The origins of money and its role in modernity

Money is a human creation arising from organic, technological, and symbolic resources. The complexity of its operations makes it difficult to comprehend. The origins of money can be dated with some accuracy, but the social and symbolic processes that led to this world-changing invention are poorly understood. One of the most persistent misunderstandings that adversely affects modern economic thinking is that money emerged from barter. As will be discussed, the origins of money have more fundamental symbolic, social, and political foundations in statecraft, warfare, religion, and gift-giving. Moreover, money develops among beings capable of considerable flexibility in combining or “blending” ideas from diverse, sometimes incommensurate, domains of knowledge and experience, and specifically among a species for whom institutions—socially constructed habits of thought and action—are ontologically criterial. This chapter aims to provide a foundation for thinking about money as an institutional semiotic system. Topics covered include money and barter; sovereign money; money and gift-giving; money and violence; the money/language analogy; and international monetary exchanges.

'Os Capitães da Areia' e a coragem dos Erês: Notas sobre o imbricamento da arte, música e religião | 'Os Capitães da Areia' and the courage of the Erês: notes on the overlap of art, music and religion

ResumoAs práticas culturais fundem, a todo o momento, diferentes relações entre sistemas culturais (EVEN-ZOHAR, 1990) que antes eram separados. Tais manifestações híbridas reconfiguram e desterritorializam processos simbólicos. Nesse sentido, o presente artigo realiza uma análise comparatista das relações intertextuais presentes na configuração artística do álbum Esú, do rapper brasileiro Baco Exu do Blues, em especial na faixa “Capitães de Areia” em relação ao romance quase homônimo de Jorge Amado, às referências à mitologia dos Erês, e à série fotográfica Laróyè, de Mario Cravo Neto. Para analisar as implicações dessas inter-relações na configuração cultural e identitária da obra, buscamos aporte teórico-crítico no campo dos Estudos Culturais pela perspectiva de conceitos que tentam dar conta desses processos, acerca do Hibridismo, em Néstor García Canclini, e das reflexões sobre sincretismo religioso em Sérgio Ferretti.Palavras-chave: Capitães da Areia; Hibridismo; sincretismo religioso; práticas culturais. AbstractCultural practices merge, at all times, different relationships with cultural systems (EVENN-ZOHAR, 1991) that were previously separated. Such hybrid manifestations reconfigure and deterritorialize symbolic processes. In this sense, this article performs a comparative analysis of the intertextual relations present in the artistic configuration of the album Esú, by rapper Baco Exu do Blues, especially the track “Capitães de Areia” and references to the mythology of the Erês, to the novel by Jorge Amado and Laróyè photographic series by Mario Cravo Neto. To analyze the implications of these interrelations in the cultural and identity configuration of the work, we seek theoretical-critical support in the field of Cultural Studies from the perspective of concepts that try to account for these processes, about Hybridism in Néstor García Canclini and reflections on religious syncretism in Sérgio Ferreti.Keywords: Capitães da Areia; Hybridity; religious syncretism; cultural practices.

Branding the Geospatial Industry

This study situates geospatial technology within the platform economy and constructs its brand culture, making it visible as a for-profit business rather than a utility. A critical lens is turned on the macroscopic economic and micro-social processes of the geospatial industry that result in the hegemonic relations and discursive regimes that legitimize and naturalize a common geospatially equipped, data-driven world. The annual user conventions and platform marketing of Esri, the global market leader in geographical information systems (GIS), acts as a site to observe how an imagined geospatial community of practitioners and investors is constructed. Branded content is unpacked to understand how the company’s image-making cultivates power relations between the public at large while negating itself as gatekeeper. These symbolic processes and collective practices help influence the uncritical investment and growth of the geospatial industry.

Folk name and lore of birds from the Sundanese of West Java, Indonesia: An ethno-ornithological survey

Mulyanto D, Iskandar J, Madani A, Gunawan R, Partasasmita R. 2020. Folk name and lore of birds from the Sundanese of West Java, Indonesia: An ethno-ornithological survey. Biodiversitas 21: 4384-4395. Since last time, research on birds in West Java had been undertaken by ornithologists. The ethnoornithology research, however, has been rarely employed. The study aims were to account for vernacular or folk names, folk classification, and folkloric birds based on case of the mountain people of Keratasari, West Java, Indonesia. The method in this study was qualitative with the ethnoornithological approach. The field data were collected by focus group discussion and deep interviews with informants of 12 groups of independent village people of four villages of Kertasari sub-district. The naming of collected data was by systematic elicitation of names from pictorial representations of birds and organized here to facilitate analysis of various aspects of folk taxonomy about the scientific one. Folklore about birds that were collected in natural contexts is also included to indicate the birds' role and their names in symbolic processes that exceed the limits of literal reference. The result of the study showed that it was recorded 222 bird species, representing 170 vernacular names, 93 of them were recorded by Koningsberger (1901-1909). The taxonomic and folkloric mode of knowledge in this paper presents that birds play important roles in villagers' lives of Sundanese people, particularly in the study area. Generally, birds have been an important role in socio-cultural aspects, including in folklore of Sundanese people who reside in rural mountain areas of West Java.

Consumption logistics and the ordering of market systems

This article argues that consumption logistics are fundamental modes of ordering markets. Constructivist Market Studies (CMS) and Market System Dynamics (MSD) approaches improved our understanding of, respectively, the practical and symbolic processes of market organization. On this backdrop, previous research has predominantly framed logistics as a practical performance of this organization. Conversely, we argue that logistical performances are as much practical as they are symbolic. Drawing on both CMS and MSD research, we therefore conceptualize consumption logistics as the system of interrelated practices ordering the heterogeneous entities of consumption in space and time. Put differently, by integrating market and consumption practices, consumption logistics recursively (per)form the context of markets, that is, the situated conditions affording subjects the possibility to consume and objects to be consumed within specific markets. Our theorization brings forward the complex practical-symbolic ordering of markets, with implications for discussions of spaces, subjects and meanings of market phenomena.

Hoax management of presidential staff office: An example of government public relations strategies

Hoax management is a significant factor in maintaining government stability. Public Relations is necessary to respond and manage current developing issues, especially during the current era of information. Public satisfaction is dependant on how the government manages issues and ultimately increase public trust. This research employed the qualitative approach, i.e., case study research method, which describes researches carried out intensively in great detail and depth. The data were collected through unstructured observations, interviews, and documentation. This research investigated the Communication Excellence Theory proposed by Grunig and Hunt, which illustrate the symbolic processes of understanding human behaviour within an organisation. This research also studied how the concept of public relations strategies is implemented in solving the cases mentioned in this study. The results of the analysis found that, for the Presidential Staff Office, social media was essential in establishing an effective government public relations as well as to manage public issues.

AVALIAÇÃO PSICOLÓGICA NA RECUPERAÇÃO FUNCIONAL ATRAVÉS DA REALIDADE VIRTUAL: uma nova perspectiva

This article proposes a discussion, through the research carried out, on the use of virtual reality as a tool for obtaining data that covers psychological assessment in functional recovery, reaffirming the importance of Psychology as a science in a performance in a multiprofessional team whose main objective it is the improvement in the quality of life for people inserted in the rehabilitation process, working their subjectivity processes within an interprofessional intervention. A way of approaching the area of Psychology in technological areas with more specific scientific studies and reflecting the role of the professional in evaluating unobservable characteristics directly in a virtual environment, considering their uniqueness, their symbolic processes, their emotions, in the face of a non-traditional procedure and more motivating and interactive, placing the user as active in this process. The psychology professional must expand the use of tools, such as virtual reality, in order to seek new psychological assessment techniques.

Sexual Laborers and Entrepreneurial Women: Articulating Collective Identity in India’s HIV/AIDS Response

This article uses ethnographic and interview methods to compare two groups of sex workers in Bangalore, both of which formed during the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In this context, donor priorities fundamentally shaped the landscape for sex worker organizations, but the two groups formed very different collective identities. I argue that the content of collective identity is not predetermined by the conditions set by global Northern funding. Instead, I show how collective identity is articulated, in a locally specific process of relating political orientations to local associational fields, within, but not predetermined by, global funding constraints. As each group positioned itself in a distinct local associational field, it articulated a distinct collective identity, the Women’s Collective as entrepreneurial women (a more respectable collective identity), and the Union as sexual laborers (a more transgressive one). Articulation unfolded through material as well as symbolic processes, shaping members’ life trajectories and their understandings of them. This article complicates accounts of Northern funding and institutional opportunities as predetermining the paths and visions of social movements.

The Social Production of Food Waste at the Retail-Consumption Interface

A major problem throughout the world, food waste is an issue that must be addressed not only by all actors in the agri-food chain but also without a silo mentality. To examine this problem, this article considers the interfaces between the stages of the agri-food chain, by emphasizing the interconnectivity of the different links in the chain, and focusing on the interface between retail distribution and consumption. We show that food waste is socially produced through the interactions and practices of the different actors within food systems. The study presented in this article results from a collaboration research project with two organizations involved in the food waste debate. The data analyzed are derived from an online survey of 1026 Quebec consumers and from 14 semi-directed interviews with retail distribution merchants in the Montreal area, Canada. By identifying, describing and analyzing the consumption and commercial and logistical management practices that contribute to food waste, our analysis demonstrates the existence of four symbolic processes that generate food waste at the retail–consumption interface: the economization of waste, the construction of edibility, the construction of freshness, and the moralization of waste. We argue that these processes should be considered when designing solutions to food waste.