationalism: Spectacle, Politics And History, Yooil Bae

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

American Ways: A Course In Contemporary U.S. Culture For International Students, Christopher D. Fitch

Capstone Collection

International student populations are increasing in large proportions at universities across the United States. The onset of culture shock and difficulty communicating and relating with their new peers compounds an already difficult situation. Universities and colleges need a method to accommodate these students and help facilitate their transitions into a completely new academic and social environment.

“American Ways: A course on Contemporary American Culture for International Students” is a semester-long university level course designed to give knowledge and understanding of “American” culture to international students attending U.S. higher education institutions. It will cover topics surrounding U.S. culture that …

The Latino Vote And Obama’S Reelection Possibilities: A Quantitative Assessment Of Its Possible Impact On Nine Swing States, Justine Calcagno

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines the potential impact of the Latino electorate on nine key swing states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) for the 2012 presidential election.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Assuming that current polling data are somewhat accurate, Latino voter turnout and the direction of the Latino vote may not be as meaningful …

How Do Latino Groups Fare In A Changing Economy? Occupation In Latino Groups In The Greater New York City Area, 1980-2009, Stephen Ruszczyk

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors of racial/ethnic groups in New York City between 1980 and 2009 – particularly the Latino population.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Trends from 1990 continued in 2000, with numbers of Puerto Ricans in production dropping to only 14% of that group. More than a fifth of Puerto Ricans worked in management and professional …

Demographic, Economic, And Social Transformations In Bronx Community District 5: Fordham, University Heights, Morris Heights And Mount Hope, 1990 – 2009, Astrid S. Rodríguez

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report analyzes demographic and socioeconomic characteristics among the five largest Latino nationality groups during 1990-2009 in the NYC Community District 5 of the borough of the Bronx, which comprises the neighborhoods of Fordham, University Heights, Morris Heights and Mount Hope.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Dominicans are the largest Latino subgroup in the Bronx’s Community District 5, accounting for …

Is Spanish-English Bilingualism Truly An Economic Benefit In New York?, Lionel Chan

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report explores if there is truly a trend in income levels for Latinos who speak both English and Spanish compared to those of Latinos who speak English only in New York City.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: When taking into account language variables to analyze the income levels of Latinos, one notices a minor difference between bilingual Latinos and …

Sexual And Reproductive Health Care Access And Utilization By Mexican Immigrant Women In New York City – A Descriptive Study, Gabriela Betancourt

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines reproductive health care access and utilization by Mexicans in New York City.

Methods: This report uses data collected by Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC) as part of a larger sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs assessment. We analyzed various demographic factors and barriers to describe SRH access and utilization of services among Mexican immigrant women residing in New York City (NYC). We purposely sampled 151 adult women seeking assistance from the Mexican Consulate of New York City and other community-based organizations (CBOs). Women choosing to participate were administered an anonymous survey. Data collected included …

A Brief Pre-History Of Caree, Charles C. West

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

In Praise Of Saints Paul (Peachey And Mojzes), James Will

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Setting The Agenda: Asia And Latin America In The 21st Century, Ariel C. Armony

Center for Latin American Studies Publications

Latin America and Asia are among the world’s fastest growing regions. Trade between Asia and Latin American and Caribbean countries has risen dramatically in recent years. It is undeniable that Asia now plays a formidable role in the economic development of the region. This publication emerges out of the University of Miami’s 2012 “Asia and Latin America in the 21^st Century” conference, where leaders from academic, policy, business, and media communities from around the world convened to address the macroeconomic trends, trade relations, and sociopolitical trends that have emerged as the links between Asia and Latin America strengthen. Organized …

When Is It Best To Remember? Maintaining The Sacred Center: The Bosnian City Of Stolac, Ed Marques

International Dialogue

The town, Stolac, has a long history of vibrancy as a strategic commercial town and a Center of culture in the southern part of Bosnia—spawning writers, poets, scholars and artists, an amount disproportionate to its size. Maintaining the Sacred Center: The Bosnian City of Stolac, is the latest book of Rusmir Mahmutćehajić, who carries on the heritage of his own hometown: Stolac. His book begins with a quote from the Quran and a line of poetry by Stolac-native Mak Dizdar—Bosnia’s leading poet in the 20th century. Both the Quran and the poetry of Mak Dizdar are returned to throughout the …

Hval I Djeva [The Praised And The Virgin]: Tom I: Vječnost U Vjesničkim Otkrivanjima [Vol. I: Eternity In Prophetic Revelation], 333pp.; Tom Ii: O Trajanju I Prekidu [Vol. Ii: On Continuity And Discontinuity], 251pp.; Tom Iii: Sabiranje Rasutog [Vol. Iii: Reuniting The Scattered], 420pp., Desmond Maurer

International Dialogue

A book by Rusmir Mahmutćehajić is always an event. His books are normally relatively short and always make a clear argument, albeit an argument many are unwilling to hear. For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, he goes straight to the heart of the matter—and his theme is always the same—how to live a good life and how to be a good person, under the troubling conditions of modernity. His answer is also consistent—it is by the embrace of plurality and difference in the service of this one goal, the ethically good life, an embrace that is …

East Versus West: Chinese And American Development Efforts And Perceptions In Cameroon, Grace Perkins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Every year, donor countries pour billions of dollars of foreign aid into developing recipient countries. Humanitarian and “win-win” rhetoric generally accompanies the grant, hospital, school, or sports stadium. To a realist international relations scholar, it is highly unlikely that powerful nations like the United States and China donate anything without political or economic strategic interests in mind. How do American and Chinese strategic interests affect the quality of development aid? This paper seeks to answer this question in the context of Cameroon, a Central African state rich in resources and young minds but whose growth is hampered by its colonial …

Africans In A Country “Without Blacks”: Challenges And Accomplishments Of The Integration Of Recent African Immigrants In Argentina - Africanos En Un País Donde “No Hay Negros”: Los Logros Y Desafíos De La Integración De Los Recientes Inmigrantes Africanos En La Argentina, Stephan Grabner

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For nearly two centuries, Argentina has constructed a national identity which manages to remain culturally and ethnically homogeneous by ignoring the vibrant community of Afro-Argentineans and their rich contributions to society. However, recent waves of African immigrants and the growing self-awareness of the Afro-Argentinean community are raising questions about what it means to be Argentinean in the context of increasing global mobility. The new focus on human rights visible in Argentine politics over the past decade has brought about changes which seem to indicate a transition towards a more multicultural society. Despite widespread ignorance and racism which permeate all levels …