economy

Making a Killing: Femicide, Free Trade, and La Frontera

mandy — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Edited by Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Georgina Guzman

Making a Killing is a collection of essays exploring the history and social/political/economic context of the murders of women in Juarez, Mexico from 1993 to the present day. Essays analyze the economic context of free trade that has contributed to a culture that devalues women workers and sees female bodies as expendable in the making of cheap products for American women. Essays examine activists’ and artists’ efforts to gain attention for the plight of women in Juarez, analyze the culture of law enforcement in Juarez, and vividly portray the efforts of mothers and relatives to get justice for their missing and murdered daughters.

Though the essays collected here are primarily academic, they are easy to read and will be of interest to the general public, not just other academics. The collection provides a thorough history and a complete picture of the efforts to stop the violence against women in Juarez throughout the last two decades. Though the subject is difficult, I enjoyed the book a lot.

I lived in El Paso, Texas for fifteen of the last twenty years; the stories of Mexican women being raped, murdered, and dumped in the desert on the outskirts of Juarez, Mexico filtered into my consciousness early. But so did the stories of narco-murders. In the last three years, the world has lost its preoccupation with the murder of women in Juarez and turned its attention instead to the mayhem and murders of over 25,000 Mexican citizens in the drug cartel wars ripping the nation apart. Juarez is the city most affected by these murders (3,000 in 2010 alone).

If I have one criticism of Making a Killing, it is that it pays little attention to the general culture of killing in Juarez. The murders of women didn’t begin in 1993—nor have they stopped. And the narco-murders didn’t begin in 2007—and who knows when they will end? Because the editors focus on femicide, only one essay suggests that the femicides overlap or are inextricably intertwined with the narco-murders. The culture of violence in Juarez envelops the femicides—but exceeds them as well. If we fail to explore and analyze this truth, then the murders of women by individual men and groups of men will be forgotten as we increasingly pay attention to the drug cartel war instead.

Written by: Jessica Powers, January 15th 2011

Earth in Our Care: Ecology, Economy, and Sustainability

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0000

By Chris Maser

Rutgers University Press

In Earth in Our Care: Ecology, Economy, and Sustainability, Chris Maser sets out to explain the interconnectedness of life on this planet and the importance of promoting the functioning of healthy ecosystems. Rather than being a dry treatise on biological systems, the text is engaging and draws on all kinds of disciplines.

I consider myself to be an advocate for sustainability, but am not overly familiar with the technical aspects of environmentalism or ecology. Reading this from the perspective of someone who is not a scientist, Maser does a good job of writing in an approachable way that is easy to understand most of the time. He doesn’t assume that the reader is already familiar with concepts like feedback loops, the commons, or trade-offs, and takes the time to briefly describe some of these key concepts of ecology. That being said, there are definitely some very theoretical and philosophical concepts discussed in this book that can be difficult to follow. The author draws on history, philosophy, linguistics, biology, and other disciplines in order to make his points, which makes his arguments more nuanced and interesting but can also be a little distracting at times.

Maser insists that we as human beings are obligated to care about and understand ecology. The last chapter of the book, “Where do we go from Here?,” gives some recommendations about how to go about changing human culture and society so that we can support the healthy functioning of the Earth’s ecosystems. Maser’s two main recommendations are that we "critically examine our situation today” and "determine where society needs to be at the end of this century if people are to have any kind of dignified life with an overall sense of well-being.” Earth in Our Care makes an important contribution to both of these goals and will likely inspire readers to begin thinking about sustainability in a new way.

Written by: Liz Simmons, November 20th 2009

Schmatta: From Rags to Riches to Rags

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:09:00 +0000

Directed by Marc Levin

HBO Documentary Films

It has become cliche to tell the story of an American going from rags to riches based on their own impassioned journey using a unique and personal form of ingenuity and hard work, but we may be on the path toward establishing a new and unfortunate conventional wisdom that says it is just as common to go from rags to riches and then back to rags once again. It is this new economic reality that Schmatta: From Rags to Riches to Rags explores in ways that are both haunting and saddening. This bracing documentary speaks through the experiences of those in the midst of their own struggles. It asks if the American consumer is willing to continue the "race to the bottom" for the sake of bottomed-out bargains or if they are going to make their choices in the marketplace a powerful tool in the struggle for labor rights around the globe.

Marc Levin's masterful chronicling of the decline of the garment industry in New York City has several stories of challenges and progress that come full circle. One example is the documentary's grave portrayal of the consequences of employee exploitation. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire of 1921—in which hundreds of lives were lost after managers locked their employees in a crowded, unsafe high-rise—was repeated at the end of the century in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The sight of another company repeating the same senseless mistake with the same unnecessary and atrocious loss of life leaves the viewer with a conundrum of cynical proportions: with the decline of unions and authoritative regulatory structures to check global corporate power, what is the future of those that toil in a non-service industry? This is one of the most powerful aspects of the documentary because, through these stories, we witness the fact that while time may move inexorably forward in industry where people may, with time and due diligence, find fortune that lifts them out of poverty, the mainstream middle now find that time and due diligence are simply not enough to sustain wealth.

This acute sense of insecurity is not simply a long-building trend particular to the garment industry; it can also be found amongst manufacturing workers in America's Rust Belt, small farmers threatened by agribusiness, and factory workers in the South. They are the face of a middle class that is squeezed tighter and tighter by the year. Levin successfully pulls out of many stories a common thread that touches on how this singular struggling industry is emblematic of many sectors of the American economy.

** This film is currently airing on HBO**

Written by: Brandon Copeland, October 21st 2009

New Cultural Studies: Adventures in Theory

admin — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:35:00 +0000

Edited by Gary Hall, Clare Birchall

University of Georgia Press

New Cultural Studies is an exciting call to action from writers concerned about the future of the field of cultural studies. Since cultural studies is ever living and should be evolving along with other subjects, we must never stop developing new theories and using cultural studies as a framework about contemporary issues in politics, economics, the media, etc. This text looks beyond the distinguished Birmingham School’s theoretical work toward today’s greatest minds, such as Alain Badiou, Giorgio Agamben and Gilles Deleuze. Chapters are dedicated to cultural studies in the context of subjects such as Deconstruction, Post-Marxism, Ethics, German Media Theory, Anti-Capitalism, New Media and the Posthumanities.

In the place where a reader can usually find a book’s introduction, Hall and Birchall present the first chapter: "New Cultural Studies: Adventures in Theory (Some Comments, Clarifications, Explanations, Observations, Recommendations, Remarks, Statements, and Suggestions)." This section provides an invaluable text for anyone interested in the future of cultural studies, particularly those interested in working in academia. The authors’ summary of the ten reasons why “the time is right to move ‘beyond theory’” by itself is worth the price of the book. The chapter by Joanna Zylinska on cultural studies and ethics is also phenomenal; she opens up a much-needed dialogue about how people on the Left can respond to “the moralization of politics.” As a graduate student studying gender and cultural studies, I felt so fortunate to have read this book because it enlightened me about so many facets and theorists in the field that I had previously never come across.

Written by: Kerri Kanelos, June 13th 2007

Georgia's Frontier Women : Female Fortunes in a Southern Colony

admin — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:57:00 +0000

By Ben Marsh

University of Georgia Press

I found this book difficult to read. I am not used to the academic tone Marsh uses. His sentences seemed to go on for several lines, and I had trouble following the thread of his ideas. However, this book is worth reading for anyone interested in Georgia history. The information presented is important. The book shows women's economic contributions and status, and how the things early settlers did have affected the state up until the present day.

Georgia was founded in 1732 by a charter of King George II. He appointed a group of trustees to supervise its settlement. Women were expected to fill several key roles. First and foremost was reproduction. The trustees wanted women to help grow the population. In addition, they were to work in the silk trade and carry out domestic duties. Marsh uses statistical and anecdotal data to show how women met these goals. The result is an informative, useful book which must be read slowly and carefully. Those who take the time to look into it will find it rewarding.

In discussing the lives of women in Georgia, Marsh also describes the roots of feminism in pre-feminist times. I was able to admire his dedication to the subject. At times it seemed there was too much information. There are tables on birth and death rates, immigration by gender, Georgia's early black population and other factors. The sheer amount of data makes the book worth keeping and re-reading. Its best use might be as a reference for other writers and for students.

Written by: Steve Watson, June 1st 2007

The Social Economy of Single Motherhood: Raising Children in Rural America

admin — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:20:00 +0000

By Margaret Nelson

Routledge

The Social Economy of Single Motherhood is a study of both facts and perceptions of single motherhood in rural Vermont in contrast to more general studies done on urban mothers. It details the circumstances behind every mom interviewed for the study instead of lumping them into the stereotype of single, poor, welfare moms who are just lazy and promiscuous. Many of these women are divorced and left behind husbands for a variety of reasons including abuse or negligence. Most of the single moms in the study were very poor, though a few came from middle class backgrounds and weren’t living in poverty until they had children. The book critiques welfare reform by looking at how it impacts families who aren’t able to make ends meet or don’t have livable wages. What sets this book apart is its focus on the social economy. The United States is one of the few countries in the world that does not include or acknowledge domestic work in its economic analysis even though, as Nelson writes, our society would collapse without it. Nelson approached this subject in terms of personal exchange and details women who seek friendships with other women of similar circumstances to serve a variety of needs for one another (babysitting, car rides, small loans, etc) with the understanding that everyone will be reciprocal of time and energy given or shared. Nelson chronicles some very disheartening exchanges in this arrangement, including sexual favors for car repairs. The book briefly acknowledges the role that unlivable wages and irresponsible fathers play in these circumstances. The most effective—unintended perhaps—result of this book is that you can’t deny the need these families have. A powerful read.

Written by: Davina Rhine, December 11th 2006

The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy

admin — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 13:26:00 +0000

By J.K. Gibson-Graham

University Of Minnesota Press

Materialist feminist geographers Katherine Gibson and Julie Graham who write as J.K. Gibson-Graham have reissued their postmodern critique of representations of capitalism and economy. Using an Althusserian lens of over-determination, Gibson-Graham show that capitalism is not an inevitable tendency or hegemonic in diverse post-Fordist societies, as it has often been constituted in triumphalist right-wing discourses or in Marxian analyses, but that alternative non-capitalist economies are possible. Gibson-Graham’s project is to propose a language of the diverse economy incorporating counter-discourses from alternative traditions of economic thought, feminism, and working-class, third-world, and social and community movements such as the Zapatistas in México. For this, they use case studies and deconstruction of essentialist concepts such as class, which they formulate as a process of intersecting sites for gender, orientation, income-status, and other oppression markers. The authors have to be careful not to centralize their privileged white feminist locations in the academies. In analyzing the feminist rape script, for example, which characterizes the domination of MNCs in today’s globalized economy as phallocentric, Gibson-Graham’s study of the semi-conductor industry in southeast Asia leads to their claim that "the economic ‘rape’ wrought by globalization in the Third World is a script with many different outcomes - we might read the rape event as inducing a pregnancy, rather than initiating the death and destruction of indigenous economic capacity." As Gibson-Graham’s next phases are to cultivate subjects for non-capitalist spaces and to build community economies, it is wrong to conclude that the inclusion of academicians in the movement can be sufficiently explained by an "erotics of desirability" on the part of other participants who may see them as exploitative, arrogant, detached and careerist. Some dislocation is needed within western academia and its own discourses before the distances between enunciators of theory and community can be bridged satisfactorily.

Written by: Ahmad Saidullah, November 25th 2006