Capital Practices Research Articles

Dams, development and disposability: Eco-anxiety, precarity and submerging voices in Na. D’souza’s Dweepa

The construction of large dams in India has faced criticism for its neo-colonial and capitalist practices. This highlights the importance of accountability, the consequences of development discourse, and the tangible impacts on the lives of those affected by dams, development initiatives, displacement, and denial of compensation. The pursuit of large-scale construction projects frequently promotes a conspicuous consumerist perspective, disregarding both marginalised groups and the ethics of sustainable development. The absence of ethical considerations such as empathy, inclusion, and egalitarian ideology in the development narrative often leads to the devaluation of certain lives while prioritising the safety and security of others. Within this particular setting, it is important to recognise the trajectories of those whose lives are considered disposable. In this context, the article scrutinizes Na. D’souza’s novella Dweepa, delving into the experiences of individuals who have faced eco-anxiety, precariousness, and vulnerability, ultimately culminating in their tragic demise due to the construction of the Linganamakki dam over the Sharavathi river.

Technocapitalism and The Beatles: Nostalgia in the Age of Digital Consumption

This paper explores the intersection of technocapitalism and the commodification of nostalgia, using the digital remastering and online distribution of The Beatles’ music as a case study. It examines how technocapitalism, understood as the fusion of advanced technology and capitalist practices, has enabled the rebranding and commercialization of nostalgic cultural artifacts. Employing a qualitative research methodology, this study analyzes digital archives, music sales data, and consumer reviews to uncover how digital remastering and distribution impact cultural heritage and consumer behavior. Key findings reveal that while technocapitalism provides unprecedented access to nostalgic content and preserves cultural artifacts, it raises questions about authenticity and the reshaping of consumer experiences through technology. The research highlights the complexities of navigating nostalgia in the digital marketplace and offers insights into how technology and capitalism influence the consumption and perception of cultural heritage, particularly in the case of The Beatles’ music.

Radical Rx: Fighting Racism, Enslavement, and an Epidemic in 1793

Reverends Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, founders of the Free African Society, worked as and recruited Black nurses during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia at the behest of white medical and political leaders who falsely claimed the disease did not affect Black persons. In a coauthored pamphlet published just months after the epidemic, Jones and Allen intervened in the medical and print discourses of their day to correct narratives of immunity that cultured Black persons’ deaths as ungrievable and to fight back against printed accounts of “extortion” by Black nurses that threatened to further entrench systemic notions of Black violability and disposability. Their protest pamphlet challenges structural violence and demands abolition, arguments that still inform our thinking about racism, health, and justice today. Jones and Allen’s pamphlet, perhaps the first text copyrighted by African Americans, challenged the racialized “science” and writing of leading physicians and journalists, including Dr. Benjamin Rush and printer Mathew Carey. It critiqued not only the era’s science but also its capitalistic practices that both championed the enslavement of Black persons and denied free Black medical workers fair pay, even as white people would not perform such work. Jones and Allen engage with discourses of blood, bloodletting, and bloodshed to link their medical work with the revolution then taking place in Haiti. Using such imagery, they diagnose the American body politic as ill and in need of bleeding. A look to 1793’s yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia – and Black nurses’ response to it – sheds light on the failings of the United States to contain COVID-19 and to protect its Black citizens, medical professionals and laypersons alike, in the face of white supremacy and yet another deadly virus more than two hundred years later.

Praktik Dagang di Pakan Serikat Koto VII Basambilan Koto, Sijunjung (1980-1998)

Abstract: This research aims to analyze how traditional markets shape local capitalist practices in Pakan Serikat Koto VII Basambilan Koto, Sijunjung, from 1980 to 1998. The research employs a historical method with four stages: heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. The research findings demonstrate that traditional markets have shaped local capitalist practices in Pakan Serikat Koto VII Basambilan Koto. These practices manifest in various forms, including trading systems, social relations, cultural exchange, and social change. The establishment of Pakan Serikat VII Koto has driven social change in the community, such as changes in livelihood systems and lifestyles. The research concludes that traditional markets play a crucial role in shaping local capitalist practices in Pakan Serikat Koto VII Basambilan Koto. Traditional markets serve not only as places for exchanging goods and services but also as venues for social interaction, cultural exchange, and social change. Keywords: Traditional market, Local capitalism, Pakan Serikat Koto VII Basambilan Koto, Sijunjung, 1980-1998

Determining the nexus between Dynamic Working Capital Management and Operational Efficiency in Emerging Southeast Asia

Objective— The primary aim of this study is to investigate the effect of dynamic working capital (DWC) management on operational efficiency through operating expenses and operating margins across non-financial firms in emerging markets. Methodology/Technique – This study utilized generalized method of moments (GMM) to evaluate a comprehensive dataset of 438 firms from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for the period 2018 to 2023. Findings – DWC is measured study using both cash conversion cycle (CCC) and working capital ratio (WCR). Results show that optimized DWC management reduces operating expenses (OER) and increases operating margins (OMR). These findings highlight the importance of efficient working capital practices and liquidity management in emerging markets. Novelty – This study provides valuable insights for financial managers in emerging countries, advocating focused strategies on working capital cycles to strengthen operational efficiency and profitability. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: M13, M40, M49. Keywords: Working capital management, Cash conversion cycle, working capital requirement, Operating efficiency, Emerging countries Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Bashir, R; Ahmad, M; Sherif, S.R. (2024). Determining the nexus between Dynamic Working Capital Management and Operational Efficiency in Emerging Southeast Asia, J. Fin. Bank. Review, 9(2), 49 – 60. https://doi.org/10.35609/jfbr.2024.9.2(1)

Capitalizing Networked Learning: Connectivism, Multiliteracies and the Architectonics of Pedagogy

As connectivism is increasingly accepted as a theory of learning for the digital age, scholars and practitioners in education often overlook the dilemma that this creates for its most ardent advocates. In the academic literature, we increasingly find scholarly works that present insouciant descriptions of connectivism. However, such practices often underplay or ignore critiques of connectivism, allowing many of our contentions about its epistemological character and pedagogical effectiveness to calcify. In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to rationalize why so many educators have endorsed connectivism as a new theory of learning when there continues to be a need for more empirical testing and greater philosophical substantiation. To illustrate this paradox, this paper examines Stephen Downes’s consideration of connectivism and his connectivist model of literacy. Using the dialogic philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin, it introduces an architectonic model of connectivism and multiliteracies as an alternative discourse and pedagogical paradigm. A key finding from this study suggests that the lack of attention to capitalist practices, power, and the intermediality of texts in networked learning help to conceal the ways in which connectivist practices rearticulate behaviorism.

The Impact of Working Capital Management on Profitability of Small and Medium Enterprises: The Case of Wine-Producing Companies of Georgia

The present study is a critical analysis of Net Working Capital (NWC) management in a framework with the different categories of SMEs with respect to its impact on profitability, particularly on Net Profit and ROA. The research goes on to investigate how NWC influences the financial performance indicators in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), knowing that efficient management of working capital is the key to business sustainability and growth. The paper will show some nuanced insights into how working capital practices affect the bottom line and asset utilization efficiency ROA. By the comprehensive analytic approach, this research is meant to integrate methodologies previously applied both in Georgian and international contexts to outline a nuanced understanding of the dynamics in question. It will analyze NWC's ratio to total assets and the positive relationship with ROA, along with the relationship between NWC and Net Profit, thus presenting a complete picture of the financial health and operational efficiency of SMEs. The research is expected to bear deep insight into the management of working capital, indicating how strategic financial planning plays a crucial role in enhancing the profitability of the company and asset utilization. These tailor-made recommendations will be a guiding light for the SME stakeholders in their endeavor to optimize their working capital practices as part of their aspiration to bolster financial outcomes. Augmenting knowledge already in circulation, this study becomes an implementable roadmap to practical financial decision-making, especially in the context of the myriad of SME sectors. The modified abstract captures the adapted research focus, showing the significance of NWC management in driving profitability and efficient asset utilization across SMEs. It sets grounds for a thorough analysis of the role of working capital in providing health and efficiency within finances and operations, giving valuable information and guidelines for small and medium businesses in the sphere of planning and managing strategic financials.

Techno-Orientalism Goes to the Stars: The Space Asian/American and Interstellar Company Rule in Simon Jimenez's The Vanished Birds

ABSTRACT: This article explores how Simon Jimenez's The Vanished Birds participates in but also moves beyond the discourse of techno-Orientalism through its depiction of characters, companies, and interstellar travel. Readers encounter a seemingly quintessential techno-Orientalist construct when they meet the book's protagonist, Fumiko. But their attention is soon redirected to a corporate entity whose predatory capitalist practices make it the new, menacing techno-Orientalist figure in the plot. The novel intervenes in discourses of techno-Orientalism by emphasizing how exploitative economic power dynamics are not limited to actors such as individuals or nation-states, as they are typically understood, but include corporate entities. This article thus contends that more precision is necessary when defining techno-Orientalist constructs and encourages readers to expand their perspectives as they immerse themselves in the Asian American science fictional world.

To profit or not to profit: Founder identity at the intersection of religion and entrepreneurship

For more than a century, discussion of the connections between religion and entrepreneurship has pointed to what we would now label questions of identity. Our study of 25 participants in a program in Northern Kenya that aimed to introduce and stimulate capitalist entrepreneurship within extremely poor pastoralist communities shows that differences in participants' religious social identities strongly shaped whether or not they adopted new roles and role identities as capitalist entrepreneurs. This process also shifted the domains in which their religious and collectivist social identities were salient and helped to explain the emergence of important and contested changes in social and economic relations. We contribute to the development of founder identity theory by building research at the intersection of entrepreneurship and religion and at the intersection of entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation.

‘It Is Said That at Least 300,000 rt of Capital are Required for a Raft Trade’

Although the Dutch timber trade from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century has been the subject of many historical studies, the development of the capital-intensive timber wholesale trade has remained rather underexposed by economic historians with regard to the actors involved. This is surprising since a capital of up to 600,000 Reichstaler had to be raised for the Dutch timber trade; amounts that were hardly invested in any other commercial enterprise in Germany at the time. The article therefore focuses on the timber wholesalers of the eighteenth century and analyzes in detail, based on our own archival research and previous research results, how the timber wholesalers organized their business (business strategies, business practices, etc.) and what significance their income had for the economic development of the participating economic regions of West and South-West Germany in the long term. It appears that around 1750 the German timber wholesaler and the timber companies from the Black Forest had long since driven out their Dutch competitors and acquired large fortunes. With the Dutch timber trade, capitalist practices (creation and management of companies, accounting, new methods of credit financing, etc.) also spread, which also formed an important building block for the further development of the South-West and West German economy. However, the most important thing was undoubtedly the emergence of a risk-loving entrepreneurial class with a sufficient capital base and business knowledge, which had long since broken away from 'artisan' self-reliance. Because the timber wholesalers often also invested their capital acquired in the Dutch timber trade in other industries, and these often formed a crystallization point for the West and South-West German industrialization after 1815, it can be said that the timber trade with the Netherlands not only generated an enormous volume in the eighteenth century and supported West German economic growth from 1740 onwards, but in the long term also contributed to the economic and social structural changes of the nineteenth century.

A photographic essay on socio-economic organisation – temporary shelters in Kelowna, British Columbia (Canada)

The essay considers socio-economic organisation from the perspective of monopoly capitalism analysis, a strand of heterodox economics. The centre-piece of the essay is a photographic study of two temporary overnight shelters in Kelowna, one of the principal cities in British Columbia, Canada. Monopoly capitalism analysis has not previously drawn on photographic practices as an approach to inquiry. A characteristic of monopoly capitalist economies is that market-oriented, large corporations influence socio-economic organisation more generally. The essential practices of those corporations thereby penetrate the nooks and crannies of market economies. The essay is especially concerned with practices such as control, constraints on freedom, exercise of voice, and dehumanisation. The photographs and accompanying text – contextual discussions of monopoly capitalism and temporary shelters, and a caption for each image in the sequence – work together to show that traits of temporary overnight shelters in Kelowna are consistent with monopoly capitalist practices. It is suggested that such traits will be fossilised in the forever future of socio-economic systems, unless people’s awareness and challenge lead to choice of a different development path. The case-study demonstrates how photographs may enrich analysis of socio-economic organisation more widely, beyond the particular circumstances that it addresses.

Marx, work, agency and postcapitalist prefiguration

Marx's interpretation of ‘praxis’ as a primary expression of what we are, of self-realisation and what we might achieve as social beings, frames his revolutionary thought. This article connects Marx's unique approach to certain forms of contemporary grassroots resistance and community-based postcapitalist responses to global heating and the totalitarianism of capital. In particular, his appreciation of humans as at one with nature supports a postcapitalist imaginary abolishing the contradiction between humans and more-than-human nature intrinsic to capitalist practices. By reference to critical theorists such as Jasper Bernes and autonomist Marxist authors Harry Cleaver and P.M. (Hans Widmer), the article identifies key principles of a nonmarket socialist form of postcapitalism, i.e. beyond both state and money. Work as waged labour under the rule of capitalists gives way to ecologically and socially constructive activities fulfilling collective sufficiency cogoverned and coproduced by all. Work is freed up as semi-voluntary activity, negotiated within a community mode of production where the product is both predetermined (co-planned) and, later, shared on the basis of satisfying basic needs. In contrast to strictly defined capitalist waged work, now standard across various geographies and cultures, the postcapitalist community mode of production proposed establishes convivial and ecologically appropriate work within local geographies of community sufficiency. Even as universal (global) principles typify the community mode of production, symbiotically respectful relations between humans and nature give rise to unique localised geographies of ecological diversity and pluralism.

Challenging the fashion academy: Intersectional perspectives on justice in the evolving fashion system

This Special Issue of the journal focuses on the intricate relationship between justice and the fashion system, presenting a collection of groundbreaking research articles and reviews. The aim is to highlight the importance of intersectional and advocacy-based research in fashion studies, with a focus on historically marginalized identities. The articles employ diverse research methods, including literature reviews, material culture analysis, interviews and historical investigations. The articles cover a range of topics that examine justice within the fashion industry. One article critically analyses scholarship on Black women and fashion, highlighting the dominance of research centred on resistance, oppression and Eurocentric beauty standards. Another article explores the representation and experiences of Muslim women in modest fashion brands, examining the intersection of oppression, agency and capitalist practices. Additionally, the issue includes articles centred on fatness and fashion, discussing transgressive dress on YouTube, resistance against weight stigma on Instagram, and the historical development of sizing systems for fat bodies. Two reviews featured in the Special Issue provide insights into the relationship between fashion and intersectional feminism in American society, as well as the historical significance of Bomba attire in Puerto Rico. Overall, this collection of articles and reviews offers a comprehensive exploration of fashion studies through the lens of historically marginalized identities, shedding light on the industry’s potential to challenge discrimination and promote inclusivity. The issue calls for continued engagement with intersectional and advocacy-based research to drive the growth and evolution of the discipline, ultimately working towards a more equitable and inclusive fashion industry.

Recalcitrant Lifeworlds

This article analyzes how a failed rubber crop from the plantations of British India became indispensable to the shaping of Indigenous ecologies in the India-Bangladesh borderlands. While a growing scholarship focuses on plants that became profitable within plantation histories, this article instead shows that failed commodity crops like Ficus elastica, locally known as Jri Bamon in Meghalaya, India, exhibited recalcitrance to a range of state and scientific regimes. In an argument that disrupts the European-centered narrative about the triumphant expansion of knowledge and territory, the author introduces “recalcitrance” as an interspecies co-laboring between humans and plants, unknowable through botanical and capitalist practices emerging in a colonial context. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, the article first studies the nineteenth-century colonial frontier in Assam in British India, where Jri Bamon was molded as a rubber crop in the plantation regimes. Second, it studies the present-day Indigenous ecologies of the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, near India’s international border with Bangladesh, where this tree is historically grown as an infrastructure of mobility, called the living root bridge. The recalcitrant materiality of Jri Bamon surfaces through each of these human-plant encounters, providing pathways for those who would engage with it on its own terms.

Thinking Sustainability through the Earth-Eco-Socialist Paradigm

Safeguarding our environment, which is home to both humans and nonhumans, is imperative to prevent widespread negative impact. The urgency for collaborative efforts to maintain the earth’s well-being is underscored by the escalating environmental crises worldwide. This paper posits that the environmental degradation we witness is significantly occasioned by capitalist practices that exploit both human and nonhuman entities. It critiques the classical free-market approach as insufficient for fostering environmental sustainability. In contrast, the paper advocates for “Earth-eco-socialism,” a model it champions as conducive to harmonizing human-nature relations. This model diverges from the capitalist fixation on perpetual material growth and environmental exploitation, which undermines the potential for meaningful existence for many. Earth-eco-socialism is grounded in the conviction that development and social progress must address social issues and environmental challenges simultaneously, through legislation and democratic processes, without compromising human needs. This approach merges ethical considerations with ecological stewardship, promoting cooperative environmental management, flexible environmental legislation, and its rigorous enforcement. The conclusion underscores the imperative of embracing the Earth-eco-socialist framework for our interactions with nature and one another, as a pathway to achieving environmental sustainability.

Changing Capitalist Structures and Settler-Colonial Land Purchases in Northern Palestine, 1897–1922

AbstractBy tracing Zionist and German Templer efforts to buy arable private property in Palestine between 1897 and 1922, I show the ways in which the changing balance of Ottoman and Levantine forces over land and labor—as well as political and economic institutions and social structures—facilitated settler-colonialism in northern Palestine. In this article, I examine official records of the Ottoman state, Jewish organizations, and Levantine, Jewish, and Templer real estate papers. I argue that changing capitalist practices in northern Palestine, driven especially by interactions of Beirut-based companies with the changing global capitalist market, facilitated settler-colonialism in the region. Specifically, Ottoman state-sponsored violence during World War I increased peasant dispossessions in the fertile region of northern Palestine, already in progress since at least the mid-19th century, making settler colonies possible.

The arduous art of empowering visual artists: why the Dutch digital sales platform Patty Morgan ultimately failed

This article investigates Patty Morgan, a Dutch digital sales platform for emerging visual artists, founded in 2013 out of a dissatisfaction with capitalistic practices. The analysis is situated against the backdrop of the increasing financial struggles of small-scale galleries, which play a crucial role in promoting new artists, consequently threatening a loss of innovation. Patty Morgan’s goal was to generate cultural and economic value through scouting, promoting and mediating activities, all the while maintaining a fair, digital approach with supportive settings for artists. It can be seen as an atypical case of how idealistic entrepreneurs try to enable visual artists to capture more of the value they create. Using key elements of the Global Production Network approach, i.e. governance and embeddedness, this article investigates why Patty Morgan’s digital approach ultimately failed. Discussing the reasons behind Patty Morgan’s financial hardship helps grasp why scouting and promoting emerging artists is not financially rewarding within the current visual arts ecosystem, especially in relation to the Dutch sociocultural and institutional context. This article suggests that, for the purpose of safeguarding the visual arts industry, funding policy needs to be reconsidered and responsibility for demand needs to be further discussed.

K-POP IDOL STANDARD DAN PRAKTIK KOMODIFIKASI PEKERJA DALAM VIDEO CLIP “IU-CELEBRITY”

K-pop idols are demanded by agencies and fans based on beauty standards, ideal bodies, how to dress, and self-image. This study aims to describe the forms of K-pop idol standards and the practice of commodifying workers in the video clip “IU – Celebrity.” The Political Economy Theory of Communication from Vincent Mosco is used to see the practice of commodification, using John Fiske's Semiotics analysis method. The results of this study, on: (1) the level of reality, a k-pop idol is required to meet the ideal standards based on the agency as well as fan's wants; (2) representation level, signs at the reality level are transmitted into representational codes such as camera techniques, angles, transitions, video editing, location sets, sound, to special fx; (3) ideological level, it is found that there are capitalistic practices through the commodification of workers towards k-pop idols by the agency in the form of regulating appearance standards, clothing, privacy, and social relations of k-pop idols. This is done by the agency in order to maintain their idol image in accordance with the wishes of fans.

Working capital practices in select IT sector company, a study

Working capital practice impacts marketing, personnel, production and other varied activities. Almost every function of a business enterprise is related to working capital practice. Efficient utilization of working capital permits an enterprise to earn plausible return on the capital invested and also allows to pay its dues timely. Hence, adroit working capital practice assumes great significance and presents a stimulating challenge to the financial executive. In the cosmic milieu, newbie of IT industry have been the trailblazer niche in India’s financial system with its novel methods and unique gruntwork. IT sector company in India furthers appreciably to the Indian economy. This paper exercising secondary data designs to divulge the working capital practices of Wipro Ltd., a leading IT company for the years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. Results spill the company’s modest working capital practices but it approaches to be benigner to investors by boosting their perception to other opportunities for decision-making apropos contribution.

Failing Forward

This article analyzes efforts to institute professionally designed alternative currencies in European cities as acts of creative experimentation. The alternative currency consultants, or “the Money Makers,” experiment profusely with alternative moneys. As such, they have instituted various currencies throughout Europe from the 1990s onward—many of which have been funded by political bodies. Alternative moneys never succeeded in the sense that they never achieved their ambitious goal of creating resilient, localized economies. The article outlines how this rapid rise and fall of currency forms is interpreted by the Money Makers as a positive route of discovery toward a fair economy, an attitude of “failing forward.” Never quite successful, never quite finished, never just-right—to fail forward means that failure is not only imminent, it is required to attain success. New currencies are continuously created as reinventions upon themselves and upon capitalist practice. The notion of failing forward is key to understanding the creative design of currency alternatives as carrying within itself not only hopes for the future but also the history of prior forms as well as the current dynamics of neoliberal capitalism. The article argues therefore that creativity, as developing the “alterity” of “alternative economies,” is a collective enterprise that is institutionally shaped.