The Political Economy of Nonlife: Biopower, Ontosecurity, and the Shamisen Skin Trade in Japan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keisuke Yamada
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Times ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Political Economic

This chapter examines the ways in which the trade in raw cat and dog skins and processed goods in the shamisen (Japanese three-stringed lute) industry has changed in the last five decades. It employs Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics in order to analyze the causal relationship between the changing systems of governance through life and the historical trajectory of shamisen skin making and trade. Biopolitics, it argues, is not merely a means to incorporate different forms and modalities of life into political discourse, tactics, and rationalities, but it can also operate to marginalize the political presence, existential vitality, and ontosecurity of nonlife—individuated entities, such as the shamisen, that are conceived as “inert,” “inorganic,” or “nonliving” in society. This chapter approaches the political-economic history of music by closely examining the distribution and exercises of biopower and their effects on specific economic activities that surround the making of the instruments in historical times.

More Lessons to Learn: Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology and Alternative Archives of Social Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
Andreas Langenohl
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Alternative Archives

Abstract Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology has been written with the intention to offer lessons from the historical trajectory of economic redistribution in societies the world over. Thereby, the book suggests learning from the political-economic history of ‘social-democratic’ policies and societal arrangements. While the data presented speak to the plausibility of looking at social democracy, as understood by Piketty, as an archive for learning about the effects of redistribution mechanisms, I argue that the book, or future interventions might profit from integrating alternative archives. On the one hand, its current line of argumentation tends to underestimate the significance of power relations in the international political economy that continued after formal decolonization, and thus form the flip side of social democracy’s success in Europe and North America. On the other hand, the role of the polity might be imagined in a different and more empowering way, not just-as in Piketty-as an elite-liberal democratic governance institution; for instance, it would be interesting to explore the archive of the French solidaristes movement more deeply than Piketty does, as well as much more recent interventions in economic anthropology that deal with ‘economic citizenship’ in the Global South.

Developing an Economy of Sex

2018 ◽  
pp. 161-181
Author(s):  
Elizabeth S. Manley
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

This chapter connects the social and economic history of tourism in the Dominican Republic and Haiti with its impact on masculinity, gender identity, and heterosexual performance. Elizabeth Manley's analysis builds on recent research in anthropology that views sex work as contributing substantially to conflicts of gender relations and changing gender norms. Manley analyzes how these relate to the political economy and development.

scholarly journals THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MIGRATION AND REPUTATION IN KINSHASA

Africa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Trapido
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Material Base ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Central Figure ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Economic Considerations ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTThis essay presents a history of the mikiliste, the high-living bon vivant who travels to Europe and is a central figure in Kinois urban mythology. It looks in particular at the highly theatrical exchanges engaged in by the mikiliste, which relate especially to music patronage and to designer clothing. I show how these exchanges have evolved over time, both shaping and being shaped by the political economy of Kinshasa. The essay shows how such aesthetic performances should not be discussed in isolation from wider political-economic considerations. Those who participate in economies of prestige must be connected to a material base, and the ruling class, with their access to the resources of the interior, have become ever more important participants in the mikiliste rituals of largesse. Recently, the violent contestation of mikiliste exchange, both in Europe and in Kinshasa, indicates that such moments of largesse may be involved in reproducing political-economic relations in the Congolese capital.

scholarly journals An Inquiry into the Political Economy of Hockey Night in Canada: Critically Assessing Issues of Ownership, Advertising, and Gendered Audiences

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Public Broadcasting ◽  
The Political ◽  
Critical Inquiry ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Site ◽  
Political Economic

 Background This article employs a political economic analysis of the CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) program. It critically investigates both the recent Rogers Communications takeover of the popular public broadcasting program and the history of HNIC’s gendered audiences. Analysis Utilizing a feminist version of Dallas Smythe’s theory of the audience commodity, the author argues that the Rogers takeover represents the most recent manifestation of the complicity between patriarchy and capitalism that has persisted throughout the history of HNIC. Conclusion and implications  It is also argued that the general political economy of HNIC represents a site of analysis that has been largely ignored by communications scholars, and that the program’s significance as a Canadian institution thus merits further critical inquiry. RÉSUMÉ Contexte  Cet article réalise une analyse politico-économique de Hockey Night in Canada (« Soirée du hockey au Canada», CBC). Il effectue une évaluation critique du rachat par Rogers Communications de cette émission populaire sur la chaîne publique ainsi que celle de l’histoire des publics sexués de l’émission. Analyse  L’auteur recourt à une adaptation féministe de la théorie sur la part d’audience telle que développée par Dallas Smythe afin de soutenir que le rachat de Hockey Night in Canada par Rogers représente l’instance la plus récente de la complicité entre patriarcat et capitalisme qui existe depuis le tout début de l’émission. Conclusion et implications L’auteur soutient d’autre part que l’économie politique générale de Hockey Night in Canadareprésente un objet d’analyse largement ignoré par les chercheurs en communication et que l’émission mérite un examen approfondi du fait de son importance en tant qu’institution canadienne.            

scholarly journals Re-Evaluating the Political Press. A Case Study on Political, Economic and Journalistic Functioning of the Inter-War Czechoslovak Party-press Newspaper Národní listy, and its Publishing Company the Prague Stock Printery (PAT)

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlaďka Kubíčková ◽  
Nico Carpentier
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Publishing Company ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Model ◽  
Party Press ◽  
Publishing Practice ◽  
Political Economic

This article attempts to re-assess the often negative evaluations of the political press, through a detailed analysis of a case study from inter-war Czechoslovakia, the newspaper Národní listy, and its publishing company the Prague Stock Printery (PAT), which were affiliated to the National Democratic Party. The analysis is theoretically framed by a discussion of notions of party-press parallelism and political parallelism, and how these political models are evaluated within the contemporary literature. In the following parts, an extensive (but necessary) contextualization is offered, which first focuses on the political-economic history of inter-war Czechoslovakia, and a description of its media landscape, and then details the workings of PAT and Národní listy. The analytical parts first describe the financial, managerial and editorial situation of PAT and Národní listy, and then evaluates their functioning at the economic, political and journalistic level. This evaluation shows the complexities of the political model from within the actual publishing practice, and demonstrates both the advantages and problems of the political model, compensating for the frequent exclusively negative evaluations of this model.

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