Hyphenated cultures: Ethnicity and nation in Trinidad

This dissertation attempts to unravel why and how postcolonial Trinidad has displayed relative stability in spite of the presence of the factors that have produced conflict and instability in other postcolonial societies.^ Trinidad's distinctive social formation began in the colonial period with a unique politics of culture among the landowning European groups, Anglican English and French Creole. Contrary to the materialist assumption of landowners' class solidarity, the development of Trinidad's plantation economy into two crops, each controlled by a separate European ethno-religious faction, impeded the integration and subsequent ideological domination of European-Christians. Throughout the nineteenth century neither group dominated the other, nor did they fuse into a single ruling class. The dynamics between them both generated recurring conflict while simultaneously creating mechanisms that limited conflict. ^ Based on original in-depth fieldwork and historical analysis, the dissertation proceeds to demonstrate that Trinidad's unique intra-class conflict within the dominant European population has produced hyphenated, as opposed to hybridized cultural elements. Supplementing the historical analysis with empirical examinations of contemporary inter-religious rituals and post-colonial politics this dissertation argues that social integration is inseparable from the question of inter-cultural mixture or articulation. In Trinidad, however, the resulting combination of distinct cultural elements is neither a "plural society" (M.G. Smith 1965; Despres 1967) nor an integrated totality in the structural-functionalistic sense (R.T. Smith 1962; Braithwaite 1967). Moreover, Trinidad does not conform to the post-structural framework's depiction of the social linkage between power and culture. The concept of cultural hybridization is equally misleading in the case of Trinidad. The underlying assumption of a monolithic European population's cultural hegemony and post-structural analysis's almost exclusive focus on the inter -class politics of culture seriously misrepresent and misunderstand Trinidadian cultural and its associated social and political relations. The dissertation examines this reflexive influence of culture not as an instrument of the powerful few but as an autonomous force that reproduces social divisions, yet restrains conflict.^

A dinâmica da taxa de câmbio no Brasil face às operações swap (2002-2015)

This dissertation investigates, based on the Post-Keynesian theory and on its concept of monetary economy of production, the exchange rate behavior of the Brazilian Real in the presence of Brazilian Central Bank's interventions by means of the so-called swap transactions over 2002-2015. Initially, the work analyzes the essential properties of an open monetary economy of production and, thereafter, it presents the basic propositions of the Post-Keynesian view on the exchange rate determination, highlighting the properties of foreign exchange markets and the peculiarities of the Brazilian position into the international monetary and financial system. The research, thereby, accounts for the various segments of the Brazilian foreign exchange market. To accomplish its purpose, we first do a literature review of the Post-Keynesian literature about the topic. Then, we undertake empirical exams of the exchange rate determination using two statistical methods. On the one hand, to measure the volatility of exchange rate, we estimate Auto-regressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (ARCH) and Generalized Auto-regressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH) models. On the other hand, to measure the variance of the exchange rate in relation to real, financial variables, and the swaps, we estimate a Vector Auto-regression (VAR) model. Both experiments are performed for the nominal and real effective exchange rates. The results show that the swaps respond to exchange rate movements, trying to offset its volatility. This reveals that the exchange rate is, at least in a certain magnitude, sensitive to swaps transactions conducted by the Central Bank. In addition, another empirical result is that the real effective exchange rate responds more to the swaps auctions than the nominal rate.

What is this thing called Historical Archaeology?

Historical archaeology, in its narrow temporal sense -as an archaeology of the emergence and subsequent evolution of the Modern world- is steadily taking pace in Spanish academia. This paper aims at provoking a more robust debate through understanding how Spanish historical archaeology is placed in the international scene and some of its more relevant particularities. In so doing, the paper also stresses the strong links that have united historical and prehistorical archaeology since its inception, both in relation to the ontological, epistemological and methodological definition of the first as to the influence of socio-political issues in the latter. Such reflection is partly a situated reflection from prehistory as one of the paper’s authors has been a prehistorian for most of her professional life.

El dinero en la historia del pensamiento económico: la teoría monetaria postkeynesiana y su confrontación con la ortodoxia

Las disputas en torno a determinados aspectos del dinero, como su neutralidad y el carácter endógeno o exógeno de la oferta monetaria, han sido permanentes entre las distintas escuelas de pensamiento y autores, estando su origen, probablemente, en la época de desarrollo del pensamiento escolástico. En este artículo pretendemos, en primer lugar, realizar un recorrido cronológico e histórico sobre el tratamiento científico económico del dinero, para, en segundo lugar, poner sobre la mesa la macroeconomía ortodoxa a la que han dado lugar las interpretaciones al respecto, así como los enfoques alternativos frente a este pensamiento dominante. Finalmente, intentamos poner en valor los desarrollos monetarios post-keynesianos, integrados en lo que denominan “Economía Monetaria de Producción”, confrontándolos con la llamada Nueva Síntesis Neoclásica.

Exploring the potential of cassava in promoting agricultural growth in Nigeria

Cassava is one of the major food crops in Nigeria, with multiple uses from human consumption to industrial applications. This study explores the potential of cassava in Nigerian agriculture based on a review of cassava development policies; performs a trend analysis of the cultivation area, production, productivity, and real price of cassava and other competing crops for the period 1961–2013; identifies the sources of growth in production; and examines the production constraints at the local level based on a survey of 315 farmers/processors and 105 marketers from Delta State. The results revealed that several policies and programmes were implemented to develop the cassava sector with mixed outcomes. Although cassava productivity grew at 1.5% per annum (p.a.) during the post-structural adjustment programme period (1993–2013), its real price declined at a rate of 3.5% p.a. The effect of yield is the main source of growth in production, contributing 76.4% of the total growth followed by the area effect (28.2%). The cassava sector is constrained by inadequate market infrastructure, processing facilities, and lack of information and unstable prices at the local level. The widespread diffusion of improved tropical manioc selection technologies and investments in market and marketing infrastructure, processing technologies, irrigation/water provision and information dissemination are recommended to enhance the potential of the cassava sector to support agricultural growth in Nigeria.

Odwrót od rozwoju: kontrowersyjna czy obiecująca zmiana paradygmatu wczesnej edukacji

The article presents three approaches to the conceptualisation of development as a category which describes the dynamics of the biography of man, which the author defines as: universalisation, contextualisation / relativism, and problematisation / negation. Emphasis is laid on a shift in thinking about the child and childhood, to be observed in the post-structural analyses contingent on the thought of Michel Foucault and a critique of developmental psychology which is developing in the world, but has been absent from Poland so far. The strongest critique of both these perspectives is directed against the standardisation measures for which individuality, specificity and diversity become a deviation from the norm. The article shows how strong arguments showing the controversy of development perceived in this way have been collected and how debatable the category of development as such is.

Entre lo riesgoso y lo político : hacia una teoría posmarxista del riesgo

A partir del análisis crítico de diversas teorías del riesgo propuestas por autores como Paul Slovic, CassSunstein, Mary Douglas y Ulrich Beck, este artículo delinea algunos fundamentos para una teoría posmarxista del riesgo. Contra cualquier pretendida "Sociedad Mundial del Riesgo" se identificará una específica Lógica del Riesgo capaz de poseer alcance mundial pero que, más allá de su vocación utópica, es concebida como incapaz de lograr el cierre final de lo social, ya sea mediante los instrumentos de un "Estado costo-beneficio" o del desenvolvimiento dialéctico necesario de la sociedad industrial.

Entre lo riesgoso y lo político : hacia una teoría posmarxista del riesgo

A partir del análisis crítico de diversas teorías del riesgo propuestas por autores como Paul Slovic, CassSunstein, Mary Douglas y Ulrich Beck, este artículo delinea algunos fundamentos para una teoría posmarxista del riesgo. Contra cualquier pretendida "Sociedad Mundial del Riesgo" se identificará una específica Lógica del Riesgo capaz de poseer alcance mundial pero que, más allá de su vocación utópica, es concebida como incapaz de lograr el cierre final de lo social, ya sea mediante los instrumentos de un "Estado costo-beneficio" o del desenvolvimiento dialéctico necesario de la sociedad industrial.

Entre lo riesgoso y lo político : hacia una teoría posmarxista del riesgo

A partir del análisis crítico de diversas teorías del riesgo propuestas por autores como Paul Slovic, CassSunstein, Mary Douglas y Ulrich Beck, este artículo delinea algunos fundamentos para una teoría posmarxista del riesgo. Contra cualquier pretendida "Sociedad Mundial del Riesgo" se identificará una específica Lógica del Riesgo capaz de poseer alcance mundial pero que, más allá de su vocación utópica, es concebida como incapaz de lograr el cierre final de lo social, ya sea mediante los instrumentos de un "Estado costo-beneficio" o del desenvolvimiento dialéctico necesario de la sociedad industrial.

Análisis de mujeres cachemires como sujetos subalternos en la representación institucional de India y Paquistán a partir del fenómeno de desaparición forzada (1989-2008)

El interés de esta monografía es analizar las consecuencias de la representación institucional de India y Paquistán en la disputa territorial por Cachemira durante el periodo de 1989 a 2008. Puntualmente, se analiza y explica cómo la representación institucional prestada individualmente por India y Paquistán validó sus intereses como agentes de poder en la región, pasó por alto las necesidades de la población cachemir y fomentó la práctica de la desaparición forzada, lo que en consecuencia convirtió a las mujeres cachemires en un grupo subalterno. Para tal objetivo, se hará uso de la teoría postcolonialista, específicamente el enfoque subalternista de la autora Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak ya que permite explicar adecuadamente el proceso mediante el cual las mujeres cachemires se convirtieron en un grupo subalterno.

Gamma ventral capsulotomy for treatment of resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: A structural MRI pilot prospective study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate regional structural abnormalities in the brains of five patients with refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) submitted to gamma ventral capsulotomy. Methods: We acquired morphometric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data before and after 1 year of radiosurgery using a 1.5-T MRI scanner. Images were spatially normalized and segmented using optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) methods. Voxelwise statistical comparisons between pre- and post-surgery MRI scans were performed using a general linear model. Findings in regions predicted a priori to show volumetric changes (orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, basal ganglia and thalamus) were reported as significant if surpassing a statistical threshold of p<0.001 (uncorrected for multiple comparisons). Results: We detected a significant regional postoperative increase in gray matter volume in the right inferior frontal gyri (Brodmann area 47, BA47) when comparing all patients pre and postoperatively. Conclusions: Our results support the current theory of frontal-striatal-thalamic-cortical (FSTC) circuitry involvement in OCD pathogenesis. Gamma ventral capsulotomy is associated with neurobiological changes in the inferior orbitofrontal cortex in refractory OCD patients. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Darwin and after Darwin. An exposition of the Darwinian theory and a discussion of post-Darwinian questions, by George John Romanes ...

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Darwin and after Darwin. An exposition of the Darwinian theory and a discussion of post-Darwinian questions, by George John Romanes ...

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Darwin and after Darwin. An exposition of the Darwinian theory and a discussion of post-Darwinian questions, by George John Romanes ...

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Empiricism in ecological economics: a perspective from complex systems theory

Economies are open complex adaptive systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium, and neo-classical environmental economics seems not to be the best way to describe the behaviour of such systems. Standard econometric analysis (i.e. time series) takes a deterministic and predictive approach, which encourages the search for predictive policy to ‘correct’ environmental problems. Rather, it seems that, because of the characteristics of economic systems, an ex-post analysis is more appropriate, which describes the emergence of such systems’ properties, and which sees policy as a social steering mechanism. With this background, some of the recent empirical work published in the field of ecological economics that follows the approach defended here is presented. Finally, the conclusion is reached that a predictive use of econometrics (i.e. time series analysis) in ecological economics should be limited to cases in which uncertainty decreases, which is not the normal situation when analysing the evolution of economic systems. However, that does not mean we should not use empirical analysis. On the contrary, this is to be encouraged, but from a structural and ex-post point of view.