Cultural development: a new policy paradigm in the cultural policies of the 1970s in Québec

The common expression of ‘cultural development’ appears in many cultural policy statements without it necessarily arousing questions about its precise meaning. Indeed, we usually spontaneously associate ‘cultural development’ to any governmental intervention that aims at stimulating cultural vitality. However, if we look more closely at the origin of this concept, we soon discover that its appearance on the eve of May 68, in France, corresponds to the rise of new concerns in cultural policy matters and to a radical redefinition of the state’s role in this domain. Still enjoying a strong influence, France’s political transformations were closely followed by some Quebecois politicians and socially engaged intellectuals who were participating, at that time, in the formulation of a new political vision in cultural matters in Québec in the 1960s and 1970s. The objective of this paper is thus to retrace the origin of the idea of cultural development and follow its evolution in Québec.     

Brazilian cultural policies during the workers’ party governments: challenges for the development of cultural citizenship

ABSTRACT

The presidential elections that brought the Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, or PT) to federal power represented a new moment for Brazil with the implementation of democratic, inclusive and sovereign policies. In the area of culture, the Ministry of Culture reclaimed a leadership role for the State and developed public policies with the critical participation of civil society. During the administrations of presidents Luis Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, culture finally reached a new level. This article seeks to determine to what extent the cultural policies undertaken by these administrations promoted cultural citizenship. Based on a study of the course of cultural policies in the country, we argue that despite a conceptual and ideological orientation in this direction, the Ministry was unable to surpass certain barriers and overcome longstanding problems.     

On the legitimacy of cultural policies: analysing Québec’s cultural policy with the Economies of Worth

This paper explores the question of the legitimation of cultural policies by examining the case of the Canadian French-speaking province, Québec, where the consensus over the legitimacy and the purpose of a cultural policy was not easily reached. To understand the evolution of the justifications for state intervention in this field, we have analysed three major policy statements issued by the government of Québec as well as the criticisms levelled at the moment of their publication using the analytic framework the Economies of Worth. Developed by French sociologist Luc Boltanski and economist Laurent Thévenot, this framework conceptualises different regimes of justification that can be retraced in cultural policy statements. We explore more particularly the concept of ‘compromise’ which enables us to understand why cultural policies have difficulty achieving consensus. This paper thus aims at assessing the heuristic value of this interpretative device for cultural policy analysis.     

Feminism and its ‘other’: representing the ‘new woman’ of Bangladesh

This essay examines women's oppression and organizing against gender violence in contemporary Bangladesh through the lens of television. I argue that the telefilm Ayna (The Mirror, 2006), written and directed by popular film actor and women's rights activist Kabari Sarwar, offers a window into the changing social and economic landscape of contemporary Bangladesh and the complex negotiations of power and inequality across gender, class and community. Furthermore, it offers an opportunity to unpack the social messages underlying development and modernization initiatives, the new kinds of alliances as well as dependencies engendered by them, and their multiple and uneven consequences. An investigation of the representations of competing and contradictory notions of women's subjectivity and agency in this telefilm allows us to understand how these intersect with shifting notions of local/global patriarchies, feminist solidarity and women's empowerment in Bangladesh today. Further, this essay illuminates the disjunctures between representations of the ‘new woman’ circulated through development and certain feminist advocacy narratives with women's lived realities of oppression, and survival.     

Tourism development and cultural conflict: the case of ‘Nazareth 2000’

In areas that are characterized by political, national, cultural and religious conflicts, issues concerning conservation and development become particularly complex. One prominent example of this tension can be seen in events that have taken place over the last decade in the city of Nazareth, which hosts some of Christianity's holiest sites. Until the mid-twentieth century most of the city's residents were Christian. In the past several decades however, Muslims have come to form the majority of the population. Against this backdrop, Nazareth began to prepare for the millennium year, including the formulation of the ‘Nazareth 2000’ plan for tourism development in the city. Unfortunately, the city's numerous complexities rapidly surfaced, with one of the most prominent examples being the bitter struggle around the city's newly planned main square. This paper examines tourism development for the city in conditions of such cultural conflict.     

‘English Vinglish’ and Bollywood: what is ‘new’ about the ‘new woman’?

Bollywood’s transnational mechanisms offer a unique space to study gendered subjectivity. My article studies a specific Bollywood movie, English Vinglish (2012) to draw out the profile of the ‘new woman.’ Persistently, I question the ‘new-ness’ to the construction of women when the ‘new’ reiterates the values of tradition, nation, and family. The ‘new’ seems to exist as a particular and unique transaction between local traditions and the global spread of populations that make limiting conceptions of woman, nation, or family, anomalies in a world propelled by expanding market needs and demands. The ‘new’ while offering possibilities for women, concomitantly carries different exclusions based on class, religion, language, and other identities. Understanding the formation of gender under contemporary conditions of transnationalism requires attentiveness to an insidious partnership of possibilities and exclusions that makes it simplistic to think in terms of progress or regress.     

Heritage and gastronomy: The pursuits of the ‘new tourist’

Abstract

The main thrust of this text is to acknowledge the relationship between gastronomy and heritage as a key motivator for travel. Gastronomy, as a central part of culture, and its influence on other aspects of culture has received scant recognition from the academic world generated by tourism. Gastronomy, heritage and tourism are old friends; the relationship between them is mutually parasitic. Gastronomy's role as a cultural force in developing and sustaining heritage tourism is addressed, as is its increasing role as a catalyst in enhancing the quality of the tourist experience. Today's consumers’ search for an individual lifestyle is changing tourism and the ‘new tourist’ is using the holiday for acquiring insight into other cultures. Recent research and current market trends are examined to reveal the increasing significance of gastronomy to holiday choice. It is argued that gastronomy brings culture and cultures together. Place and setting enhance the food experience and arguably vice‐versa. Heritage and gastronomy combined make for an excellent marriage of tourist resources. The text argues that this combination is both used and viewed by the tourist. As such the tourist becomes engaged in cultural heritage to a deeper level.     

New regionalism in Turkey: questioning the ‘new’ and the ‘regional’

Turkey’s regional policies are inspired by the new regionalism theory. During past two decades, key concepts of new regionalism, including knowledge economies, specialization, networked cities and innovation, have been incorporated in policy documents. At the same time, Turkey comes from a strong central state tradition that controls local and regional development. At first insight, new regionalism and strong central state control do not fit in the same frame. This research analyses the trajectory of regional policies in Turkey with the aim of explaining how these seemingly incompatible policies can coexist. It argues that regional policies developed at the central state level utilized new regionalism as a part of the strategy to maintain power in the course of transformation of the nation state.     

An economic analysis of a National Theatre: The case of the ‘Abbey’

Abstract: This article asks how a regional community is culturally constructed as a policy subject in the centre/periphery relation of Finnish cultural policy. The focus is on the options the cultural recognitions analysed from the cultural policy documents of central government and the provincial administration of North Karelia provide for different political interests. It is stated here that the democratisation of cultural policy can be open for and a vehicle of the interests the prevailing spatial dominance attempts to get within the population of peripheries. North Karelia has for centuries been a geographic and economic periphery without inner cultural distinctions. Yet it is regarded as a culturally rich and specific area. The analysis shows that the regional community has continuously been used as a partisan identity for maintaining and reinforcing the spatial integration of national projects. Public cultural image would provide a symbolic compensation for the economically underprivileged. Furthermore, the strong cultural identity of North Karelia has constantly been taken by the regional establishment as an instrument to fight the “opponents of common regional interests” in political conflicts. Thus the principles of democracy have not always meant the capability or attitude to notice cultural polyphony within the region abreast of cultural political decision-making.     

Transformation of regional innovation policies: from ‘traditional’ to ‘next generation’ models of incubation

This paper explores a widely employed instrument of regional innovation policy: the innovation incubator. It proposes that incubation approaches are moving away from a ‘traditional’ approach strongly premised on physical infrastructure and high-technology, to a more interactive, participatory and social mode of innovation, in line with broader developments in innovation policy and theory. To practically illustrate this shift, we take two cases: a ‘traditional’ style of incubation in Wales, UK, and a ‘next generation’ incubation programme in Finland. This paper reflects on incubators as a mode of regional innovation policy, both past developments and future trends, to ensure that new policies and programmes learn from best (and indeed, worst) practice and build on, rather than replicate, past approaches.     

Cultural fingerprints – the legacy of cultural values in the current cultural policy agenda in Germany

This paper explores the historical roots of cultural values as a prerequisite for German cultural policy. With reference to current investigations of the social impact of the arts, the analysis is based within the framework of the history of ideas and focuses on three concepts: the common base of culture, nation of culture and culture as a state aim. The author argues that the transformative positive powers of culture are linked in a complex system of historically grown intellectual alliances while directing current policy thinking. As a consequence the positive impact of culture in society is strengthened over time and remains unquestioned by actors in the cultural sector.     

‘Save our NHS’: activism,information-based expertise and the ‘new times’ of the 1980s

This article examines activism in defence of the National Health Service (NHS), which emerges in the 1960s to defend local hospitals from closure. From the mid-1980s, a new form of campaigning developed, which sought to protect the Service nationally. Tracing this campaigning illuminates, first, that small groups played a significant role in negotiating political change, and in contributing to cultural change which, in turn, has become politically powerful. Second, this demonstrates that the 1980s were ‘new times’ in welfare politics, as Thatcher’s changes fostered voluntary interest in information-led expertise, and a new vision of the NHS as a significant, much valued, national institution.     

Danish and Swedish immigrants’ cultural policies between 1960 and 2006: toleration and the celebration of difference

In the late 1960s, as non-Nordic immigrants became an important component of their immigration flows, despite their similar policy backgrounds Sweden opted for multiculturalism, while Denmark did not. Their policies diverged even further from the so-called migration crisis of the 1990s. This article compares and analyses Sweden and Denmark’s respective policies between 1960 and 2006, arguing that their policies effectively diverged in the late 1960s; Danish assimilation is constituted of the toleration or acceptance, albeit disapproving, of immigrants’ cultures. Swedish multiculturalism, by way of contrast, celebrates difference, holding that immigrants’ cultures are necessary for their well-being and that ethnocultural diversity enriches the national culture. However, both policies deemed some aspects of immigrants’ cultures unacceptable, in that they were looked upon as illiberal or repugnant. This study also contends that, alongside citizenship and national identity studies, Ministries of Culture’s policies are a relevant field of enquiry into states’ policies on immigrants’ cultures.     

Changing philosophies of action? Argentine’s cultural policies in the 21st century

ABSTRACT

How can the many institutional and ideological changes of Argentine cultural policy at the beginning of the 21st century be explained? This paper analyses how representations of culture, programs and public actions are translated into different ‘philosophies of action’ depending on the political stripe of each government and the agents of cultural policy. If the predominant philosophy of action during the whole period is ‘culture as an economic resource’, it coexists with other philosophies: ‘culture as show’, ‘a communication tool’, ‘social inclusion’ and finally ‘a factor of citizenship’.     

The strange geographies of the ‘new’ state capitalism

The recent polymorphism of state intervention and attendant political geographies have been interpreted as a return of state capitalism. While commentators across the social sciences have offered competing characterizations of the new state capitalism, little attention has been dedicated to how narratives and geographical imaginaries of the new state capitalism operate as a form of geopolitical knowledge and practice. Drawing upon critical geopolitics, we make three main arguments. First, we examine the context of wider geopolitical and geo-economic shifts in which the social construction of the geo-category has happened. We contend that the emerging new spatiality of the global economy has prompted the need for new discursive frames and geopolitical lines of reasoning. Second, we argue that this need is fulfilled by the geo-category state capitalism, which acts as a powerful tool in categorizing and hierarchizing the spaces of world politics. It does so by reinstituting a simple narrative of competition between two easily identifiable protagonists – (Western) democratic free-market capitalism and its deviant ‘other’, (Eastern) authoritarian state capitalism – and by reactivating older geopolitical grand narratives. Third, the geo-category state capitalism discursively enables Western business and state actors to justify tougher policy stances in three areas: foreign policy; trade, technology, and investment regulation; and international development.     

Rome's ‘legal’ camps for Roma: the construction of new spaces of informality

This article examines the ways in which Italian legislation and local policy in Rome since 2007 have aimed at containing and controlling the Roma population, but have resulted instead in the Italian state's own violations of national and international human rights standards. Roma have been relocated to isolated mega-camps subjected to regulations, surveillance and ‘workfare’, which, rather than reducing crime and increasing formal employment, leave residents few alternatives to illegal or semi-legal income generation. These camps also appear to generate ambiguous relationships between local officials, police officers and powerful individuals within the communities. They are thus loci in which various dimensions of illegality and power intersect and merge. The analysis explores the grey areas created by contradictory and hyper-bureaucratic regulations and attempts to shed light on the strategies of survival through informality that emerge within the interstices of the law.     

Two visions of Indigenous economic development and cultural survival: The ‘real economy’ and the ‘hybrid economy’

Noel Pearson and Jon Altman are two of the central intellectual figures in the contemporary debate on how to address the poverty and disadvantage of Indigenous Australians living in remote regions. This article compares their visions for Indigenous economic development. Pearson advocates greater integration of Indigenous people into what he calls the ‘real economy’, but Altman has produced an alternative approach to Indigenous development – the ‘hybrid economy’ approach – which he suggests is more in keeping with the aspirations of many Aboriginal people to maintain a degree of autonomy from non-Indigenous Australians and to continue living close to ancestral lands. This article argues that both men should be understood as advocates for Indigenous self-determination, but different ways of conceptualising Indigenous autonomy and cultural survival has led them to contrasting policy positions.

在如何解决边远地区澳大利亚原住民的贫困及弱势问题的当代辩论中,诺埃尔·皮尔森和章·沃特曼是两位核心思想者。本文比较了这两个人对于原住民经济发展的愿景。皮尔森主张原住民更多地融入他所谓的实际经济,而沃特曼的思路却不一样,他是一种杂糅思路,认为应该依从许多原住民的愿望,在一定程度上独立于澳大利亚非原住民,继续生活在祖先的土地上。本文认为,两人都是原住民自觉的提倡者,只是他们思考原住民的自治及文化生存的思路有所不同,从而导致了矛盾的政策立场。