Review of \u3cem\u3eAccounting for Hunger: The Right to Food in the Era of Globilisation.\u3c/em\u3e Olivier De Schutter & Caitlin Y. Cordes, (Eds.). Reviewed by Christina Schiavoni.

Book review of Olivier De Schutter and Caitlin Y. Cordes (Eds.). Accounting for Hunger: The Right to Food in the Era of Globilisation (2011). Hart Publishing. $100.00 (hardcover)

Multivariate state space methods for official statistics and climate modelling

This thesis explores how state space models, which are a type of econometric models designed to analyse time series data, can be employed to achieve more accurate and realistic estimates of official statistics, and to model and forecast regional concentrations of air pollutants. Specifically, a novel approach is presented, which incorporates survey-based, claimant counts and Google Trends data in order to provide more timely and accurate estimates of Dutch unemployment, over only employing survey-based data. A new method is proposed to model the relationship between the latter and claimant counts data as time-varying, which allows us to promptly tackle changes in such relationship and therefore achieve more realistic real-time estimates of Dutch unemployment. Time-varying relationships can potentially be modelled with other, already existing, econometric techniques, than the one proposed in this thesis, and the reasons why they have not been considered further are here documented. Finally, a novel spatial type of state space model is employed in order to model regional concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the Netherlands. The (time-varying) effects on this air pollutant of meteorological conditions, traffic intensity and geographical location of the Dutch regions, are accounted for in the model. The latter is further used to forecast regional NO2 concentrations for different scenarios of traffic intensity, and can therefore be potentially employed for evaluation of pollution-reduction policies

Consanguinity and affinity. The domestication of animals, humans and plants in development actions

Este artículo versa sobre las formas de familiarización entre los pequeños agricultores y las especies comestibles. Las acciones de desarrollo orientadas a la producción de alimentos intervienen controlando la propagación de animales y plantas y la replicación de relaciones entre los humanos. Nuestro artículo describe las transformaciones del flujo de consanguinidad entre los humanos y las especies alimenticias, a través de la diferenciación de líneas, codificadas por el género, que plantean una oposición entre los sexos. La relación de contrapartes solicitada por los colectivos de desarrollo (cooperativas, asociaciones) suspende la consanguinización de las alianzas y los vínculos políticos y económicos se abren paso a través de los lazos de afinidad. La investigación etnográfica que sustenta esta contribución se llevó a cabo entre los pequeños agricultores del nordeste de Misiones (Argentina), las Ongs y los programas estatales que incentivan la producción de alimentos en las últimas décadas del siglo XX.The following article focuses on the different ways of familiarization between peasants and edible species. Development politics pointed towards food production keep vegetal and animal propagation under control, while encouraging the replication of human relationships. The consanguinity flux that links humans and edible species then gets segmented in genre-codified lines, which involve sex opposition. Thus, the kind of partnership requested by the development programs (cooperatives, associations) puts a halt to the “consanguinization” of affines, fostering political and economic relationships, expressed in alliance bonding, instead. The ethnographic research that supports this article was carried out among peasants, and NGO and government agents that have stimulated local food-production in the last decades of the 20th century, in northeastern Misiones, in Argentina

Fabricando al homo economicus: dispositivos cognitivos en un programa de créditos para pequeños agricultores

El artículo analiza el proceso de construcción de disposiciones económicas, a partir de la descripción de un programa de crédito para pequeños agricultores, llevado a cabo en el norte de Argentina (provincia de Misiones), en la década de 1990. Se focaliza en los dispositivos cognitivos, estudiando la interacción entre las contabilidades domésticas de los pequeños productores y las tecnologías de cálculo de las agencias de desarrollo. Finalmente, se describen las modalidades de socialización de los beneficiarios, necesarias para la extensión de las redes socio-técnicas de la economía.Fil: Schiavoni, Otilia Margarita G.. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Facultad de Humanidades y Cs.sociales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Competing sovereignties, contested processes

This study provides a preliminary theoretical and empirical exploration into how ‘competing sovereignties’ are shaping the political construction of food sovereignty—broadly defined as ‘the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.’ This study was motivated by a lack of clarity on the ‘sovereignty’ of food sovereignty that had been noted by numerous scholars. Earlier on, questions focused on who was the sovereign of food sovereignty—was it the state? Was it communities? More recently, as there is a growing consensus that there are in fact ‘multiple sovereignties’ of food sovereignty that cut across jurisdictions and scales, the question has become how these ‘multiple sovereignties’ are competing with each other in the attempted construction of food sovereignty. This question is becoming all the more relevant as food sovereignty is increasingly getting adopted into state policy at various levels, calling for state and societal actors to redefine their terms of engagement. This study has attempted to explore questions of competing sovereignties, first by developing an analytical framework using the lenses of scale, geography, and institutions, then by applying that framework to Venezuela, where for the past fifteen years a food sovereignty experiment has been underway in the context of a dynamic, complex, and contested shift in state-society relations

De las familias criollas a las lignées purificadas: Analogías entre vegetales y humanos

El tema de este trabajo son los procesos de familiarización de vegetales y de humanos. A partir de una experiencia de desarrollo encaminada a mejorar las variedades de maíces criollos de pequeños productores del nordeste argentino, nuestro artículo des- cribe las características de los maíces previas al proyecto y el proceso de agrupación resultante de la selección de variedades. Analizamos también cómo se transforma el modo de familiarización de los humanos, observando el surgimiento de un híbrido que combina familia y organización cooperativa. Nuestras conclusiones subrayan la profunda implicación del modelo genealógico en las prácticas institucionales.The subject of this work is the process of familiarization of plants and humans. Based on a development experience among small producers in the northeast of Argentine aimed at improving the varieties of native maize, our article describes the characteristics of the maize types before the project took place and the grouping process as result of varieties selection. We also analyze how human modes of familiarization are transformed by the emergence of a social hybrid that combines family and cooperative organization. Our conclusions stress the deep implication of the genealogical model in the institutional practices.Fil: Schiavoni, Otilia Margarita G.. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Secretaría de Investigación y Postgrado. Programa de Postgrado en Antropología Social; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentin

Rayleigh scattering and atomic dynamics in dissipative optical lattices

We investigate Rayleigh scattering in dissipative optical lattices. In particular, following recent proposals [S. Guibal et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4709 (1997); C. Jurczak et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1727 (1996)], we study whether the Rayleigh resonance originates from the diffraction on a density grating and is therefore a probe of transport of atoms in optical lattices. It turns out that this is not the case: the Rayleigh line is instead a measure of the cooling rate, while spatial diffusion contributes to the scattering spectrum with a much broader resonance

Hacerse parientes: Estrategias de alianza y reproducción social de los ocupantes agrícolas en el N.E. de Misiones (Arg.)

Este artículo toma como objeto las prácticas matrimoniales de los pequeños productores ocupantes de tierras fiscales y privadas del nordeste de Misiones (Arg.). Se examinan las contribuciones teóricas de la antropología referidas al parentesco (Lévi-Strauss, Héritier, Bourdieu), focalizando en el problema de los matrimonios en grado próximo (endogamia local). A partir de la presentación de casos provenientes del trabajo de campo se analizan las estrategias de alianza en conexión con los procesos de instalación agrícola.This article deals with marriage practices from the small farmers occupants in non-planned settlements (public and private lands) from the northeast of Misiones (Argentina). The main theoretical contributions of the anthropology of kinship are examined (Lévi-Strauss, Héritier, Bourdieu), focusing in the problem of marriages in next degree (local endogamy). The article presents empirical cases coming from the anthropological fieldwork analysing marriage strategies in connection with processes of agricultural installation.Fil: Schiavoni, Otilia Margarita G.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Misiones; Argentin