Neoliberal Context Research Articles

City of God and Renigunta: the transnational, regional and local in Brazilian and Indian cinemas

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the transnational flows of Brazilian cinema and its manifestations in regional film industries of India. Through a critical elaboration on the topographical, stylistic, figural and narrative re-articulations of the Brazilian film Cidade de Deus (City of God, Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund, 2002) in the Tamil film Renigunta (R. Panneerselvam, 2009), a theoretical deliberation of liminal spatiality is proposed. It is argued that films such as City of God and Renigunta are textual sites where contemporary transnationalism is affirmed as the coalescing of the subjective aspects of narratives, intensified by the temporally fragmented visual stylistic, and a neoliberal industrial context of film-making. This situates films like Renigunta within several in-between spaces like non-mainstream/art-house, regional/sub-regional, independent/multiplex film and locally global. Indeed, a critical reading of the transnational aesthetic expression leads to a re-evaluation of these deterministic categories, suggesting how the liminal, or intermedial, can become a force field for interrogating dominant perspectives of the cinema, in both Brazil and India. A further observation that is presented here proposes the global/local as an active nexus for an emergent new wave of Indian cinema that has shaped the momentous re-emergence of regional film-making in diverse geographies.

Poverty and Agricultural Productivity Growth Nexus in the Non-Plantation Agriculture in Sri Lanka

Not only there is a close relationship between poverty and agriculture productivity but also agriculture is considered as a significant means of plummeting poverty in the long-term and in the shortterm. While agriculture may not be central as the driver of economic growth in current global neo-liberal economic context it is generally accepted that the food security and livelihood development aspects for all still warrants developing agriculture, a situation that holds true for Sri Lanka too. Productivity in agriculture is determined by conditions in both the natural, socioeconomic and community factors. The productivity in the country’s agriculture sector is rooted in the farming system, namely, the farm and the farmer/farm operator. These two units are in an interacting whole which makes property of one a quality of another. Small plot size, the existing tenure system, low levels of education and skills of farm operators and behavior of two patrons (government and traders) in the sector are the major backward determinants affecting to place in the farmer into a vicious cycle of poverty. This background does not help to generate a dynamic, risk bearing and enterprising farmers for the economy and this leads to low productivity and then the continuation of poverty of farmers. The lack of attentiveness of overall situation and lack of holistic approach to problems providing appropriate solutions to individuals are constraints in agriculture development. Solution is the hallmark of policies and interventions in agriculture. Present focus is also on subsistence-based model and the approach is piecemeal.

Mutating faces of the state? Austerity, migration and faith-based volunteers in a UK downscaled urban context

This article explores how austerity combined with the UK Government’s expressed aim of creating a hostile environment, reshaped policy and practice towards new migrants in a downscaled urban area. There is an assumption that volunteers come to govern in zones the state has ceded or abandoned. However, how volunteers come to undertake these roles, their discretionary power and the consequences for state theory have not been fully explored. Drawing on 73 interviews with local state actors and volunteers and in-depth participant observation over 14 months with more than 200 new migrants, this article argues volunteers become the ‘face of the state’ for new migrants with direct effects. Volunteers have wide discretionary power and negotiate uncertainty by falling back on religious values and local narratives of migration forging new practices of governance. This article makes two contributions to theorising the state. First, the economic position of a city and narratives of place shapes who gains legal status and state membership, adding to literature on the relationship between civil society and the state in neoliberal contexts. Second, seemingly mundane actions and intimate relations have immediate implications for political membership. This represents a system of governance that relies on assessments of behaviours in new migrants’ everyday lives rather than rights or entitlements. This article unpacks these assessments and explores the consequences for volunteers and new migrants alike.

Assistência estudantil na política de Educação Superior no Brasil

Este artigo surge através do processo dissertativo sobre a Assistência Estudantil como política de permanência na educação superior. Temos a intenção de realizar uma análise a respeito da instituição do PNAES, por meio do decreto nº 7. 234/2010, como também refletir sobre a atuação do Fórum de Pró-reitores de Assuntos Comunitários e Estudantis no intuito de fortalecer a luta pela permanência dos estudantes na educação superior. Como objetivo geral do trabalho, destacamos a realização da análise da política de assistência estudantil, a partir da instituição do PNAES, e sua contribuição para a permanência dos alunos. A pesquisa dialoga coma perspectiva crítica-dialética, recorrendo à pesquisa do tipo qualitativa, que faz uso da observação e da pesquisa documental. Ao final realizamos a sistematização dos dados e analisamos a luz da dialética. O resultado da pesquisa confirma a necessidade da assistência estudantil como fator de justiça redistributiva, uma vez que existem estudantes que não possuem condições econômicas de manter-se na universidade pública sem o apoio do Estado. Tal política, de caráter residual se faz permeada de conflitos e tensões, em face disparidade entre a redução de recursos para políticas de educação superior no contexto neoliberal e as necessidades dos segmentos sociais subalternizados.

A caring welfare state in South Korea: challenges and prospects

The purpose of this article is to examine the implications of care ethics in a Korean welfare state. It shows how Confucianism, developmentalism and neoliberalism can both promote and restrict the establishment of a Korean caring welfare state. Despite the fact that these Korean contexts can either support or undercut the development of a caring welfare state, it is clear that none of these contexts places particular importance on the value of care and care relationships. In the Confucian and neoliberal contexts, care is a family or private issue, while developmentalism fails to appreciate care due to its prioritisation of economic development.

Historicizing the New Global Consumerism from the Perspective of Emerging Worlds

US-born new global consumerism (NCG) has emerged, within a global neoliberal capitalism context marked by growing inequality, injustice, white populist authoritarianism, in response to multiple ant...

Kritik under den nyliberala ordningen: politisk paralys eller potential?

This article analyzes the intricate relationship between feminism and critique, as it is played out in interviews conducted with self-identified Swedish feminists. It discusses how the informants describe feminism as a critical endeavour and understand feminists as critical subjects in connection to the neo-liberal context in which the informants articulate their feminist position and identity. It also analyzes how the informants understand critique as something that both complicates and enables feminist politics, relating the discussion to a conceptualization of the political – underlying the work of Wendy Brown, Chantal Mouffe and Nancy Fraser – as a combination of ongoing agonistic struggles and formations of collective normative projects based on discursive exclusions.

Discourses of Nature in New Perceptions of the Natural Landscape in Southern Chile.

Landscapes are shaped over time by the changing imaginaries that result from new representations of nature and the value associated with it. This paper discusses the evolving discourses which have shaped the perception of the landscape in two socially and ecologically significant contexts in Chile. The first is the central-southern region of the country, a large portion of which is now devoted to commercial forestry plantations. The second is the Patagonia-Aysén region, where since the 1990s, colonization of a land defined by a tradition of livestock rearing has evolved into a process epitomized by the slogan “Aysén, Life Reserve.” The representation that was made of central-southern Chile in the 50' and 60' as a deforested and degraded land was the justification for promoting a new form of land occupation: the monoculture forest, designed and executed by a specific law. Forty years on from the passing of this law, the plantations of central-southern Chile have undergone a process of naturalization. In this case, the exaltation of nature has been permanent (before and after the changes doing by this law). The only thing that changes is the definition of nature, which ended up including forest plantations. That is, discourses influence perceptions and these lead to new practices in the study area and beyond. In Patagonia-Aysén, by the other side, there has been a marked shift in the rhetoric surrounding land. This has been particularly noticeable in the case of government bodies and private ecotourism companies, which have constructed an imaginary in line with a new model of economic development for the area. In a break with tradition, both the public and private sectors are beginning to shift their investment away from agricultural and livestock exploitation and toward ecotourism and conservation projects. In both cases, we analyse the manner in which transformations in perceptions and representations of landscape bring about new forms of land use, and how new focuses of value and social interest, forged within wider environmental discourses, have brought with them unexpected social consequences, like depopulation, economic transformations, cultural changes, etc. Thus, the aim of this work is to expose and discuss the reality and scope of new green discourses and their influence on the perception of natural landscapes in the Chilean neoliberal context.

Language tests, linguistic gatekeeping and global mobility

ABSTRACTLanguage tests are increasingly being used as gatekeeping tools in a globalised world. This article examines the processes of linguistic gatekeeping by the use of language tests in the context of migration. We draw on half a dozen cases of test-takers of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test who applied for entry into Australia on student, work or residency visa. We argue that while test-using migration programmes in countries such as Australia may give the impression that language tests are required for diagnosis of applicants’ ‘linguistic health’ and certification of ‘linguistic immunity’, official demands of language test scores may also be only distantly related to their actual language ability. From test-takers’ perspectives, the processes of linguistic gatekeeping can be linked to profit-making, suggesting how neoliberalism relates to immigration. In a neoliberal policy context, migration desires can be capitalised by gatekeeping authorities for their education and labour markets; these authorities may also capitalise on gatekeeping mechanisms such as language tests and test scores as commodified policy artefacts. Policy concerns for migrants’ linguistic health may, then, be related to financial health of testing industries. The article contributes to our understanding of the relationships between language policy and globalisation by illustrating the linguistic management of global mobility in transnational migration.

Locura y neoliberalismo. El lugar de la antipsiquiatría en la salud mental contemporánea

Este artículo pretende analizar los cambios en la comprensión de la locura luego de la irrupción del movimiento de la antipsiquiatría y examinar los procesos de adaptación de sus planteamientos en el marco del ascenso y auge del neoliberalismo. De acuerdo a la observación crítica de los postulados del movimiento de «ex pacientes o sobrevivientes de la psiquiatría» y el modelo de “recuperación” [recovery] en salud mental, se describen las transformaciones ideológicas en la comprensión y abordaje de la locura en la salud mental contemporánea. Finalmente, se examina la vigencia de la antipsiquiatría en un contexto neoliberal en base al reconocimiento de la importancia de la defensa de derechos de ciudadanía, el fortalecimiento de la autonomía y la construcción de una política de alianzas en el campo de la salud mental, así como el potencial transformador de los espacios comunitarios y movimientos sociales que reivindican la locura como base de su identidad colectiva.

I just want to be somebody: Exploring students' motivations and experiences in universities

There is burgeoning literature on the challenges confronting many Sub Saharan African universities. Such challenges have worsened in the present neoliberal context of the universities. This paper draws on a qualitative data in three public universities in Ghana to discuss students’ motivations in going to the universities and their experiences in the institutions. It discusses how students perceive and deal with the institutional challenges they are confronted with. Whilst the various challenges cannot be ignored, it appears many of the students have adopted ‘adaptive preferences’ to deal with their challenges and sustain their motivations. I argue for the universities to strive to boost student services not only academically but socially including leisure and networking activities. Also, in the neoliberal context of the universities, I suggest the universities to encourage the intrinsic value of knowledge other than its instrumental usage.

From sustainable urbanism to climate urbanism

As the negative impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent, many city leaders and policymakers have begun to regard climate action as both a fiscal challenge and strategic economic opportunity. However, addressing the increasingly evident threats of climate change in the neoliberal, post-financial-crisis city raises several questions about its equitable implementation. This paper suggests that the prioritisation of a specific mode of climate resilient urban development represents a departure from the previous decades’ movement toward sustainable urbanism. We refer to this new development paradigm as ‘climate urbanism’, a policy orientation that (1) promotes cities as the most viable and appropriate sites of climate action and (2) prioritises efforts to protect the physical and digital infrastructures of urban economies from the hazards associated with climate change. We argue that the potential social justice impacts of climate urbanism have not been fully interrogated. Certainly, cities are appropriate sites for addressing climate change, but in the current neoliberal context, the transition from policy rhetoric to climate action presents a potentially problematic landscape of inequality and injustice. With that in mind, this paper offers a critical lens to evaluate the merits of climate urbanism and to interrogate its potential outcomes.

Uncovering a politics of livelihoods: analysing displacement and contention in contemporary India

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we use livelihoods as an organizing concept which brings together questions of production, social reproduction, and the conditions for these, to describe and reflect upon three ‘moments’ of displacement and contention in India. Our first moment, a massive flash strike by workers in the export garments industry in Bangalore, is located in the present neo-liberal context of jobless growth, increasingly unregulated and precarious forms of employment, and market-based forms of service provision. Our second moment concerns popular struggles in defence of the commons in settled rural fishing communities in south India, and the third, the tenacious efforts of pavement dwellers in Bombay to make place, the political condition for production and social reproduction. The originary context for these last two moments was the state-led, technology-driven, capitalist modernization of agriculture and fisheries of the early post-‘independence’ decades, tied to projects of state-building, self-reliance, and sovereignty. The three moments chart the long history of processes of precarization under postcolonial capitalism but, equally, a constant politics of livelihood, grounded in claims to rights earned through labour, and addressing itself to both state and capital as complicit in structuring access to livelihoods under capitalism.

Spiritual Citizenship: Immigrant Religious Participation and the Management of Deportability1

This article advances the concept of spiritual citizenship to examine how some religiously active migrants employ religion to see themselves as, and to try to become, less deportable. Drawing from ethnographic observations and interviews with Central American and Mexican immigrants in the United States, I find that undocumented migrants use religion to redefine their own sense of self and to position themselves as spiritual citizens of “good moral character.” This research examines how the priorities of religious organizations can operate in relation to and through a neoliberal context. While religion supports migrants as they endure criminalization, my discussion of spiritual citizenship shows how the benefits of religious participation can also depend on migrants’ willingness to become deserving neoliberal citizens.

Personalized learning through 1:1 technology initiatives: implications for teachers and teaching in neoliberal times

Situated within the broader context of neoliberalism, this article explores how personalized learning, as tied to 1:1 technology initiatives, prompts changes in teachers’ classrooms and practices. The article draws upon a case study of one novice teacher as a way to view how personalized learning is undergirded by tenets of neoliberalism that ultimately change the relationship between teachers, students, and knowledge. While this article does not dispute the positive effects that personalized learning through technology has offered to many students, it explores facets of how such a change has reoriented the role of the teacher and repositioned knowledge as it relates to classrooms and students.

The Automedial Zaniness of Ryan Trecartin

The Automedial Zaniness of Ryan Trecartin

Capitalism, Neoliberalism, and Unfree Labour

The literature on the unfree character of temporary migrant labour has drawn much needed attention to the poor working conditions faced by migrant workers and opened up an important space to challenge those ubiquitous claims by defenders of the current political-economic status quo of the freedom expressed at the core of neoliberalism. However, there is a risk to focusing on legal unfreedom to the exclusion of a broader critique of the logic of capitalist reproduction, the very premise of which is the private ownership of society’s productive wealth and the alienation of the majority of people from that wealth. Unfreedom and coercion are systematic to capitalist market relations, and all wage labour, including that of formally ‘free’, is unfree. This article examines different conceptions of labour unfreedom and concludes with a discussion of unfree labour in the neoliberal context.

Marketing ‘madness’: conceptualising service user/survivor biographies in a period of deinstitutionalisation (1975–2014)

This article aims to present the lived experiences of psychiatric service users/survivors who have experienced the transition from institutional care in the 1970s and 1980s to community care services in the 1990s and post-2000s. By using a biographical narrative approach the study compares service users’ historical experiences with their contemporary experiences of community and residential care. Sixteen biographical narratives were analysed to explore how mental health services have changed over time, from the perspective of service users/survivors, their families and mental health practitioners. The study examines how the closure of NHS mental hospitals in the 1980s, which were replaced in the 1990s with new types of community and residential care services, has changed the lives of service users/survivors. Thus, the article presents these lived biographical experiences which, for the majority of service users/survivors, were defined by the process of trans-institutionalisation rather than de-institutionalisation, within a neoliberal context.

Augmenting the IAD framework to reveal power in collaborative governance – An illustrative application to resource industry dominated processes

Abstract Collaborative governance is often used as a strategy to address seemingly intractable common pool resource (CPR) problems. However, significant power imbalances can constrain the creation, adoption and implementation of socially and environmentally desirable policies. This study integrates theory on power with the institutional analysis and design (IAD) framework in order to provide a conceptual framework for examining power that is not captured through the IAD’s focus on action situations. We examined the use of collaboration in CPR governance contexts characterized by significant power imbalances. Two Canadian collaborative processes that involve large energy industry interests were studied. We assessed the ability of these collaborative processes to address social and environmental goals. Results revealed significant hidden power dynamics related to inaction and non-decisions. Collaboration was unable to produce progressive outcomes because of i) the restriction of the collaborative agenda by powerful actors; ii) selective enforcement of rules; and; iii) a broader neoliberal context that inherently favoured increasing resource extraction. These findings indicate that the achievement of progressive social and environmental outcomes through collaboration is constrained where powerful resource industries are present as participants.

Space, power and sexuality: transgressive and transformative possibilities at the interstices of spatial boundaries

The themed section consists of articles that explore the relationship between power and space in relation to gender and sexuality by looking at processes of transgression, subversion or expansion of normative spatial practices and narratives. Using a theoretical framework that draws out power and space within a more specific context of feminist and queer literature, the articles explore the possibility to transgress, subvert or expand norms at the interstices of spatial boundaries beyond traditional binaries and hierarchies. Collectively, the articles call for a continued theoretical and methodological focus into the importance of looking at everyday sites of struggles and resistance in the crevasses, the liminal zones of space. The transgression of spatialized norms of sexuality and gender present a transformative potential that should be recognized for its political significance but, we argue, with caution as heteronormative and heteropatriarchal norms too often remain de rigueur in a neoliberal context.