Platforms,Markets, and Contingent Calculation: The Flexible Arrangement of the Delivered Meal

UK online food delivery company Deliveroo has a platform that automates the coordination of meal delivery, creating a market for the delivered meal. This market indicates the necessity to examine the social arrangements produced through the platform beyond the labour of the delivery worker. Markets comprise heterogeneous actors that require their coordination to be calculated. Deliveroo, though, offers two competing views of markets. First, as interfaces in which supply and demand are represented as autonomous blocs that are articulated through the goods of the delivered meal whose constitution, including the labour of delivery, is black-boxed. Second, as agencement—formatting collective arrangements—in which the goods of the delivered meal are contingently calculated as a flexible arrangement of riders, restaurants and customers whereby these actors have differing degrees of choice concerning their participation, and through which new service performances are emerging in the necessity for their contingent interaction.     

Desiring Sameness? The Rise of a Neoliberal Politics of Normalisation

Since the 1990s the dominant political discourse of social movements concerned with "sexual politics" has been that of seeking access into mainstream culture through demanding equal rights of citizenship. I focus on the changing politics of sexuality in the context of new forms of social governance associated with neoliberalism, central to which is professionalisation and particular forms of knowledge production. Changes in political organising, coupled with the growth in identity‐based consumption and the greater visibility of lesbians and gay men as consumer citizens, have provided a variety of opportunities for new professional careers. I discuss these developments and suggest that a key aspect of this increase in professionalisation is the construction of the gay and lesbian subject as part of a national and, in some instances, an international constituency. Finally, I consider how, in recent years, new forms of professionalisation of knowledge production about lesbians and gay men have emerged, not only in terms of political and market interests, but also in the academy.     

Migration and Death Ceremonies On St. Kitts and Nevis

Since British slave emancipation in 1838, Afro-Caribbean men and women of St. Kitts and Nevis in the Leeward Caribbean have emigrated and returned in order to sustain their local societies. Economic uncertainty and social oppression both at home and abroad have inspired Kittitians and Nevisians to develop mobile livelihood strategies in order to tap ever-changing sources of employment. Labor migrants from the two islands have therefore often resisted permanent commitments in any one direction except for occasionally returning home. These periodic returns are important to the local community because the migrants usually bring back money and gifts to kinsmen and friends. A related obligation, especially in recent years, has been for migrants to return to family funerals. Funeral attendance confers economic advantages on both permanent residents of St. Kitts and Nevis and the migrant workers abroad. The money and gifts brought back by returning migrants help sustain the local community. The returning migrants themselves are also assured a warm welcome in case they are forced to return in the future by changing conditions abroad, a not unlikely possibility. Local mortuary practices on St. Kitts and Nevis are therefore not simply symbolic displays but also important economic events.     

Book reviews

Paul Dibb (ed.), Australia's External Relations in the 1980s: The Interaction of Economic, Political and Strategic Factors. Croom Helm Australia, Canberra, 1983, pp. 227. $19.95.

Grant Wardlaw, Political Terrorism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982, pp. xiii + 218. $14.95.

B. E. O'Neill, W. R, Heaton and D. J. Alberts (eds), Insurgency in the Modern World. Westview Press, Boulder Co., 1980, pp. xii + 291. $US39.00

Michael Chisholm, Modern World Development. Hutchinson World Library, London, 1982, pp. 216. $17.95.

David E. Kaiser, Economic Diplomacy and the Origins of the Second World War: Germany, Britain, France, and Eastern Europe, 1930–1939. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1980, pp. xvi + 346. $US33.00 (cloth); $US16.50 (paper).

Walter Laqueur, Europe Since Hitter: The Rebirth of Europe. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, England, 1982, pp. 607. $9.95.

Michael Newman, Socialism and European Unity: The Dilemma of the Left in Britain and France. Junction Books, London, 1983, pp. 292. $14.95.

Mervyn Matthews, Education in the Soviet Union. Policies and Institutions since Stalin. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1982, pp. xiv + 225. $15.95.

H. F. & W. F. Scott, The Soviet Control Structure: Capabilities for Wartime Survival. Crane Russak, New York, 1983, pp. x + 146. No price given.

David Wilson, The Demand for Energy in the Soviet Union. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1983, pp. 130. $37.95.

John L. Esposito (ed.), Voices of Resurgent Islam. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1983, pp. vii + 294. $20.00

John W.. Longworth, Beef in Japan: Politics, Production, Marketing and Trade. University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1983, pp xxvii + 327. $25.00.

John K. Fairbank, Edwin O. Reischauer and Albert M. Craig, East Asia: Tradition and Transformation. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, new impression 1983, pp. xvi + 982. $45.95

Keith Hancock, Yoko Sano, Bruce Chapman and Pamela Fayle (eds), Japanese and Australian labour markets: A comparative study. Australia‐Japan Research Centre, Canberra and Tokyo, 1983, pp. xx+ 610. No price given.

Lesleyanne Hawthorne (ed.), Refugee: The Vietnamese Experience. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1982, pp. xvi + 330. $29.00 (cloth); $ 14.99 (paper).

Stuart Harris and Brian Bridges, European Interests in ASEAN. Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chathan House Papers No. 19, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983, pp. 89. £4.95.

H. W. Arndt, The Indonesian Economy: Collected Papers, Chopmen Publishers, Singapore, 1984, pp. viii + 279. $S.56.00 (cloth); $S.36.00 (paper).

Y. Sugimoto and R. E. Mouer, Japanese Society: Stereotypes and Realities (pp. 41, 1982); F. Freiberg, Women in Mizoguchi Films (pp. 39, 1981); D. F. Henderson, Joint Ventures and Investments in Japan (pp. 23, 1981); Y. Sugimoto, H. Shimada & S. B. Levine, Industrial Relations in Japan (pp. 58, 1982); S. Tsurumi, Japanese Conceptions of Asia (pp. 20, 1982); Vera Mackie, Japanese Children and Politeness (pp. 42, 1982); J. A. A. Stockwin, The Rights and Lefts of Japanese Politics (pp. 13, 1984); P. Sheard, Auto Production Systems in Japan (pp. 80, 1983); T. Matsuzawa, Japanese Fascism and the Tenno Imperial State (pp. 17, 1984); R. Hidaka, Democracy and the ‘Control State’ in Japan (pp. 38, 1984); J. V. Neustupny, Communicating with the Japanese (pp. 18, 1984).

All published by the Japanese Studies Centre, Clayton, Victoria. Price $3.00 except that by Sheard which is $8.00.

David Goldsworthy, Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted to Forget. Heinemann Educational Books, Nairobi, 1982, pp. xii + 308. No price given.

Jock McCulloch, Black Soul White Artifact. Fanon's Clinical Psychology and Social Theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983, pp. xi + 249. $56.00.

Jay R. Mandle, Patterns of Caribbean Development: An Interpretive Essay on Economic Change. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, New York, 1982, pp. xi + 156. $35.80

A. L. Weeks and W. C. Bodie (eds), War and Peace: Soviet Russia Speaks (with an essay by F. R. Barnett). National Strategy Information Centre, Inc., New York, 1983, pp. 51. $1.95.

J. E. Larson and W. C. Bodie, The Intelligent Layperson's Guide to the Nuclear Freeze and Peace Debate. National Strategy Information Centre, Inc., New York, 1983, pp. 65. $2.95.

Laurio H. Destefani, Malvinas, Georgia y Sandwich del Sur, ante el Conflicto con Gran Bretana. Edipress S.A., Buenos Aires, 1982, pp. 144. No price given.

Myriam Dornoy, Politics in New Caledonia. Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1984, pp. xvi + 302. $42.50.

L. W. Johnson, Colonial Sunset. Australia and Papua New Guinea 1970–74. University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1983, pp. 271. $24.95.

James Sinclair, Uniting a Nation: The Postal and Telecommunication Services of Papua New Guinea. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1984, pp. 287. $20.00.

K. Buckley and K. Klugman, ‘The Australian Presence in the Pacific’. Burns Philp 1914–1946. George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1983, pp. 392. $19.95.

M. Meleisea et al., Politics in Polynesia. Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific, Suva, 1983, pp. 262. $F8.00.

R. Teiwaki et al., Politics in Micronesia. Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific, Suva, 1983, pp. 168. $F8.00.

P. Larmour with S. Tarua (eds), Solomon Islands Politics. Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific, Suva, 1983, pp. 305. $F11.00 (cloth); $F8.00 (paper).     

Geopolitical cultures,pragmatic patriotism,and Russia’s disputed islands

This paper draws on the notion of “geopolitical culture” as a conceptual tool for understanding debates over the formulation of foreign policy in contemporary Russia. To draw out the value of this concept, the paper explores the symbolism of territory as a means for restoring Russia’s status, respect, and power. However, in contrast to previous studies, it traces the ways in which a concession of territory has been promoted as a device for achieving Russia’s great power ambitions. More broadly, the paper seeks to stimulate a wider debate on reconceptualizing the relationship between territory and identity in Russia, at the same time as it places Russia’s Far Eastern borderlands at the heart of debates on the spatial imaginaries of the Russian homeland. By drawing on and advancing recent theoretical innovations in critical geopolitics, and recognizing the significance of the discourse of nationalism within these framings, the paper explores the nuanced and multiple story lines that constitute Russia’s geopolitical culture. Through this approach, intriguing and complex plot lines and unexpected twists are revealed, which have at times been obscured by nationalist-territorial-revanchist narratives on Putin’s Russia. It is suggested that such approaches can also provide insights for interpreting cases and contexts beyond Russia and Eurasia.     

Freedom and migration in the Leeward Caribbean, 1838–1848

At emancipation in the British Caribbean in 1838, newly freed blacks in larger territories established “reconstituted peasantries” on non-plantation lands. Similar village adaptations were impossible on some smaller islands where planters continued to control all of the islands' lands. In St Kitts and Nevis landless freemen emigrated to Trinidad by the hundreds to establish individual independence and to support kinsmen and friends left behind. Within a decade most migrants from St Kitts and Nevis had returned. They had thus carved out a “migration adaptation” in response to planter oppression at home and livelihood opportunity elsewhere by expanding individual livelihood spaces across the Caribbean Sea. They thereby began to establish extra-island networks of potential labour destinations while at the same time resisting permanent commitments in any one direction except for periodically returning home. Migration and return has persisted as a widespread livelihood strategy among individuals of small Caribbean islands who continue to face economic and ecological uncertainties, conditions similar to those on St Kitts and Nevis at emancipation. Individual adaptability, not group behaviour, has always been important in migration and return in the Lesser Antilles.