Frustrated Demand for Unionisation: the Case of the United States and Canada Revisited

In this paper we demonstrate that there is a substantial union representation gap in the United States. We arrive at this conclusion by comparing Canadian and American worker responses to questions relating to desired union representation. We find that a majority of the gap in union density between Canada and the US is a function of greater frustrated demand on the part of American workers. We then estimate potential union density rates for the United States and Canada and find that, given current levels of union membership in both countries, if effective demand for unionisation among non-union workers were realised, then this would imply equivalently higher rates of unionisation (37 and 36 percent in the US and Canada respectively). These results cast some doubt on the view that even minor reforms to labour legislation in the US, to bring them in line with those in most Canadian jurisdictions, would do nothing to improve the rate of organising success in the United States. The results also have implications for countries such as Britain who have recently moved closer to a Wagner-Act model of statutory recognition.Frustrated Demand for Unionisation: the Case of the United States and Canada Revisited

Echoes of the Tambaran

In the Sepik Basin of Papua New Guinea, ritual culture was dominated by the Tambaran —a male tutelary spirit that acted as a social and intellectual guardian or patron to those under its aegis as they made their way through life. To Melanesian scholarship, the cultural and psychological anthropologist, Donald F. Tuzin, was something of a Tambaran, a figure whose brilliant and fine-grained ethnographic project in the Arapesh village of Ilahita was immensely influential within and beyond New Guinea anthropology. Tuzin died in 2007, at the age of 61. In his memory, the editors of this collection commissioned a set of original and thought provoking essays from eminent and accomplished anthropologists who knew and were influenced by his work. They are echoes of the Tambaran. The anthology begins with a biographical sketch of Tuzin’s life and scholarship. It is divided into four sections, each of which focuses loosely around one of his preoccupations. The first concerns warfare history, the male cult and changing masculinity, all in Melanesia. The second addresses the relationship between actor and structure. Here, the ethnographic focus momentarily shifts to the Caribbean before turning back to Papua New Guinea in essays that examine uncanny phenomena, narratives about childhood and messianic promises. The third part goes on to offer comparative and psychoanalytic perspectives on the subject in Fiji, Bali, the Amazon as well as Melanesia. Appropriately, the last section concludes with essays on Tuzin’s fieldwork style and his distinctive authorial voice

Compte rendu de In the Shadow of the Palms : More-Than-Human Becomings in West Papua de Sophie Chao

This book examines the changing environment and society among Marind villagers of West Papua from a posthumanist perspective. Sophie Chao sees Marind plants and animals as having their own autonomous subjectivity and agency. But she also wants to use her ethnography to lodge a complaint against the moral vision of posthumanism wherein non-human species and beings do not necessarily instance a more integrated, and perhaps sustainable, relationship between nature and culture than that in a Cart..

From abundance to scarcity: implications for the American tradition

(print) 108 p. ; 21 cmBoulding, K. E. The limits to progress in evolutionary systems.--Kammen, M. From scarcity to abundance--to scarcity?--Lipset, S. M. Growth, affluence, and the limits of futurolog

Mobile telephones as public sphere in peri-urban Papua New Guinea

In urban Papua New Guinea (png), attitudes about and uses of mobile phones may be construed as a kind of a Habermasian public sphere, albeit one whose moral space and discourse is characteristically Melanesian. That is to say, the notion of “public” is not sharply differentiated either from the state or the private domain. In png, the citizenry assess mobile phone use not to only criticize the legitimacy of the postcolonial state, but also complain about the moral failings of the nation. Meanwhile, as they do so, they make calls for legitimate purposes, purposes that help them attain particularistic goals and assert particularistic values, both old and new.Dans les villes de Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée, l’utilisation du téléphone portable et l’opinion que les gens en ont peuvent être compris comme une sorte d’espace social habermassien, même s’il s’agit d’un espace et d’un discours moral typiquement mélanesien. Autrement dit, la notion de « public » n’est ici pas très différente de ce qu’est l’État ou le domaine privé. En png, les citoyens utilisent le téléphone portable non seulement pour critiquer la légitimité de l’État postcolonial, mais aussi pour se plaindre des manquements moraux de la nation. Ce faisant, ils passent aussi des appels pour des raisons légitimes, raisons qui leur permettent d’atteindre des buts précis, en affirmant des valeurs précises, anciennes ou nouvelles

Disney’s Moana and the Portrayal of Moral Personhood in Hollywood’s Pacific (1932-2016)

The goal of this essay is not to build an argument about the commercial basis or ideological functions of Hollywood movies. My goal is exegetical or methodological. I want to shift the critique of Hollywood’s representations of Pacific peoples and cultures towards how they are and are not depicted as moral persons, the meaning of which I will detail below. I begin by introducing the concept of the moral person in social anthropology and in the work of the Canadian literary critic, Northrop Frye. I then examine three Hollywood movies, Rain (1932) and Blue Hawaii (1961) in which the moral personhood of Pacific Islanders is reduced and marginalized while Western protagonists are foregrounded, although in different ways. Lastly, I discuss Disney’s Moana (2016), a movie which excludes Western characters altogether by focusing on the adventures of a pre-contact Polynesian girl. Moana is able to do so, I propose, because it is an animated musical.Le but de cet article n’est pas de débattre de la nature commerciale ou des ressorts idéologiques des films hollywoodiens. Mon but est exégétique ou méthodologique. Je veux déplacer la critique des représentations hollywoodiennes des peuples et des cultures du Pacifique vers la manière dont ils sont, ou non, représentés comme des personnes morales, expression dont je préciserai la signification ci-dessous. Je commence par présenter le concept de personne morale dans l’anthropologie sociale et dans le travail du critique littéraire canadien Northrop Frye. Ensuite, j’examine trois films hollywoodiens : Rain (1932) et Blue Hawaii (1961) dans lesquels la personnalité morale des habitants des îles du Pacifique est réduite et marginalisée tandis que les figures des protagonistes occidentaux sont mises en avant, bien que de différentes manières. Pour finir, j’évoque le film Vaiana de Disney (2016), qui exclut totalement les personnages occidentaux, en se focalisant sur les aventures d’une jeune Polynésienne avant le contact avec les Occidentaux. Vaiana y parvient, selon moi, car c’est une comédie musicale d’animation