What are the concerns? Looking back on 15 years of research in cultural and creative industries

This paper surveys the research literature on cultural and creative industries (CCI). Academic discussions on CCI have grown extensively after the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) identified 13 sectors as constituting creative industries in the UK in 1998. The public has also become gradually convinced of the significance of CCI as being important for economic growth. We adopt a systematic and quantitative method to review the academic CCI literature. After collecting data, we first investigate the research fields under which the journals that publish CCI papers are categorized, finding that Business, Economics and Geography are the top three research fields. A second examination on the authors’ nationality indicates that their cultural background induces a different emphasis on their research field. We lastly apply the multiple main paths analysis to uncover the development trajectories of CCI research, with the result showing that the research agenda has changed along with a better understanding of the essential elements of CCI. Based on the literature on the main path, we observe the top five discussed themes: information technology, global cooperation, micro and fragmentary creative activities, remote places, and country/regional characteristics. Monitoring the discussions on these themes may help CCI researchers, creative workers, and policy makers to assess future directions for economic development.     

Objects and interactivity: A conflict or a collaboration?

The rapid growth in the number of hands‐on centres has led to fears of museums being taken over by interactive exhibits. These are expensive to develop and maintain, causing a problem for traditional museums faced with ever‐expanding collections and diminishing resources. This article considers whether objects and interactive exhibits are inevitably in conflict or whether they can coexist in harmony. The implications for future developments at the Science Museum in London are considered in detail.

The authors conclude that, far from conflicting with traditional museum functions, interactive exhibits and new technologies will help to ensure that museums are able to compete in an increasingly complex marketplace. Their vision of the interactive gallery of the future incorporates exhibits which enhance understanding of artefacts. In short, the objective will be to ensure that visitors interacting with ‘hands‐on’ exhibits will take away ‘minds‐on’ understanding of the museum as a whole.     

The future of the Arctic: cauldron of conflict or zone of peace?

The forces of climate change and globalization are transforming the Arctic, tightening the links between this seemingly remote region and the world at large with regard to matters of environmental protection, sustainable development, and the pursuit of peace. This has triggered an explosion of both popular and scholarly interest in the far north. Much of the resultant literature is marked by persistent expectations that the Arctic will become the scene of escalating jurisdictional conflicts, resource wars, a new great game and even armed clashes during the coming years. Yet as the books considered in this review article make clear, these expectations are greatly exaggerated; there is much to be said for the proposition that armed conflict is less likely to occur in the Arctic than in most other parts of the world anytime soon. What is needed is an alternative paradigm to provide a basis for understanding the significance of the profound changes now eroding the old order in the Arctic and establishing a basis for framing innovative governance arrangements capable of ensuring the future of the Arctic as a zone of peace.     

The ‘creative township’ in the post-apartheid: globalisation,nation building or gentrification?

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the ambiguities of post-Apartheid public cultural policies in South Africa by focusing on the case of the Red Location Museum and Cultural precinct (RLMCP), a multisectoral project for socio-economic development, based on tourism, art, culture, heritagisation and urban regeneration, implemented in Red Location, one of the oldest townships of Port Elizabeth. In the post-Apartheid period, cultural policies have been employed as catch-all policies that could lead to urban renewal, desegregation and development. The case of the RLMCP drives home how efforts to use art and culture as leverages to transform townships into the core of the creative city and into the prototype of a new form of neighbourhood led to exclusionary representations and patterns; moreover, it is an example of how cultural policies enforce gentrification dynamics at the local level, in the name of restructuring urban governance and rescaling the city to the global dimension.     

Creativity in the ‘Torrid’ zone: policy,creative industries and the vision for Northern Australia

Creative industries are recognised as a key driver of economic growth in both developed and developing nations. In addition to recognising the importance of creative industries, the Australian government has recently renewed a focus on the vast northern tropical area of this island nation as key to future economic and population growth, via the release of a white paper focussed on development options for the north. However, the white paper contains virtually no references to creative industries. In addition, Australia’s most recent national cultural policy, Creative Australia, has after only a few years slipped into obscurity and despite major resources being invested towards its development. Drawing on the almost 100 years of policy documentation relevant to Northern Australia, this paper highlights the limited attention paid to arts, culture and creative industries, and considers this relative policy vacuum in the context of global developments in creative industries.     

Australia and the European Union: conflict,competition or engagement in agricultural and agri-food trade?

Many scholars have mounted convincing cases that the engagement of Australia and the European Union (EU) has been characterised by skirmishes regarding the Common Agricultural Policy and its distortion of world markets, and lack of Australian access to EU markets. This article illustrates that agricultural and agri-food trade constitutes a relatively small portion of Australia–EU trade flows; that Australia exports more goods to the EU than in the past; and that, in some agri-food sectors, it exports more goods to the EU than the EU does to Australia. Further, it argues that conflict and competition regarding the Common Agricultural Policy need to be understood in the broader context of world trade and in the context of a new and deeper engagement between the two interlocutors.     

The evolution of the terminology of the basal ganglia, or are they nuclei?

Basal ganglia have been generally used to refer to some subcortical nuclei. However, it is a misnomer since ganglion is a group of nerve cells especially located outside of the brain or spinal cord. We evaluated the terminology of the basal ganglia from historical and terminological points of view.     

The Evolution of the Terminology of the Basal Ganglia,or are they Nuclei?

Basal ganglia have been generally used to refer to some subcortical nuclei. However, it is a misnomer since ganglion is a group of nerve cells especially located outside of the brain or spinal cord. We evaluated the terminology of the basal ganglia from historical and terminological points of view.     

The dynamics of global visual effects and games development industries: lessons for Australia’s creative industries development policy

The paper critiques the focus of creative industries policy on capability development of small and medium sized firms and the provision of regional incentives. It analyses factors affecting the competitiveness and sustainability of the games development industry and visual effects suppliers to feature films. Interviews with participants in these industries highlight the need for policy instruments to take into consideration the structure and organization of global markets and the power of lead multinational corporations. We show that although forms of economic governance in these industries may allow sustainable value capture, they are interrupted by bottlenecks in which ferocious competition among suppliers is confronted by comparatively little competition among the lead firms. We argue that current approaches to creative industries policy aimed at building self-sustaining creative industries are unlikely to be sufficient because of the globalized nature of the industries. Rather, we argue that a more profitable approach is likely to require supporting diversification of the industries as ‘feeders’ into other areas of the economy.     

China and the United States in Africa: Coming conflict or commercial coexistence?

China and the US are two key players in the recent round of ‘scrambling’ for Africa. They compete for control over oil and other strategic resources, for markets, and for political influence. Their competition has alarmed many. This study tests the alarmist interpretations by identifying what the US and China are actually doing and to how they perceive each other's activities. Their ambitions are often considered in isolation. When laid out side by side, the extent to which their activities in Africa may overlap or clash can be seen more clearly. China and the US are seeking different things at different places in the continent and are careful not to upset one another. Their activities do not support the dire prediction. The ‘scramble for Africa’ may irritate; it is unlikely to cause direct confrontations because competition remains by and large economic and economic competition in an integrated global economy creates networks of constraints that ameliorate potential confrontation.     

The study of a region: An exercise in taste,temperament, and training?

Brenda E. F. Beck. Peasant Society in Koñku: A Study of Right and Left Subcastes in South India. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1972. xix + 354 pp. Diagrams, tables, appendixes, glossary, bibliography, and index. $16.50.     

Troubled water? Acquiescence,conflict, and the politics of place in watershed management

Controversy surrounds proposed revisions in access and recreation policy at central Massachusetts' Wachusett Reservoir, a crucial source of drinking water for metropolitan Boston. This policy conflict illuminates a broader tension between rural and exurban resource-supply areas and metropolitan areas that are committed to resource extraction and urban growth. Boston dominates the reservoir region and extracts its resources, while less powerful local residents disagree with and sometimes protest against policies detrimental or perceived to be detrimental to their interests. Despite this tension, data gathered from surveys at the reservoir, supplementary interviews, archival research, and attendance at public meetings reveal that many potential sites of acrimony are characterized by positive attempts to reclaim place rather than direct opposition to outside domination. Findings suggest that residents in the reservoir region have attached their own values to the reservoir, including both rational valuation of specific non-drinking-water benefits and non-instrumental valuation of the reservoir as an integral part of residents' lifeworlds. Although tensions persist between Boston and the Wachusett region, area residents' complex valuation of the reservoir as a space of utility and a place of everyday life suggests opportunities for consensual resource coalitions and initiatives.     

Transformation,job creation and subsidies to creative industries: the case of South Africa’s film and television sector

Many governments have tried to stimulate economic growth via policy in the creative industries. South Africa is no different but additionally has an overarching aim of achieving social and labour market ‘transformation’ to move away from the legacy of the apartheid era. The effectiveness of incentives provided to the film and television sector in South Africa are considered in terms of their stated objectives of job creation, skills and knowledge transfer, and the attraction of foreign direct investment. Informed by empirical analysis of incentive scheme data and supplemented by elite interviews with key informants, some specific policy revisions are proposed.     

Plantation and village in coastal Guyana, 1887–1969: conflict or complementarity?

This study of livelihood patterns in a single rice village of coastal Guyana from 1887 to the present stresses economic and ecological linkages between the village and nearby sugar cane plantations. In the village of Bush Lot, typically populated by descendants of indentured plantation labourers from India, problems of maintaining drainage and irrigation canals have been compounded by a lack of village labour coordination. Varying yields from the community's ricefields have been affected by recurring drought and flood, so the villagers have never been full-time subsistence farmers. Rather, they have worked seasonally on the nearby plantations to supplement village farming activities. This part-time estate work has tended to inhibit social and political solidarity within Bush Lot. The plantations have coped better with water control than have villages. Nevertheless, the cane estates have depended upon nearby villages for seasonal labour. Although agricultural technology and scale of production have changed dramatically during the psst century, plantations and villages of the Guyanese coastal plain remain closely interlinked.     

The economic factor in the Sino-Vietnamese split, 1972–75: An analysis of Vietnamese archival sources

Relying on so far untapped Vietnamese archival sources, this article examines the impact of China's gradual curtailment of its economic assistance to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's (DRV) war and economic recovery efforts and its implications for Sino-Vietnamese relations between 1972 and 1975. While Beijing's gradual reduction of aid to the DRV during this period was primarily motivated by the declining importance of North Vietnam to China's strategic security combined with the reality of China's domestic economic hardship which largely resulted from the disastrous Cultural Revolution of 1966–69, Hanoi's reactions and policy responses were driven by their deep-rooted perception of Beijing's insincerity and hidden intention to keep Vietnam weak. The Sino-Vietnamese conflict that ensued after 1975 was not inevitable; Hanoi's leaders launched concerted diplomatic efforts to improve economic relations with Beijing throughout 1975 because they clearly recognised the importance of China's continued economic assistance and preferential trade agreements to its first five year plan (1976–80). However, Beijing's unchanged position and hasty decision to totally cut off aid to Vietnam and additionally take punitive economic measures against Vietnam's first five-year plan in late 1975 while at the same time increasing economic and military aid to the Democratic Kampuchea compelled Hanoi to tilt closer towards Moscow.     

‘Shit is hard,yo’: young people making a living in the creative industries

ABSTRACT

Contemporary social science research on the creative industries demonstrates inequities in accessing good work in this field. Nonetheless, youth still increasingly are seeking to create careers in these fields. However, economic indicators that register growing employment in the creative industries may not fully register the participation of youth. The Young People Making a Living in the Creative Industries research project sought to document the multiple income streams that youth draw on while attempting to make a living in creative fields, mapping the areas of challenge and success in the entry years to creative work. Respondents in the research project articulated an informed knowingness and resistance to the norms of unpaid work in the creative industries and forwarded gender and race as structural categories that impact the experience of entry-level creative work. Respondents also articulated forming communities of care to respond to these challenges, including collectives, support groups, and other forms of networks, while highlighting the challenge of balancing community-based and economic motivations for creative industries work. The study highlights the role of community youth arts programmes on creative industries career incubation for youth, and the need to hear from youth themselves to better map youth participation in the creative industries.     

Masculinities and diet: An analysis of skeletal material from the dominican priory in Medieval Västerås,Sweden

Diet and consumption patterns are closely associated with social constructions, and can be used to express identity. In medieval Northern Europe, the consumption of meat seems to have been linked to strength and virility, which are important to the creation of elite lay masculinity. At the same time, religious masculinity required fasting due to the Christian Church’s prescribed abstinence from the meat of four-footed animals during fasting periods. Medieval masculinities expressed by diet will be discussed here in the light of the results of an analysis of stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur in samples gathered from 16 males and six females buried by the Dominican priory in Västerås, Sweden. The results indicate that a diet rich in freshwater fish was generally followed, with no significant differences depending on age, gender, socioeconomic or religious status.     

'Left,Right or European? Labour and Europe in the 1940s: The case of the Socialist Vanguard Group'

During the 1940s the concept of a third force of nations led by Britain was a common idea within the ranks of the Labour Party, championed by amongst others Keep Left. However, with the emergence of the Cold War such ideas quickly became subsumed within military alliances (NATO). One organisation which supported the third force was the (relatively unresearched) Anglo-German ethical grouping: the Socialist Vanguard Group (SVG). This paper examines the SVG's evolving 'European' theoretical perspective in this period, whilst re-examining the 'usual' left-right categorisation of bodies operating within Labour's milieu.