Lenin's theory of imperialism and the internationalisation of capital

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Politics, 197

Meetings

This article examines the different theories of meeting offered by Durkheim, Mauss, Sartre, Lévi-Strauss, Bohm, Levinas and Buber. Through this examination we question the common assumption that social life, and more particularly the gift, is based on exchange — on the sequence of giving, receiving and reciprocating — which is fundamentally a Hegelian logic of subjects and objects. While many aspects of social life take this form, true meeting is characterized by a quality of grace; it occurs only when the Hegelian world gives way to a presence that has a different temporality, spatiality and ontology. This world is glimpsed, but inadequately conceptualized, in Durkheim s theory of religious congregation, which is characterized by a tension between identity and relational logics

Becoming Who You Are

Desirous time is not conducive to learning because its fantasies are distractions from the present moment, the time when genuine creative possibilities emerge. In contrast, the time of love, of an I–Thou relation, is the time of potential and infinitude. This is when engaged learning occurs, and when students develop the practices that open them to a creative way of being. In contrast to the future-oriented linearity of desirous time, the time of creative learning is the time of presence. This argument is developed using interview material from well-known Australians and well-regarded Australian teachers

How to Understand Custodial Belonging

Debates about ecological responsibility are interested in different forms of belonging. This article develops an understanding of a custodial form of belonging based on the logic of relation, which we distinguish from a proprietorial form of belonging based on the logic of identity. Theorists working on questions of belonging use a language of custodianship when describing a sense of responsibility and care that arises through connection or relation. We argue, however, that the full significance of custodial belonging cannot be appreciated when understandings of connection are derived from within the terms of identity logic. In other words, when belonging is understood in terms of identity and identification, custodianship is inadvertently reduced to a proprietorial form of responsibility and care. We develop this argument by addressing Australian research on custodial belonging. Focusing on the influential work of Deborah Bird Rose, we argue that there are tensions between, on the one hand, her attempts to recognise connected forms of belonging, and, on the other, her conceptual reliance on the assumptions of identity logic. Our primary concern here is to indicate relational possibilities in her work precluded by the language of identity. In particular, we suggest that the concept of ecological being allows for a specificity and inclusiveness that are not recognised by Rose’s concept of the ‘ecologically emplaced self’

The Nature Index: A General Framework for Synthesizing Knowledge on the State of Biodiversity

The magnitude and urgency of the biodiversity crisis is widely recognized within scientific and political organizations. However, a lack of integrated measures for biodiversity has greatly constrained the national and international response to the biodiversity crisis. Thus, integrated biodiversity indexes will greatly facilitate information transfer from science toward other areas of human society. The Nature Index framework samples scientific information on biodiversity from a variety of sources, synthesizes this information, and then transmits it in a simplified form to environmental managers, policymakers, and the public. The Nature Index optimizes information use by incorporating expert judgment, monitoring-based estimates, and model-based estimates. The index relies on a network of scientific experts, each of whom is responsible for one or more biodiversity indicators. The resulting set of indicators is supposed to represent the best available knowledge on the state of biodiversity and ecosystems in any given area. The value of each indicator is scaled relative to a reference state, i.e., a predicted value assessed by each expert for a hypothetical undisturbed or sustainably managed ecosystem. Scaled indicator values can be aggregated or disaggregated over different axes representing spatiotemporal dimensions or thematic groups. A range of scaling models can be applied to allow for different ways of interpreting the reference states, e.g., optimal situations or minimum sustainable levels. Statistical testing for differences in space or time can be implemented using Monte-Carlo simulations. This study presents the Nature Index framework and details its implementation in Norway. The results suggest that the framework is a functional, efficient, and pragmatic approach for gathering and synthesizing scientific knowledge on the state of biodiversity in any marine or terrestrial ecosystem and has general applicability worldwide

Presence of the gift

Philosophers, social theorists and cultural theorists have generally followed Mauss in assuming that gifts entail obligatory exchanges between distinct parties who give, receive and reciprocate, and, that the social emerges through this sequence of obligations. It is the obligation to reciprocate, for example, that led Derrida to claim that the gift is impossible. We consider the alternative ideas that non-exchange gifts are not only possible but the basis of social life: that the social arises from the nonsequential giving-and-receiving of a gift relation. To develop this claim, we draw on a research project on the phenomenology of teaching. While many interviewees, teachers and students, spoke of the gift in exchange terms, many also spoke of classroom experiences in which there is a giving and receiving that is neither sequential nor locatable. Through the resonances of the concept of presence, we draw out the time, space and ontology of the gift

Processes and Concepts in Present-Day Transcultural Violin Performance Practice

This thesis is a creative practice project that examines the role of the violin in transcultural locations of musical engagement. The project focuses on repertoire associated with two disparate locations of practice, northwest European (Irish/Scottish) Celtic fiddling and Indonesian hybrid creations. By examining, performing and creating repertoire for violin, the music itself is viewed not only as a product of transculturation, but also as a process in which the technical and symbolic features of the violin are expressed through repertoire in different cultural locations. The thesis incorporates performance, composition and an exegesis and focuses on the way performance practice is influenced by aural and written modes of musical expression