“A man can find a home anywhere”: african mobility and the fall of dreams in behold the dreamers

Inspired by the notion of mobility explored by Zachary Guthrie’s book Bound for Work: Labor, Mobility, and Colonial Rule in Central Mozambique, 1940-1965, this study aims to analyze the journey of the Cameroonian characters in Imbolo Mbue’s novel Behold the Dreamers by showing how travelling outside of Africa can become a means of representing and understanding what is considered foreign and Other. In addition, assist on the understanding of self-perception and self-definition (Moffat), but also how said understanding does not exclude a complex net of illusions, disappointments and failures. As Behold the Dreamers shows, the voluntarily moving outside of Africa in search of a better life is not simple for it is burdened with political, racial, social class, and employment issues, as well as misconceptions of the West.Inspired by the notion of mobility explored by Zachary Guthrie’s book Bound for Work: Labor, Mobility, and Colonial Rule in Central Mozambique, 1940-1965, this study aims to analyze the journey of the Cameroonian characters in Imbolo Mbue’s novel Behold the Dreamers by showing how travelling outside of Africa can become a means of representing and understanding what is considered foreign and Other. In addition, assist on the understanding of self-perception and self-definition (Moffat), but also how said understanding does not exclude a complex net of illusions, disappointments and failures. As Behold the Dreamers shows, the voluntarily moving outside of Africa in search of a better life is not simple for it is burdened with political, racial, social class, and employment issues, as well as misconceptions of the West

Media policy network in Portugal: a case study approach

Comunicação apresentada na Secção de Economia Política da 23.ª Conferência da International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), Barcelona, 21-26 Julho 2002.In the media policy arena, there are multiple (often conflicting) perspectives and political outcome reflects different pressures and opinions. Contending groups develop strategies and bargain to see their interests served. Notwithstanding the diversity and complexity of the policy-making literature, we will try to assess the utility of the policy network concept in an attempt to shed some light into the conception/implementation of media policy in Portugal. Whist analysing the eventual relevance of the policy network approach, we will consider two distinct political periods: the social democrats majority rule, from 1987 to 1995, and the socialist mandates, from 1995 to 2002

Lusocom: estudo das políticas de comunicação e discursos no espaço lusófono

Comunicação apresentada à International Communication Section da Conferência Científica da International Association for Media Communication Research (IAMCR) Scientific Conference, Porto Alegre, 2004.Lusophony is the highly intricate construct we intend to interrogate. It is a geo-linguistic space, that is, dispersed regions, countries and societies whose official language is Portuguese (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East-Timor, Guinea Bissau, Portugal, S. Tomé and Príncipe). It is also a sentiment, a memory of a common past, a shared culture and history. In addition to its symbolic patrimony, Lusophony integrates institutions attempting to expand the Portuguese language and inter-related forms of cultural expressions. The project «Lusocom: a Study of Communications policies and discourses in the Lusophone Space» is about communications and the media; social representation, memory and identity; language policy and discourses. From the Communications Sciences perspective, the Lusophone Space seems to be a promising (though volatile) research object. In an increasingly globalised world, the Lusophone Space, in general, and CPLP (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa – Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries), in particular, have the potential to contribute to the development of alternative (and necessarily more complex) perspectives on the role media communications policies and discourses have played in the construction/reconstruction of the Lusophone identity and on how a common language might change the way «difference» is perceived. Furthermore, it can shed some light on contradictory globalising trends. In order to try to accomplish this project, we have divided it into three inter-related tasks. The first one is «Networks in the Lusophone Space: Policies, Production and Distribution». Based on Political Economy, International Relations and Political Science, we intend to map the national and supra-national communications structures of these dispersed regions and we plan to examine the main media production centres and distribution flows. This infrastructural examination is fundamental to the concomitant analysis of media consumption in this space. Departing from Social Psychology and Cultural Studies, the task named «Social representations and identity Levels», aims to assess the relevance of representations and social stereotypes in the media for the development and reconfiguration of the Lusophone identity, taking into particular consideration the cultural and ethnic diversities of these geographically dispersed societies. The gradual results of the third task, «Language Policy and Discourses in the Lusophone Space: Uncertain Relations», will have an all encompassing effect in the development of the two previous tasks. This sub-project, informed by Cultural Studies, Social Semiotics, Speech Analysis and Linguistics, will problematise Lusophony as a discourse and as a «cosa mentale». We believe that the Lusophone construct in its diversity will help us to demonstrate that solidarities resulting from a common language and from the miscegenation of memories and traditions have very concrete social, political and economic consequences.A Lusofonia é uma construção extraordinariamente complexa. É um espaço geo-linguístico, ou seja, um conjunto de regiões, países e sociedades dispersas, cuja língua oficial é o Português (Angola, Brasil, Cabo Verde, Guiné Bissau, Portugal, S. Tomé e Príncipe e Timor-Leste). É também um sentimento, a memória de um passado comum, uma cultura e uma história partilhadas. Para além do património simbólico, a Lusofonia integra instituições cujo objectivo é a expansão da língua portuguesa. O projecto “Lusocom: estudo das políticas de comunicação e discursos no espaço lusófono” trata da comunicação e dos media; da representação social, memória e identidade; e das políticas da língua e discursos. Da perspectiva das Ciências da Comunicação, o Espaço Lusófono parece ser um objecto de investigação prometedor (embora volátil). Num mundo cada vez mais globalizado, o Espaço Lusófono, em geral, e a CPLP (Comunidade de Países de Língua Portuguesa), em particular, têm o potencial para contribuir para o desenvolvimento de perspectivas alternativas (e necessariamente mais complexas) sobre o papel que os discursos e as políticas de comunicação para os media têm desempenhado na construção/reconstrução da identidade Lusófona e sobre a forma como uma língua comum poderá mudar a forma como a "diferença" é percebida. O projecto, de que damos conta nesa comunicação, é composto por três tarefas inter-relacionadas. A primeira chama-se "Redes no Espaço Lusófono: Políticas, Produção e Distribuição". Tendo por referência a Economia Política, as Relações Internacionais e a Ciência Política, pretende-se mapear as estruturas de comunicação, nacionais e supra-nacionais, destas regiões e investigar os principais centros de produção e fluxos de distribuição de produtos mediáticos. Partindo da Psicologia Social e dos Estudos Culturais, a tarefa "Representações sociais e níveis de identidade" pretende aferir a relevância das representações e dos estereótipos sociais veiculados pelos media para o desenvolvimento e reconfiguração da identidade Lusófona, dando especial atenção à diversidade cultural e étnica destas sociedades geograficamente dispersas. Os resultados graduais da terceira tarefa, "Políticas da Língua e Discursos no Espaço Lusófono: Relações Incertas" terão um efeito transversal no desenvolvimento das tarefas anteriores. Este sub-projecto, enquadrado pelos Estudos Culturais, pela Semiótica Social, pela Análise do Discurso e pela Linguística, problematiza a Lusofonia enquanto discurso e "cosa mentale". Acreditamos que a construção da Lusofonia na sua diversidade ajudar-nos-á a demonstrar que as solidariedades resultantes de uma língua comum e da miscigenação de memórias e tradições têm consequências sociais, políticas e económicas muito concretas

The diffusion of innovation in franchising: managing the exploration and exploitation paradox

The need to balance standardization with innovation has been identified in franchising networks as the paradox of exploitation and exploration. Literature suggests that the Plural Form, i.e. the simultaneous presence of company-owned and franchised outlets, might be a useful and appealing way of dealing with this paradox. This paper poses that there are yet alternative ways of dealing with difficulties associated with innovation diffusion, while keeping standardization in the network. This paper seeks to identify those means by analysing two contrasting Portuguese franchising companies. The results show that by sidestepping the classic top-down relationship and exerting a participative leadership, the franchisor might motivate franchisees to be more willing to adopt innovations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How are wages set in Beijing

International audienceChina's export performance over the past fifteen years has been phenomenal. Is this performance going to last? Wages are rising rapidly but a population in excess of one billion represents a large reservoir of labor. Firms in export-intensive provinces may draw on this reservoir to increase competition in their labor market and keep wages low for many years to come. We develop a wage equation from a New Economic Geography model to capture the upward pressure from national and international demand and downward pressure from migration. Using panel data at the province level, we find that migration has moderately slowed down Chinese wage increase over the period 1995-2007

The Effects of a Technology Shock in the Euro Area

The aim of this paper is to estimate the effects of a technology shock in the euro area within a structural VAR framework. Since the impact of these shocks on labor use is a controversial issue in the related literature, we give particular attention to it. Given that the estimated effects of a technology shock are quite sensible to the low-frequency properties of the labor input measure, we resort to an extensive statistical analysis to investigate whether hours worked are better characterized as stationary or difference stationary. We conduct a battery of classical unit root and stationary tests, analyze the small-sample properties of some of the tests-statistics, explore encompassing tests and Bayesian odds ratios to ascertain if the more appropriate VAR model is the one in which hours per capita enter in levels or first-differences. The evidence gathered is in support of hours being stationary, which leads to the conclusion that per capita hours worked rise after a technology shock in the euro area. As for the responses of the remaining variables, our results are in line with the bulk of the literature.