Invisible Actors Research Articles

Agents, brokerage and Argentinian railways 1880–1905

This article examines the role of agents and how their brokerage activities influenced the composition, shape and size of Baring’s business networks in Argentinian railways during 1880–1905. Baring was heavily involved in Argentine sovereign and railway financing and relied on trusted agents, who acted as important conduits of information, to manage their business empire. We explore 2700 pieces of correspondence in the form of letters and telegrams to illustrate Baring’s network over time. Studying the case of Argentinian railways, the correspondences reveal the longevity of Baring’s network and agents’ brokerage roles over time in response to changing local and global economic currents. Through this rich qualitative data and network analysis, we contribute to understanding agent’s brokerage and network change over time. By highlighting the role of invisible actors in the form of agents, the article contributes to understanding infrastructure finance, financial globalisation and more generally, the global history of capitalism.

Travesías y negociaciones en el Altiplano mexicano: Recolectores médicos, aficionados y empresarios de especímenes botánicos

This paper contributes to studies on the practices of collectionism, going beyond the institutional histories of museums and herbariums to examine how specimens were collected and to identify the people who consolidated those practices. Centered on research by Mexico’s Instituto Médico Nacional (IMN, National Institute of Medicine, Mexico City, 1890-1915), I trace the itineraries and explorations of various figures: naturalists, collectors, physicians, and entrepreneurs. The article describes the distinct strategies these figures used to collect medicinal plants, animals, and minerals in rural areas, far from the spaces of scientific institutions. Through the accounts of the naturalist Fernando Altamirano (1848-1908) of the IMN, and the American Cyrus Guernesey Pringle (1838-1911) of the Gray Herbarium and Smithsonian Institution, I visit the places where they collected, focusing as well on the invisible actors who participated in those searches for knowledge, includ- ing indigenous peasants and peons who, from the countryside, contributed significantly to their medical and botanical surveys of “Mexico’s nature.”

A tale of the city of Kolkata through the eyes of the “common women"

This paper focuses on working-class women from the informal settlements of Kolkata, India and their precarious relationships with the city. Their existence at the margins of society (socially, spatially, historically, and sometimes even geographically) tends to make them invisible actors in the production of contemporary urban spaces of Kolkata. This paper examines the role of class, caste, and gender in informing the spatial practices of these minoritized women that occur in the city’s liminal landscapes. These practices are quite distinct from those of women from middle- and upper-classes in Kolkata. Terms like “public women” or “bad women” or chhotolok (a common Bengali term used for people from lower classes or castes) have been used to represent and mark these working-class, lower caste women as deviant bodies in terms of their class, caste, and even sexualities. These labels are important to understand how these women have been represented historically in the urban history of Kolkata. By analyzing secondary literature, archival texts, songs, films, poems, and photographs, the paper investigates the following interrelated questions. First, how has the spatial organization of urban Kolkata historically determined the ways in which these women have navigated, engaged with, and attempted to overcome a wide array of structural and systemic constraints? And second, how have these women produced and applied various forms of situated spatial knowledge in the city’s liminal landscapes? In terms of the paper’s structure, I start by analyzing the existing literature on gender and urban space in India. Thereafter, I lay a theoretical groundwork to elucidate the importance of adopting an intersectional lens to understand overlapping regimes of power that affect the life-worlds of minoritized bodies; in this case, the working-class lower caste women of Kolkata. Finally, I use a chronological approach to examine the changes in Kolkata’s urban fabric and its material culture that have significantly added to the precarities faced by these minoritized and marginalized women. In other words, I trace an alternate urban history of Kolkata through the eyes of these “common women.”

Beyond Thomas Wakley: invisible actors and hidden voices in The Lancet during the 19th century

Beyond Thomas Wakley: invisible actors and hidden voices in The Lancet during the 19th century

Who Is the Real Winner in Cultural Industries? A Business Ecosystem Approach for Government Policies

Purpose – Over the past decade, South Korea's cultural industries have experienced significant growth in the name of Hallyu, the Korean Wave. This paper approaches government policy from a business ecosystem perspective for the sustainable growth of the cultural industry. In order to overcome the dilemma between cultural industry policy goals, the value of intermediate outputs, as well as final outputs, was identified. Design/Methodology/Approach – With the growing role of hidden or invisible actors in this field, the discourse on effective, efficient, and appropriate government policies for culture is an important academic endeavor. For this, the paper begins with an observation of how governments have engaged in formulating cultural policies as part of their industrial policy to foster national growth. After reviewing the different angles and motivations for national agenda, the paper offers insight into how the two clashing needs of industrial policy and cultural policy can be reconciled. Findings – Overall, business dynamics and economic order for culture can be established through a business ecosystem approach that calls on a more macro-level and integrated perspective for business in the cultural industry. By introducing content formats and animation segments for cultural industries, this paper ultimately shows how the next wave of Hallyu can be re-oriented along invisible sources of culture, the true winners in cultural industries. Research Implications – The government's business ecosystem approach to support the sustainable growth of the cultural industry hinges on a thorough understanding and reorganization of the cultural industry as a new bundling of content intellectual property rights.

'Invisible actors'-How poor methodology reporting compromises mouse models of oncology: A cross-sectional survey.

The laboratory mouse is a key player in preclinical oncology research. However, emphasis of techniques reporting at the expense of critical animal-related detail compromises research integrity, animal welfare, and, ultimately, the translation potential of mouse-based oncology models. To evaluate current reporting practices, we performed a cross-sectional survey of 400 preclinical oncology studies using mouse solid-tumour models. Articles published in 2020 were selected from 20 journals that specifically endorsed the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) preclinical reporting guidelines. We assessed reporting compliance for 22 items in five domains: ethical oversight assurance, animal signalment, husbandry, welfare, and euthanasia. Data were analysed using hierarchical generalised random-intercept models, clustered on journal. Overall, reporting of animal-related items was poor. Median compliance over all categories was 23%. There was little or no association between extent of reporting compliance and journal or journal impact factor. Age, sex, and source were reported most frequently, but verifiable strain information was reported for <10% of studies. Animal husbandry, housing environment, and welfare items were reported by <5% of studies. Fewer than one in four studies reported analgesia use, humane endpoints, or an identifiable method of euthanasia. Of concern was the poor documentation of ethical oversight information. Fewer than one in four provided verifiable approval information, and almost one in ten reported no information, or information that was demonstrably false. Mice are the “invisible actors” in preclinical oncology research. In spite of widespread endorsement of reporting guidelines, adherence to reporting guidelines on the part of authors is poor and journals fail to enforce guideline reporting standards. In particular, the inadequate reporting of key animal-related items severely restricts the utility and translation potential of mouse models, and results in research waste. Both investigators and journals have the ethical responsibility to ensure animals are not wasted in uninformative research.

The invisible lives of cobalt miners and green traceability discourses

The mobilization for greenhouse gas reduction has significantly boosted our interest in electric cars and green mobility. E‐powered technology and lithium‐ion (Li‐ion) batteries are now cornerstones of our green tech discourse. These technologies rest on the fast‐growing demand for rare metals such as cobalt, an essential component in Li‐ion batteries. This article focuses on the invisible lives of the artisanal diggers who mine much of the world's cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Their lives in Katanga fade behind the ore they produce. In the dominant green energy discourse, these workers become invisible actors whose corporeality, work and struggle are concealed and denied. We risk smothering cobalt miners’ human rights under an ecologically friendly banner.

Re]domesticating the “History of Moldavia” by J.A. Gebhardi in the translation of Ioan Nemișescu. Translation practices at the beginning of the 19th century

The theory and practice of translation in the time of the Romanian Enlightenment (1770–1830) represents a productive field of analysis for the way in which texts, ideas and terminology travel in the European space. Using the concepts developed by Lawrence Venuti of “domestication” and “foreignization” of texts through translation, the paper aims to present a case study that highlights the way in which the translator, as an apparently invisible actor, brings before his public a fluent and natural discourse, scattered with foreignizing elements that draw the attention to the translation status of the target text. A universal history written by a German author for a German readership (Geschichte der Moldau by L.A. Gebhardi in 1788), translated into Romanian by Ioan Nemișescu as a scientific text of national history (Istoria Moldovii, 1808) represents a revealing example for a translation practice anchored in the social-cultural and linguistic reality of the target culture. The translation analysis of both texts illustrates the way in which the Romanian translator makes, deliberately or not, a series of choices of transposing the German text and terminology, choices that help provide to the Romanian readership a fluent text, which blends familiar elements with a foreign scientific perspective and a modern historiographic discourse.

Power dynamics in collaborative rural planning: The case of Pematang Tengah, Indonesia

Starting from the notion that collaborative rural planning focuses on policymaking through authentic dialogue, this article discusses the power dynamics that influence the planning process and product. It was motivated by the presumption that the understanding of collaborative policymaking is not adequate if it only concerns formal deliberation without considering other power dynamics. Booher and Innes’s model of network power in collaborative policymaking (DIAD–Diversity, Interdependence, Authentic Dialogue) and the power cube model of Gaventa were used to analyze the power mechanisms in the formal as well as in the informal arenas. They were applied to the process of village planning in Pematang Tengah, Indonesia, where the agrarian village community, deliberative bureaucrats, and other stakeholders are involved in formulating development rural planning projects. From the analysis a new model was derived, revealing three power mechanisms that are active in three different phases of the collaborative planning process: (I) Figuring out in openness, (II) Herding of public desire, and (III) Forcing of direction. The findings show that power mechanism (II) in the informal arena plays an important role by steering the course of policymaking in the formal arena (I). Power mechanism (III) is active when invisible actors illegitimately change the planning product that the formal deliberation has produced, acting out of self-interest. The analysis of power mechanisms that are active in the whole planning process can help planners in dealing with formal and informal power when developing appropriate planning strategies through a deliberative process.

Negotiating Authenticity in Technological Environments

Essentialists understand authenticity as an inherent quality of a person, object, artifact, or place, whereas constructionists consider authenticity as a social creation without any pre-given essence, factuality, or reality. In this paper, we move beyond the essentialist-constructionist dichotomy. Rather than focusing on the question whether authenticity can be found or needs to be constructed, we hook into the idea that authenticity is an interactive, culturally informed process of negotiation. In addition to essentialist and constructionist approaches, we discuss a third, less well-known approach that cannot be reduced to any of the two forms. This approach celebrates the authenticity of inauthenticity by amplifying the made. We argue that the value of (in)authenticity lies not in choosing for one of these approaches, but in the degree to which the process of negotiating authenticity enables a critical formation of selves and societies. Authenticity is often invoked as a method of social control or a mark of power relations: once something is defined as authentic, it is no longer questioned. Emerging technologies—especially data-driven technologies—have the capacity to conceal these power relations, propel a shift in power, and dominate authentication processes. This raises the question how processes of authentication can contribute to a critical formation of selves and societies, against the backdrop of emerging technologies. We argue in favor of an interactionist approach of authenticity and discuss the importance of creating space in authentication processes that are increasingly influenced by technology as an invisible actor.

Invisible actors: Understanding the micro‐activities of public sector employees in the development of public–private partnerships in the United States

AbstractPublic–private partnerships (P3s) have continued to grow in importance both as an alternative infrastructure delivery model and a management practice in many jurisdictions and across institutional contexts. This study draws on the institutional work perspective to investigate the nature and form of micro‐activities that interact to cement a policy through the examination of the implementation of P3s as a management practice. The study advances our understanding of how the micro‐activities of governmental agents and actors affect the development, codification, and support structures of P3s. We adopt a multi‐location, field‐based case approach and a diversified institutional setting presented by P3‐adopting regions in the United States. We deploy an institutional work perspective to identify the micro‐activities that are undertaken as part of the P3 routinisation and acceptance process. Following Perkmann and Spicer's classification, and consistent with the concept of institutional work (Lawrence &amp; Suddaby), we find that the ordinary day‐to‐day micro‐activities undertaken by government employees, categorised as political work, technical work, and cultural work, are structurally, strategically, and intentionally deployed to achieve the successful implementation of P3s. In addition, we uncover a complementary managerial micro‐activity undertaken alongside institutional work, what we term organisational restructuring, as part of the composite of activities that facilitate a successful P3 implementation. We suggest that the nature, extent, and impact of ordinary government employee micro‐activities on the implementation and acceptance of P3s deserve further empirical inquiry.

English

The study, Conspicuously Absent: Women’s Role in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building in Northern Uganda in the Context of United Nations Resolution 1325. The research was carried out in war ravaged Acholi sub region covering the districts of Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum and Pader because they are located in the centre of Northern Uganda conflict between the Government and the rebels commonly known as the Lord’s Resistant Army (LRA). The main objective of the study was to locate women in conflict situations and assess their contribution. The study methodology is qualitative and builds upon a review of related literature, oral interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions with men and women who participated in the study. The major research finding reveals that women played a big role in peace building and conflict resolution, but their involvement remained unrecognized. Worst still, the northern Uganda women appeared not linked with the growing number of women led initiatives internationally, nationally and sub-national levels. The lack of recognition of women’s roles makes women invisible actors in peace processes taking place in northern Uganda. The study concludes that including women in the formal peace process, while not a goal in itself, is symbolic and significant step in the promotion of women’s justifiable participation in peace building and conflict transformation processes. The study makes recommendations to enhance women’s capacity to contribute to peace processes formally and informally. Key words: Conflict mitigation, conflict resolution, gender, resolution 1325, peace-building, Lord’s Resistant Army (LRA), sub- region.

The Invisible Actors of Forced Migration: Male Refugees in The Context of Representation and Gender

In recent years, forced migration, which is pretty important in Turkey’s agenda, is discussed by different disciplines, especially in politics, in different frameworks, such as integration, education, security, health and gender. When considering the studies that examining forced migration from a gender perspective, however, it is seen that the studies mostly focus on women because they are more exposed to social problems. This situation, which is added to the representation of refugee masculinity as perpetrators in the host societies, mostly by media, causes the experience of male refugees to be invisible, and the social aid practices directed towards refugees are less susceptible to the problems of men. In this context, the main purpose of this research is to analyze the problems of male refugees that cannot be seen because of their negative representations, and to discuss them based on social aid policies. The study was designed as a phenomenological qualitative research. Data were collected from 17 male refugees and five specialists who are working in the field of humanitarian aid, by semi-structured interview technique. The findings of the research show that, like refugee women, some refugee men are exposed to various social problems, such as violence, discrimination, poverty, unemployment and labor exploitation. Another remarkable finding in the study is that, despite their disadvantages, single and unaccompanied refugee men were excluded from the field of social aid and migration regulations.

SUPPORTING INNOVATION PROGRAMMES IN AFRICA: LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE

This paper is based on the author’s experience of supporting innovation programmes in basic services across African countries between 2016 to date. The paper’s background explains the need for innovation programming and emerging expectations from the governments and donors. The paper explains how this type of programming is different from traditional practices. In delivery, innovation programmes require an approach to take risks, do things differently, try out new approaches, learn continuously and regularly accept failures to improve the next action. The innovation in planning and practice expects to work with a range of stakeholders, often called ‘eco-system’ actors (Erik and Michiel, 2008). It expects to build on collective effort and collaboration to deliver the results. This includes governments support for innovation and for creation of space for this. The private sector is expected to invest in risk taking and users should reflect back on their experience of working with innovation. Innovation is also dependent on many small sized and invisible actors who could make things happen. Designing innovation programmes is different from traditional programming, as these programmes are expected to learn, adapt and change. Innovation programmes embrace complexity and non-linearity (Ramalingam and Jones, 2008) in their project cycles and have regular feedback loops within the project cycle. These programmes are assessed on the basis of new thinking, ideas and enhanced confidence of the innovator as compared to the situation at the start of the programme. Exit strategies and closure of innovation programming are also different, as compared to traditional programming. Innovation programmes are expected to show sustainability and adaptation by stakeholders, especially by the market and business. Increased knowledge, learning and interest of the business are some of the key indicators to be tested at the programme closing stage. Author’s own experience suggests that, the key to success of innovation programming is about learning and the ability to integrate innovation principles into the project selection, management and closures. Innovation programming is in early days and one of the main risks is that if innovation programming is managed as traditional programming it looses important principles. Based on author’s overall experience, the paper makes recommendations on the preparation, selection and management of innovation programmes in low income industrializing countries. Keyword: Innovative Programmes, Africa, Stakeholder, Community Traditional Programming

Publicised scrutiny and mediatised environmental conflict: The case of Tasmanian salmon aquaculture

This paper analyses mediatised environmental conflict over the Tasmanian salmon aquaculture industry's performance. It compares the Senate Inquiry into the “Regulation of the fin-fish aquaculture industry in Tasmania”, the influential Four Corners investigative journalism television program ‘Big Fish’ and news media coverage following each of these mediatised public investigations. The concept of “mediatised environmental conflict” is applied to reveal how these different modes of investigation influence public debate. Both the Senate Inquiry and the Four Corners program allowed previously invisible actors and networks to be made visible, while rendering others largely silent, particularly scientists despite strong references to science within the debate. Also, the traditional role of ENGOs in holding industries and Governments to account has shifted in this case to an industry player. Considerable differences in the discourses was observed, raising further questions concerning accountability and transparency in public-policy decision-making in relation to management of marine resources.

New Nørrebro Park’s Invisible Co-Designers

This article concerns the transformation processes of Copenhagen’s Nørrebro Park between 2001 and 2007. Through research of the processes as a case study, examples emerge regarding how the landscape architecture was reconstructed in collective form-generating processes between different actors. Theoretical analysis was executed using actor–network theory (ANT), with particular emphases on the terms “black box” and “mediator,” both by Bruno Latour, and “material agency,” by Albena Yaneva. This article argues that the construction of landscape architecture in this case can be considered as a strong collective and relational process, where unexpected and invisible actors become co-designers.

Religion, NGOs and the United Nations: Visible and Invisible Actors in Power. Edited by JeremyCarrette and HughMiall. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. Pp. ix + 302. Cloth, $102.60.

Religion, NGOs and the United Nations: Visible and Invisible Actors in Power. Edited by JeremyCarrette and HughMiall. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. Pp. ix + 302. Cloth, $102.60.

From Ideals to Institutions: Institutional Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Mexican Small Business Finance

This in-depth, comparative case study of the creation of the small and medium enterprise credit market in Mexico explores the work of actors to craft new organizational practices, as well as the symbols that sustain institutionalization efforts. The study demonstrates that, to craft new institutional practices, individual actors engage in two distinct layers of institutional work. One entails purposefully visible, staged, scripted, and carefully documented work to suspend existing institutions and allow for experimentation as well as to legitimize new practices. The second entails invisible, undocumented work to recruit allies, find resources, experiment with new practices, coordinate strategies of action, and build political toolkits. While visible work—which is the focus of most research on institutional change—was determinant at every stage of the change process because of its symbolic effects, actors spent most of their time and energy on invisible work, which they referred to as “the real work.” The paper shows that every act of visible institutional work was crafted through considerable amounts of invisible institutional work. Since new practices and new symbols were crafted through gradual and iterative processes of experimentation, invisible work includes many failures that remain undocumented. It also includes the work of midlevel, invisible actors who, often, are the real and unreported agents of institutional change. The findings have implications for our understanding of the mechanisms of institutional maintenance and change.

Invisible actors

This article focuses on the role web application programming interfaces (APIs) play in the television (TV) industry’s social media efforts. Web APIs are coding interfaces that allow different databases of information to communicate with one another. The widespread implementation of web APIs as a standard for information sharing offers a way for TV companies to more easily cobble together a presence in connected viewing environments. In this light, web API acts as, what Joshua Braun calls, ‘transparent intermediaries’ that actively shape the range of possibilities available in these types of intermedial partnerships. I explain web APIs before showing how they relate to media studies through the TV show Psych’s forays into designing social media experiences. Additionally, I will explain how web API-connected digital environments are used to facilitate what Tiziana Terranova calls soft control as web APIs embody Web 2.0 ideologies that celebrate information sharing between businesses that track audience attention.

Disputes over territorial boundaries and diverging valuation languages: the Santurban hydrosocial highlands territory in Colombia

ABSTRACTWe examine the divergent modes of conceptualizing, valuing and representing the páramo highlands of Santurban, Colombia, as a struggle over hydrosocial territory. Páramo residents, multinational companies, government and scientists deploy territorial representations and valuation languages that interact and conflict with each other. Government politicians and neo-institutional scientists wish to reconcile diverging interests using a universalistic territorial representation, through game theory. This generates a hydrosocial imaginary that renders invisible actors’ power differentials that lie at the core of the territorial resource use conflict. We conclude that this ‘governmentality’ endeavour enables subtle, silent water rights re-allocation.