Representations of Utopian Urbanism and the Feminist Geopolitics of ‘New City’ Development

Increasingly over the past few years the building of new cities “from scratch” has become a key strategy to promote development across much of the Global South. While several projects are currently under construction, many others exist primarily as proposals awaiting adequate investment or government action. This paper builds on previous literature that considers representations of such projects – promotional materials, digitally-produced video simulations, and master plans – as key components in the production of imagined urban futures. Through an exploration of the proposed Zone for Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE) in Honduras, this article demonstrates a feminist geopolitical approach focused on how such representations of utopian urbanism circulate through the local communities slated for new city development. I examine how representations of future urban spaces and future urban governance regimes become appropriated by local residents in organizing opposition or otherwise making sense of the proposed project’s potential impact on their lives.12 month embargo; published online: 30 Dec 2018This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Tu eres gallo… pero la de los huevos soy yo

In Honduras, the maquiladora industry, with its disciplinary and modern production practices, is seen by many as a bulwark against the gang and “random” violence that pervades Honduran streets and is the central focus of everyday conversation. However, the maquiladora industry, and the military and imf/World Bank-led neo-liberal policies from which it directly benefits, are intimately tied to gendered practices of violence. These range from the unwelcome control of women workers’ fertility options to the invisible genocide of emasculated young men rendered unemployable as a result of the flexibilization and feminization of labour in Honduras. Focusing on the maquiladora as a site of production and reproduction, this article examines the complex ways in which new gender roles are being negotiated in a Honduran context of structural, street, workplace, and symbolic violence. Within this context, many Hondurans see maquiladoras as presenting liberatory possibilities. The assertion that the workplace can (re)produce liberated subjects (using a broad definition of the concept) is taken seriously here. For even as maquiladora work disciplines the gendered capitalist body by confining and controlling the most minute actions of workers, it provides new contexts for young women and men to actively renegotiate their gender roles –through gossiping with their coworkers, standing up to managers and factory owners, and using their newfound cultural and financial capital to assert independence outside of the workplace and enact liberation through modern forms of consumption

Tu eres gallo… pero la de los huevos soy yo

En Honduras, la industria maquiladora con sus prácticas disciplinarias y modernas, es vista por muchas personas como una fuerza protectora contra la violencia extrema de las maras y de las calles que es el enfoque principal del discurso diario hondureño. Sin embargo, la industria maquiladora, y las políticas militares y neoliberales (implementados por el fmi y el Banco Mundial) de las cuáles se aprovecha directamente, están estrechamente ligados con las prácticas de violencia asociadas al género. Éstas incluyen tanto la práctica del control estricto de las opciones de fertilidad de las operarias como el genocidio invisible de niños y hombres jóvenes quienes se encuentran sin posibilidades de empleo a causa de la flexibilización y la feminización del trabajo en Honduras. Enfocando en la maquiladora como sitio de producción y reproducción, este artículo examina las formas complejas en las cuales nuevos roles de género se negocian dentro de un contexto hondureño de violencia estructural, callejera, laboral y simbólica. Dentro de ese contexto, muchos hondureños opinan que las maquiladoras presentan oportunidades liberadoras. Aquí se toma en serio la idea que el lugar de trabajo puede (re)producir sujetos liberados, ocupando una definición muy amplia del concepto. Aunque el trabajo de maquiladora disciplina el cuerpo capitalista en términos de género, controlando hasta las acciones más íntimas de las obreras y los obreros, les proporciona nuevos contextos en los cuales pueden renegociar sus roles de género –mediante el chisme, enfrentando sus jefes de trabajo y los dueños de sus fábricas y también empleando su nuevo capital financiero y cultural para afirmar su independencia fuera del lugar de trabajo y efectuar la liberación mediante el consumismo moderno.In Honduras, the maquiladora industry, with its disciplinary and modern production practices, is seen by many as a bulwark against the gang and “random” violence that pervades Honduran streets and is the central focus of everyday conversation. However, the maquiladora industry, and the military and imf/World Bank-led neo-liberal policies from which it directly benefits, are intimately tied to gendered practices of violence. These range from the unwelcome control of women workers’ fertility options to the invisible genocide of emasculated young men rendered unemployable as a result of the flexibilization and feminization of labour in Honduras. Focusing on the maquiladora as a site of production and reproduction, this article examines the complex ways in which new gender roles are being negotiated in a Honduran context of structural, street, workplace, and symbolic violence. Within this context, many Hondurans see maquiladoras as presenting liberatory possibilities. The assertion that the workplace can (re)produce liberated subjects (using a broad definition of the concept) is taken seriously here. For even as maquiladora work disciplines the gendered capitalist body by confining and controlling the most minute actions of workers, it provides new contexts for young women and men to actively renegotiate their gender roles –through gossiping with their coworkers, standing up to managers and factory owners, and using their newfound cultural and financial capital to assert independence outside of the workplace and enact liberation through modern forms of consumption.Au Honduras, l’industrie maquiladora, avec ses pratiques disciplinaires et modernes de production, est vue par plusieurs comme un rempart contre la violence de gang et gratuite qui imprègne les rues honduriennes et qui constitue le sujet central des conversations quotidiennes. Toutefois, l’industrie maquiladora et les politiques militaires et néolibérales (mises en avant par le Fonds monétaire international et la Banque mondiale) desquelles elle profite directement, sont intimement liées aux pratiques sexistes de violence. Celles-ci vont du contrôle strict des options de fertilité des travailleuses au génocide invisible des jeunes hommes qui se retrouvent sans possibilité d’emploi en raison de la flexibilisation et la féminisation du travail au Honduras. En mettant l’accent sur la maquiladora comme site de production et de reproduction, cet article examine les façons complexes dont les nouveaux rôles de genre se négocient au sein d’un contexte hondurien de violence structurelle, de rue, de travail et symbolique. Au sein de ce contexte, plusieurs Honduriens estiment que les maquiladoras présentent des opportunités de libération. Cette déclaration selon laquelle le lieu de travail peut (re)produire des sujets libérés (dans le sens large du concept) est prise au sérieux ici. Même si le travail de la maquiladora discipline le corps capitaliste suivant le sexe en confinant les travailleurs et en contrôlant même leurs plus petites actions, il fournit de nouveaux contextes aux jeunes femmes et hommes où renégocier activement leurs rôles de genre –à travers les commérages entre travailleurs, la confrontation avec les gérants et les propriétaires d’usines, et aussi en employant leur nouveau capital culturel et financier– pour affirmer leur indépendance en dehors de leur lieu de travail et jouer leur libération à travers des formes modernes de consommation

Tegucigolpe: donde se cruzan los caminos, se unen fronteras y divergen las percepciones

El artículo explora la problemática contenida en Tegucigalpa, ahonda en la ciudades gemelas (Comayagüela y Tegucigalpa) involucrándose de manera activa en su configuración topográfica de exclusión y desigualdad socioeconómica, en la violencia estructural y simbólica que se relaciona de manera directa con la aplicación de políticas neoliberales. Un acercamiento a la ciudad post-huracán Mitch y posgolpe de Estado a partir de la comparación sistemática de notas etnográficas e historiográficas. Resultado de esto será un análisis del Estado corporativista y sus implicaciones en Tegucigalpa

Asylum for Sale: Profit and Protest in the Migration Industry

Blurb: This explosive new volume brings together a lively cast of academics, activists, journalists, artists, and people directly impacted by asylum regimes to explain how current practices of asylum align with the neoliberal moment and to present their transformative visions for alternative systems and processes. Through essays, artworks, photographs, infographics, and illustrations, Asylum for Sale: Profit and Protest in the Migration Industry regards the global asylum regime as an industry characterized by profit-making activity: brokers who facilitate border crossings for a fee; contractors and firms that erect walls, fences, and watchtowers while lobbying governments for bigger “security” budgets; corporations running private detention centers and “managing” deportations; private lawyers charging exorbitant fees; “expert” witnesses; and NGO staff establishing careers while placing asylum seekers into new regimes of monitored vulnerability. Asylum for Sale challenges readers to move beyond questions of legal, moral, and humanitarian obligations that dominate popular debates regarding asylum seekers. Digging deeper, the authors focus on processes and actors often overlooked in mainstream analyses and on the trends increasingly rendering asylum available only to people with financial and cultural capital. Probing every aspect of the asylum process from crossings to aftermaths, the book provides an in-depth exploration of complex, international networks, policies, and norms that impact people seeking asylum around the world. In highlighting protest as well as profit, Asylum for Sale presents both critical analyses and proposed solutions for resisting and reshaping current and emerging immigration norms

Forgetting the best when predicting the worst: Preliminary observations on neural circuit function in adolescent social anxiety

Social anxiety disorder typically begins in adolescence, a sensitive period for brain development, when increased complexity and salience of peer relationships requires novel forms of social learning. Disordered social learning in adolescence may explain how brain dysfunction promotes social anxiety. Socially anxious adolescents (n = 15) and adults (n = 19) and non-anxious adolescents (n = 24) and adults (n = 32) predicted, then received, social feedback from high and low-value peers while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A surprise recall task assessed memory biases for feedback. Neural correlates of social evaluation prediction errors (PEs) were assessed by comparing engagement to expected and unexpected positive and negative feedback. For socially anxious adolescents, but not adults or healthy participants of either age group, PEs elicited heightened striatal activity and negative fronto-striatal functional connectivity. This occurred selectively to unexpected positive feedback from high-value peers and corresponded with impaired memory for social feedback. While impaired memory also occurred in socially-anxious adults, this impairment was unrelated to brain-based PE activity. Thus, social anxiety in adolescence may relate to altered neural correlates of PEs that contribute to impaired learning about social feedback. Small samples necessitate replication. Nevertheless, results suggest that the relationship between learning and fronto-striatal function may attenuate as development progresses