Knowing scale: intelle©tual property rights,knowledge spaces and the production of the global

In this article, I am concerned with the importance of knowledge spaces to the construction and politics of scale. I draw together literatures on re-scaling with feminist critiques of knowledge to show how struggles over the scale at which knowledge claims are represented and legitimized are an important, and under-recognized, element of rescaling. I draw from Neil Smith's (1984) concept of scale-jumping to see the construction of the global space of knowledge as a scale-jump in which one particular situated knowledge, Western folk belief, is redefined as global and universal. What distinguishes it from other forms of local/anecdotal/unrecognizable knowledges is its relation to power and its capacity to achieve a scale-jump in which it is defined as global knowledge. I contrast the social, economic and power relations associated with knowledge in the village of Puno in the Philippines with those of technoscientific knowledge, as manifested by regimes of intellectual property, to show that knowledges are not a natural way of understanding a separate, pre-existing world but inform how that world is experienced. I build upon David Turnbull's (1997) concept of knowledge spaces to reveal all knowledges as not only arising from a particular context but also as creating that context.

Connaître l'échelle: les droits relatifs à la propriété intellectuelle, les espaces de savoir et la production du mondial

Dans cet article, je me penche sur l'importance des espaces de savoir dans la construction et les politiques d'échelle. Je marrie les corpus sur les transformations d'échelle et les critiques féministes du savoir pour montrer comment les débats qui entourent l'échelle à partir de laquelle les prétentions au savoir sont représentées et admises comme légitimes sont une dimension importante et peu connue des transformations d'échelle. Le concept de saut d'échelle proposé par Neil Smith (1984 Smith, N. 1984. Uneven Development, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.  [Google Scholar]) me sert de point d'appui pour mieux situer la construction d'un espace mondial du savoir en tant que saut d'échelle par lequel un savoir contextualisé, en l'occurrence les croyances folkloriques occidentales, est redéfini en fonction du mondial et de l'universel. Ce savoir se démarque des autres formes de connaissances locales/anecdotiques/indiscernables par son rapport au pouvoir et par sa capacité d'opérer un saut d'échelle vers un savoir mondial. Je compare les relations sociales, économiques et de pouvoir liées au savoir dans le village de Puno aux Philippines avec celles qui relèvent du savoir technoscientifique, telle qu'elles se manifestent dans des régimes de propriété intellectuelle, pour montrer que ces connaissances ne sont pas un moyen naturel de comprendre un monde distinct et préexistant, mais représentent plutôt une source d'informations sur la manière dont le monde est connu. Je prolonge le concept des espaces de savoir de David Turnbull (1997 Turnbull, D. 1997. Reframing science and other local knowledge traditions. Futures, 29: 551–563. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) afin de démontrer que toutes les connaissances proviennent non seulement d'un contexte en particulier, mais qu'elles peuvent également créer ce contexte.

Sabiendo escala: derechos de propiedad intelectual, espacios de conocimiento y la producción de lo mundial

En este artículo trato la importancia de espacios de conocimiento con relación a la construcción y la política de escala. He unido literatura sobre el reescalar con críticas feministas sobre conocimiento para ilustrar como la lucha sobre la escala a que se representa y legitima los conocimientos es un elemento del reescalar importante y poco reconocido. Hago uso del concepto de Neil Smith (1984 Smith, N. 1984. Uneven Development, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.  [Google Scholar]) de saltar escalas para ver la construcción del espacio mundial de conocimiento como un salto de escala en que un conocimiento particular, la creencia folklórica occidental, se redefine como mundial y universal. Lo que le diferencia de otras formas de conocimiento locales/anecdóticas/irreconocibles es su relación al poder y su capacidad de saltar de una escala para otra, así redefiniéndose como conocimiento mundial. Comparo las relaciones sociales y económicas y relaciones de poder asociadas con conocimiento en el pueblo de Puno en las Filipinas con las relaciones de conocimiento tecnocientíficas, tal como son manifestados por regimenes de propiedad intelectual para ilustrar que los conocimientos no representan una manera natural de entender un mundo separado que ya existía, sino que informan la manera en que se experimenta ese mundo. Amplio el concepto de espacios de conocimiento de David Turnbull (1997 Turnbull, D. 1997. Reframing science and other local knowledge traditions. Futures, 29: 551–563. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) para revelar que todos los conocimientos no sólo surgen de un contexto paricular, sino que también crean ese contexto.     

The perfect worker: discursive makings of Filipinos in the workplace hierarchy of the globalized cruise industry

Filipinos are by far the largest nationality represented on cruise ships despite the fact that cruise lines can hire from wherever they choose. The reasons for this phenomenon lie in a mélange of political, economic, and cultural factors, yet when polled, industry insiders repeatedly cite well-worn Filipino stereotypes as the primary cause. This reflects a system in which discourses surrounding workers become fixed in ways that ideologically frame Filipinos as docile and compliant yet industrious and inexpensive. Filipinos are thus constructed as readymade workers for subordinate positions rather than for roles as leaders on the ship. This case shows the subtle ways that labor becomes stratified along ethnic lines and how discourses become the fault lines that define and reproduce the great inequalities between different groups of workers. The task of this article is to understand the ways that discourses relate to the workplace positioning of Filipino seafarers and reinforce a reading of ‘Filipino-ness’ that marks them as the perfect sort of worker for the cruise lines. It is further suggested that such framings are subject to revision via worker agency and changing socioeconomic labor market conditions.     

The gender dimension of the agrarian transition: women,men and livelihood diversification in two peri-urban farming communities in the Philippines

Based on parallel field research conducted in two peri-urban villages in the cities of Naga and Valencia, the Philippines, this article deploys gender analysis to understand livelihood diversification in the context of agrarian change. In analyzing the role of state organizations and NGOs in (re)producing gender differences, hierarchies, roles and identities within agrarian settings, it brings poststructuralist and postcolonial theory into conversation with political economy to explore how gender is at stake in daily livelihood struggles. Specifically, attention is drawn to how structural constraints and institutional discourses still render livelihood diversification a gendered project, and how state and other development organizations are continuing to perpetuate gender inequalities and reinscribe normative gender discourses, particularly around masculinities and women's reproductive roles, in agrarian communities.     

森林史研究:以菲律宾森林滥伐史研究为重点

本文主要介绍国际森林史研究的发展历程和解释菲律宾森林滥伐史的主要观点。就国际森林史研究来看, 经历了一个从重点研究温带森林史向热带森林史转变的过程。就菲律宾森林滥伐史研究来看, 提出了诸如人口增长压力说、木材生产和贸易说、林业政策鼓励说、行政不力和政治腐败说等重要解释框架。森林史研究需要超越从单因素出发进行解释的现状, 需要向综合研究转变。国别和专题的森林史研究需要从全球森林史和环境史的整体视野来关注。     

International Accompaniment and Witnessing State Violence in the Philippines

Abstract: This paper is an examination of a fact‐finding mission by Canadian grassroots organizations to the Philippines in November 2006, focused on investigating the large number of extra‐judicial killings that have occurred since 2001. The mission accompanied KARAPATAN, a Philippines‐based human rights organization, with hopes that their international status would allow KARAPATAN access to militarized regions otherwise inaccessible to them, and that the international attention brought by Canadians would protect them from military violence. The paper tackles the ethics, politics and potentials of such international human rights solidarity, and both explores and unsettles conventional concerns about the power dynamics of international solidarity by considering the complexity of the positionings of the Canadian observers. These positionings both reproduce and disrupt static stable geographies of the global North/South. In Central Luzon, for instance, the politics and ethics of their status as outsiders was a persistent issue. In Southern Tagalog, however, the Canadian observers could not quite keep their distance, found that they were not as firmly located in their Canadian identities as they might have supposed, and not only observed but experienced the theatrics of state violence.     

Contested spaces of illiberal and authoritarian politics: Human rights and democracy in crisis

The global moral appeal of human rights and democratic governance appears to be in severe crisis. In both the Global North and the South, many countries have witnessed the rise of racist, sexist, and illiberal politicians into the highest positions in the government. As one of Asia's oldest electoral democracies, the Philippines is not an exception in this global pattern of decline in civil liberties and democratic governance. Considering the case of the Philippines, this article addresses the following core question: How and under which conditions do contestations as well as legitimations of the Duterte regime emerge across domestic and transnational spaces? This article examines the transnational and domestic contestations and legitimations of the Duterte regime based on a spatially-oriented analysis of the official results of the 2016 and 2019 elections, while demonstrating the multispatial contestations against and in support of global human rights and liberal democratic norms. While the role of geography and spatialization in the formation of illiberal and authoritarian politics remains underappreciated, this article contributes to the disciplinary fields of political geography, comparative politics, and International Relations. Specifically, the article deploys a spatial approach in understanding the territorially-contingent patterns of contestations and legitimations of liberal democratic politics.     

The mealtimes that bind? Filipina au pairs in Danish families

Since 2000, more than 17,000 young Filipinas have received temporary residence in Denmark as au pairs. Officially, au pair placement is a cultural exchange program; however, it is also a domestic work arrangement where au pairs conduct domestic labor in return for food, lodging and allowance. The au pair is expected to live as part of a host family, who in turn should offer a protective space for the young foreigner. Nevertheless, au pairs and hosts often find this challenging. Focusing on mealtimes, this article examines how culturally diverse practices of family relations influence au pairs' participation in their host families. The study employs anthropological perspectives on kinship to explore the forms of closeness and distance that govern au pair–host relations, leading to a discussion about how au pairs and hosts approach themes such as hierarchy, independence and family inclusion in different ways. This adds to the ambiguous positions au pairs are offered as they are to involve themselves in gendered tasks that ‘makes the family’, while they also are expected to liberate themselves from the host family sociality. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among au pairs and hosts in Denmark, as well as with the au pairs' families in the Philippines, the article suggests that studies of migrant domestic workers should embrace family practices in the receiving as well as the sending society when attempting to merge the themes of family and work relations.     

Is the Philippine “War on Drugs” an Act of Genocide?

Since the newly elected Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte took office in June 2016, more than 7,000 deaths have been linked to his ongoing “war on drugs.” Despite international condemnation of extrajudicial and vigilante killings, the statistics show no sign of slowing down and the administration remains firm in eradicating people engaged in illegal drugs. This article inquires whether the Philippine “war on drugs” is an act of genocide using Gregory H. Stanton’s stages of genocide. Based on data drawn from news articles, policy issuances, government briefings, public speeches and available drug-related statistics, this article argues that Duterte’s rhetoric and policies satisfy the stages of classification, symbolization, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, extermination and denial. The analysis in this article hopes to send a message to the international community, civil society and the Philippine government that the human rights situation related to the “war on drugs” in the Philippines needs to be addressed immediately. It also aims to demonstrate the utility of Stanton’s stages in identifying early warning signs of genocide.     

Gender perspective on the social networks of household heads and community leaders after involuntary resettlement

The study of social network analysis in Indonesia and the Philippines reveals that after a certain period in a new community and living among involuntarily resettled strangers, household heads and community leaders will eventually replace their disrupted previous networks with new network ties. The paper likewise demonstrates how gender moulds social network features at the levels of the Indonesian household heads and Philippine community organization after involuntary resettlement. Existing gendered context in two settings like the Indonesian woman’s role as primary caretaker of the household and the absence of a consolidated patriarchal system in the Philippines is shown to have reinforced gender (dis)advantages. As reflected in the two settings, those who have the biggest networks are also the brokers or the influential actors who can control and have an advantage in accessing social capital. Further, basing on the two cases, we identify the gender norm of the centrality of women’s role as homemaker and caregiver in addition to other roles as a similar explanation for the bigger proportions of friends in the networks of women as compared to men. Unless outside interventions reconfigure the natural trajectory of the social networks, gender equality in terms of leadership, decision-making and access to suitable programs and projects as well as to the relevant authorities, remains problematic.